SO

OFT FOOT T
Causess, Charactteristics, and Solutio
ons
By Ala
an Luedekin
ng

I. Definiition of Soft Foot ............................................................. ..................................................................................... 1

II. Effects ............................................................................................... ..................................................................................... 1
III. Causees .............................................................................................. ..................................................................................... 2
IV. Measu uring Soft Fo oot .................................................................. ..................................................................................... 3
V. Behavvioral Characcteristics of Soft S Foot (Fo our Footed M Machines).................................................................. 7
VI. Analyzing and Correcting a So oft Foot Con ndition ........... ..................................................................................... 9
VII. Comp plex Soft Fee et and Multip ple-Footed Machines M ...... .................................................................................. 23
VIII. Conclusion ...................................................................................... .................................................................................. 26

I. Definittion of So
oft Foot
“Soft Foot”
F is a ge
eneric term that
t represents machinee frame disto tortion. Anything that caauses a
machine frrame or casing to distorrt upon tighttening (or looosening) a h hold-down b bolt is called
d a soft
foot. As such,
s a soft foot condition can ha ave many d different cau uses, which produce diifferent
behaviors of the machhine casing as it distortss. A given b behavior can n be analyzeed to determ mine its
probable cause,
c which in turn mayy suggest the e likeliest so lution to thee problem.

II. Effectts of Soft Foot

F
The efffects of a soft foot condition are nummerous, andd all are harm
mful. When a machine th hat has
a soft foott condition is anchored tightly to itss foundation
n, the resulting distortion of its casin
ng and
bearing ho ousings defllects the shaft internallyy as the beaaring bores of the macchine move out of
alignment with each other. This shaft disto ortion chang ges its position in relaation to the e other
machine shaft
s that iss coupled to
o it. The reesulting missalignment o of the cente
terlines of ro
rotation
between the two coupled shafts produces exxcessive vib ration that ccauses prem mature wear in the
rotating coomponents of the mach hines, such asa the couplling, bearinggs, and rotors. In additioon, the
vibration from
f o the centerrlines of rotaation results in premature wear and failure
the missalignment of
of seals, packing, and other non-rotating elements of th e machine. Catastrophicc machine fa ailures,
unplanned d downtime and higher repair
r costs are
a the conssequences.

The internal misallignment of the bearing g bores res ulting from a soft foott distortion of the
machine frrame also inncreases the radial load on the bearrings, since itt is the bearrings that caarry the
shaft and must act dirrectly upon it to deflectt or distort tthe shaft. Thhe increased
d radial force es that
result from
m this actio on drasticallyy reduce be earing life. The life exppectancy of a ball bearing is
inversely proportional
p o of the desiign load to aactual radial load, cubed. This mean
to the ratio ns that
doubling the
t radial lo
oad on a ba all bearing reduces its l ife expectanncy (under ootherwise iddentical
operating conditions) by eight tim mes. Tripling the load redduces it by 27 times! Thiss can be exppressed
as a formuula:

3
D e s ig n L o a d
E x p e c te d B e a rin g L ife = ( B 10 H o u rs L ife )
A c tu a l L o a d

Formula
F 1

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 B10 Hoours Life is th er’s given miinimum life e
he bearing manufacture
m expectancy ffor a group o
of 90%
of identica
al bearings at maximum m design lo
oad and speeed conditio ons. Actual bearing life under
normal conditions mayy typically bee expected to
t be betweeen three to ffive times th
he B10 Hourss Life.

In addition to incre
easing radial load on the
e bearing, a soft foot-caaused distorttion of the b
bearing
housings also
a distorts the bearings themselves. See Figuree 1.

Fig.
F 1

This diistortion is often

o eviden
nced by diametrically oopposed weaar zones on n the inside of the
outer race o roller bearing. This prresupposes that the beaaring was prroperly insta
e of a ball- or alled in
the first place, free from unintendeed preloads..

As the shaft turns, it must alw ways conformm to the pat hway of the e bearing boores. Therefo ore, the
elastic defflection in th
he structure of the shaftt induced byy the soft fo oot is ampliffied to doub ble the
magnitude e of the deflection that exists when n at rest. As it turns, the
e shaft is beeing fully deflected
back and forth
f cyclically, every 18
80° of rotatio
on. Figure 2 below show ws this, by illustrating th
he path
that the unnrestrained shaft
s would take if the deflection
d in it were a peermanent be end in the strructure
of the shafft.

Fig. 2

a directionss at twice th e speed of rrotation, sincce it reversess every

ending action occurs in all
This be
half a revo
olution. Thuss, a machinee that spins at
a 1800 RPM M and runs ccontinuouslyy will have itts shaft
deflected cyclically
c 5,1
184,000 timees a day! (2 times every rrevolution × 1800 RPM × 60 minute es × 24
hours). Eve uctural fatigue may resu
entually, stru ult in an uneexpected bre eak of the sshaft, perhap ps only
after numerous prior bearing and d seal failurres have occcurred due to the vibra ation this be ending
action indu
uces.

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III. Causes of Soft Foot
A soft foot can be caused by many different things. Missing shims under one or more feet may
cause the machine frame to distort as the hold-down bolts are tightened. Too many shims under a
foot may create a high spot on the base that also produces distortion. Bent feet or angled support
pads under the feet will distort the machine frame as its feet are tightened down. Similarly, on a
vertical flange-mounted machine, a non-planar contact between the machine flange and its
support surface will produce distortion.

An externally induced machine frame distortion may occur if pipe stress is present; this is also
properly considered a ‘soft foot’ situation. Why? Improper pipefitting can exert enormous stresses
on the machine frame, trying to pull, push, or twist the frame away from its intended position. If the
hold down bolts were entirely absent, these pipe stresses might be great enough to lift the
machine right off the base, or angle it with respect to its base. Therefore, as the hold down bolts
are tightened to anchor the machine down, its frame is distorted, just the same as if there were
shims missing under a foot or the soleplate were angled with respect to the foot. Thus, pipe strain
falls under the family of causes that produce a “soft foot” situation, or machine frame distortion.

Incidentally, similar distortion may be created through thermal growth or dynamic positional
shifts of a running machine that is placed under operating loads. These are no longer considered
soft foot since they are a product of the machines’ own dynamic behavior when in operation. As
such, they would instead be handled by means of special design accommodations to the
foundation, base or structure of the machine itself, and by alignment target specifications during
the “cold” alignment procedure, and thus fall outside the scope of this discussion.

IV. Measuring Soft Foot

Proper measurement of the effects of soft foot involves discerning and quantifying the impact
on shaft movement that results from loosening or tightening a hold down bolt. The careful
measurement and comparison of these movements from foot to foot can help us ascertain why the
machine is behaving the way it does, which in turn puts one well along the way to finding the right
solution to the problem. The overall ‘picture’ of how the machine frame behaves is important to
understanding why it reacts as it does, each time an individual foot is loosened or tightened. To
obtain this picture, several careful steps must be taken, with a thorough understanding of the
measurement techniques and principles involved.

Usually, a soft foot condition can be corrected simply by shimming the correct machine foot or
feet by the correct amounts. Sometimes this even involves step shimming a foot* if the problem is
an angled soleplate or bent foot, or may require actual remachining of the foot or support surface.
On the other hand, eliminating an “induced” soft foot (i.e., pipe stress) (see Section V) simply
requires removing the undue external forces that are acting on the machine frame.

