Sixteen-Eleven, Inc. - Exceptional Maintenance Services

Can You **Really** Afford Another Unexpected Breakdown?
Condition Monitoring ♦ Accurate Vibration Analysis ♦ Thermography Inspections ♦ Oil & Lubricant Analysis ♦ Ultrasonic Measurements Our PdM Service Will Pay For Itself	¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ♦♦♦♦	Corrective Maintenance ♦ On Site Dynamic Balancing ♦ Precision Laser Alignment ♦ Repair (motors, rotors & shafts) ♦ Fabrication (fixtures & structures) From Downtime to Online

Sixteen-Eleven is about Service ... providing people you can trust ... and quality instruments ... to deliver exceptional Service ...

Acceleration, Accelerometer, Accurate, Aerodynamic, Alignment, Amplitude, Analysis, Area, Asset, Automotive, Averaging,Axial, Background Vibration, Balance, Balanced, Balancing, Baseline,Bearings, Beat Vibration, Beverage, Bode, Boxcar, Calibration, Cascade, Case History, Cavitation, Chemical, Commtest, Company, Connection, Consultant, Consultants, Consulting, Control, Corporate, Corporation, Critical, CSI Equipment, CTC, Cycle, Data Acquisition, Defective Belts, Detection, Diagnostic, Diagnostics, Displacement, Driving, Dynamic, Dynamics, Eccentricity, Electrical Vibration, Engineering, Entek IRD Equipment, Failure, Failures, Fans, Fault, Faults, Felt, FFT, Field Balance, Fluting, Food, Forced, Fourier, Free, Frequency, Friction, Gear Vibration, General Manufacturing, Harmonic, Health Care, Hertz, Horizontal, Hydraulic, Imbalance, Industrial, Instruments, Insurance, IRD Mechanalysis, ISO 9000, Journal, Lubrication, Machine Tool, Machinery Vibration, Maintain, Maintenance, Management, MAS, Mechanical, Mechanical Looseness, Misalignment, Modal Analysis, Monarch, Monitor, Motors, Nationwide, Natural, Noise, Normal, Nyquist, On Line, On-site, Paper, Paper Machines, Peak, Peak to Peak, Performance, Petro Chemical, Petrochemical, Phase, Power Plant, Power Plants, Predictive Maintenance, Printing, Probe, Productivity, Prox, Proximity, Pulp, Pumps, Quality, Reciprocating, Repair, Research, Resonance, Rolling Element Bearings, Rotating, Rotor, Rubbing, Safety, Sensors, Severity, Shaft, Shock, Signature, Sleeve Bearings, Slow, Sound, Spectra, Spectral, Spectrum, Spherical, Spike Energy, Startup, Steel, Strobe Light, Structural, Technician, Technology, Thermography, Time Domain, Transducer, Transform, Trend, Turbine, Turbines, Unbalance, Utilities, Vacuum, Velocity, Vertical, Vibration, Vibration Analysis, Vibration Institute Certified, Vibration Predictive Maintenance Programs, Waterfall, Wear, Wide, Wiebull, Wilcoxon, Wore, Worn, Reliability, maintenance, physical asset management, machinery reliability, predictive maintenance, machinery condition monitoring, vibration analysis, airborne ultrasonics, infrared thermal imaging, motor testing, oil analysis,maintenance strategies,root cause analysis, reliability centered maintenance, operator based maintenance, computerized maintenance management, CMMS, enterprise asset management, EAM, vibration monitoring, laser alignment, balancing, oil analysis, ultrasonics, infrared thermography, motor monitoring, accelerometers, tachometers, hand held, predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, Reliability Direct, Vibration, Alignment, Balancing, Oil Analysis, Ultrasound, Motor Current, Infrared Temperature, Power Quality, accelerometers, stroboscopes, hand held, vibration, transmitters, monitoring systems, vibration training, laser alignment, balancing products, tachometers, oil analysis, infrared thermometers, contact, temperature, ultrasound, motor circuit testers, power quality, AC line, monitors, junction boxes, BNC switch boxes, proximity probe mounting, rotor, kits, impulse hammers, maintenance forum, maintenance technology magazine, laser alignment, vibration analysis, vibration and shock testing, preventive maintenance, predictive maintenance, alignment, optalign, rotalign, bore, shims, pulley, sheave, shaft alignment, coupling alignment, bearing heaters, alignment training, dotline, masterlign, eddytherm, alignment software, straightness measurement, belt alignment, ludeca, lazer, sheavemaster, vibration, condition monitoring, balancing, balancing equipment, signal analysis, roll alignment, parallelity Alignment / Balancing / Vibration Forum, machine vibration,fan balancing,precision alignment, building acoustics,vibration training,vibration,analysis,testing,monitoring,tutorial,resonance, dynamic balancing,rotor balancing,predictive maintenance,preventative,maintenance,precision alignment,shaft,alignment,pump alignment,alignment fixture,alignment,training seminar,building noise,noise,noise problem,training seminar,engineering firm www.reliability-magazine.com Originally Edited by Alex Nesmeyanov To Heidi and Mari-Ann, with all my love Brad Barton My name is Brad Barton and I live in Terre Haute, IN with my wife and three kids. I carried hod and worked in a machine shop in college (BSMET) and moved to Virginia to work at Lone Star Cement right after, where I first got involved with vibration. Since then I've worked at a plastic film plant and also run turbine rebuild jobs for A-C out of Milwaukee, WS. I've been in vibration a little over 10 years and lucked into passing the Vibration Institute's Level III exam a couple of years ago. Best thing about passing it is that I don't have to take it again! I do a lot of monthly data collection and also a lot of advanced trouble shooting along with a fair amount of alignment and balancing. I've used instruments including Nicolet, ENTEK, CSI, DI, Bently's ADRE, CombiLaser, OptiLine and Starret. They've all got their bells and whistles, but it comes down to one thing: If you don'd know what you want the instrument to do, it probably won't do it correctly. I'm