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Motors and "Worst Practices"

April 27, 2009

You’ve probably heard of "best practices." The idea is to look at what others have done and apply a similar practice to improve your situation. The flipside is "worst practices."

You’ve probably heard of "best practices." The idea is to look at what others have done and apply a similar practice to improve your situation. The flipside is "worst practices." We can look at what others have done wrong and avoid similar practices.

An example of a "worst practice" is tightening motor mounting bolts.

If you installed the proper locking devices (e.g., lockwashers) and torqued the bolts correctly, it’s unlikely the bolts are actually loose in the first place.
The correct way to fix loose mounting bolts is to remove the bolts, clean them, lubricate them, and reinstall with new locking hardware to the specified torque.
If you simply tighten the bolts, you’ll probably warp the motor feet and reduce the ability of the bolts to stay tight.

Fastener locking devices are "one shots," so don’t reuse them. On second use, a lock washer typically loses half of its clamping power.