The Measurement Procedure — Considerations

In order to correctly diagnose (i.e., analyze and reach a conclusion as to correction) a soft foot
problem, it is necessary to understand why the machine behaves in the ways that it does, in
reaction to soft foot stresses. It must be emphasized here that a soft foot condition means that a
machine frame is strained (i.e., distorted) and therefore under constant stress when all of its feet are
bolted down at the correct torque. Since most machines have four feet, and three points always
define a plane, fitting a fourth point into that plane will always require careful machining or
shimming, as well as clean conditions. Fulfilling these requirements will usually take care of most

* For more information on step shimming see the article Best Practices: Machinery Alignment Shimming by Alan
Luedeking, under the Resources tab on the Ludeca website at: http://www.ludeca.com/res_articles_alignment.php

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soft foot problems. To discover if a soft foot exists on a four-footed machine, one should only
loosen one foot at a time, with the other three feet tight!*

The frame will always seek to relieve the stress within it, to the greatest extent possible,
wherever it can. Thus, as you loosen each foot individually (always with the other three tight) that
foot will move, relieving as much of the distortion within the machine frame as possible for its
location. As the frame and bearing housings undistort, the internal alignment of the bearings will
change; therefore, the shaft contained within these bearings will also undeflect and move. This
movement will result in a change in the alignment of this shaft with respect to the other shaft that
it is coupled to, and it is this change that we seek to accurately measure. When considered jointly
with the nature of the movement of the feet, this information is highly significant in helping to
diagnose the cause, and by extension, the solution for the problem. Since a machine frame is a
structure of complex shape and varying flexibility, it is more important to know how much the shaft
has moved when a particular foot is loosened or tightened, than it is to know just how much the
foot itself moved. On a rigid frame with flimsy feet, you could see significant foot movement with
very little effect on overall frame and shaft distortion. In the opposite scenario, a weak machine
frame with very sturdy feet might mean that even just a little foot movement represents significant
machine frame and shaft distortion. Therefore, relying on foot movement only to diagnose the
problem may not be entirely reliable—in fact, it can be highly misleading. Thus, shaft movement is
“all important” in diagnosing the situation. Let us delve a little deeper into why this is so: Keeping in
mind that three points constitute a perfect plane, imagine now a rigid machine frame with four
feet, whose undersides are all perfectly machined into a plane. This frame with perfect feet rests
upon a perfectly clean, glass-smooth base that is also perfectly flat. Now imagine that all four feet
are torqued tight to this base. Now loosen just one of these feet. Obviously, under these perfect
conditions, nothing should move when you loosen just that one foot, because any one of the four
feet is in the plane of the other three. If, on the other hand, you loosen one foot and shaft
movement occurs, what can one conclude, beyond the shadow of a doubt? That machine frame
distortion was present when all four feet were tight, for whatever reason(s) might be causing it.

Now let us examine a bit more closely the nature of the shaft movement that results from
relieving stress within a frame by loosening a foot. Shaft movement from distortion relief can be
characterized as primarily angular in nature, since only one foot is being allowed to move, with the
others tight. Since the amount of offset at the coupling generated by this movement is dependent
on the distances involved (rise over run), it can be highly variable, depending on the geometry of
the machine. Therefore, it is better to directly measure the angularity of this observed movement
instead. Laser systems which employ only the “reverse indicator” approach to measurement, or only
measure offset, are necessarily limited in their usefulness for measuring the effects of soft foot.
Much better is a system that directly measures the angularity of the movement and then calculates
the foot movement from that value.

The Soft Foot Function of the best laser alignment systems will detect the change in relative
vertical angularity that occurs when a foot is loosened, and calculates the corresponding value of
foot movement that would have been required to produce it. The values displayed by a Rotalign
Ultra for instance, are calculated according to the following formula:

Soft Foot Reading = |2∆VA (FB)|

Formula 2
where VA is the change in the Vertical Angularity, and FB is the distance Front Foot to Back Foot
of the machine being checked. The result is always displayed as an absolute value.

Why is vertical angularity measured, and not horizontal? Given that the anchor bolts are
tightened in the vertical direction, a machine’s movement resulting from the distortion its frame
must always have a vertical component to it. A change in horizontal angularity may also occur, but

* If a machine has more than four supports, loosen all except the four nearest the rotor supports, and treat the
machine as if it were an ordinary four-footed one, providing you are dealing with a compact, rigid frame.

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its magnitu
ude and dire
ection are unnpredictable
e and possib
bly inconsiste ent, and therefore less suitable
to the accu
urate and co
onsistent dettection and measuremen
m nt of a soft ffoot problem
m.

Since the
t laser aliggnment systtem measure es the chang ge in relative
e shaft angu ularity and n
not the
pure mach hine foot mo ovement per se, it is no ot a pure gaap meter forr the air gap p that may a appear
under a machine foot when you lo oosen it. Insttead, it is a ssoft foot effe
fects meter. WWhat this means is
that the ca
alculated vallue for soft foot
f at the machine
m foo
ot is just thatt: a calculate
ed value and d not a
directly ob
bserved movvement at th hat foot. Sincce the mach hine’s movem ment is by definition disstorted,
and the innherent flexibbility of the machine fra ame and beaaring play aabsorb some e of the strain, it is
quite natuural to obtaiin a calculate
ted value thaat is slightlyy different (u usually smaller) than what that
foot may actually
a havee moved.

Note also
a that it is irrelevant too the system
m which foott is loosened d on either m
machine, sincce only
the Front to
t Back Foo ot dimension n is involved. This has thhe advantage that you m may check ffor soft
foot on booth machines without ha aving to swittch the laserr emitter and
d receiver co
omponents a around
on the shafts, so long as you make m sure thhat the Fron nt to Back Foot distan nce entered in the
computer is the corre ect one for the machine e whose foo ot you are cchecking. Fu urthermore, it also
does not matter
m whetther you tak ke your read he foot tight and loosen it, or
dings by starrting with th
start with the foot loo ose and tigh hten it, since
e the displayyed value foor the soft ffoot readingg is the
calculated absolute va alue of the undistorted
u foot
f movem ent, regardle ess of whethher this movvement
was positivve or negatiive. In the sa ame vein, it is immateriaal whether a right or lefft foot is loo
osened.
This gives the laser system’s Softt Foot Function great vversatility fo or ease of use. (Incidentally, a
torque wrrench and properp lubriication of the fastener threads arre a must ffor a correcct (and
repeatablee) tightening g of the hold-down boltss.)

Lastly, if you look at the formula again, yo ou will noticce that the m
measured ve ertical angularity is
doubled in n order to calculate the soft foot re eading. This is necessaryy since you a are only loo
osening
one foot ata a time. Since in norm mal machine frames the shaft is locaated exactly half way be etween
the left pa nd the right pair of feet (as you lookk along the axis of the sshafts), then,, if you
air of feet an
loosen only the left foot
f and it were
w to rise
e ten mils, wwhile the rigght foot is left tight and rises
nothing, thhen it follow
ws that the sh
haft in the middle
m betweeen them will only rise 5 mils. See Fiigure 3
below. Thus, the vertical angula arity at the shaft centeerlines that is produce ed by a sofft foot
movementt as you loossen or tighte en the foot is only half thhe value thaat would havve been obta ain had
both front feet or both h back feet been
b raised together
t by the same am mount that tthe single so
oft foot
alone movved.

Fig. 3

To find
d the correctt shimming solution
s for the soft foott problem reequires additional analysis and
may require measurem ment of the actual gap values
v that aappear unde eet. These are best
er the soft fe
obtained with
w feeler gauge
g readinngs taken under the so e these are loose, alwayys with
oft feet while
the other feet
f he objective is to accura
tight. Th ately measurre this air gaap and deterrmine wheth her it is
even or unneven, so as to determin ne the shape e or taper ppattern of the air gap. In
n the event tthat an
uneven (no ot parallel) airgap
a is meeasured, it is important tto know the e direction oof taper or sllope (if
any), as this will greatly help you to diagnose e the types oof forces acting on the fframe, and thereby
hint at a probable
p cau
use. A significcant taper means
m that a consistent difference inn the measuured air
gap of at least two tho o an inch (0..002") occurss from one ccorner (or ed
ousandths of dge) of the ffoot to

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the opposite corner or edge. Always make a note of which way the air gap points, from highest to
lowest. To do this, mike the air gap at the four corners of the soft foot itself, by measuring the
separation between the underside of the foot and the top of the shim pack which is already in
place. Again, it is imperative that this area be clean and the shims in excellent condition in order to
be able to do this accurately. You may omit miking the corner of the foot that is farthest inside the
machine frame, if it is too difficult to reach, provided that the three outside corners of the foot can
be accurately miked. These three should be sufficient to establish the direction of taper, if any.

The procedure to measure soft foot follows, and applies only to four-footed machines, or those
rigid machines with more than four feet whose non-rotor-bearing feet have been preloosened so
as to treat such a machine as if it were just a four-footed one. Machines whose frames are not rigid
or more complex situations are treated in Section VII.

The Measurement Procedure — Sequence of Steps

1) Thoroughly clean the area under and around the machine feet.
2) Rough-align the machines to remove any coupling strain. Even if uncoupled, you should still
rough align prior to beginning soft foot measurement procedures, since soft foot conditions
may change if large moves are later made later in aligning the machines. Also eliminate any
obvious air gaps or gross soft foot conditions, using four or fewer (if possible) precut stainless
steel shims.
3) Use your laser system’s Soft Foot Function to obtain a soft foot reading at each foot of the
machine. Remember to loosen only one foot at a time, always keeping the other three tight.
Any reading greater than 0.002" is considered a soft foot. If your laser system does not record
these values for you then record these values manually for later use.
4) After each measurement tighten that foot completely to the correct torque value and then
repeat Step 3 for all four feet (if practical) to establish repeatability.
5) Once each foot has been loosened in turn and all soft foot readings recorded, see if any of
them is greater than two mils (0.002"). If so, use feeler gauges or an inside micrometer to
carefully measure the air gap under the foot with the largest soft foot reading first. If necessary,
mike the others also. (The determination of whether or not it is necessary to measure the air
gap under the foot or feet with the second and/or third largest readings will be addressed later
in this paper, as we analyze different soft foot situations.)
6) Analyze the data obtained and “diagnose” the soft foot condition, and decide on a corrective
action.
7) Correct the problem.
8) Recheck soft foot starting at Step 3 to make sure that the problem has indeed been eliminated.
9) Proceed with the final alignment of the machines, preserving any relative differentials in
shimming under the feet while performing alignment corrections.

