Starting Off on the Wrong Foot: Soft Foot Problems

Some issues having a negative impact on the equipment start causing problems during installation. Other issues take place over time. There is a problem that happens for either reason: soft foot. A soft foot has a severe impact on the operation of the equipment and shortens its lifespan.

Modifying the base provides the best solution for any problems of this type. The photo above is an example of L&S Electric’s base modification.

What is a Soft Foot?

Soft foot is a common name for frame distortion. It occurs when one or more feet a the frame has a different position than the other feet. Feet with different lengths or angles prevent the foot from consistently hitting the pad.

More to the point, this issue occurs when a foot becomes bent with either a damaged or deteriorating base. These two issues may have been a problem during installation. But, when forcing the foot down to the pad and tightening, it creates stress on the whole piece of equipment.

What Does Soft Foot Affect?

Soft foot affects the equipment in many ways. In one way, frame distortion results in:

• Shaft deflection
• Misaligned bearing housings
• Unusual amounts of vibration

Other clues to these problems are:

• Increased power consumption
• Seal and bearing wear
• Metal Fatigue

How to Discover a Soft Foot

A vibration analysis test often detects a foot problem.

Vibration is an enormous indicator of a foot problem. Any vibrations issues discovered needs immediate correcting.

Vibration analysis also finds other problems associated with your equipment. Because of this advantage, vibration testing is an important part of a comprehensive maintenance program.

Catching the Culprit

If you suspect an issue, loosen each foot of the equipment in turn, but, keep the other feet tight. While performing vibration analysis, tighten the loose foot. Recognizing the culprit occurs by observing if:

• Vibration decreases during the loosening process
• Vibration increases during the tightening process

A problem with one foot may not be the only issue. Further investigation may reveal that there are more problems with the equipment.

In Sum

Unfortunately, dealing with the issue of a soft foot sometimes feels like dealing with a cold. Cold medicine treats the symptoms, not the virus. Laser shaft alignment is a temporary fix like cold medicine fixes a stuffy nose.

This is where the comparison ends. You can’t cure a cold. A new foot fixes a soft foot problem.