from the hands-on/experience-counts-the-most school and think of certification as more of a sales tool than anything else (is there any way to do this with out suffering through sales?). In my free time I like to ride motorcycles, play with my kids, and tinker in the garage. Mike Brooks I'm from Southern Alabama. I have a diploma in Electronics from a local Technical College. I'm 44 years old married with one son. I worked as an Electrician in a local Particleboard plant for 16 years. Then went to work in a Newsprint mill as an E&I Tech. Then after about 2 years there I began doing the vibration analysis and have been doing it there for 7 years. I've been transferred into the mechanical department where I continue to do the Vibration Analysis. Richard Burton Like Jim Smith, I'm a reformed submarine nuclear electrician. I also work for IVC, Inc., but I work out of the Lebanon, Ohio office. I have 13 year of Vibration experience and 7 years in Infrared Imaging. Haven't been on the boards for a few months (new job). I'm certified Level II with both Technicial Associates and the Vibration Institute, and Infrared Level I. Most of my recent experience has been in the steel industry. I do balancing, alignments, limited training, and multi-channel analysis. I've been married for 14 years, and have 2 boys and a girl, ranging from 5 to 12 years old. I like computers and woodworking. I like using the board as a good refresher. I try to answer all of the questions before I look at the responses. Most of the time someone has already correctly answered the question (and I hate to just say 'Me too!'), but every so often I get to answer a couple of the questions or identify a different opinion. Keep up the good work guys. Duncan Carter Vibration consultant since 1970. Specialist in vibration test system design and now professional programmer. President of Inteltech Enterprises, Inc., (www.inteltek.com) Age 57 - even older than Rick! Live in Boulder, Colorado Bicycle, hike, cross-country ski, play with grandchildren! Married, 4 sons, ages 24 to 31, 5 grandchildren. Rusty Castleman BSME, Mississippi State, '81 Spent 14 years with Entergy (originally Middle South Utilities) before going out on my own 3 years ago. Presently operate Precision Reliability Services, Inc. I do contract predictive maintenance (vibration), troubleshooting, balancing, and laser shaft alignments. My first love is balancing. (I'd do it for free, but don't tell my customers). When I was in the power plants, everything was AC, bolted to the floor, and ran the same speed/load most of the time. Now everything is DC, mounted on isolators, and never runs the same speed/load twice. Needless to say, I've learned a lot. I'm 41, happily married, have two girls who are 8 and 11, live in Batesville, Arkansas, and am putting off starting my wife's "dream house" (I expect it'll be my "nightmare"). The Lord has truly blessed me with the wife and family I have, and the opportunity to live where I want and make a living doing what I enjoy. I am truly amazed at what He can do, if we'll just trust in Him and submit to His will for our lives. Chieu Chau Hi, my name is Chieu Chau, 34, married to a lovely woman with 2 beautiful daughters, 6 and 3. I hope to find time later in life to play some goft (or do I?), but for now, taking care of/playing with/teaching the girls, doing some house cleaning/dish washing and (if there is time left) snuggling my wife take up all my "free" time (by the way, at what age do you stop snuggling?). I hold a BASc and a MEng degrees. In 1991 I started with and still work for Ontario Hydro (Ontario, Canada), an electric power company with more than 20GW capacity (used to be the largest in North America, no longer with all the mergers in the US). I'm with a group of about 6 persons, located at Head Office in Toronto, responsible for all vibration related issues/problems from PdM to T/G set balancing. I check into this board any chance I get when I'm in the office and find it very useful and educational (In fact I'm about to use Rick Little's suggestion about the washers to detune a resonance on ours motors - thanks, Rick). I also would like to thank all people who make this board possible. Erik Concha I live in Los Angeles County California. I work for Equilon, which at one time was Texaco refining in Wilmington, CA. I am a full time vibration analyst and a Mechanical Engineer student at Long Beach State. I am level 1 and 2 certified by the Vibration Institute. We use CSI equipment and a 16 channel data aquisitions system. My specialty is large turbomachinery and any equipment found in refineries. I was a mechanic for 5 years and have done vibration analysis for 3 years now. I am 28, still very young but hope to stay in this field for a long time. Married with 2 kids, boy 8 & girl 4 (she's a little devil!) I play golf every thursday and I still can't play worth a #@!@. I use the Zig Zag method to get to the cup, which I have mastered. Ken Diven I enjoy reading this board and have learned a lot from it. I have been in the vibration world for 8 years (a baby compared to a lot out there) and do really like it. I am certified level 1 and 2 with Technical Associates and just attended an Advanced course in Knoxville, TN with CSI. (remember me Randy York) I work for Owens Corning (30 years) and do condition monitoring, balancing, and alignments for our plant which is located in central Pa. We use CSI, Schenck, and Optalign equipment. Im 51 years old, married with 4 children (all are out on their own and it is great), 5 grandchildren, and do not really have any hobbies. (I do enjoy my work and watching movies) Mike Drake Former US Marine (there had to be at least one). 32 years old. 15 years of professional troubleshooting, 11 years PdM/Reliability. 