In today’s market place, reliability is playing a larger part in Maintenance than ever before.  In many manufacturing companies there are very often employees with the word reliability in their job description. 

One of the areas that Maintenance Departments are paying much more attention to is vibration.  Vibration is destructive and when a vibration occurs, quite often the first thing that comes to mind is an out of balance.  An out of balance will always cause a vibration, but vibration is not always caused by an out of balance.

“Soft Foot” describes a condition where the four mounting feet are not all on the same plane.  If the condition is not corrected, when the motor is bolted dowe the frame will be distorted.  A severe vibration will be the result.

This type of condition or vibration can also be caused by a defective mounting base.

If a soft foot condition is not corrected, premature motor failure can be expected.

A soft foot or a defective base will cause a mis-alignment and must be taken care of in the interests of reliability and productivity.