This general procedure applies to both (or all) machines in your machine train. Always find and
correct soft foot on the stationary machine first, and then on any machines to be moved.
Remember, it is not necessary to switch your laser system components around on the shafts to
obtain soft foot readings for the feet of the Stationary Machine, if you have a competent laser
alignment system that allows you to set any pair of feet in the train to be stationary. (Just make
sure all of your dimensions are entered correctly for the orientation of your actual setup.)

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The “Soft Foot Diagram” shown below
b in Figu
ure 4 is a haandy form fo
or recording and analyziing the
laser soft foot
f readings and air gap
ps that you obtain.
o

Fig. 4

V. Behav
vioral Characteristiccs of Soft Foot (Fou
ur-footed Machiness)
A soft foot condition in a macchine frame can be accu urately measured and an nalyzed in te
erms of
the shaft and
a foot movvement thatt it generates upon tighttening or loo osening a ho old-down bo olt. The
overall “picture” which h emerges from
f studyin
ng these sh aft and foot movementts relative to o each
other can be used to o diagnose the
t kely causes (and hence the likeliestt solutions) to the
most lik
problem. All
A these mo ovements, ta
aken togetheer, representt the “behavvior” pattern characteristtic of a
particular soft
s foot con
ndition.

Soft fo
oot behaviorr can be classsified accordding to its ccauses. Four basic types or families of soft
ns can be readily identified. These a re:
foot behavvioral pattern
Type 1)
1 “Rocking soft
s foot”
Type 2) “Angled so
oft foot”
Type 3) “Induced soft
s foot”
Type 4)
4 “Squishy soft
s foot”

Within each of the ese types orr families off behavior p

patterns, the
ere may exisst several subtypes
(more speecific behavior patternss) that are representatiive of particular soft ffoot conditio ons or
problems. Following, we will preesent variouss individual behavior p pattern combinations th hat are
representa
ative of these
e types.

Type 1: The
T Rocking Soft Foo
ot
Type 1a: The “Short
rt Foot” Roccking Soft Foot
Fo
In this situation, alsso called a “short foot ro
ocker” or “paarallel soft fo ot of a four-footed
oot”, one foo
machine iss missing sh hims, or is machined
m too
o short. Thiss will cause the machine e to rock be etween
this ‘short’’ foot and thhe one locate ed diagonally across fro
om it on the other side. T The other tw wo feet
of the macchine form a high ridge e, across whiich the shortt foot and itts diagonallyy opposed p partner
will rock. When
W all fou
ur feet are tigghtened dow wn, the shorrt foot and its diagonallyy opposed p partner
are both fo orced to con ntact the support surfacce. Since thee machine fraame is flexib ble, it will bo
ow and
deform to o accommod date itself to the new configuratio on of the ffeet. This is exactly the e same
situation as
a would occcur with a ch hair that has one leg tooo short and rrocks. If a heeavy person sits on
a it no longer rocks, it is because
this chair and e the structu
ure of the ch hair has deflected and ttwisted
until all foour feet con ntact the grround. The machine mu ust be prop perly shimm med to corre ect this
situation or
o it will defoorm to the exxtent that it can, when tthe anchor b htened, resulting in
bolts are tigh
internal misalignment
m of the bearing bores, poor seal co ontact and sseal deformations, and undue
bearing prreloads, as previously disscussed.

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Type 1b: The “Even” Rocking Soft Foot
Here we have two “short feet” or shims missing evenly from two diagonally opposed feet on a
four-footed machine. In this situation, the machine will behave similarly to the case of the short
foot rocker (Type 1a), in that it rocks between the two feet missing shims. Again, both ‘short’ feet
must be shimmed up, or both ‘high’ feet must have shims removed from them to correct the
problem. The first alternative is usually to be preferred over the other since it corrects the problem
without affecting the existing shaft alignment of the machines. It is also very likely that shims may
be missing in unequal amounts from these diagonally opposed corners. This we might call an
“uneven rocking soft foot.” The diagnostic techniques and solutions remain the same, however. See
Section VI for more detail on analyzing and correcting the problem.

Type 1c: The “High Foot” Rocking Soft Foot

Also called a “high foot rocker”, in this case, a machine with four feet has too many shims under
one foot, or that foot is machined too long, or a bump or protrusion on the base upon which that
foot rests is affecting it. Again the machine will rock, but this time between the two feet adjacent to
the ‘high’ foot, which are diagonally opposed to each other. Here, either the high foot must have
some shims removed from it, or the other three feet can be shimmed up to make them parallel
with the high foot. However, an even better third alternative exists which will be discussed in the
section devoted to detailed analysis and corrections (Section VI). This excellent third alternative is
revealed by means of the “Short Cut Method” for rocking soft feet and will be discussed in detail at
the end of Section VI.

Type 2: The Angled Soft Foot

Type 2a: The “Outside” Angled Soft Foot
Sometimes called an “outside bent foot soft foot”, this situation presents one or more feet on a
machine which are bent up to the outside, or mismachined on an angle with respect to the support
surface, in such a way that only the inner edge or corner contacts the support surface when the
foot is unloaded and undistorted. Alternatively, the foot may be perfect, and instead it is the base,
sole plate, or other support surface which is angled relative to the foot. In these cases, the angled
contact between the foot and its support surface will cause the both the foot and the machine
frame to distort as this foot’s hold-down bolt is tightened and the foot is forced to deflect until it
fully contacts the support surface. Moreover, tightening the outside angled foot will cause lifting
forces to be induced in the machine frame. This is further evidenced by the shaft and foot
movement that occurs when the other, (not angled), feet are loosened and rise.

Type 2b: The “Inside” Angled Soft Foot

In this case, also called an “inside bent foot soft foot”, the contact between foot and base again
is angled, but this time with a decreasing slope from inside to outside. In other words, with the
problem foot loosened, an uneven air gap will be seen, highest on the inside. This results in
primarily negative (downward) forces being induced in the machine frame when the foot is
tightened. This time, loosening the two adjacent feet will not relieve the stress within the frame
much, and little or no movement occurs, as these feet are trying to move downwards into the base
instead. The diagonally opposite foot may experience some positive rise due to the conversion of
the negative forces “washing over” the “hump” formed by the nearer two feet. More on this in
Section VI.

Type 3: The Induced Soft Foot

Type3: The “Induced” Soft Foot
This is a broad classification which embodies most types of distortion produced by outside
forces acting on the machine frame. By far the most common of these is pipe strain, or conduit
strain. It is obvious that improper pipefitting may exert substantial forces on the machine casing,
resulting in machine frame distortion when the improperly fitted pipe is forced to mate to its
counterpart flange on the machine. The existence of pipe stress and its exact effects of on shaft
alignment can be measured and quantified by way of a special procedure described in Ludeca’s

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TechNotes for various different laser alignment systems such as Rotalign® Ultra and Optalign®
Smart RS. (TechNotes are a series of documents with procedures to deal with special applications,
available from Ludeca, Inc.) In this paper we are concerned more with the effects pipe stress has on
machine frame distortion (soft foot) than with its impact on shaft alignment; however, the
elimination of undue pipe stress solves both problems at once and a competent pipefitter can be
the millwright’s best friend in these situations.
The effects of pipe stress on machine distortion and movement are very difficult to predict or
quantify accurately. However, in general, when a machine evidences a soft foot problem but its
behavior pattern does not fall into one of the clearly defined patterns that characterize the other
types of soft foot problems, then an induced soft foot should be suspected and an independent
pipe strain verification procedure should be undertaken to prove that a pipe strain problem exists.
Let us add here a small clarification of terms: “Pipe Stress” is the force exerted on a machine frame
from improperly fitted and supported piping; “Pipe Strain” is the resulting distortion from that
stress.
Coupling strain from misalignment of the coupled shafts may also cause the shaft and feet to
move when a foot is loosened; however, it is not included in this family of problems since, by
definition, it is an alignment problem. Moreover, as this condition would change or influence an
unrelated soft foot behavior, it must be eliminated prior to embarking on the formal soft foot
measurement procedure. Therefore a rough alignment is essential before beginning soft foot
readings, and should precede all other activity in the alignment job except for safety procedures
(lockout and tag-out) and basic policing of the work area. This also makes sense from the
standpoint of the alignment job in general, since it would be pointless to expend time and effort in
rectifying a soft foot situation only to then discover that the machine is bolt-bound or base-bound
and must come off the base for further corrective action.

