by William Quinn William Quinn No Comments


Stop action photographs girth gear photographs are an excellent predictive maintenance task that every site can employ without shutting down critical mills, kilns, or dryers. When taken at regular weekly intervals, changes in mill set operation and condition can quickly be identified.

severe misalignment, with rippling, and tooth fracture

Stop Action Photograph Identifying severe misalignment, with rippling, and tooth fracture

What failure modes can I detect with this method?

  • Misalignment
  • Wear
  • Macropitting
  • Scuffing
  • excessive contamination
  • tooth fracture

How to take stop motion photos

  1. Open the pinion inspection door with the set-in operation
  2. Take images of the pinion using a landscape setting or higher aperture to capture a clear image of the entire pinion
  3. Schedule a weekly reminder on your calendar → 
    Add to Calendar
    06/15/2020 08:00 AM
    06/15/2020 8:15 AM
    Weekly inspection of gear
    Take images of the pinion using a landscape setting or higher aperture to capture a clear image of the entire pinion
    FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=1;COUNT=20
  4. If damage is detected send images to info@global-pam.com for a complementary remote assessment

What tools do I need?

  1. Digital Camera with Flash
    1. Macro modes with a lower aperture generally cause more of the image to blur
    2. The combination of good flash and medium to high aperture will yield the clearest images
    3. Using manual focus can enhance repeatability of shots
    4. Do not use a strobe light with the camera it will blur the images

Example stop action photographs

Misalignment with overload damage

Example of Misalignment with overload damage

Monitoring Contact Patterns, and Wear over time

Stop Action Photographs Monitoring Contact Patterns, and Wear over time


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *