Vibration in driveline assemblies can be caused by
many things. Worn parts, damaged assemblies, poor quality components and
un-balanced assemblies are some of the leading causes of shaft vibrations. Great
care must be provided in order to keep the rotating assembly operating smoothly
and trouble free.
Contents:
Any drive shaft operating and RPM levels above 500RPM should be balanced to that rpm level. Even the straightest shaft in the business will be out of balance if the distribution of mass is unequal. The rough castings that most components are made of rarely have an equal distribution of mass. More importantly, a basic law of physics spells trouble for unbalanced shafts. Imbalance forces increase at the square of the RPM. This means that when the RPM is doubled, there is a 4 fold increase in force. Triple the RPM and see a 9 fold increase in force. Quadruple the RPM-16 fold increase. That's why vibrations typically get worse with an increase in speed. Say for instance a drive shaft is balanced at 1000 RPM, but wasn't balanced very closely, or worse yet, wasn't held properly in the machine due to worn or mis-aligned machined tooling. If that shaft operates at 3000 RPM in the vehicle, the residual imbalance will produce forces 9 times greater than at the 1000 RPM balance speed. It is best to balance a shaft at actual RPM speeds.
Worn parts are a common cause of vibration in rotating assemblies. Failure maintain proper lubrication of rotating joints will cause shaft vibration as well as shaft failure. Great care must be taken to ensure the rotating assembly is properly lubricated for years or trouble free use.
Damaged assemblies can cause tremendous vibrations in rotating assemblies. Damaged rotating assemblies should be repair or replaced at once to ensure the assembly does not fail and possibly causing failure to surrounding components or machinery.
Poor quality parts have been know to cause vibration in rotating assemblies due to specification variances in the different manufactured parts. Poor quality parts will have a greater tendency to cause vibration as well as assembly failure. Only quality parts should be used in any rotating assembly.