10 years in electric motor manufacturing/repair. 5 monthes in the steel industry. While a consultant with the motor shop especially enjoyed taking PdM into underground mining. Areas of experience include mining, power (fossil fuels & nuke), steel, aluminum, municiple utilities, petro-chem & related transmission systems, aerospace development systems and atom splattering facilities, among others. Technologies include standard vibro, modal, operating deflection and such, motor current analysis (early on for rotor bars and many other things since then) and IR. Recently came to work for Siemens Energy & Automation as a part of the Fluor/Siemens - Rockport Maintenance at AK Steel's new works in Indiana. Supposed to be the showcase of steel making and it has certainly been exciting. Have a wife, daughter 15, son 10, daughter 2. Split the home place with one of my brothers and now live on 43 acres of timber, field and rolling hills in Southern Indiana. Enjoy my family (big reason for coming off the consulting tour), St. Bernards & Basset Hounds (Discount Rates on bottled slobber available), cutting firewood and my job. People's biggest complaint about me is that I'm just to happy. I just smile and walk away whistling. Ron Dudelston I am 49 years old and have been in the vibration scheme of things since 1984. In addition to heading up the vibration analysis program for Borg Warner Automotive - Muncie, IN, I also work with laser alignment and ballbar certification of machines. We are automotive so all of my analysis is machine tool oriented. That may account for my lack of hair. We have been using IRD/Entek since the beginning of our program and have recently upgraded to Odyssey. Two term past chairman of the Vibration Institute as well as other associated offices and as much as I enjoy my job, it is not one of my passions in life. My joy comes from my wife of 28 years and my two children aged 26 (daughter) and 21 (son) plus my busy life as an elder in the local church. Hobbies: I too play too much golf but I also enjoy building and flying kites of the large variety (6-12 feet wingspan) and dabbling in geneolgy research of my family tree. Of course, cyberspace holds my attention too. I frequent this message board at least once a day. Thats about it. Lyn Farias My name is Lyn Edward Farias (just so I don't get any more Ms. mail). I am 52, wonderful wife, daughter 26, son 22. I live on ten acres in Cochise,AZ (Yea like the Native American "Cochise") with my wife and two dogs. The fossil fuel power plant where I work is 3 miles from my back door. I have been in the mechanical maintenance field for 30+ years with about 10% of it in vibration. I am a former Marine, Ex-Army and retired Air Force. I enjoy my job as a results technician due to the fact right now no one else knows what I do. I enjoy working on old cars/trucks and hope to do more of it when I retire. I have attended classes at IRD, Bently Nevada, Spectal Analysis and CSI. I am level I Vibe Institute certified and looking for level II next fall. I am currently involved with getting our RCM program up and running. I really enjoy this BB and the help I get from it. Thanks to all! Mick Flanigan Who are we, what a profound question! Last theory was that we ascended from apes... OK all kidding aside. My name is Mick and live up here in the great northwest, Portland Oregon. I am actually a washingtonian, but like you Rhonda, I too am displaced. But not quite so far as you are! I am 28 years old and have been doing VA for 6 years now, 4 in the Navy and 2 here at Intel. I really enjoy what I do, I have been driving the program forward here since I magically became the Vibration guy. I am now level II cert. and plan on level III in december, budget allowing. We currently use IRD on this campus, but some of the other Intel campuses use CSI. I really prefer IRD, due to the customer service and great tech support that my counterparts are having problems with in Arizona. My main task here has been to get all the site equipment monitored. 2 years later we are 95% done! Now I am driving to add the 3 other sites in Oregon to the plate, by pushing for a server and Odyssey. Unfortunately we are still on NT 3.51 (somebody goofed!) and 4.0 won't be here until Q1 '99. So until then, Here at the Aloha site and over there at the Ronler site, we have two separate systems, two contracts, and two teams. Not too practical. We'll see what happens in 5 months. Nice to meet you all, and look forward to becoming an avid user of this new tool! Murray Fookes I see Mike Plant mentioned me before to I had better put my two penny worth in also. I work in the Pulp and Paper industry in New Zealand. I am a Fitter and turner (Millwright) by trade. I have been doing VA and NDT (Non Destructive Testing) since 1975 (I think.) I work for Tasman Pulp and Paper, in the pulp mill and steam plant areas. I am married with two daughters. One is married and in her last year at uni. doing a business management degree. The younger one has left home this year to do a degree in Media Art. So my wife and I are now fancy free! My hobby is computers. I have just started writing web pages commercially. I am very involved with a local church, where I am the treasurer. My wife and I also have a youth group in our home for 10 to 13 year olds. We also run Married for Life seminars from time to time. (http://www.marriage.org/) I am on a high school board of trustees. So you can see I keep myself busy. I have a home page if you want see pictures, hear us speak, etc (http://www.ellconweb.net.nz/fookes/). I enjoy checking out this board once a day. It certainly has some interesting discussions here. Keep up all the good work. John Forsman I was born in 1958 - sounds like a long