The two step process for checking and correcting soft foot is the ____________ soft foot and the ________________ soft foot.

• A. Initial soft foot, Final soft foot
• B. Primary soft foot, Secondary soft foot
• C. Early soft foot, Late soft foot
• D. First soft foot, Second soft foot

Answer: (A)

Soft foot is when one or more feet of a mounted machine don’t sit perfectly flat on the base, which can twist the frame and throw alignment off. The correct two-step approach uses an Initial soft foot check followed by a Final soft foot check. First, you inspect the machine as it sits on its feet and check for gaps or high spots thanks to a straightedge or feeler gauges. If gaps are found, you add shims to bring all feet into contact and level the base, without over-tightening. Then you tighten all fasteners to the final torque and re-check. In this final check, you’re looking to confirm that no foot shows a gap when the machine is fully loaded and bolted, ensuring the base is truly flat under operating conditions. The other term pairs aren’t standard practice for describing this process, so they don’t fit the established sequence of verifying soft foot before and after final tightening.