I'm looking for some insight on these machines. I have a pretty severe rumbling at high speed (400fpm). It seems to me that something is not true or not aligned correctly. Is there any way to tram these things? I found a section in an old Westinghouse repair manual on "Aligning two bearing motors to machine worm shaft" but I would call this a 1 bearing machine and there are no pics. Any help would be appreciated.
I would make sure your ring gear isn't bottomed on the worm. This isn't too bad to check on a Westinghouse with their inspection plate. But the star lock ring on thrust bearing are know to break and the lock nut backs loose. And the beating assembly go bad behind the packing and will cause the machine to lock up. So the first two are easy to check before you go to the last option.
Ya that actually just happened to this machine. It did this for at least 10 years before locking up though. It seemed a little better after they replaced all the bearings but a month later it's as bad as ever.
Is the spider gear, what we call the worm wheel or gear? The spiral lower gear that actually drives the ring gear attached to the sheave? You can usually tell if the work gear is worn, with the back lash rock on stopping.