time ago, but somehow, I'm still young. Live in Monticello, Minnesota with the Lord, a wonderful wife, three daughters, one son, and countless pets. Spent six years in the Navy, it's been long enough ago now that I now remember those years fondly. Went to college to get a BS degree in Biology with a minor in Earth Science. Found a good paying job with a solid utility, Northern States Power, and figured I had it made as jobs go. But, things are changing fast now with competition rolling down our hill. This is good. I have been the VA guy here at the nuclear plant for 9 years. Learned everything I know from IRD, Technical Associates, some good books, this board, and the ever present school of hard knocks. I do OK at this profession, though, because I love machines. A good part of my limited ability has to do with understanding rather than numbers. For fun, I romance my wife, homeschool my kids, build my own business, and amaze myself with the power of the Word. It is a pleasure to be associated with you folks. R. Gordon I am a Mechanical Engineer from the Island of Jamaica. I learnt about Vibration Analysis while studying in Havana, Cuba (of all Places), and have been in love with it ever since. I have been practicing V.A. for three years. My job includes monitoring of few Gas Turbines and a Steam unit and its auxiliaries. I also do balancing and Laser alignment. My age, only 26yrs. No wife nor children. I enjoy sports like football and basketball. I am a member of the Vibration Institute. I visit this forum everyday. Ed Hines My name is Ed Hines. I have been in the VA field for 3 years, the last two have been concentrated on combining the PDM technologies at Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, MI. I have been in Nuke power for the last 15 years, 6 in the Navy and the remaining commercial. My family (wife, daughter, son) live in stevensville michigan, about a mile from the shore of Lake Michigan. Wonderful area in the spring, summer, fall----winter is COLLLLLDDDD. Anyway, we have tons of equipment from old IRD to CSI, SA 390's, Bently stuff. Lots of different people have left their mark on the programs here. Currently we are using Emonitor 2.6.2 with dataPac 1500's. Expecting upgrade to Odyssey in about two weeks. We have successfully migrated most of our PdM programs, including daily process data routes, into Emonitor in order to do a little better machinery health assessment. Dont know yet if all the effort was worth it, time will tell. I am currently completing my BSME at Western Mich. U., should be done in 12/99. I golf, fish, scuba dive, swim. Cant think of anything else. Good to read all your posts, and offer my two cents every now and then. Take care all. Jody Hood My name is Jody Hood. I am a rotating equipment engineer working at an oil and gas company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I am fresh out of university as a mechanical engineer. I have been introduced to vibration analysis over the last couple of years in my role as a student engineer in the rotating equipment world. In my search of internet resources on the subject I would definitely rate this board as one of the best resources on vibration analysis. I would like to thank those of you who contribute to the board for the valuable insight and knowledge, and I look forward to the day when I know enough to be able to contribute something useful! Ed Hudson My name is Ed Hudson and I live in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Just learned what shoes are for a couple of years ago. I work for Entergy as a Predictive Maintenance Engineer at a nuclear plant. I am 32 years old and have been doing VA, oil, thermography, etc.. for 8 years. Before that I did structural vibration stuff for NASA and other Nuke plants. I am "Chairman of the Arkansas Section of ASME", Vibe Institute Member, and father of one precocious three year old girl. I enjoy camping, water skiing, and outdoor stuff, and am fortunate to live in a beautiful place with lots of lakes and scenery. here is my picture. Maybe some of you guys will recognize me at a conference some time. I love this board, and would like to thank Reliability Magazine again for hosting this service to the predictive Maintenance community. Yvan Lachance< I'm from Quebec City in Canada. I started as a car mechanic then became a millwright. I had to quit because of a bad back problem so I went back to school at 40 to learn about new technologies and techniques in robotics, automation and vibration analysis. I've been a self employed consultant in vibration analysis and balancing for 3 years now and I love my job. I'm 45 living with a lovely woman for the last 5 years. She has a son of 18 and it goes well with him too. I like golf although I'm bad at it, I do a bit of cycling and when money allows, I like to work on and improve my Toyota Cressida. I hope it lasts until the new generation of reliable polution free cars comes on the market. I enjoy this board very much for its teaching, humor and camaradship. I try to take at leat one look at it weekly. I want to tank you all for your help. Although you may not be aware of it, you are very helpful. Rick Little Vibration and alignment consultant specializing in large turbomachinery. 