Type 4: Squishy Foot Soft Foot

Type 4: The “Squishy” Foot Soft Foot
In this case, when a foot is loosened, a movement of the shafts or feet is again observed.
However, this time it is due to an external force acting on the foot itself, and pushing it up. This
situation can be caused by too many shims under the foot, bowed or bent shims, and shims with
burrs, dirt or oil. The foot will be caused to move by the powerful spring effect of the shims under
that foot (much like a leaf spring.) Having this condition is harmful because it means that the
torque on the hold-down bolt or nut is being exerted in overcoming the spring effect, rather than
being applied to properly anchoring the machine to its foundation. Thus, a bolt torqued to the
proper specs might not necessarily guarantee that that foot is adequately secured against
operational load stresses.
A “squishy soft foot” is a condition that should be eliminated in the initial clean-up and rough
alignment of the machine, prior to the formal soft foot checking procedure. Good alignment
practice suggests that one never use more than three, or at the most four, clean, precut stainless
steel shims under a foot. Good base preparation will ensure that it is never necessary to violate this
rule of thumb, since standard commercially available precut shims allow you to achieve any desired
thickness of up to 0.150" with three or fewer shims, given the 13 different standard thicknesses
normally available. It is important to note that precut stainless steel shims that are clean and flat
will exhibit a compression factor of at most 0.5% to 1% of the total thickness involved. (In contrast
to this, brass hand-cut shims may yield as much as 5% to 6% compression!) Additionally, one
should allow approximately 0.00025" to 0.0005" movement for each air gap between shims.
Therefore, the acceptable tolerance for a soft foot movement or laser reading is 0.002" or less.

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VI. Analy
yzing a So
oft Foot Co
ondition
As mentioned befo ore, the beh
havior patterrn of a soft ffoot condition is a com
mbination of the air
gap patterrns under th he feet as we ngular move ment of the
ell as the an e shaft. The sshaft movemment is
calculated by the laser system as a theoretica al movemen nt of the fooot that was measured. W We will
now explo ore the specific behaviorr patterns of the soft fooot situationns describedd in Section V, and
suggest solutions to these prob blems. Reme ember, each h of these behaviors o occurs onlyy when
individual feet are looosened one at a time, always
a with tthe others ttight! The illustrated exaamples
reflect thiss. Note thatt the explan
nations for behavior
b and d suggestedd solutions relate only to the
specific examples show wn.

Type 1: Rocking Soft Fo

oot
Type 1a: The
T Short Foot Rocking Soft
S Foot

Fig. 5

Behavior:
Your la
aser system will
w show tw wo high valuees diagonallyy opposed. See Figure 55. One of the
ese will
likely be somewhat
s la
arger than th
he other (ussually by 10%% or more.)) In the example given, this is
Foot 1. The remaining g two diagonnally oppose
ed feet (Feett 2 and 4) w
will show 0.00
02" or less a
and are
not considdered soft.
Feeler gauges find d that one ofo the soft feet has an eeven air gap p (not taperred, parallel to the
base.) Thiss will usuallyy be the onne that pressents the higgher laser rreading. The e other, diag
gonally
opposed soft
s foot (Fooot 3), presen
nts a tapered
d air gap that “points” diiagonally (fro
om highest a
air gap
to lowest) towards the e soft foot with the even air gap.

Diagnosis::
The soft fooot with the even air gap
p (and highe er laser read missing shims. (This
ding) is too sshort, or is m
is Foot 1 in e in Figure 5.)
n the illustrated example

Solution:
Shim Foot 1 by the am
mount of the even air gap
p that was m
measured (0.015").

Analysis:

Fig. 5a All 4 feet tight

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 When a foot that isi short or iss missing shims (in this ccase Foot 1)) is forced down to its support
surface witth the other feet alreadyy bolted tigh
ht, the frame will be disto
orted. See Fiigure 5a.

Fig. 5b Foot 1 lo
oose;
2, 3 and 4 tight

If the short
s foot ittself is releassed with the
e other threee feet tight, the stress iis relieved and the
foot will “ppop up” into o the plane of the other three paraallel feet. The e amount byy which it w was too
short will appear
a as an
n even air ga ap under thee foot. The reemaining tw
wo feet that w were not sofft (Feet
2 and 4) will
w not move e if loosened d individuallyy (with the o
others tight),, since they represent th
he high
“ridge” acrross which thet frame is being bowe ed. When b oth soft fee et (Feet 1 an nd 3) are tight, the
forces being exerted on these “h high feet” (Feet 2 and 4 4) are negative (downwards), so no o strain
relief occurs when these feet are lo oosened.

Foot 3 loo
ose;
Fig. 5c 1, 2 and 4 tight

With all feet tight, the stress that the shorrt foot inducces in the fraame will also
o be relieved
d when
hat is located diagonallyy opposite from the sho
the foot th ort foot is lo
oosened. This foot (Foott 3) will
rise, and as
a it does, it leaves the e plane of the other th hree feet, prresenting an n outside-to-inside
tapered air gap that “ppoints” towards the shorrt foot. See FFigure 5c.

It shou
uld be noted and empha asized here that
t this typee of problem
m (the “shortt foot” rockin ng soft
foot), man nifests itselff by generaating unaccceptably hig gh soft foo ot readings at two separate,
diagonallyy opposed lo ocations on the machin ne frame, wh hen the corrrect proced dure is follow
wed of
only looseening one fo oot at a time. As we ha ave just seenn, this does not mean tthat you havve two
separate soft foot problems on the machine; instead,
i you are seeing e evidence of the same prroblem
at more thhan location on the mach hine frame. This
T circumsstance is ofteen the singlee biggest sou urce of
confusion for the inexxperienced millwright,
m le
eading him o or her to “ovvercorrect” tthe problemm as he
or she ends up shimming both soft feet byy the full am mount of th he soft foot reading that was
obtained ata each soft foot. Let us not forget that the maachine frame e will seek to
o relieve thee stress
within it as much as possible
p wheerever possibble, and theerefore it is e
entirely likelyy that we m
may see
evidence ofo a given problem
p in more
m than one location as we loose en the feet o one at a tim
me. The
whole point of these exercises is to familiarizze you with these distin nct behavior patterns, so o as to
spare you the frustrattion of “chassing your tail” (so to sp eak), in perfforming unn necessary so oft foot
corrections. When botth feet are sh himmed by thet full amo ount to corre ect a problemm that only e existed
at one of the
t feet, the problem wiill simply be transferred to the othe er two feet siince you havve now
inadvertenntly created a Type 1c “h high foot” ro
ocking soft ffoot. In otheer words, yo ou “killed the
e same
problem tw wice”, and th
hat is overkill—never a good
g thing.

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Type 1b: The
T Even Roccking Soft Foot

Fig. 6

Behavior:
Laser readings
r indicate soft foot at two dia
agonally op posed feet. The values w
will be identical (or
ar to each other.) The oth
very simila her two feet are not softt.
Feeler gauges find d tapered aiir gaps unde e gaps taper (from high
er both softt feet. These hest to
lowest) fro
om the outsside corner toward
t the inside corneer of the soft feet, each
h pointing in
nwards
towards thhe other diag
gonally oppo
osed soft fooot.

Conclusion
n:
Both so his case Feett 1 and 3) arre “short” or missing shim
oft feet (in th ms.

Solution:
Shim both
b soft fee
et by 50% off the average e air gap thaat was meassured under each of themm. You
may instea
ad remove the same am mount of shim ms from und der the two “high” feet that were no
ot soft;
however, the
t first sugggested solution is betterr, for several reasons. (Se
ee analysis b
below.)

Analysis:

Fig. 6a All four feet tight

When both feet diagonally opposed to each other aree short or missing shimss, tightening all the
feet will bo hine frame across the “hump” or ridg
ow the mach ge formed b
by the two hiigh feet.
Foot 1 loosee;
2, 3 and 4 tiight

Foot 3 lo
oose;
Figs. 6b
6 and 6c 1, 2 and
d 4 tight

Loosenning each so oft foot indivvidually causes it to com e up beyond of the two th
d the plane o hat are
not soft. Thus,
T both of them tap per inwards towards eaach other. S See Figures 6b and 6c. Since
loosening each of th he soft feet individuallyy affords th he machine frame the full value of the
distortion relief, shimmming the fu ull air gap under both o of them woould be overrkill. Therefo
ore, we
must split the difference and levvel the macchine by shi mming both feet up b by just half of the
amount th hey came up.

