Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe  

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

I am curious what is different about your printer to make it so loud.

My MK3S is in a Lack enclosure which rests on felt pads.

It is next to my dining room table, and is typically running while we eat.

It is not loud enough to be noticeable and certainly not to comment on. Refrigerator level noisy maybe.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

I found thick felt feet and placed on a granite chopping board pretty much isolated the printer from the sounding board IKEA table I have it sitting on.

The granite chopping board sits on relatively soft silicone feet which isolate the granite from the table and removes vertically induced noise both high and low frequencies, the granite has mass which reduces lower frequency vibration and movement of the printer in the horizontal axis and vertical and the felt feet isolate higher frequencies whilst providing enough rigidity for the printer to not move relative to the granite chopping board, this helps reduce ringing in the prints and therefore improves print quality.

Did you try placing the paver on squidgy feet?

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

@robert-rmm200

I don’t think it’s any louder than any other MK3S. It’s just that we live in a small apartment in Copenhagen, we have a small child and the fast Y axis moves can be heard when printing at night. I just want it as silent as possible.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

@chocki

That’s my backup plan 🙂

I would prefer to avoid a granite slab because I’ve built a closet for printing and the height there is limited. When my Mini arrives, I’ll install the MMU2S and I want to service it easily. I also want it to look nice 🙂

Anyway, I’ve found a Sorbothane seller on eBay and have ordered 8 x 1” 50D and 4 x 1” 30D (for the Mini).

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Let us know how it works for you. And print using Stealth mode!

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Ok, so I finally got all parts and time to install them. I didn’t even mind trying the ones I got from Amazon (“Oehlbach”); they were hard as furniture feet.

But oh my, the Sorbothane feet are worth every penny (which was a lot shipping from Canada to Europe...). The printer is even quieter than the printable spring feet, but the stepper-induced resonance is gone — not only in the supporting surface (and building, since it is mounted to that), but also in the frame itself! I can feel almost no vibrations when touching the frame while printing. This can only be good for print quality and component life.

Though it was never a concern, the printer is sure to not move anywhere because they are more grippy than hot slicks 🙂

I cannot recommend this mod enough! Thanks to brigandier who I saw recommend it in some thread long ago...

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/290971718688?chn=ps&var=590282342565&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=590256000131_290971718688&targetid=855313181933&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007249&campaignid=6619151996&mkgroupid=88031187549&rlsatarget=pla-855313181933&abcId=1140496&merchantid=115140446&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-bjyBRCcARIsAFboWg0V97Yu0AtZoMo5gK4eBzYKzPz_UU7AyGF1j_vC4KOyJn9vA1N0p-caAr6vEALw_wcB

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Stefan of CNC Kitchen has videos on this topic that are well worth watching:

• Vibration analysis

• Silencing the Prusa Mk2

Key points are:

• The trick to reducing printer mechanical noise is to increase mass.

• Mounting the printer on a heavy surface such as a 17x17 inch paver stone adds mass.

• Acoustically coupling the printer to the mass maximizes the vibration dampening effect.Do not isolate the printer from the base. Felt non-isolating feet work well.

• De-couple the printer mass from the resonating surfaces. Isolating foam or Sorbothane feet work well to keep any remaining vibration from being transmitted into the flat supporting surfaces.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Thanks choki, although too late for me it might be helpful for somebody else 🙂 it’s still a fair bit of money given that you need 6 for each printer, but as I said, it’s the best upgrade I’ve done — even considering price.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Thanks bobstro. As I said I did run the printer on a paver for a while (when it was standing on a table), and it did help, but after I built my printer closet it had much less effect since the printer is now standing on a heavy 28 mm tabletop mounted directly to the walls on both back and sides.

I’m sure that bolting the printer to a block of lead and isolating that from the building would be more optimal, but it would bother me for aesthetics and be impractical during service... and I also have to keep space in the closet for the Mini I’m awaiting 🙂

Trust me, that Sorbothane is magic stuff. It really does eat the vibrations instead of bouncing them back and forth. I encourage you to try it 🙂

BTW: thanks a lot for your excellent web site; I’ve used it a lot

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Posted by: @mark-r42

Thanks bobstro. As I said I did run the printer on a paver for a while (when it was standing on a table), and it did help, but after I built my printer closet it had much less effect since the printer is now standing on a heavy 28 mm tabletop mounted directly to the walls on both back and sides.