30 years in vibration. Also do laser coupling alignment, and laser roll alignment for paper mills, box plants, etc. Age 54. Live in Orange County, CA. I play golf (too much), sing barbershop (tenor and lead) and with the Pacific Choral (first tenor...classical long hair stuff). Married with 2 kids, boy 23 and girl 19. Ber van Loon In 1963 my parents called me Ber van Loon. I was born in Gouda, The Netherlands and I still live there. In 1989 I got my Bsc degree and in the same year I married Karin. We have two children: a boy (6) and a girl (2). Since 1993 I am involved in the VA and PDM business. I worked a short period for Schenck in which I received my initial VA and balancing training. After that I worked as a CSI rep in The Netherlands. In 1996 Karin and I started our own consulting business called Uptime!. We do monitoring and troubleshooting services, consulting and education. We have experience in the paper, petrochemical, manufacturing and food industry. I think it's a privilege that I'm able to spend a lot of time with my family and that we are all in good health. If you have ever experienced the sensation of windsurfing a small board in 30 knots of wind you'll understand my addiction for this sport. Further I am fascinated by the combination of strength, precision and elegance which is recquired to play the badminton game on a high level. Michael Louw My name is Michael Louw - from Namibia. Have been involved in Condition Monitoring since 1990, in all aspects, namely, vibration analysis, oil analysis, NDT, balancing and thermovision. I mainly concentrate on vibration analysis. Am 33 yrs old and work at a large uranium mine. I am recently married with no kids as yet. Enjoy this site, but have not posted any responses as yet. Stephen Masters I have been involved in the PDM field for 6 years full time. For twenty years before that I worked as a machinist, mechanic and millwright specializing in rotating equipment. I have worked in nuclear, chemical, oil field, pipline and now power generation industries. From 87 to 97 I worked for The Trans Alaska Pipeline System in Alaska. At the Marine terminal in Valdez and on the line from Pruhdoe to Valdez. I became interested in vibration in the early 70,s. We balanced componets and fully assembled rotating elements for pumps and turbines. Unknown to me, we practiced what is now called precision maintenance on a regular basis. Today I work as PDM analyst in power generation at El Paso, Tx. I work with Thermography, Vibration, Tribology and DO a lot of training of the maintenance group in precision alignment, using laser and dial indicators, Precision maintenance tech. and in writing procedures to improve our equipment realibilty and life. We use CSI here. Not much impressed with some of there equipment, but they do have some good ideas. I have used Bently Nevada, SKF Prism, HP 2 and 4 channel and old Tech 2 channel "O"- scope. They all have there application in diagnostic work. I am married with 4 kids and am glad to say that they are all older and on there on now. At least as much as kids ever are. I miss them at times but Marcia and I have learned to enjoy our time together. I appericate this board and have learned a lot from it. I usually try to get here every couple of days. I may not always agree with everbody, but I can learn from everbody that contributes. Jim McNeil I am Jim McNeil from Austin Energy (City of Austin) in Austin, TX. We are a group of four involved in vibration analysis, ac/dc electrical testing, large motors up to 4500 hp, repair of turbine generators, alignment, soon to be in thermography and oil analysis. We provide service to our (2) power stations and consultation to other local utilities internal and external. We have five Westinghouse units and one GE unit along with four gas turbines. The combined MW output of these is around 1550. We have been doing this for about 13 years. The other three co-workers are Stratos Apostolou, Jimmy Johnson, and Mark Pollack. We will try to contribute when we can as usually we are all busy. I have been reading the boards forawile and think its great. There is a lot of experience on issues I have read and in this changing complex field it helps. Thanks for the opportunity to at least start using this more and hopefully we can contribute. Alex Nesmeyanov I am from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and I've been involved with Vibration Analysis for about 24 years now. In the beginning I pressed the end of the screwdriver against the bearing housing and the handle against the ear and in this way conducted the pure vibration signal from the bearing to be analyzed to my brain; and a pencil served me as a pick-up while balancing. Old times! - eh, Guys? I'm always on the road and travel a lot around Asia and Europe overhauling turbines and electric motors. I was in the Middle East coal quarries, at the metallurgical plants of the Central Asia, at steel and power plants of the Far East and Ukraine, on board of submarines in the Pacific, in holds and machine sections of warships in the Pacific and Black Sea, carried out VA experiments and conducted tests on board of the nuke ice-breaker above the Polar Circle in the Arctic Region, and I was on board of tremendous self-propelled excavators in the Estonian oil shale quarries. I was taken by helicopters on sea oil-platforms in the Caspien Sea, was in high-mountains of the Pamirs and the Caucasus at observatories making VA of radio-telescopes. And I carried VA investigations of turbines and generators at ALL Nuke Stations of Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Finland. Have I to talk about Power Plants and Electric Stations all over the former Soviet Union, or oil derricks in Siberia? My theoretical researches were devoted to mecanical problems of the criogenic generator being created at Electrosila Plants and vibrations of the foundation + bearings + rotor shafts system, don't say nothing of other cats in the hat in VA. Now I'm Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and am employed as Sr Engineer for Center of High Technologies at Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University (Saint Petersburg, Russia), and as Sr. Project Engineer for Neva Technology Inc. (Saint Petersburg, Russia) I'm 