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 Fig. 6d Feet 1 and 3 loose

This will eliminate the problem m without afffecting the undistorted d leveled aliggnment position of
the machine, relative to the othe er machine. If you remo ove shims fro om the high h feet instea
ad, the
entire macchine will now be lowere ed to the plane of the tw
wo “short” fee et. This chan
nges the alig
gnment
between thet two couupled machiines. Since soft foot co orrections are being pe erformed wiith the
machines already roug gh aligned, it behooves us to choosee the solutio on which affects the aliggnment
the least. It
I is importan hat in many, if not most,, cases, the aamount of sshims missing from
nt to note th
under the two “short” feet may difffer from one another. TTherefore, the soft foot readings mayy differ
from each other by more than 10% %. However,, do not be misled into believing th hat you are ddealing
with a Typpe 1a Short Foot Rockin ng Soft Foott—the key d difference he ere is that bboth air gapss taper
inwards, whereas
w in th
he Type 1a Short
S Foot only one of thhem did! Peerhaps the be etter name ffor this
situation should
s be ann “uneven ro ocking soft foot”.
f Howevver, the diag gnostic apprroach and so olution
remain exactly as desscribed abovve. See “A Short
S Cut to
o Analyzing and Correccting Rockin ng Soft
Foot” at th
he end of Secction VI for a more in-deepth view off how the maachine behaves in this ca ase.

Type 1c: High

H Foot Ro
ocking Soft Foot
F

Fig.
F 7

Behavior:
Your la
aser again finds two softt feet diagonally opposeed. One pro
oduces a higher value th
han the
other doess (by 10% orr more.)
Feeler gauges findd that both soft
s feet have tapered aiir gaps which point outwwards towarrds one
of the adja
acent feet th
hat was not soft.
s Put anoother way, b oth of these oint away fro
e air gaps po om the
opposite adjacent
a cornner that also
o was not sofft.

Conclusion
n:
One fooot is “high””—it is mach hined too long, or has ttoo many sh hims under iit. (In this exxample
Foot 4.) Thhe foot with the higher laser soft foot reading ((here Foot 1) will almostt invariable b
belong
to the softt foot that is located clossest to the high foot.

Solution:
(1) Add
d shims to the
t soft foott nearest the e high foot o
or (2) removve shims fro om under thhe high
foot, or (3)) add shims to the rema or the reasons that
aining three feet. The firsst solution iss the best, fo
will be pre he Analysis paragraph below;
esented in th b simpl y add shimss equal to th he average aair gap
that appea ared under the soft foot that is closest to th he high foott. In the seccond solutio on, the
amount to o be removeed from the high foot iss approximattely the sam me as the avverage air ga ap that
appeared under the so oft foot thatt is closest to
o the high fo
oot. This is aalso the amo ount that wo
ould be

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added to the
t remainin ng three fee
et besides th
he high foott, if the third
d option were chosen. C
Choose
only one of
o the three possible
p corrections!

Analysis:

Fig. 7a All feet tight

When one foot is too

t high (lon ng), or has too many sh ims under itt (here Foot 4), or rests u upon a
n on the base
protrusion e, it is out off the plane of
o the other three. This w
would be th he case with Foot 4
in Figure 7a
7 above. Thhis causes th his foot and the one diaggonally opp posite to it (in this case FFoot 2)
to form a high
h “ridge” across which the machine will bow when you tighten all the e feet.

Figs. 7b
b and 7c

This in
n turn will ca
ause the two o feet adjacent to the h high foot to o be soft. Thhe machine ““rocks”
across the high ridge formed by the t high foo ot and the o ne diagonally opposed to it. The so oft feet
adjacent to the high footf ed off their support surrface and w
are lifte will present aair gaps thatt taper
away from m the high fo oot and towa ards the corner diagonaally opposite e the high fooot (see Figu
ures 7b
and 7c above.) The so oft foot closest to the high
h nce on stress relief
foot offfers the greaatest influen
and thereffore also ten nds to presen nt the higheer of the two
o laser readin ngs. This foo
ot can be shiimmed
up to eliminate the roccking condittion (Solution 1), or, the high foot m must have shims removed from
it to bring it into planne with the remaining
r th
hree feet (Soolution 2). O
Of course, thhe remainingg three
feet may also
a be shim
mmed up to make a level plane witth the high ffoot (Solutio on 3.) This iss more
work, but may
m be nece essary if therre are not ennough shimss to remove from the hig gh foot.
Solutio
on 1 is preferred because e this will directly elimin
nate the soft foot proble
em while havving no
effect on the
t existing alignment of o the mach hines, whereaas Solutionss 2 and 3 coorrect the prroblem
but have a marked effect on th he existing alignment, which mayy be inconvvenient. The erefore,
Solution 1 (which is also the easiest to efffect) is thee best alternative. Solu ution 1 alsoo takes
advantage e of the factt that the ‘high foot ro ocking soft foot’ behavves much like the ‘short foot
rocking sooft foot’. This characteristic is particcularly usefu
ul when emp ploying the short cut mmethod
that we have alluded d to earlier, which has proven to b be an excelllent diagnoostic techniq
que for
rocking so
oft feet. This method is presented
p ne
ext.

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A Short Cut to Analyzing and Correcting Rocking Soft Foot
The “Short Cut Method”, pioneered by Mr. Pedro Casanova of LUDECA, is a very effective technique
for diagnosing any rocking soft foot problem. However, this procedure should only be applied to
rocking soft feet (the Type 1 soft feet), and not to any other types of soft foot conditions.

Outline of the Procedure

1) Your laser system discovers a rocking soft foot.
2) Loosen both diagonally opposed soft feet. (In other words, both soft feet should be loosened
together, leaving the other two (not soft) feet tight.)
3) Manually feel the shim packs under the soft feet. Try to wiggle them.
4) Diagnose the problem and correct it as follows:
a) Prepare your laser system to measure soft foot on the foot whose shim pack still felt snug,
and take a measurement by tightening that anchor bolt (with the diagonally opposite on
still loose!)
b) Now loosen the foot you just measured again, and prepare your laser system to take a
reading on the diagonally opposite soft foot.
c) Take a reading at this foot by tightening its anchor bolt, again with the diagonally opposite
foot loose.
d) Shim both of the soft feet you just measured by the amounts just indicated by your laser
system.
e) Take another set of laser soft foot readings to make sure all problems have been eliminated.

Explanation:

If you have a short foot rocking soft foot (Type 1a), then, upon loosening both soft feet, you will
find that the machine tends to rest upon the three feet that are not short. These form a plane, so
the short foot lifts off its shim pack, which will feel loose. With both of these diagonally opposed
feet loose, your laser system will accurately measure the foot that is short and reveal the amount
that it is to be to be shimmed since this short foot can now move freely without the restriction of
the diagonally opposite foot acting hindering it. The foot that was not short (the soft foot
diagonally across from the short foot), only comes up when the short foot is forced down;
therefore, with the short foot loose it will now rest upon its shim pack, which will feel snug.
Tightening this foot will reveal no movement, and hence no correction to be performed at that
foot.
You may, of course, use feeler gauges to determine the right amount to insert under the short
foot. This too will correct the problem. As explained earlier, your laser system only sees the
absolute value of the movement of the shafts, and calculates the undistorted foot movement that
would have produced the observed change in vertical angularity.
If you have an even rocking soft foot (Type 1b), the machine will tend to rest upon the two high
feet as it levels itself, raising both “short” feet off their shim packs. Both of these will feel loose, and
when you tighten each of these feet individually, with their diagonally opposite number loose, your
laser system will reveal the exact amount that you must shim them both by to eliminate the
problem. You’ll note that the amount of shimming needed will be about half of what each foot
originally came up individually, when its diagonally opposite partner was tight.
A high foot rocking soft foot (Type 1c) will manifest itself in similar manner to the short foot
rocking soft foot. If you follow the procedure outlined above exactly, your laser system will tell you
what to do to fix the problem accurately.
Always follow up any corrections with a new round of laser soft foot readings to confirm that
the problem has indeed been eliminated (step 4e in the procedure.)
Note that sometimes different amounts of shimming may be needed under each of the
diagonally opposed soft feet if they are not equally “short”. Your laser system will accurately “feel”
the correct amount that needs to be inserted under each, as each is tightened with its opposite

