Soft Foot, What is It & How to Minimize It -- Brad Case

SOFT FOOT–WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO MINIMIZE IT
By Brad Case in Bases, Featured, Machinery Installation and Best Practices, Shims, Soft FootJune 4th,
2010
Soft foot is a common issue when aligning rotating equipment. It is a major cause of repeatability problems in
shaft alignment measurements. In addition to alignment quality and repeatability problems, it can be a cause of
machinery vibration, reduce life in electric motors, and cause internal clearance problems in gearboxes and
pumps.
But if the proper precautions are taken, soft foot can be minimized and controlled.
The term “soft foot” is the common term used for the improper contact between a machine casing, and the
baseplate used to support it. It may be either an angular or parallel soft foot, but often it is a combination of the
two.
It is often compared to a straight-backed wooden chair, where one leg, being shorter, does not contact the floor,
causing a rocking motion in the chair when you are seated in it. While this is a good mental image, soft foot in
machinery is a little more complex. While an angular soft foot might make contact with a baseplate or
foundation, it does not make a UNIFORM amount of contact. Once base bolts are tightened, the foot tends to
bend to conform to the baseplate to which it is mounted.
CAUSES OF SOFT FOOT CONDITIONS
 Twisted or warped machinery foundations or baseplates.
 Twisted, warped, or damaged machinery feet.
 Improper amount of shims under machine feet.
 Dirt, trash, or other unwanted materials under machine feet.
 Dents or other flaws in machine base or machine feet.
 Excessive tension on machine feet due to jack bolts warping the machine feet.
WHAT SOFT FOOT DOES TO YOUR ALIGNMENTS

As stated above, soft foot conditions adversely affect alignment quality and repeatability. Here’s how:
Regardless of whether you have:
 an angular or parallel soft foot,

 a bent or deformed shim,
 a bolt hole with a burr,
 a bent motor foot,
 a deformed machine base,
it can cause the same type of problem. Once you tighten the bolt where the soft foot is, you change the relative
position of the shaft. In other words, the position of the shaft changes between tight and loose. If you have used
laser alignment tools, you might have noticed that there is sometimes a foot that causes a noticeable change in
the vertical or horizontal readings as you tighten a particular bolt. Often, this is the location of the soft foot
condition.
Notice that the relative position of the shaft centerline changes due to changes in the position of the soft foot.
In addition, unless you tighten and loosen the bolts in sequence, the position of the shaft centerline in relation to
the stationary machine can change. As an example, if you tighten the inboard left foot first one time, and the
inboard right foot the second time, you may take measurements in different shaft centerline locations. Using the
straight-backed chair analogy, not tightening in a known sequence causes the movable machine to “rock” into
different positions.
STEPS TO MINIMIZE AND CONTROL SOFT FOOT