42 and have a daughter of 17. I collect landscape oil paintings, study psychology and really enjoy reading the Board. Rhonda Nissen My name is Rhonda Nissen. I live in small town America (Humboldt, Nebraska). I am 38 and have 3 daughters, 18, 15, and 13. (What a handful!!) I have been involved in Predictive Maintenance for the last 10 years. Started out as an Electrical Maintenance Engineer helping out with the CSI software programs in our department. One thing lead to another, I developed a strong interest in vibration and I became the Vibration Analyst. Since then I have also gotten involved in motor analysis and Thermography and am responsible for both programs within my department. We use CSI equipment, both at my old home in Washington State and my new home in Nebraska. (I have been a displaced washingtonian for the last 18 months) By the way, both are Nukes. My hobbies are anything to do with my daughters and my church. God has truly blessed me and taken care of me in all things and know I get the joy of watching Him work in the lives of my children. There is no greater joy than to see your teenager on fire for Christ!!!!! I truly enjoy this forum and always gain some bit of knowledge. Thanks for all your inputs, Take care and God bless. Jean-Marc Noel I just discovered this board a couple weeks ago and now I am kind of addicted to it. I get a look at it, at least three times a week and found it very instructive. My name is Jean-Marc Noel, I work for a passenger railroad company (Via Rail) as a specialist diagnostics. We are located in Montreal Canada. The group I am in, is responsible for the lube oil analysis of our diesel engine, vibration analysis of locomotive rotating equipment and development of new maintenance tools & procedures. My contribution to this team is that I am responsible for the vibration analysis. In 92 as the company was suffering dramatical subvention cuts, at the time I was a technical officer mechanical & electrical, and my job was cut in the reorg process. However as I had a vibration background they kept me for tree months to conduct a survey on motor/generator bearings. The seizure of one did cause a derailment. As I had good result detecting bad ones, the maintenance department decided to expand the survey to other rotating equipment, and here I am 6 years later trying to convince senior management to go further with predictive maintenance. We have been using IRD/Entek Emonitor with Fast Track since the beginning of our program and have recently upgraded to Odyssey and are still waiting for our recently ordered Datapack 1500. I am level I and II certified by Entek-IRD. For now, I guess I will be only scrutinizing the board for tips & tricks as I do not find myself as knowledgeable as most of the other panelist on this board. Instead I have plenty of questions coming to my mind especially regarding IC motor, diesel engine and enveloping technics. Lets Start with one. Does anybody could refer me a good book, brochure or application note on How to set up good time domain data collection and how to interpret them? Up to now I did not had great succes trying to use time domain as a diagnostic tool. (But I suspect the fast track was not a pretty good instrument in this matter). I am 38, single (never been married or had kids), I enjoy playing hokey, golf, fishing and hunting (small game) and of course a good meal accompanied with a bottle of red wine by a fireplace. Spoken language: French & English Chris Olsen My name is Christopher Olsen. I am president of Sixteen-Eleven, Inc. (www.16-11.com) since July 2002. I have balancing, alignment and vibration/acoustic analysis ingrained within my DNA and cause several cases of glazed eyes each month. I used to be the young one on here (born 1968) but looks like somebody else has taken that title. I am happily married to a wonderful woman and have a charming daughter that loves her Daddy. I know what hard times are, and offer my ear to anyone that just needs to talk. I believe that God, friends and family are more important than any job. I am glad to see my friends are still contributing here, and hope to make friends with the rest of you. Peter Pesarik Hi, Peter Pesarik here. I've posted only a few times on this board, but read it often. I am the department for a timber mfg. company in N.W. Montana. The facilities include, 2 plywood plants, medium density fiberboard, and several lumber mills. I do vib analasis, alignment, balance and trouble shooting for all the plants. Since I'm rather alone in this technology in this area, this board is a valuable tool for me. Thanks to all that contribute. I'm a 43 yr old kid, 3 yrs new to this business. I was a journeyman millwright for 15 yrs. prior to predictive maintenance. My wife and I enjoy our house and garden, recreating in this beautiful part of the country and life in general. I truely enjoy my new adventure in this field. At the risk of being pseudo-philosophical I equate my job to a day on the lake. One day the boat is launched, all the tools ready, the transducer is in the water, the LCD screen is analyzed, the proper depth is established and the plan is set in motion. Success, the trout are biting and landed. The next day the same procedure takes place except no trout. Not unlike that fan or that compressor is it? Always worth the challange and gained knowledge, fish or not. Mike Plant Gidday from New Zealand. I've worked for Tasman pulp and paper for 15 years, 12 as a Fitter turner machinist ( Millwright I think to you guys ) and the last 3 as a vibration / ndt technician. I am in a crew of 5, one of whom is Murray Fookes who writes in to this forum occasionally. Use csi 2120s x 2 and 2115. Age 34, 3 young kids, a house that takes up to much of my time. Check