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partner loo ose. The “shhorter” one foot
f is, relattive to the oother, the m more even itss air gap beecomes
when loose, until you have the casse where only one foot is short, with h a perfectlyy even air ga
ap. This
would of course
c be th
he ‘short fooot rocking soft
s foot’ (Tyype 1a) situaation. If you u have a higgh foot
rocking so oft foot (Typ
pe 1c), the machine
m will tend to restt on the plaane formed by the “high h” foot
and the tw wo feet furthest from it, whereas
w the foot closestt to it will lift
ft off its shim
m pack, and aappear
to be a short foot. Simmply shim th his foot and the problem m is solved! T This approach is of course the
same as that for the “short foot rocking sofft foot”. If th he machine is now nott perfectly le evel or
aligned to the other machine,
m w now justt be a straightforward alignment problem,
so be it! This will
which you will correct anyway as you proceed d in your tassks to the final alignment of the ma achine,
after all so
oft foot has been
b elimina
ated.
Note that
t the Sho
ort Cut Methhod only wo orks adequaately for roccking soft fo oot situation
ns, and
saves you much time and effort by b eliminatinng the need d to actually measure th he shape of the air
gap underr the soft fee
et with feele
er gauges. You
Y simply taake advantaage of the natural tende ency of
the machine to level itself and shhim accordingly. Nothin ng could be e easier! If yyou do not have a
oft problem, and instead
rocking so d find that th ngs are adjaccent to
he two largeest laser softt foot readin
each otherr, then you must
m proceedd to analyze
e the situatio
on formally, aas outlined bbelow.

Type 2: The
T Angled
d Soft Foot
Type 2a: Outside
O Anglled Soft Foo
ot

Fig. 8.1 Fig. 8.2 F

Fig. 8.3

Fig. 9

Behavior:
aser system finds that three or even all four feeet are soft, with the tw
Your la wo largest re
eadings
occurring adjacent
a to each
e other, either
e e same side or the same
on the e end of the machine.
d that the foot with the largest laserr reading slo
Feeler gauges find opes up to the outside. T
The air
gap is markedly taperred (from larrgest to smaallest gap) frrom outsidee to inside and points to
owards
the foot with the second highest la
aser soft foo
ot reading.

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Conclusion
n:
The fooot with the highest
h laserr reading and tapered aiir gap is ben
nt, or the sup
pport surfacee upon
which it re
ests is angle
ed (or both.)) The foot rests on the support surface with o only its inner edge
touching.

Suggested
d Solution:
Step-shim the ang gled foot if you
y are presssed for tim e or resourcces to correct the probllem, or
remachine
e the feet, or the base, if it is the cause of the prooblems.

Analysis:
Since this
t situatio
on is clearly not a rock king soft co ondition, you u cannot ap pply the sho ort cut
method, an nd must insttead proceed d to learn m more about tthe shapes o of the air gap ps that
occuur under the soft feet when you loosen them m. This will greatly aid you in
identtifying the nature
n of thee problem aand consequ uently the likeliest
solution for it. When
W you lo oosen the fo oot with the highest lasser soft
foot readiing, feeler g gauges clearrly identify aan angled (ta apered
air gap) soft
s foot, slo oping from outside to inside. Rem member
that you are
a only loossening this fo oot alone, wwith the othe er three
feet tigh
ht! When this outside b bent foot (Fiigure 8.1) iss forced dow wn the
Fig. 10 ba
ase, it acts ass a lever, pivvoting on itss inside edg ge or corner.. This injectss lifting
forces into the frame,
f tryingg to pick up p the other sside (Figure 8.2.) The m machine
seeks to reelieve the strress within itt as much ass possible byy raising eacch of the oth her feet. Obvviously,
the foot that is bent has the gre eatest and most
m immed diate effect on stress re elief of the frame,
thereby ge enerating the highest lasser reading when w it is lo
oosened. Wh hen it is tightt, the foot w
which is
adjacent too the bent foot
f and is axially
a aligne
ed with the direction off the angle ((or bend) wiill have
the next laargest effectt on stress re elief when lo oosened. Th his would be e Foot No. 3 in the diag gram in
Figure 9 above. (If the e bend is dia agonal, then n the forces will be tran nsmitted diagonally acro oss the
frame and Foot No. 4 might displa ay the secon nd highest laaser reading..) If not axially aligned w with the
bend, the third best source
s of stress relief occurs
o at thee foot diago onally oppossed from the bent
foot, since
e forcing the bent foot down causes it to act sim milarly to a sh
hort foot, alsso tending tto raise
the diagon nally oppositte corner.

Step sh himming is ana excellent short-term “stop-gap” solution forr this problem, which will keep
the machiine frame frrom distortiing when you tighten the feet. Th hat is, afterr all, your p
primary
intention. The objectivve is to fill the uneven (angled)
( air gap under tthe foot as e evenly as po
ossible.
This may, however, re esult in havinng to use more
m than foour shims, since some m may be alrea ady be
there for alignment
a purposes while the “step pped” shims take care o of the soft ffoot. Not to worry,
this is a sp “ more than three or four shims” rule. After tthe final alig
pecial excepttion to the “no gnment
has been completed,
c y may wish to trim offf the excess shimming m
you material that sticks out past the
edge of the foot (see Figure 10 0.) This will avoid safetty hazards aand also eliminate a possible
temptation n for a well-meaning colleague who o happens byy later, to pu
ush the shim
ms in all the wway in,
thinking thhat perhaps he has disco overed shims that are sliipping out from under tthe foot! Mu uch can
be said ab bout step-shiimming tech hnique; that however, go oes beyond the scope o of this paper,, and if
interested,, we refer thet reader to the articcle on shim mming entitled Best Pra ractices: Macchinery
Alignmentt Shimming by b Alan Lued deking, whicch can be fouund here:
http://www w.ludeca.com m/casestudyy/shimming_uptime0413 3.pdf
Just remem
mber to use
e common sense when inserting
i thee step shimss; insert them gently un
ntil just
touching—
— don’t push
h them in witth excessive force.

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Type 2b: In
nside Angled Soft Foot

Fig
g. 11.1 Fig. 11.2

Fig. 12
2

Behavior:
Your laaser system finds
f only on
ne soft foot on the mach hine.
Feeler gauges findd that the sooft foot hass a significan
nt tapered aair gap, largest from insside to
smallest on the outside part of the
e foot.

Conclusion
n:
The foot that is so
oft is bent in
nwards, or is sitting on aan angled su h only contacts the
urface which
outside ed
dge of the fo
oot.

Suggested
d Solution:
Step-shim the bent foot or re-machine the
e foot or thee support surrface.

Analysis:
Unlike the outside bent foot, which
w tries to
t lift the maachine as yo ou tighten it,, the inside angled
soft foot tends to pull it down. Sin nce the pivoot point for tthe foot is itts outside ed
dge, as you torque
the anchor bolt and fo orce it flat to
o the base you
y inject neegative rotattional forcess into the m machine
frame. Thu us, no lifting forces are transmitted
t to the othe r feet. Loose ening them registers no o stress
relief, as the machine frame rema ains distorte
ed. All the ffeet (exceptiing the bent one) wantt to go
down, nott come up. Again, step p shimming the inside aangled soft foot may ssolve the prroblem
temporarily until you have
h the time and resources to correect the prob blem more permanently.

It shou
uld be notedd that even though the e forces induuced in the machine frame by the inside
bent foot are negativee, some movement mayy be observeed at the fo oot diagonallly opposite to the
inside angled one; this can be exttremely conffusing for thhe less experienced millw wright, sincee he or
she might be fooled into believinng at first gla
ance that thhey have enccountered a rocking sofft foot.
However, the
t second highest
h value
e for soft reg
gistered by tthe laser system will nott fall within 1
10% or

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 Fig. 13

20% so off the higher one (as it does d with a true rocking g soft foot) but will be ffound to be e much
less, proba ably not mo ore than 50% % of the valu ue of the larrger reading g. This should ring alarm m bells,
signaling that
t this situ
uation is nott a true rock king soft fooot condition. The reason that this be ehavior
sometimess occurs is th hat the nega ative forces induced in tthe machine e frame from m the inside angled
soft foot being
b tightenned down te end to “wash h over” the h hump forme ed by the tw wo nearest ad djacent
feet and then
t tend too rise a little
e at the dia agonally opp posite foot. Neverthelesss, if the sho ort cut
method is tried, then, upon loose ening both diagonally
d o
opposed softt feet togeth her and taking the
readings again
a as per the procedu ure, no corre ection will b
be indicated at the oppo osite foot fro om the
bent one, and the angled foot itse elf will display a snug shiim pack sincce the weight of the macchine is
g on the shim
still resting m pack, even n if only alonng its outer edge. There efore, if no cclear-cut correction
is immedia ately obtaine ed from the short cut method,
m thatt is a definitiive indication that it is ttime to
wield the feeler gauges and mea asure the shape of the airgap of th he foot with h the biggesst laser
reading, with
w the othe er feet tight. The tapered om inside to outside will immediately be a
d air gap fro
dead givea away as to what
w the problem is.

