PULLEY

ALIGNMENT
GUIDE
including
5-Step Sheave/Pulley Alignment Procedure
Pulley Alignment Guide
Precision alignment is an essential part of a proactive reliability program. This guide
provides information for the implementation of good pulley alignment of belt-driven
equipment including terminology, alignment methods as well as belt maintenance,
storage and tensioning.

The content of this guide and our 5-Step Sheave/Pulley Alignment Procedure are
basic guides to re-align machines. In practice, more details must be taken into
account. LUDECA is not responsible for any damage or injury arising out of the use
of these documents.

About LUDECA
LUDECA is a leading provider of Preventive, Predictive and Corrective Maintenance
Solutions including laser alignment, vibration analysis, balancing, induction heating
and ultrasound equipment as well as software, rentals, services and training. For
more information, visit www.ludeca.com

LUDECA, INC.
1425 NW 88th Avenue
Doral, FL 33172
305-591-8935
[email protected]

www.ludeca.com
 Pulley Alignment Guide
By Alan Luedeking, CMRP, CRL
LUDECA, Inc.

Introduction

Getting the most out of your belt drive systems involves several things, key among them
good pulley alignment and good sheave and belt maintenance. Good design, good quality
components and correct installation are the starting points. Thereafter, keeping it running
well requires attention to the details.

Good sheave alignment will increase efficiency by reducing premature wear or failure of
belts, pulleys and bearings. This can be accomplished by several different alignment
methods, such as the labor intensive string and straightedge method (most common), or by
laser. Laser pulley alignment systems are now well established in the sheave alignment field,
and have proven themselves in greatly reducing downtime and the manpower needed to do
the alignment, while simultaneously achieving far greater accuracy. This results in significant
labor savings and increased production uptime. Later on this guide we will acquaint you
with one such system and its features and benefits.

A V-Belt drive is a very efficient method of power

transmission (from 90 to 98%) and has traditionally been
thought of as very forgiving; however, proper alignment and
belt tension are extremely important and can make a huge
difference in MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure.) Do not
assume that only a drive which is squeaking is slipping: Belt
slippage of as much as 20% can occur noiselessly, resulting in
loss of efficiency, premature wear and damage to the belts and
their sheaves.

Good drive maintenance involves a number of steps,

roughly half of which involve aligning the drive. These are, in
order: Removing old belts, inspecting all components for wear and damage, checking for
bent shafts and correcting sheave runout, installing new belts, performing the alignment,
and tensioning the belts.

Your foremost concern should always be safety. Never allow loose neckties or long
hair anywhere near belt-driven machinery, and make certain all equipment is locked out and
tagged out.

Prior to beginning sheave alignment, it is a good idea to try to determine (if possible)
the cause(s) of your belt or sheave failure, and correct it to prevent unnecessary
reoccurrence. FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) and RCA (Root Cause Analysis) are
very helpful tools in this process. The cause of failure could be associated with poor drive
maintenance (improper belt tension, poor sheave alignment), environmental factors
(sunlight, harsh temperature fluctuations), improper installation (wrong belts/sheaves, belts
pried on by force), or operating factors (overload, shock load.)

©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 1

Belt and Sheave Maintenance and Storage

When embarking on belt drive maintenance,

one important step, often forgotten, is to
perform a close inspection of the belts and of
each sheave and its grooves. This inspection
should include looking (and feeling) for cracks,
chips, or excessive groove wear, and checking
for proper contact between the belts and the
sheaves. Problems of this nature must be
corrected before proceeding with anything else,
to prevent premature or catastrophic failure.

Replacing belts only requires moving one

sheave toward the opposing sheave, to slacken
the belts. Replace a belt with a new belt of the
correct length, material, and pitch angle. Never force a belt onto a sheave as this will
damage the tensile member of the belt, or damage the sheave itself. If aligning a multiple-
belt drive, replace all of the belts together, not singly, since new and used belts that are
otherwise identical have greatly different operating and tensile characteristics. Only combine
belts from the same manufacturer, and preferably use a factory-matched set.

