Hi Guys,

Do any of you guys have any crude or not so crude ways of measuring vibration.

I recently found myself in a bit of a bind... I was asked to doa friend a favor and was in the process of balancing a blower wheel when my "help" accidently dropped my accelerometer five (yes count 'em five!) stories onto a concrete floor. Needless to say my prayers were not answered (probably due to the cussing I did on the way down)and the probe was junk.

Since my spare was two hours away, I removed the piezo speaker from my multimeter, attached it to my multimeter and used it to read vibration. I was able to do an adequate four run no phase balancing job.

Any ideas you may have would be valued


jon

dial indicator, if you can get the base on something not vibrating.

Laser pointer, attach it to what ever is vibrating, turn it on and aim it at a wall. Measure the pp motion on the wall.

I generally use something reflective on the object and shoot the laser onto it and it reflects back onto a graph paper @1X or 2X or? distance so as to make a large enough movement to easily not relative movement and not harm the laser.

Jon,
When forced to balance without phase, try touching a paint stick (or felt tip marker) to the shaft. Obviously, you need to avoid keys, keyway, etc. When the fan stops, the middle of the line should be where your fan is heavy.

I love the laser idea, going to try that sometime!

Take Care,