Insight Services has put together a practical reference handbook on lubrication, oil analysis and sampling procedures. This easy to understand guide is a must read for any maintenance professional.

Now on the third edition, this book has been circulated to more than 4,000 maintenance professionals throughout the country.

Don’t miss your chance to receive Your Copy of the Practical Guide to OIL Analysis Handbook

This month the folks at ALL TEST Pro are giving one lucky winner - drawn at random, an ALL TEST PRO 31 motor testing system.

The hand-held ALL-TEST PRO 31 incorporates tests for faults to ground, internal faults such as turn-to-turn and coil-to-coil and phase balance. Electric interference from residual or stray currents from test-object or surrounding power sources is measured by an included EMI test.

Find out more about the ALL-TEST PRO 31 Drawing

Association for Maintenance Professionals Breakthrough Session and Faircrest Steel Mill Plant Tour
October 20, 2008
Canton Ohio

Please join the Association for Maintenance Professionals for a breakthrough benchmarking exercise,learning sessions and plant tour at a special one day event.

The day begins with a benchmarking exercise and learning presentations at the Timken Campus in Canton and concludes with an afternoon plant tour of the most advanced alloy steel plant in the world - Faircrest Steel Mill.

Space is limited to 50 so sign up today!

Findings in a recent Aberdeen Group report ‘Enterprise Asset Management: Maximizing Return on Assets and Emerging Trends’ show that Best-in-Class manufacturers on average, realize 97% plant throughput, 93% Overall Equipment Effectiveness and 31% less asset downtime than other manufacturers.

Download your complimentary full copy of this recent report sponsored by Lawson

Need an ‘E-Z-Out’ - just reach for your taps.

You can easily make a screw extractor from a tap.

1) Select an appropriate size tap.

2) Grind 4 tapers onto the tap and voila you have a screw
extractor that works great.

3) After drilling a pilot hole into the broken screw, seat the extractor into the hole and back the broken screw out.

Reader tip provided by Craig Dieter
Plant Engineer`
Rock-Tenn Company
Cincinnati OH

Thanks Craig - your stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug is on the way!

Send in your own tip and get a stainless steel, diamond plate, Reliabilityweb.com coffee mug

Training, experience and practice will give the infrared analyst a better understanding of camera functions and settings.

In order to obtain accurate images for analysis in infrared inspection, first priority should be basic camera settings prior to and during inspection of any asset. Issues such as emissivity, correct level, span, focus and perspective should also be considered. Essentially, if the camera does not have the proper settings and adjustments, any infrared image taken, could be an inaccurate assessment and provide you with false data.

Emissivity can be adjusted prior to inspection with an emissivity chart or by calculation. A basic emissivity setting of .98 to 1.00 is usually a good starting point for most inspections. More accurate adjustments can be made, if required. A general calibration check can be performed by checking a persons tear duct for a temperature between 92 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

At site of inspection, environmental specific settings can be adjusted. These may include, ambient temperature, atmospheric temperature, distance to target and relative humidity. Level, span and focus can be adjusted during inspection.

Michael J. Wedge
ASNT 2 Thermography
ASNT 1 Airborne Ultrasound
Motor Circuit Analysis 1
The Snell Group
Dayton, Ohio 45414

Join the Infared Discussion Group at MaintenanceForums.com

Air Gap on DC Motors

It is important that the air gap tolerance on a DC motor be considered critical during repair or refurbishment. Offsets in the air gap of a DC motor will create differential armature voltages between like poles and result in potentially damaging circulating currents in your armature windings.

Tip provided by PdMA MCE Division
Tel: 813-621-6463
http://www.pdma.com

Read more PdMA Motor Testing Articles

Improvise to Maximize

Great conversations result when there’s an easy give and take, a go-with-the-flow sensation, along with an acute sense that you are being heard at a deeper level than the normal chitchat. In this instance, good conversations resemble improvisational theater.

Improv actually depends upon all the actors paying close attention to each other and then working with whatever is presented to them. Let me repeat that: pay attention and work with whatever is presented.

Select someone you’d like to (or need to) talk to. Open up the conversation by stating either why you’ve initiated the conversation or by asking an open-ended question. Then, practice these techniques:

• Encourage talking by saying, “Yes…tell me more.” This means that no matter what is stated, don’t change the subject, get defensive, fail to listen, or ignore the response. You have the opportunity to create new and positive results by building upon whatever is said.

• Don’t plan your response while the other person is speaking.

• Seek what is provocative, interesting, or new in what you are hearing. There’s a gift somewhere. Trust me. Ask the other person to expand on something that intrigues you – even if it bothers you.

Tip excerpted from Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless!: Connecting in a Disconnected World by Eileen McDargh

See an interview with the Author of Talk Ain’t Cheap…It’s Priceless