Larger sheaves can increase belt life. If it is feasible, consider increasing both the driver
and driven pulley diameters by the same percentage. Speeds will remain the same. Larger
pulleys reduce bearing loads since they allow for more contact area between the belt and
pulley thereby permitting the equivalent drive force to be
transmitted with less belt tension.

Inspect the removed belt for any noticeable defect

(cracking, gouges or crumbling) and signs of slippage
(glazing). Notice where the belt is worn. This may be a good
indication of what type of misalignment or other problem Rubbing
might be in play. It is appropriate to change a belt anytime Image courtesy of The Gates
undue wear is detected. When replacing a belt, make sure you Rubber Company
©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 2
replace it with one that has been properly stored. Belts should be stored in a cool, dry place
with no exposure to direct sunlight or heater drafts. Do not hang belts from a single peg;
this may damage the tensile member and distort the belt over time. Preferably hang them
from two pegs, or better yet pile them on shelves. Coil long belts, and don’t make the piles
too big or heavy, to avoid distorting the bottommost belts.

Operating temperature is also extremely important. Try

to keep operating temperatures below 140°F. To this end,
make sure that protective covers and belt guards are well
vented. The purpose of these covers is to keep fingers and
debris out, not heat in!

Another factor to consider is bearing life: the lower the

Tensile failure radial load on a bearing, the longer its lifespan. Bring pulleys
Image courtesy of The Gates in as close to the bearings as possible. This will reduce load,
Rubber Company
increasing bearing life by the cubed(!) factor of the
reduction. In other words, to use an extreme example, if you cut bearing load in half you will
increase its lifespan by eight times!

The next step of the process is to inspect the sheaves. Belts

should run flush with the outer diameter of the sheave lips. If
the top of the belt protrudes radially beyond the outer
diameter of the sheave, it is too large for the sheave. Also
make sure the belt is not contacting the bottom of the groove.
Drive torque from pulley to belt should be transmitted by the
friction between the sides of the belt and the inner faces of
Turnover damage
sheave groove, and never between the bottom of the groove Image courtesy of The Gates
and belt. If the bottom of the groove is shiny, the belt is Rubber Company
touching it.

Next measure sheave runout. There are two types of run-out: rim (radial) and face (axial),
both of which must meet tolerance prior to actually performing final alignment corrections.

The tolerance for radial or rim runout on high speed sheaves (1800 R.P.M. and higher)
should not exceed 5 mils total indicated reading (T.I.R.) on average, and may be increased to
up to 10 mils on slower sheaves. The tolerance for axial or face runout should not exceed
0.5 mils per inch of sheave diameter (T.I.R.) for high speed sheaves, and may be increased to
up to 1 mil per inch for slow sheaves. Always follow the sheave or machine manufacturer’s
tighter tolerance recommendations, if given. Start by checking for radial runout. If
unsatisfactory, check for shaft runout. If excessive runout is also present on the shaft, it may
be bent. If so, you must replace the shaft and check radial runout on the sheave again. If no
runout on the shaft is detected, replace the sheave instead. If the sheave is mounted on a
tapered shaft bushing, remember to inspect and clean the bushing both inside and out to
ensure proper seating. Next check for face (axial) runout (wobble) and if necessary correct it
by repositioning the sheave on its shaft. Once runouts are in tolerance, proceed to install
new belts.

Place the new belts into the sheave grooves, reposition the sheaves to rough alignment,
and check that the belts are properly seated within their grooves.

©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 3

Pulley Alignment

Now for the alignment. Misalignment consists of

three types: Vertical angularity (twist), horizontal
angularity, and axial offset, all of which can coexist in
any combination. The best way to correct offset
misalignment is by moving the pulley axially on its
shaft, or by moving the adjustable machine (usually
the motor) axially. Horizontal angle is corrected by
moving the adjustable machine laterally to change its
angle with respect to the opposing pulleys.
Jackscrews on the machine feet make this task much
easier and the alignment more controllable. Lastly,
twist angle is controlled by shimming the front or back feet of the adjustable machine as
needed to eliminate the twist angle.