out this forum about 2x per week and find it to be an excellent communication and learning tool, thanks to everyone for all the great input. Enjoy mucking around with the family, mountainbiking and white water kayaking. Don't enjoy plastering, wallpapering or painting! Cheers Rotorua, NZ Rich Pratt My name's Rich Pratt and I'm another ex-Navy Nuke. I spent 6 years in the Navy where I first ran into the CSI 2110. After the Navy I worked for CSI's Services group for 3 years doing vibration and thermography. I'm now in my second year with P&H Mining Equipment in their MinePro services group testing mobile mining equipment. I'm certified CSI Level II Vibration and a quasi-level II thermographer (everything but the test), and am pretty good with an Ultraspec. I currently live in Milwaukee (desk job) but have hung my hat in Detroit (twice), Terra Haute, and Tucson. Thomas Purackal I am Thomas Purackal, from Kerala, South India. Graduate in Mechanical Engineering. I am working for PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES CO, Kuwait as Predictive Maintenance Engineer for the last 19 years. My responsibilities are vibration analysis of rotating machinery, dynamic balancing in situ and shop balancing, motor shop test, residual magnetism check and demagnetisation of rotors, inspection of runout and burnishing of eddy current vibration probe area. I am 54 years old. My wife is Neena and our only daughter Tina is working as an Architect in Long Island, New York. My hobbies are playing squash, jogging, collecting and reading articles about vibration and balancing, and car care. Randy Richardson Don't want to make you guys feel old, but I was born in 1970! I work at an iron mine in northern Minnesota. I've been working here for 3 years, but only two of them working with the vibration analysis. Consider myself a rookie with a lot to learn. I enjoy golfing, fishing, and hunting. I'm married for two years now and have a nine month old little girl. I usually check this board out at least once a day, and I have gathered a lot of tips and tricks from you more experienced VA's. Bobby S. Riddle My name is Stan Riddle, and I live in Yadkinville, North Carolina. I am 38, and blessed with a wonderful wife, and a 9 year old son. I graduated from tech school in 1981 with an AS degree in Machine Technology. I worked my way from machinist, to tool maker, to millwright, to Machine Health Analyst. Whether I worked my way up or down, I'm not sure! I am a Christian, Scout leader, ball coach, Sunday School teacher, and so on. I am employed by R. J. Reynolds in the Utilities division, and have been there for 11 years. Prior to that, I worked for Weyerhaeuser, where I got my start in Vibration Analysis. I've been in PDM for 14 years. I also have a small business doing PDM consulting in North and South Carolina. I am VI Level 1, and Tech. Assoc. Level 2. I must admit, I love this type of work, and I appreciate the efforts of people like you folks, who snatch PDM from the soft hands of theorists, and actually make it pay off in the real world! I salute you all! Dean Riley My name is Dean Riley. I am a nuclear mechanic turned PDM tech at Waterford 3 Nuclear Station near New Orleans for Entergy. I have been involved with our plant's PDM for about 5 years. I'm certified Level II Vibration by the Vibration Institute and Level II Thermography by CSI for whatever it's worth. We use IRD data collectors with Entek software for vibration and Agema 470 and 570 cameras with IRWin software for thermography. I am 42 years old, married with 4 wonderful children, and live in a small town 20 miles SE of Baton Rouge. We enjoy golf, motorcycling, and baseball. I've gotten some really useful info from this forum and would like to thank the staff at Reliability for sponsoring it. Tom Ross My name is Tom Ross and I work as a consultant for ERIN Engineering doing Streamline Reliability Centered Maintenance analyses. This process provides a methodical means of determining which equipment is critical, and provides recommended maintenance task packages focusing on Conditional Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance. Prior to life as a consultant, I was a Rotating Equipment Engineer for five years at an Exxon Refinery. Completed design changes and provided field and shop support for pumps, compressors, steam and gas turbines, motors... Before that I spent three years at a government nuclear facility as a maintenance and project engineer. Live in Northern California, never married (I'm beginning to think my girlfriend will never pop the question), and enjoy outdoor activities (biking, camping, softball, and getting beaten on the golf course by a friend's 8 year old son). I've been impressed by the caliber of talent on the site and visit whenever possible. Jim Smith My name is Jim Smith and I have been involved with PdM for 5 years. I work for Industrial Vibration Consultants (IVC) as their Southeast Area Manager (FL, AL, MS and LA). I am ASNT Level 2 certified and use primarily CSI equipment. I am one of the many ex-navy "Bubbleheads" that work in this field. I am 33 years old, married for 14 of those with 3 great kids (2 girls, 1boy). I enjoy sailing my boat and running. I check this board 2-3x a week and have learned much from it. Keep up the great work. Joey Smith I work for Chevron, I have been doing vibration analysis for about 12 years mostly on Gas Turbines. We are currently using CSI's 2120's. I also have about 3 years experience doing Recip Analysis and I'm responsible for performing laser alignments. In my spare time I get to play Mechanic. All of this is mostly done in a offshore environment. I live in Mississippi, I'm 36 years old, married with 2 kids. I love to play golf and ride my motorcycle on the coast. Ken Snyder Hi, my name is Ken Snyder. 