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That $20 vibration meter from Amazon actually saved my cutterhead

I always figured those cheap vibration meters were junk compared to the expensive ones the big crews use. Been running a 12-inch dredge on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge for about 8 years. Last month I clamped one on just to see and it showed a spike at 3.4 Hz on the port side bearing. Pulled the bearing cover and found a crack starting in the race. If I'd run that cutterhead another week it would have seized up mid-job. Has anyone else caught a hidden problem with a cheap sensor like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty14422d ago

Oh wow, that's wild. I mean I actually read something similar a while back about guys using those cheap sensors on tugboat engines to catch bearing wear before it got bad. I guess the tech has gotten good enough that even the budget stuff can pick up real problems if you know what to look for. It's kind of crazy how much money you can save by catching stuff early with a simple tool like that. I'm definitely gonna think about grabbing one now for my own setup.

samf9522d agoTop Commenter

Right on, that's exactly the kind of thing I've seen work. A buddy of mine caught a failing water pump bearing on his forklift with a cheap ultrasonic sensor, saved him from a total breakdown. Just gotta make sure you test it on a known good part first so you know what "normal" sounds like.