Improper alignment between belts and sheaves will cause significant and unnecessary wear and tear on rotating equipment as well as increased operating costs due to inefficiencies. Normal machine wear on belts and sheaves can also result in misalignment. Insufficient belt tension will lead to faster belt and sheave wear, as well as reduced motor efficiency. MTI’s maintenance engineers will perform a complete diagnosis on your machinery and ensure they are properly aligned and running at maximum efficiency. We will re-tension belts as necessary as well as recommend belt replacement as appropriate.

The intention of variable pitch sheaves is to aid in finding the desired fan speed (or air flow). This is done by changing the pitch of the motor sheave, which then changes the fan speed and ultimately the air flow. However, once the desired air flow is found, the variable-pitch sheave should be replaced with a fixed-pitch sheave because a variable-pitch sheave will cause premature belt wear and failure.

Additionally, it is impossible to align a variable-pitch sheave on the motor shaft to a fixed-pitch sheave on the fan shaft; thus, causing excessive vibration from misalignment. MTI can assist in finding the correct sized fixed-pitch sheaves as well as help with the installation if desired.