I just pointed out Stefan's videos because he highlights specific frequencies that might only appear mid-print that anybody doing similar setups might want to test. If you've got it anchored down, good deal.

I’m sure that bolting the printer to a block of lead and isolating that from the building would be more optimal, but it would bother me for aesthetics and be impractical during service... and I also have to keep space in the closet for the Mini I’m awaiting 🙂

I painted up my paver for the same reason. Only after I was done did someone discover the marble block option. Much prettier!

Trust me, that Sorbothane is magic stuff. It really does eat the vibrations instead of bouncing them back and forth. I encourage you to try it 🙂

Oh, I've got my paver sitting on Sorbothane discs right now. I'm using 9 of 'em. They're great for compensating for an uneven shelf as well. My cabinet isn't as robust as yours and the shelves are warped a bit (it's old).

BTW: thanks a lot for your excellent web site; I’ve used it a lot

Glad it's useful. Prusa announced a new documentation site today, so my stuff may be obsolete eventually. So far, they're only starting with PrusaSlicer, but hopefully will expand.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Glad it's useful. Prusa announced a new documentation site today, so my stuff may be obsolete eventually. So far, they're only starting with PrusaSlicer, but hopefully will expand.

Where?, nothing on the blog or homepage.

I'm going to weigh my printer and granite chopping block this weekend and ordering some of them sorbothane feet from that E-Bay link as my current squidgy feet being thin, still cause the whole printer to move around too much for my liking, granted, they work perfectly for isolating the vibration, but their shape is not optimal for lateral movement damping.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

@chocki remember to do a rough weight calculation and order the correct number, size and durometer. 6 x 1 inch 50D seems ideal for the MK3S without paver (~6.5 kg), but you should obviously go up in size and/or durometer with a granite board added. Due to the stiffness of the board I’m sure 4 will do.

There’s a table for each size at https://www.isolateit.com/hemispheres/sorbothane-hemispheres-bumpers.html

which you can use even if you order from somewhere else, as long as the Sorbothane is genuine.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

@chocki - see here for the announcement.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Thanks bobstro.

Something they missed which I find very useful, I know they state you can rotate supports, but you want to make sure the topmost support layer is not orientated in the same direction as the first supported layer of your print, else the two will fuse along their entire lengths, ideally they should run at 90 deg to each other or  45 deg, so only point contact is made between the interface layers. This makes it much easier to remove support material. Esp. PETG.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Hmmm, seller is on holiday for the above link but I found this instead:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-x-Sorbothane-30mm-Anti-Vibration-Hemispheres-Buy-3-sets-get-1-set-FREE/124036895292?hash=item1ce12cd23c:g:bvEAAOxy3zNSoiTy

And my combined printer and granite chopping board come in at 12Kg weight.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

@chocki

I would ask the seller if they’re 1,25 inch (roughly 30 mm) and also get a confirmation that the durometer is 50D, as according to https://www.isolateit.com/hemispheres/sorbothane-hemispheres-bumpers/1-25-sorbothane-rubber-bumper-non-skid-feet-0510120-0510121-0510124.html the 30D would be too soft and 70D too hard to get optimal dampening at 12 kg. It seems odd that it isn’t specified, nor any weight guidelines. I’d probably wait for the other seller to return — he seems more serious and it’s only a few days extra wait. It would suck to get sub-optimal results 🙂

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Doh -  Already ordered, not to worry, I have a BOSE bluetooth speaker on top of my fridge which could really do with isolating from the fridge! 😀 

But, yes, point taken, not all 30 mm sorbothane domes are created equal.

RE: Where to get Sorbothane feet in Europe

Found this on another site, so if I get around 25% deflection I should be OK, any less than 20 or more than 30 and they are going on top of the fridge 🙂

Place the hemisphere under the unit to be isolated with the curved surface up.

 Expect a 20 to 30% deflection when statically loaded.

Under-loading will result in poor isolation.