Does anyone happen to know anything about vibration isolation/damping I'm building a driving sim rig which sits on 4 large linear actuators. It's going to be living in our loft so I need 'something' for the 4 actuator feet to stand on which will dampen/isolate as much of their thumping and the direct drive wheel's force feedback vibration as possible.
I used to design & build small flight simulators. We found it impossible to isolate them without losing simulation fidelity and the only good way to install them is fixed rigidly to the ground. However, if you're in the loft this is not a high-spec machine so the normal type of heavy-duty isolation devices/pads should have some effect. However, you're trying to isolate certain frequencies so your isolation pads need to be matched to those frequencies, and be way away from the resonant frequencies of your loft structure. It can get complicated....
ummm… the direct drive wheel alone is a problem as it's max force is around 24Nm so with laser scanned tracks it's putting out a lot of buzz which sounds like a helicopter landing when you're downstairs (two floors below it). The actuators are based on THESE. They're actually pretty quiet when running, but it's the force they're putting into the floor which is the issue. I was thinking of sitting the feet into rubber cups mounted to a boards, one spanning the front actuators, one the back - to spread the load(?) and have some kind of isolation material beneath that.
You could try something like these. https://www.stationaryengineparts.com/Cushyfoot-Anti-Vibration-Mounts-AVM-S/ Discussing your purpose with the manufacturer should help narrow down the shore hardness which will work best overall. We mount recip compressors on these in a marine environment. They have quite a bit of give, but can deal with the forces from both the reciprocating machinery as well as the variable vessel movement .
Less chance of getting points Thanks I'll give those a go. Regarding the manufacturer - that would be me… the actuators are an open source DIY project. They can be built for around £1.5K - a similar bolt-on DBox kit would cost in the region of £25K. Funny what people charge when they have a bit of a monopoly.
I meant the damper manufacturer. Each rubber hardness option will be designed around different loading parameters and possibly resonant system vibration. While one may be suited for the weight, it may not help with your frequency issues, or vice versa. Compromises will then come into play. Positioning/spacing can also be relevant to avoid harmonics.
