Thanks for the quick response .
So I followed similar to you, I used the Assioma end cap and just tightened, then backed off till they spinned ok. I used blue Loctite (not red), gave it 24 hours and just tested.
I am not sure if you ever tried the Mforce pedals, but these Baldwins are 20x better at clipping out of compared to those (or maybe I had a defective pair?). I agree the Baldwins are not amazingly smooth on the clip in/out, not as good as the Shimano XTRs, but at least I can now get my foot out within a split second. It’s just different, more finicky in the way you get them out, where Shimano just works.
Using the Mforce my cleat would get stuck, and its caused me to eat it a few times. As well, the Baldwins provide a far superior shoe support with the larger base. Out of the saddle on the mforce was so sketch, feet had no stability. My only regret is on one of shoes I had trimmed the rubber down some to make the Mforce work, and that gives me a little less base on the Baldwins. I can tell the difference between that and the other shoe where I didn’t do that.
So my 2 cents, go with the Baldwins if you do this hack. Better body weight support, smother clip in/out, and most likely no need to hack the shoes.