There are several sheave alignment

methods, the most common of which is the
string and straightedge method, wherein
these must touch each sheave at two
diametrically opposite positions
simultaneously (totaling four contact points).
The sheaves should be rotated half a turn and
checked again. Since a string can bend
around corners, you cannot easily
differentiate between offset and horizontal
angle when only three-point contact is made; nor will a straightedge or a string detect twist
angle under certain conditions. These methods are also very labor and time intensive.

A fan-type laser overcomes

all of these problems. One such
system (the Easy-Laser® XT 190)
mounts magnetically to the
face of sheaves as small as 2.5″
diameter and projects a laser
fan line onto a sensor unit
magnetically attached on the
other pulley.

The laser emitter unit

generates a laser plane parallel
to the reference sheave. The
detector reads the position in
relation to the laser plane and
Easy-Laser® XT-190 provides a live digital display of
Belt Alignment System offset and both angular values.
This makes the alignment of the
adjustable machine very simple. The accuracy of the digital readout lets you easily align
within prescribed tolerances. The system also connects to the Easy-Laser’s XT-11 Alignment
computer (used for the XT440, XT660 and XT770 series laser shaft alignment systems) to
make performing the alignment even easier.

Other systems (such as LUDECA’s SheaveMaster® Greenline) feature a green laser fan
line whose greatly increased visibility is ideal for bright light conditions, especially outdoors
©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 4
on a sunny day, where red
wavelength lasers can be
harder to see. One such
system projects a laser line
onto three small targets that
are mounted to the face of the
opposing pulley; additional
targets can be mounted to
idler pulleys in the belt path
for a complete overview of the
belt drive alignment. The
mounting position of the
targets is important: two
should be mounted near the
top and bottom to allow twist
angle to be detected. The third LUDECA SheaveMaster® Greenline
should be mounted at the Belt Alignment System
back of the opposing pulley
(on the far side) to give maximum angular resolution to be able to visually detect horizontal
angle. For maximum visual resolution and hence alignment accuracy, try always to mount
your fan line laser emitter on the smaller pulley and the targets on the larger pulley.

One important consideration in the use of laser pulley alignment systems is safety. It is
important to ascertain the laser class utilized in these systems. The best use a Class II laser
which requires no special safety precautions beyond not staring into the beam.

Before beginning the alignment process, first ascertain that the motor has no soft foot.
Soft foot is machine frame distortion that can occur due to a variety of reasons, but
primarily from improper shimming, uneven foundation surfaces, or conduit strain. Check for
soft foot by loosening only one foot at a time on the motor and check for any gaps that
may appear under motor feet with a feeler gauge. Maximum permissible gaps are 0.002".
Anything greater needs to be dealt with. Shim as needed to eliminate any potential frame
distortion.

Always correct vertical (or twist) angle first, by shimming the driver, then correct
horizontal angularity by moving the driver laterally with jackscrews, and lastly correct offset
by moving the driver with axial jackscrews, or by repositioning one of the pulleys axially on
its shaft. (Be careful not to cock the pulley in doing so!) Since performing one alignment
correction almost invariably affects the other alignment conditions, this process may have to
be repeated several times. This is where the fan-line laser systems mentioned previously
really pay off, since they allow you to monitor all three alignment conditions simultaneously
as you work. This makes the job far easier and faster, as well as increasing the accuracy of
the alignment.