 Confirm that base plates and foundations are installed and leveled to specifications.
 Make sure that baseplates and machine feet are clean, deburred and free from dents in the areas to which
machinery will be mounted.
 Use clean, flat shims. If you must cut thicker shims from steel stock, be sure they are clean, flat and deburred.
 Once the machine components are placed on the baseplate, rough align, and perform a gross soft foot check of
both the movable and stationary machines.
 Leave all foot bolts loose
 Check one foot at a time, on at least three corners of each foot, with a 0.005” shim or feeler gauge. Correct by
shimming with the minimum number of shims possible. If an angular soft foot condition exists, cut one shim in
half, leaving the tab in place, to make it easier to reposition.
 Do not attempt to cut several shims to “step” the shim thicknesses under a particular foot. While this might seem
like a good idea to increase the amount of contact area, it becomes much more complicated to reposition several
shims each time.
 Once gross soft foot has been corrected, tighten each bolt, using a bolt torque pattern similar to the diagram
below. The starting point can be any foot, as long as the same pattern is followed EACH TIME the feet are
loosened and tightened.
 Once all bolts are tight, loosen one foot, and recheck for soft foot with a 0.002” shim or feeler gauge. Repeat the
process of checking each foot at three corners, to identify angular soft foot. Shim to correct as needed. Then
retighten the foot and move to the next one. Repeat this process until all feet have been checked and shimmed as
needed.
 Tighten foot bolts using 3 passes and following the same bolt torque pattern on each pass. 1st pass tighten to
hand tight. 2nd pass tighten the bolts, using a wrench, to around 50% tightness. 3rd pass, complete tightening the
bolts. This will minimize the effect of any remaining soft foot.
 Additional soft foot checks can be done using laser alignment tools that have soft foot check capability or with
dial indicators. But be mindful that soft foot can not only be in the machine foot – it can also be in the baseplate
to which the machine is mounted. In other words, when you loosen the foot bolt, the machine foot may not
move, but the base or support underneath it might. This can happen when the foot of the machine you are
aligning is thicker than the base or riser onto which it sits. In the exa
example
mple below, if the motor feet are tightened,
the base may bend upward to contact the thicker motor foot.
 If the base moves up to contact the motor foot, you may not be able to measure it with a laser alignment tool, or
a dial indicator, but it might stilll cause a soft foot response in the movement of the motor. A shim or feeler
gauge is preferred to determine and correct this type of soft foot.
Tags:"soft foot"
About the Author
Brad Case
Brad Case has been associated with VibrAlign since 1990, first as a manufacturer's representative, then joining
the company as a direct employee in 2005. He has 25 years experience in aligning industrial machinery. Brad
began his career in the automotive industry
ndustry providing technical training, sales, and service for Murray Goldseal
an aftermarket air conditioning component manufacturer. His background includes 25 plus years experience in
sales, service and training for centralized lubrication systems (includ
(including
ing large scale oil mist applications in
petrochemical facilities), couplings, gearing, and gear reducers. Brad and his wife currently live in Allen, TX.
7 Comments
1. Marc
March 21, 2013 at 4:07 am

Brad,
I have a doubt. I am doing pump alignment. The soft foot & pre-alignment
pre alignment without flange bolting is
within tolerance .005mm. Then bolts were tighten, the offset & angular on the vertical position /
movement is within tolerance (0.005) but the soft foot/shim value at far end of motor has increased to
.008. Is this acceptable as long as the offset & angular value is alright or we have to adjsut the shims
again.
Thanks.
Reply
o D Mike Minks
April 11, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Marc. soft foot check is the first thing you look for when initially installing a motor/pump configuration.
The next is flange stresses. Most pump manufacturers have minimum standards but if those were
not stated either in the installation specifications or in shipp
shipping
ing documents, you should use the same
standard – the alignment standard of 2 mils.
This may require loosening of the expansion joints of the inlet and outlet piping. If not installed,
expansion joints may need to be installed to eliminate flange stresses. If these stresses are left
unattended, bearings and possibly pump internals may be out of tolerance and cause premature
failure.
Reply
2. naaz
March 8, 2013 at 2:17 pm
But in api stander half or cutting not allowed.then how can I remove angler softfoot?
Reply
o Brad Case
March 13, 2013 at 12:18 am
Naaz,
You are correct. API 610 also specifies flatness tolerances for bases, machine pads, and feet. All of
which are well under the allowable soft foot tolerance, angled or otherwise.
If you have a machine with an angled soft foot that is more than the acceptable tolerance (2 to 3
mils) and can’t cut a shim in half to correct than a course of action to correct the problem needs to be
discussed with your engineering department as either the foot (or base) in question may no longer
meet the API flatness tolerances.
A short term solution maybe to temporarily allow a cut shim until a time when the machine feet/base
can be checked for flatness. You may also check into having a special shim ground to a taper to
match the angled soft foot.
Reply
3. S D banerjee
January 23, 2013 at 10:17 am
Is it essential to put shims between a gearbox and its bedplate to avoid vibrations due to soft foot?
Reply
o Stan Riddle
January 24, 2013 at 6:43 am
It is essential to minimize soft foot, so if it exists between the bedplate and the gearbox, yes. Not only
can it increase vibration, it can make alignment more difficult, and change clearances within the
gearbox, due to case distortion. Many of the gearboxes I have installed need a slight amount of
shimming due to irregularities in the baseplate.
Reply
4. Muhammad Hunain
December 19, 2012 at 1:38 pm
I found this blog very helpful for me, i have some confusion regarding soft foot.
thanks.

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SOFT FOOT–WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO MINIMIZE IT

WHAT SOFT FOOT DOES TO YOUR ALIGNMENTS

 an angular or parallel soft foot,

STEPS TO MINIMIZE AND CONTROL SOFT FOOT

March 21, 2013 at 4:07 am

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