Elevator and Escalator Installation, Assembly, and Replacement
Domain focus
The installation, assembly, and replacement domain tests whether you can take a job from hoistway survey through final adjustment: verifying dimensions and plumb, setting machines and sheaves, aligning guide rails, assembling car slings and doors, reeving ropes, and assembling escalator trusses, steps, and balustrades. The exam favors sequence, tolerances, and component orientation over memorized torque values.
Core rules and concepts
- Survey before setting: hoistway plumb, pit depth, overhead, bracket locations, and machine-room beam elevations must match the layout drawing. Correct structural or dimensional errors before equipment is landed.
- Align guide rails in two planes with a piano wire or laser; adjust brackets and shims. Do not spring a rail into alignment by over-tightening clips.
- Set machine beams level and grout or shim to the manufacturer's tolerance; check sheave alignment and rope fall.
- Reeve to the specified ratio. In 2:1 roping, rope travel and rope speed are twice car travel; in 1:1 they match. Confirm dead-end hitch and compensation arrangement.
- Escalator assembly: truss alignment first, then step chain, steps, comb plates, skirt panels, handrail drive, and balustrade clearances. Step-to-skirt and comb-to-step gaps are final-adjustment items.
Worked example
A precision level on a 6-ft machine beam reads 0.006 in/ft high at one end. The correction is 0.006 × 6 = 0.036 in. Shim the low end by about 0.036 in, re-level, and re-check sheave alignment; do not compensate by shimming the machine feet only, which can distort the bedplate.
Traps
Using car travel as rope length in 2:1; aligning rails by eye; mixing left/right door hardware; setting escalator clearances before the truss is loaded and aligned; and accepting a beam that is level across but out of elevation along its length.