Machinery isolation pads

I remember when this NG was full of useful info apropos its title. Desiring to be faithful to that memory, I'd like to relate this. Yesterday I brought home an Ingersoll Rand type 30 vertical compressor (99.9% metal and lots of it). Was considering how to bolt it down to the concrete garage floor with some kind of isolation pads. I hadn't really thought of something I could purchase locally so I could get the thing operational and decided to wander around Lowes in hopes of finding the right solution. I think I came up with a winner and it may be of use to anyone in the same circumstance. Somewhere in the hardware isles you'll find chair leg tips, gliders, rubber feet and the like. They have these Waxman Super Sliders that seem perfect for mounting just about anything under, say, 1000lbs. The ones I got are 3-1/2" in diameter and are about 5/8" thick. They have a thin felt layer that I don't care about but otherwise they're made of some very dense foam which only compressed slightly under the considerable weight of the compressor. I haven't bolted it down yet but I did run the unit with these things in place. The compressor was much quieter and you couldn't feel the vibration in the floor at all. YMMV Nok

Reply to
NokNokMan
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Hockey pucks . Counterbore the bottom side for a carraige bolt and fender washer , put a disc of steel (thickness appropriate to the weight of the tool) on top .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Rubber auto body mounts.

Reply to
Steve Walker

Sounds like a winner. Considering they are foam, it might not be necessary to bolt it down.

If you don't use similar isolation if/when you bolt it down, some of not all of the vibration will return.

Reply to
Elliot G

The one I used with my vertical compressor was called "plush carpet". It worked great.

Plush carpet also works great. McMaster has pages and pages of isolation pads.

Reply to
Ignoramus27337

Hi Nok, nice idea you wrote above. Another alternative is as follows. I have an 80 gallon 6hp 2 stage vertical compressor. Concrete floor. I simply placed a piece of rubber (old truck inner tube, free at your local tire store) under each foot. Then, to keep it from walking around the shop, I drilled a small hole in the concrete under two of the feet only. Within the holes I dropped in a phillips screwdriver (they were to be tossed anyway). The compressor runs quietly, doesn't vibrate, doesn't walk around and can be moved out of the way by simply unpinning it (two screwdrivers).

Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
Ivan Vegvary

Reply to
RoyJ

"Terry Coombs" wrote in news:Ij2nl.5499$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews8.bellsouth.net:

I made some of these for my 5hp 60 gallon compressor. I find they are too stiff to do much for vibration on something that light weight. Also they allow the machine to move a little each time it starts from the sudden torque. It desn't move when it's running though. A layer of something more plaible in contact with the concrete may stop the walking around. I just haven't gotten round to it yet...

Reply to
Charles U Farley

One of the best isolators is cork, unlike rubber it becomes less stiff at high loading. Similar stress-strain curve as copper. Recommended pressure is between 7 and 20 PSI. Thickness between 1" and 6" . It does need an inertial mass such as a concrete slab or block between the vibrating machinery and the cork.

cheers T.Alan

Reply to
T.Alan Kraus

Excellent suggestion!!

Gunner

"Upon Roosevelt's death in 1945, H. L. Mencken predicted in his diary that Roosevelt would be remembered as a great president, "maybe even alongside Washington and Lincoln," opining that Roosevelt "had every quality that morons esteem in their heroes.""

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Wall board knife and old tire...

Try not to use a steel belted radial, or cut your finger off :-)

I'm lucky all the old airplane tires I have kicking around are bias play cord AND I still have all my fingers...

--.- Dave

Reply to
Dave August

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