🔍 Key Concepts

• How end play in a Kingsbury-type thrust bearing is set versus how the shaft’s axial position (where the rotor sits in the turbine casing) is set. • Which parts in the illustration move only the bearing components relative to each other, and which parts move the entire bearing assembly relative to the shaft. • What changing the thickness of the adjusting ring, thrust collar, or filler piece would physically do to the clearances shown in SE-0007.

💭 Think About

• After you have already set the correct total end play, which component could you change so that the turbine rotor shifts fore or aft without disturbing that already-correct end play? • Compare what happens if you change the thickness of the thrust collar versus something between the bearing housing and its support: which one changes the internal clearance between the thrust elements and which one simply re-locates the bearing as a whole? • Looking at SE-0007, if you moved the whole thrust bearing housing slightly to the right or left along the shaft, how would that affect the rotor’s position in the turbine without altering the distance between the upper and lower thrust elements?

✅ Before You Answer

• Be sure which part in the drawing is the adjusting ring (used to set total end play between the upper and lower thrust elements). • Identify which part is the filler piece between the bearing housing and its support: this part relocates the whole bearing along the shaft axis. • Ask yourself: does changing this part’s thickness alter the internal clearance between thrust collar and thrust elements, or does it just shift the entire assembly fore or aft on the shaft? The correct choice should mainly do the latter.