Type3: In
nduced Soft Foot

Fig.
F 14

Fig.
F 14

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Behavior:

Your laser system finds two, three or even all four feet soft. The two highest values tend to be
along the same side or the same end of the machine frame. One pair of feet may even show zero
soft foot. Feeler gauges find that the largest soft feet have fairly even air gaps; that is to say, no
significant tapers can be determined.

Conclusion:

An external force is acting on the machine frame, which is trying to pull or push it up, down,
sideways, or axially. This force will, in all likelihood, originate from the pipe stress of improperly
fitted piping, poor pipe hanging, or excessively rigid electrical conduit. Caution! Never loosen more
than one foot at a time under these circumstances! The external forces acting on the machine
frame may be so great that loosening more than one foot may result in more force acting on the
remaining feet than these can withstand, resulting in bending or sudden cracking or breaking of
the machine feet. Therefore, as much to preserve the health of the machine as looking out for your
own safety, never loosen more than one anchor bolt on a machine frame unless you are convinced
that you can do so safely (as in the short cut method, which applies only to situations where you
find the two largest soft feet to be diagonally apart.) It is always better to proceed with great care
and err on the side of caution and safety.

In the example illustrated in Figure 15, the piping forces would be construed as pulling upwards
more than sideways, since all four feet are soft. In cases where the pipe stress pulls the machine
sideways, the tendency may be for this force to roll the machine, which would be evidenced by one
pair of feet showing zero soft foot and the opposite pair lifting up.

Suggested Solution:

Eliminate the source of undue strain on the machine frame.

Analysis:

If the soft feet do not present significant taper patterns of the air gaps when loosened, and the
overall stress-relief pattern doesn’t tend to act like a rocking condition, then the machine frame is
simply trying to move with whatever outside force is acting on it, to the extent possible. Since an
outside angled soft foot clearly shows up tapered when loosened, as do the other feet which react
to it, this situation obviously is different. Furthermore, we assume as a precondition, that a good
rough alignment of the coupled machines exists by the time you are checking soft foot, eliminating
coupling strain as a source of the observed soft foot behavior. Therefore, the only explanation for
the observed soft foot condition must be that it is externally induced. The advantage of not
loosening more than one foot at a time in a properly executed soft foot check is that you may
prevent immediate damage to the machine frame from occurring if a great external force such as
pipestrain exists, as well as preserving your own personal safety and that of others around you.

It is possible that poorly trained personnel forced a pipe to mate to a pump casing by using a
“come-along” for instance, after all four feet were already bolted tight. Loosening two feet
simultaneously might mean that the remaining feet are no longer quite strong enough to hold the
machine frame in place against this force, with disastrous consequences as the frame or feet crack,
or even break off. Incidentally, as mentioned earlier, with the Short Cut Method, which does involve
loosening two feet at one time, you know up front, going into the procedure, that you have a
rocking soft foot situation which safely allows you to safely loosen two feet at a time. It is highly
unlikely that an induced soft foot from external forces acting on the frame will present as a rocking
soft foot. Still, if in doubt, do not loosen more than one foot and proceed instead to perform a
pipestrain check with your laser system, to verify whether or not pipestrain exists and to quantify its
impact (if any) the shaft alignment of the machines.

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Type4: Squishy
S Sofft Foot

Fig. 16 Fig. 17

Behavior:
Your laaser system finds one or more soft feet. Feeler gauges find
d little or no
o air gap und
der the
soft feet.

Conclusion
n:
A “squishy” or spring type softt foot exists.

Suggested
d Solution:
Elimina
ate the sprin
ngy condition
n under the feet.

Analysis:
This be
ehavior is prrobably caussed by havin ng too manyy shims, bow wed or bentt shims, shimms with
burrs, or oil,
o grease, or otherwise dirty conditiions under tthe feet. If yo our laser sysstem indicates that
a soft foott condition exists,
e it is evidence
e at the situati on is bad enough that significant rrelative
tha
shaft movvement occu urred, upon loosening a foot. Yet, if the foot that was lo oosened do oes not
display a significant
s air gap, it ca an only mean that whattever caused d it to movee has expanded or
grown with the foot as a it moved, filling the gap betweeen the foot and the sup pport surfacce as it
went. This can only be e the result of a leaf-sprring type off shim pack under the fo oot. A squishy soft
foot alwayys means ma achine frame e distortion. If no distorttion exists w
when the foot is loosened d, then
instead thee machine frrame will be e distorted as you tighteen the foot aand the sprin ng gives wayy. If no
distortion exists when the foot is tight, then thet spring iss so strong tthat it bendss the frame as you
loosen thee foot, or noo soft foot reading
r wouuld have occcurred. Therrefore, eithe er way, you have a
problem.
If thorrough cleanu up was don ne beforehand, and no more than three or at most fourr good
quality pre ms were used in the inittial rough alignment off the machin
ecut stainlesss steel shim ne, this
problem should have been automatically eliminated beforre even reacching the sta age where a formal
soft foot check
c is performed. One other possiibility for a sseemingly sqquishy soft ffoot happens if the
anchor bo olt bottoms out in the foundation: full torquee is achieve ed yet the foot is still loose!
Following, we present a few examp ples of unussual or unortthodox situations:

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The “Floatting” Soft Foot
F

Fig. 18

Fig. 19
9

Behavior:
Your la
aser system finds that all
a four feet are soft. Ea ch foot is lo oosened onee at a time. Feeler
gauges fin
nd tapered air gaps unde wards (from highest to lo
er all four feet, all of whiich point inw owest.)
See Figure
e 19.
Conclusion
n:
There is a high spot on the base, located inside the aarea bounde
ed by the fe
eet, which iss lifting
the machin gher than any of the feett.
ne frame hig
Suggested
d Solution:
Removve the protru
usion or fore
eign object which
w is stuc k under the belly of the machine.

Fig. 20

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 Fig. 21

Analysis:

If all fo
our feet comme up, some ething is bow wing the fraame out of tthe plane off the four feet (see
Figure 18.) Sometime es a foreign object such h as a loos e nut or a piece of de ebris finds its way
underneatth the belly of o the mach hine. This shoould be caug ght when cleaning up aand rough aligning
the machines at the beginning of o the job. It can happ pen, howeveer, that removing shimss for a
negative alignment
a co
orrection cauuses the mo otor to “bott om out” on such an ob bject, introdu
ucing a
surprise so oft foot conndition. As the feet are tightened, tthe frame d deflects acro
oss this prottrusion,
causing ea ach foot to pop
p up indivvidually with
h an outsidee angled air gap pointing inwards to owards
the locatio on of the “hiigh” spot. Se
ee Figures 20 and 21. Siimilar behavviors can occcur when a vvertical
jackscrew or positionin ng device is not sufficieently backed off prior to
o making neg gative (downward)
corrections to the alignment.

Gaps With
hout Soft Fe
eet

Fig. 2
22

Behavior:

Upon checking
c forr soft foot, your laser sysstem finds n
none (i.e., no
o shaft move ement occurs upon
loosening the feet), ye et feeler gau uges (or eveen the nake d eye) disco over a signifficant gap u
under a
foot whenn that foot iss loose, and d no gap wh hen the foo t is tight. AAlternatively, your laser ssystem
mall soft foott but the feeler gauges fiind a much llarger gap.
reads a sm

Conclusion
n:

Chance es are you have a foot thhat is cracke

ed or broken n, or one thaat is very wea ak on this m
machine
frame. It iss also possib
ble that the base is flimssy, or the so
ole plate has come loose e in the grou ut. This
simply me eans that th he foot (or support surrface) can flex and mo ove freely upon tighten ning or
loosening an anchor bolt,
b causing
g the gap too appear an d disappearr, without afffecting the rest of
the machin ne frame. Sh f this gap is enticing b ut rarely effe
himming to fill ective; since the gap can n come
and go as it pleases without affectting the fram me, it followss that the efffects on softt foot correcction or
alignment of shimming g this foot will
w be unpredictable.

