Vibration Dampers

[Demon Barber]

Good buy methinks £9.99 for 4x vibration dampers certainly cheaper than ones branded "astronomy",link here Vibration Dampeners | Easylife Group Lifestyle Solutions

ATB

Mike

[Viv]

Yep - just done the same a couple of weeks ago. I just could't bring myself to spend £60, without trying first.

Ebay - vibration feet for a washing machine / tumble dryer !!

Washing Machine Tumble Dryer Anti Vibration Feet Pads on eBay (end time 24-Apr-11 11:24:20 BST)

Seems to be all sorted !

[Darren B]

Do these work as well as the astronomy versions?

I'll be interested to know.

[BinocularSky]

Do these work as well as the astronomy versions?

I'll be interested to know.

Almost (i.e. I'm hedging ) certainly not. They serve different purposes. The purpose of the washing machine ones is to reduce transmission of continuous vibration to the floor, not to actually damp the vibration of the washing machine. They are generally a hard (ish) rubber compound) -- the rates of deformation and recovery are approximately equal. That said, they will absorb some of the vibration from a scope/mount/tripod.

The purpose of the "astronomy versions" is to damp the short-duration vibrations of what sits on top. The construction is a sandwich of sorbothane between two hard plastic pieces. Sorbothane is quick to deform, but slow to recover, hence its damping properties.

If you want to do shock-absorbing pads on the cheap, you might have better luck with sorbothane inner-soles such as are used by runners.

[Trull]

If your scope is wobbling, you can try increasing the mass of the system to slow the natural period of oscillation. Practically the easiest way to do this is to stretch a bungee to the tripod head and a bunch of tent pegs in the ground. A length of chain can help as well (hang from the end of your OTA) to disrupt the natural oscillations and tune them out.

Its a good idea to make sure your tripod legs are far apart and everything is tightened up.

[Darren B]

Almost (i.e. I'm hedging ) certainly not. They serve different purposes. The purpose of the washing machine ones is to reduce transmission of continuous vibration to the floor, not to actually damp the vibration of the washing machine. They are generally a hard (ish) rubber compound) -- the rates of deformation and recovery are approximately equal. That said, they will absorb some of the vibration from a scope/mount/tripod.

The purpose of the "astronomy versions" is to damp the short-duration vibrations of what sits on top. The construction is a sandwich of sorbothane between two hard plastic pieces. Sorbothane is quick to deform, but slow to recover, hence its damping properties.

If you want to do shock-absorbing pads on the cheap, you might have better luck with sorbothane inner-soles such as are used by runners.

Thanks for the info

[Skiddins]

Having now owned both the 'washing machine' style pads and the correct astro type from Meade I can certainly concur that while the white goods pads do help a little, there is no comparison with the Meade versions I bought.

The white good pads are of a uniform very hard rubber material.

The astro versions are made of a hard plastic main outer cup, a thin (few mm) of what appears to be very soft polyurethane which feels very soft, then the inner cup that the telescope leg actually sits in is again, hard plastic.

The astro version's slow any vibration down within a couple of seconds where the white good versions certainly take a lot longer.

I have yet to try adding a bag of sand to the accessory tray which has also been recommended.

Are they worth the extra cost, that's something only you can decide, but they certainly work.

Skiddins

[Skiddins]

Having now owned both the 'washing machine' style pads and the correct astro type from Meade I can certainly concur that while the white goods pads do help a little, there is no comparison with the Meade versions I bought.

The white good pads are of a uniform very hard rubber material.

The astro versions are made of a hard plastic main outer cup, then a thin (5mm or so) of what appears to be very soft polyurethane, then the inner cup that the telescope leg actually sits in is again, hard plastic.

The astro version's slow any vibration down within a couple of seconds where the white good versions certainly take a lot longer.

I have yet to try adding a bag of sand to the accessory tray which has also been recommended.

Are they worth the extra cost, that's something only you can decide, but they certainly work.

Skiddins

[blackparticle]

Trago Mills in Devon were doing the "washing-machine" cups for 99p for a pack of 4.

On their own they are good enough to stop the tripod sinking when setup on grass.

I butchered a mouse-mat and made some softer discs to go inside mine. They seem to work quite well.

[BinocularSky]

... a thin (few mm) of what appears to be very soft polyurethane .

It's sorbothane.