Company Announcement - SKF South Africa’s key customer, armature winder specialist, Mokse Engineering Enterprises, was so impressed with the capabilities of the TKSA 11 shaft alignment tool that they had no hesitation in purchasing the SKF TKSA 51 to enable them to handle larger machines.

Shaft misalignment is one of the most significant contributors to premature machine failure. It is estimated that misaligned shafts can be responsible for up to 50% of all machine failures. A machine placed in service with less than optimal shaft alignment can lead to poor machine performance, increased power consumption, increased noise and vibration, premature bearing wear, accelerated deterioration of gaskets, packing and mechanical seals as well as higher coupling wear rates. “These expensive scenarios which can all lead to unplanned downtime, costly repairs and production losses, are easily preventable using our quality range of shaft alignment instruments,” notes SKF Product Manager – MAPRO Eddie Martens.

Mokse Engineering is successfully using the TKSA 11 for accurate horizontal shaft alignment of small to medium sized machines. They started receiving more and more requests for larger jobs but realised that they required a tool that is capable of aligning bigger machines and because they were so satisfied with the performance of the TKSA 11 unit, they approached SKF for a solution. “We demonstrated the TKSA 51 to our customer who was immediately impressed with the fact that they could do soft foot (a distortion in a mounting frame that a motor may stand on) as well as thermal growth (caused by thermal expansion),” continues Martens. “Upon hearing that the measuring distance between the heads was 5m, the customer was sold on the TKSA 51.”

The compact TKSA 51 shaft alignment tool provides high measurement flexibility and performance suitable for entry-level to expert alignment jobs. Designed to work with the shaft alignment TKSA 51 app on a tablet or smart phone, this intuitive tool is easy to use and requires no special training. Martens adds that SKF can provide basic product knowledge to an experienced operator as well as a two day laser alignment training course on site or in at the SKF training centre situated in Boksburg, South Africa.

The included accessories of the TKSA 51 makes the instrument ideally suited for a wide range of alignment applications such as motors, drives, fans, pumps, gearboxes, etc. The portable units conveniently do not require installation and are supplied with a two year warranty. “Due to the reliable and effective performance of our TKSA 11 instrument, we were able to offer the best solution in the TKSA 51 and assist this longstanding SKF customer to expand their capabilities by being able to handle larger jobs, improve turnaround time and grow the business,” concludes Martens. 

SKF is a leading global supplier of bearings, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems, and services which include technical support, maintenance and reliability services, engineering consulting and training. SKF is represented in more than 130 countries and has around 15,000 distributor locations worldwide. Annual sales in 2014 were SEK 70,975 million and the number of employees was 48,593. www.skf.com