35yrsold, married, one daughter. I've been in the PdM field for 12 years now. I started with a BSME and worked for PSE&G (New Jersey) as a Vibration Test Engineer for my first ten years. Worked on everything from small overhung fans to 1100MW Nuclear TG's. Left PS for Merck. Became Senior Supervisor in PdM Dept. Now I have my Level 3 IR Cert, Level 1 UT and Level 1 Vib Inst. The only reason I don't have higher levels for Vib Inst is timing. I've used all kinds of equipment from 8 ch HP reel to reel recorders to Banchory 501 continuous monitoring system. DLI is my data collector of choice. Did a lot of Bently Neveda equipment. Also do modal analysis. Wouldn't touch anything from CSI. Bad experience between PSE&G and CSI. Well anyway, got a lot of experience mentoring off much older guys. I enjoy this page and tahnk anyone who has helped me here. Ralph Stewart I am Ralph Stewart and live in Mississippi. I work for a large papermill in Alabama. Have been in Vibration since 1988 doing routine analysis on our papermill equipment. Also am "considered", by some, to be a millwright, of course, that is a matter of opinion. Am 59 years old. Married, have 3 children, 37, 33 and 29. Have 6 grandchildren. Love prospecting for gold, never found any, but still love getting in the outdoors and looking, especially in Calif. Robert Strong I am in Christchurch, New Zealand (that's not part of Australia by the way :-) We have 50 HZ here and use the metric system, but I wont hold that against you, hehe. I have been called lots of things, but I call myself a "predictive maintenance technician". On a more serious note, I started out as a motor rewinder but especially enjoy mechanical work so I've moved on. I spend my time between balancing (w/shop and in situ) vibs and laser alignment. I work for a large electro-mechanical engineering company but am pretty much by myself so a board like this is great for me. I have bookmarked this site and hope to get to know you all better in the future. James Sullivan, Jr. I am James Sullivan. I am Level II Certified with the Vibration Institute. I run the PdM Department at a large New York newspaper ( I'll tell you which paper some other TIME) I love this stuff so much that I started Technical Maintenance, Inc. We do vibration analysis, monitoring, oil analysis, thermography, laser alignment, dynamic balancing, and we even carry all the equipment and hardware you will need for your PdM program. I have to admit, I have not seen my wife and two boys lately because I am trying to learn how to build our #$%@ website. See my half complete attempt at www.technical-maintenance.com . I got my Mechanical Engineering degree and realized at the time I could make more money as a machinist. When the company trained 21 guys for something called "vibration analysis", I was the only one who took the book home and said, "Give me more!" I was so happy when I found the Reliability page sometime back in '96. It's good to see industry finally taking a turn for more reliability and quality. I hope that PdM becomes a more accepted and practiced concept. I don't know about the rest of you, but when someone ask what I do for a living, I tell them in about 25 words or less. When they look at me funny, I just say I am a "Brain Surgeon for Machines" Thomas My name is Thomas. I Work in a Plywood mill in east Texas. Im 42 years old. Married with three kids. Daughter 22 years old son 19 and son 17. I love to watch my kids in sports. I have been doing vibration analysis since April. When we started our program. Harry Vincent I am from Darwin, Australia, been in the Vibration analysis and condition monitoring business around 8 years, but my main source of income is overhaul & service of Contra-rotation -radial flow steam turbines, of which I think there are about 90 or so in the USA. I am 60 years old, no children, travel a lot around Australia overhauling Turbines. Really enjoy this web site Best regards from Down under Talmage Ward I am 38 years old, only hobby is Chevys, (still drive a 55 to work every day with a 59 corvete fuel injection unit on top). I have one son 15 and twin girls 14. Since 4/97 I am the only vibration analyst at a 50 year old uranium enrichment plant in western Kentucky with 1800 compressors and another 800 support machines ("The Land of Opportunity"). Do vibration, alignments, balancing, thermography and usually try convince people that, for some reason, they are exempt from the laws of physics. Started in vibration in 1986 at a nuclear power plant and have used IRD, Bently, Entek/IRD and now CSI equipment. I enjoy solving problems in a practical way (which includes the help of other analyst like you guys) and am comvinced that vibration analysis has a glorious future! Randy York I've been involved with industrial maintenance for about 21 years now - 8yrs as a millwright/inside machinist and 13 years in vibration analysis. I was with Entergy (Power Company) for 19 years and have been with Kaiser Aluminum for about 2 years now. Recently certified with CSI as a Level II. At Entergy, I worked at seven different plants around the New Orleans area and at Kaiser I work at the Alumina plant which is located about 20 miles east of Baton Rouge Louisiana. I'm 39, married, and have a son 10. Like saltwater fishing, motorcycling, camping, woodworking, racquet ball, tennis and of course eating. I also really enjoy reading the board and look at it probably 3 to 5 times a week.

OK You caught me sneaking a whole bunch of words in this document to increase the rank on the search engines. So if you found this page on Google or Yahoo or MetaCrawler or HotBot it would be because I was tweaking the page just a bit to get better results - Chris Olsen