Belt Tension
After the sheaves have been aligned, the next step is the proper tensioning of the belts.
Incorrect tension (as well as misalignment) will adversely affect the life of the belts and the
efficiency of the drive as a whole. Using a spring scale, press down on the belt in the
approximate center of its span (on the tight side), to deflect the belt by 1/64" per inch of
span length, and, while doing so, observe the force required to do so. If you are not sure of
the belt span length you may also use the center-to-center distance of the pulleys, which

©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 5

will be similar. For example, if your span length is 30", apply sufficient force to deflect the
belt by 30/64", or 15/32" and observe how much force is required to do that.
Now either increase or decrease
tension on the belts until the force
required for this deflection equals the belt
manufacturer’s maximum recommended
force values for the specific belts you are
using. Also make certain this force does
not exceed the machinery’s design loads.
The force values for all belts in a multiple
belt drive should fall within 10% of one
another. Using a matched set of belts and
having a good alignment are essential in achieving this goal. It is tricky to move the driver to
slacken or tighten the belts without changing the alignment! Here again a fan laser like the
Easy-Laser® XT190 pulley alignment tool is invaluable, since all three of the alignment
parameters can be monitored simultaneously for the sheave set while adjusting the tension
on the belts.
The final step is to run the machines for about two hours to allow the belts to stretch
and seat themselves properly in the grooves. The belts must then be retensioned to the
recommended values for new belts. Now run the machines for at least 72 hours, but not
more than 10 days, and retension once again, this time to the manufacturer’s recommended
force values for used belts.

Following, we present our 5-Step Sheave/Pulley Alignment Procedure as a handy and

quick guide on a single page of all the things to consider in pulley alignment. Enjoy!

• Pie chart and belt damage images courtesy of The Gates Rubber Company, Belt
Preventive Maintenance Manual, Denver, 1996.
• Easy-Laser® XT 190 image courtesy of Easy-Laser AB, Mölndal, Sweden.
• SheaveMaster® is a registered trademark of LUDECA, Inc., Doral, FL.
• All other illustrations copyright Ludeca, Inc. – www.ludeca.com

©2018 Ludeca, Inc. 6

 5-STEP
SHEAVE/PULLEY ALIGNMENT PROCEDURE

1 2 3 4 5

Pre-Alignment Runout and Laser Belt Documentation

Checks Soft Foot Alignment Tensioning

Set up laser alignment

2X
Check and correct shaft Take two sets of belt
Safety: system and measure
runout. tension measurements.
Lock-out and tag-out misalignment. Save the alignment file, if
the machines. your system allows for it.

TOL

Check and correct Correct twist misalignment Set the belt tension to
sheave rim runout (radial) by shimming the motor feet. manufacturer’s specifications.
Visual inspection of the and face runout (axial).
sheaves, belts, foundation Recommended tolerance: Typically, set tension to
and baseplate. ±0.5 degrees. (9 mils/inch) recommended force to deflect
belts 1/64 inch per inch of span
Replace sheaves if needed. length (tight side).
Be careful not to affect the Print the report to
alignment during these document the alignment,
Using feeler gauges find adjustments. if your system allows
obvious gaps under the motor for it.
feet and fill them with shims, to Correct angular
eliminate any soft foot condition. misalignment by moving the
machine horizontally.
Clean up: remove rust, Recommended tolerance:
scale, paint, dirt from under Re-check the
±0.5 degrees. (9 mils/inch) alignment.
and around the feet. Clean
sheaves as well.
Install new belts, if 72-240 HRS
needed. Always replace
all belts together with a Run the machines at
new matched set. least 72 hours, but not
more than 10 days and
Correct offset
misalignment by moving 2 HRS+ retension again, this
time to manufacturer’s
the machine axially. recommended force values
Run machines for two hours
for used belts.
100
to allow belts to stretch
Replace damaged shim % Recommended tolerance:
and seat themselves then
packs with new, corrosion ±8 mils (thou) per inch
and crush resistant shims. recheck tension. Readjust as
Torque bolts to specifications. of span length.
necessary.

©Copyright 2017 by LUDECA, INC. No copying or reproduction of this information, in any form whatsoever, may be undertaken without
express written permission of LUDECA, INC. WARNING: The content of this graphic is a basic guide to re-align machines. In practice,
more details must be taken into account. LUDECA, INC is not responsible for any damage or injury arising out of the use of this document
Keep it running. LUDECA.COM
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