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Nikolai
Nikolai

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From web dev to hardware founder: I build portable balancing instruments

Hi, I'm Nikolai Shelkovenko — CEO and co-founder of Vibromera, based in Porto, Portugal.

Nikolai Shelkovenko

I got into hardware the way many developers do: sideways. I joined the family engineering project to build its website — and stayed. Then came production, sales, and 13+ years of hands-on field balancing: mulchers, fans, crushers, centrifuges and spindles. Along the way I even ran my own mulchers, clearing right-of-way corridors for power lines, gas and oil pipelines — so I'm not only a developer, but also an operator who drove and maintained this equipment himself.

On my own mulcher, clearing a right-of-way corridor

Today Vibromera designs and builds the Balanset line of portable instruments for dynamic balancing and vibration analysis. The idea is simple: a rotor should be balanced where it works — on its own bearings, without taking the machine apart — and the software should do the math so the engineer can focus on the mechanics.

Field balancing of a fan at a machine-building plant

On-site balancing training with a customer's crew

Here I'll write about vibration diagnostics, balancing practice, measurement hardware and its Windows software, and running a small engineering company — including how we use AI tools in day-to-day work with customers.

More at vibromera.eu.

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