I finally listened to old Sal about rail alignment

Been doing elevators for 8 years. Old Sal, retired guy, told me last month to check my rail brackets with a 4-foot level instead of just the 2-foot. I thought he was just being picky. Tried it on a job in a 12-story building downtown. Found 3 brackets off by almost 1/16th inch. Fixed them before the car went in and now the ride is smooth as glass. Sal was right. Anyone else have a mentor whose advice you ignored at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

max_ramirez481mo ago

Haha yep, I had an old timer named Frank tell me to always run a string line on the rails before tightening anything. Took me three jobs to finally try it and man, the difference in smoothness was night and day.

rosed321mo ago

Oh man, that string line thing. My old mentor, Jerry, he kept yelling at me to use piano wire on a 15 floor hospital job. I figured I knew better with my laser and just skipped it. Got the car in and you could feel it bump on every single floor landing. Had to pull the car back out and redo all the rails with the wire. Took an extra 3 days. That was 5 years ago and now I wont even start a rail job without a wire first. The laser is fine for checking but nothing beats seeing that wire straight.

ellis.rose1mo ago

Damn, that string line trick huh? Did Frank ever tell you how much of a difference it makes on the longer runs, like over 10 floors? I've always wondered if the payoff gets bigger the taller you go, or if it's just a steady improvement.