I have a base that is quite messed up as far as angular soft foot goes, quite being three out of four feet are real bad. My question is has anyone ever used Precision Brand Sof'Shoe shims they claim it is the (quick) cure for aqngular soft foot condition. I was wondering if anyone has used these or somthing similar and give me some feed back before we order them.

They are good within limits. They basically come in 2 sizes 20 mil and 45 mil (A,B,C or D). Their compressibility is ~12% or 2.4 mils for the 20 mil shim. Most will recommend using no more than 2 per foot. So, if your wedge foot is out more than 10 mils this may not be an option.

Establish if the wedge is the base or 'motor?' foot. Establish immediate need: the SofShoe needs cure time. Is fly cutting a wedge shim in the shop a better option? Is field maching the base a good option? (I like to never alter a motor in any way, but if they are out of plane - they should be in-plane with one another and parallel with the concentric centerline of the bearings.

The set time for the SofShoe is ~4 hrs and total cure time ~3 days as far as I understand. You may base your requirements on these data.

I like the Sofshoe but sometimes perfer a machined wedge shim.

There is the consideration of using the SofShoe for electric motors: Our own Electric Pete of this thread has made many comments and contributed much regarding the use of the SofShoe shim and its affect on resonance or its improvement on motors with a resonant problem. You may want to search for his posts.

Jim G.
Send me your e-mail address to
jmcfaddn at kcc dot com (yes there is an "e" missing on purpose).
Here's another thread that discussed this issue:
http://maintenanceforums.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3751089011/m/5921084531

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jon McFadden,