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Suggested
d Solution:

The onnly real soluttion to this problem

p is to repair the machine, th
he base, or bboth. On thee other
hand, if yo
ou find that the
t machine does respond to alignm ment shimmiing correctio ons, and the foot is
not damag ged or brok ken, perhapss the proble em can be i gnored, sincce no actua al distortion of the
machine frrame, bearin ace when thee bolts are ttightened (i.e., no harm comes
ngs or shaft is taking pla
to the macchine.)

VII. Com
mplex Soft Feet and Multiple--Footed M
Machines
The fo oregoing discussion and d examples of soft foott conditions all illustrate ed straightfo orward
situations where a single type of problem wa as acting on the machine frame. Mo ore often tha an not,
these beha avior types will
w adequate ely describe the majorityy of the soft foot problems encounte ered in
the field. Itt may happe en however, that two orr more distin nct types of problems exxist simultan neously
in a mach hine frame, causing stra ange behaviior patterns to occur w which defy sshort cuts o or easy
diagnosis. In these casses, only carreful analysiss will lead to
o a solution. For examplle, an outsid de bent
foot may also
a be shorrt. If the ben
nd is alignedd with the fooot next to it, both thatt one and th he foot
diagonallyy opposite will
w have high eadings. Wh ich is higherr depends on whether the soft
h soft foot re
foot is mo ore bent tha an short, or vice-versa. Either
E way, tthe correct application of the diagnostics
techniquess and princip ples presentted thus far will greatly reduce the amount of ffruitless “tria al” and
unnecessary “error” th hat might otherwise pla ague a soft foot correcction proced dure. Alwayss begin
your analyysis procedu ure by measuring and analyzing thee shape of tthe airgap th hat appears under
the foot th hat had the highest lase er soft foot reading. If tthe mysteryy is not imm
mediate clearred up,
measure anda analyze the foot witth the secon nd highest ssoft foot reaading, then aanalyze the overall
behavior ofo the machiine in light of o this information. Ask yourself, what are the likeliest causes for
the machine to act orr behave in this mannerr when I loo osen or tightten anchor bolts? This w will set
you far alo ong the patth to a solu ution. If you make a miistake, that is okay: you u will imme ediately
realize it because
b yourr problem diid not get beetter, or youu made another soft foott worse. So yyou try
a differentt tack. If a co
orrection youu attempt ennds up solvi ng one of th he problemss in a complex soft
foot situattion, then, when
w you reccheck soft fo
oot on all thhe feet againn, the other problem th hat was
also actingg on the macchine frame will suddenly emerge th hat much more clearly a and fall into one of
the readilyy recognize ed behavior patterns th hat you aree already faamiliar with. You then simply
proceed to correct th hat problemm, without undoing
u whaat you did before, and d voilà!—you u have
eliminated d your soft fooot problems and can no ow proceed to the final alignment o of the machin nes.

Three-Fo
ooted Mach
hines

Fig. 23

All fee
et tight

Some smaller gearrboxes have three-foote ed frames wh hich, in princciple, should

d have no so oft foot
since threee points alwa ays define a plane. Howe ever, as the feet are nott points but p pads, whose e larger
surface are eas need to mate with their
t supporrt surfaces, tthis gives risse to the possibility for angled
oot which is positioned by itself on one side of the machine
soft feet. Iff the third fo e midway be etween
the other two feet ha as an outsidee angled sooft foot in th he side-to-side direction n, it may caause all
three feet to rise when ndividually; however, thiis foot, whicch is by itselff in the midd
n loosened in dle, will
raise the frame evenlyy on that side. This mean ns that no aangular movement of the shafts occcurs, so
your laser system mayy not recogn nize the soft foot on thaat side. Checck this middle foot anyw way, by

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entering thhe Front to Back
B Foot diistance as th
he axial distaance from th
hat foot to any of the otthers. If
a significant soft foott reading iss obtained itt means thaat the soft ffoot condition is twistiing the
machine frrame. Any soft foot thatt occurs on the side of the machine with two ffeet always has an
angular coomponent to o its movement that willl be readily measured b by your laserr system. Dia
agnose
and correcct any obse erved soft fo oot conditio
on according g to the diagnostic principles prevviously
described.

Fig. 24

On thee other hand ooted machine whose ssingle foot iss located att the back o
d, a three-fo or front
end of thee machine, on
o the axis of
o the shaft, such as show wn in Figure e 24, may prroduce abnoormally
high soft foot
f readings, because of
o the calcula
ation formulla* for soft ffoot being applied by th
he laser
system whhich assumess readings taaken on a fou
ur-footed m
machine.

You may
m notice in n the formulla that the value
v for thee observed angularity is doubled, ffor the
reasons exxplained on page 5 and illustrated in n Figure 3. Inn a three-foo
oted machin ne where thee single
foot or su upport acts directly onn the shaft because it is located directly und der it, rathe
er than
indirectly as w produce an erroneou
a on a fourr-footed macchine, this will us value for the calculateed soft
foot becau use this valu
ue should no
ot be double ed. Thereforee, keep this effect in miind when ch hecking
for soft foo
ot on machiines whose feet
f lie direcctly under th n some pumps and
he shaft centterline (as in
gearboxes.)

Multiple--Footed Machines (m
machines with
w more t han four fe
eet)

Fig. 25

* See Formula 2 on page 4.

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 Unless the machin ne frame is very large, these appliications sho ould be trea ated like anyy four-
footed ma achine, with the followin ng caveats: Generally,
G he four feett nearest the
th e bearing ho ousings
should be tightened anda all otherr support po oints looseneed (whether inboard or outboard off these
feet.) Since
e these four feet are nea arest the beaarings, they w
will have thee most imme ediate influence on
shaft align
nment. They support the e bearings and shaft mo ore directly tthan the restt of the feett which
only suppo ort the machhine housing g. Since threee points deefine a planee, it is imporrtant that no o more
than three e feet remainn tight whilee checking any other foo ot. Otherwise e, a distortio
on may be p present
in a part of
o the machine frame whichw cannott be relievedd by looseniing a foot lo ocated outsiide the
area of inffluence of th
he four or more feet that are still tig ght. Once sooft foot has b been elimina ated at
the four “main” support points, the t rest of the feet cann simply be e feeler gaug ged and shiimmed
according to the air ga ap that was miked. If the e machine iss very large aand heavy, ((such as com mmonly
seen in a 10,000+
1 H.P.. DC motor for
f instance), the machin ne casing will be very fle exible in relation to
the overalll mass of the machine e. In these cases,
c loose ning any on ne foot will not produce any
appreciablle strain relief or shaft movement
m at
a more disttant location ns on the m machine fram me that
can be me easured withh your laserr system. Th herefore, in these appliccations, we dispense with the
laser syste
em’s soft fooot readings altogether
a and proceed as follows: Loosen all o of the interm mediate
feet and siimply feeler gauge each h foot nearesst the bearinngs individuaally, and shim any air ga ap that
appears. This will relievve localized distortions that
t might b be present att or near the ese locationss. Once
this is doone, proceed d with the alignment of the macchine by sh himming th hese feet an nd the
intermedia ate support feet
f as need
ded. This aliggnment proccedure shoulld also accou unt for any ddesired
air gaps between
b the rotor and stator
s of the
e machine, ttaking normal sag of th he frame and d rotor
into considderation.

Vertical Flange-Mo
F unted Macchines

Fig. 26

If the support flan

nge for a ve
ertically mouunted motorr has more tthan four bolts, it is prrobably
better to lo pt four, locatted at the caardinal clockk positions att which you intend
oosen all of them excep
to take miisalignment readings. Chheck each ofo these fourr positions w with a dial in
ndicator, loo
osening
a a time. If any bolt position yields a flange m ovement of greater than 0.002", mike the
only one at
air gap witth feeler gauges and appply the tradditional diag
gnostic princciples for thee behavior ppattern

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observed. The idea is to eliminate frame distortion by shimming these four points until no further
movement occurs. Once this has been done, simply feeler gauge the remaining bolt positions with
their respective bolts loose and shim accordingly. A different approach is to rotate your laser
alignment system to a position 90° degrees from the bolt position you intend to test, and use the
Soft Foot measurement function. Use the outside diameter of the motor’s support flange as the
Front-to-Back Foot (FB) distance.

VIII. Conclusion
To sum up, measuring, diagnosing and correcting soft foot is as much an art as it is a science. If
you have read this far, you know by now that there is still plenty of room for trial and error in the
process. However, a bit of common sense and a good visualization of “why the machine is doing
what it’s doing” will take you a very long way down the road to eliminating the unnecessary trials
and errors in the soft foot correction process. This paper aimed to have provided you not only with
an insight into the causes, characteristics, and possible solutions to various soft foot problems, but
also, and most importantly, with the mental tools to hone these visualization skills. The author
hopes he has succeeded. 

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