Vibration isolation for rig

Hello guys,

I live in an appartment and yesterday my downstairs neighbours (the building owners) sent me a text saying that I had waken up their daughter when playing AC in my rig and that it shakes their appartment when I play. I'm now trying to find a solution to limit the vibrations transmitted through the floor that my pedals and CSWv2 produces (just vibrations as I always play with a headset).

I already have a 1/4 inch cork layer on top of a 1/2 inch foam (the ones that we use for children playground) underneath my obutto R3v. I have then found these on amazon:

http://www.amazon.ca/PneumaticPlus-...449764846&sr=8-1&keywords=vibration+isolation

http://www.amazon.ca/Isolate-Sorbot...449784548&sr=8-2&keywords=vibration+isolation

Do you think any of these would be significantly better than what I already have? I have already put much thought in my rig regarding vibration isolation, I dont want to buy something that wont make my neighbours happier

Any thoughts?

Photos of my rig:

 

Depending on house construction, instead of adding more and more "vibration isolation" i'd try changing where the weight of the rig is being placed, moving it more toward the load bearing walls, so that the floor itself is not forced to take the vibration in places where it's not stiff enough to take and dissipate them.
For example i'd take a wooden beam or two and place it across the room, add small spacers at the ends so that their weight is focused on floor very near to the wall and place rig on that (assuming the walls are load bearing, and there is similar setup on the floor below). You could also try moving the rig around and maybe find a less noisy spot. (disclaimer: i have no physical experience in doing such insulation, just though it could work especially for less stiff or "squeaky" floors)

As for the amazon links, idk the first one does not seem too much of an improvement and second is i think rated for much higher pressures (400-550 kg per pad) so it would only really help in high frequency vibrations that are probably not the problem (unless you have some kind of buttkicker).

 

I have used the IsolateIt grommets to minimize the noise from the AccuForce resonating through my desk and they are very effective.

I have rubber feet under my race-frame that seem to do a great job but, it's in the basement (Concrete floor). I considering adding small shock-absorber/Spring units to my rig next to maximize vibrations and movement with minimal noise.

Spreading the load may be beneficial but, the urethane products certainly can do quite a bit to help IMO.

 

A good idea would be to use rugs / carpets as having a wooden floor is bad news for the people downstairs (My rig is in the attic which has a laminate floor directly above my bedroom, so the GF must never be awoken from her beauty sleep!) I have some insulating car carpet glued face down to a slab of MDF, then a thick rug over that which my seat and rig sits on. So the layer is this: Laminate Floor>Car Carpet>MDF>Thick Rug. This is large piece about 200cm x 110cm which helps spread the noise instead of having it focused onto certain points. Having the rug over the MDF piece made a big difference according to my GF (As I tried the MDF / Car Carpet first). I didn't eliminate all the noise but muffled it to an acceptable level.

Also think about any furniture that is in close proximity to the rig which can help absorb some noise. A sofa close by will be a good sound-sucker-upper! You may need to try putting some foam along the walls as well as the area of floor directly around the rig. Think how a music studio creates good acoustic insulation. Looking at the pictures I'd cover all the wood on the floor with rugs or carpet under your rig and look at insulating the walls too as it does seem very close to the corner which can 'bounce' the noise into a tight area and down the walls.

Failing that, try the basic approach of turning down the FFB late at night. If you do spend some hard earned money on getting some bits I'd tell your neighbour out of courtesy. Least that way they know you take their concerns seriously and you are trying to do something about it which may make them tolerate the noise a bit more.

 

I work with acoustics consulting, mostly measurements and Modal Frequency analysis also with Mixing and Mastering, but i know the theory behind sound isolation too. For no vibrations to pass it would need to be a room within a room where the inside room is hanging by heavy duty springs in the air, also the floor decoupled with industrial springs on rubbers, and also a good space of air between the 2 rooms, the bigger the air gap between the two rooms the greater isolation you will have, serious recording studios uses double wall with huge air gaps to achieve background noises that are extremely low. and also so that the sound doesn't escape the room.

That huge wood frame under the pedals resonate a LOT and its increasing the levels of noise significantly, i assure you even without any measurement, remember that old little music boxes ? when u put them on a wood piece or table its volume increase a lot !
The way your rig is now with those woods you are increasing the resonance and transmitted vibration/noise cause its also increasing the coupling with the floor (more contact patch area, more vibration area to go trough witch potentially makes more noise )

so spreading the load probably not a good ideia, u can try use decoupling spikes, like this:

And under each one of them a piece of 5 x 5 x 5 cm Strong Rubber of a good enough durometer to whitstand not being perforated by the spikes or be perforated by only 1 or 2 mm with your load in the cockpit.
This way u will concentrate all the vibrations on 4 to 8 points for your entire rig, giving from 4mm to 8mm aprox. total contact patch trought the spikes.. and decouple them with the rubbers, in an attempt that all the vibration concentrated on the spikes are dampened on the rubber feets and with luck and the right durometer rubber (this is a mistery, have to test i think a hockey pucket durometer is good enough),also use under everything a felt carpet of about 10mm + thickness. The rest of the vibration that will pass to the floor COULD be about 10% to 20% of the total generated vibration from the rig.
so you get
Rig--->Spikes --> Strong Rubber 5x5x5 cm---> felt carpet 10mm + thickness (could be even 50mm felt carpet as it would be more efficient since the felt has a lot of air trap inside and also aid with the final vibrations dampening).

Also go as close to the corner as possible to minimize the whole floor shaking and resonating.. as it will resonate at higher frequency on the corners. higher frequencies are easier to decouple while low frequencies are the hardest...ie: when u hit a drum in the middle its louder and heavier on bass but when u hit it on the edges the sound is of higher pitch... i mean the whole floor is a shaking/resonating membrane in the end and its coupled with the house structure and decoupled by the terrain where the house was built.

But bear in mind that you will never get a good/perfect decoupling while in contact with the floor , or any house structure, but i trust my guts that the spikes, rubber and felt carpet approach can be a good cheap save for your case.

 

Thats a very clever idea. That would also reduce the contact patch so I guess that would help a lot. So the closer to the wall the beam is, the better it is? Unfortunately, I dont have space to move it around, my flat is small, and it is the only place where it will fit. Damn I miss the country!

 

Thanks for the tip. What kind of IsolateIt product have you used?

 

Thats interesting and very different from Dirty13 suggestions. Initially I thought that with a large piece of wood it would also help spread the noise/vibrations. But reading Dirty13's post, it seem it could be the other way around! But I think the idea of multi layer might help a lot though, as as of now I only have hardwood floor > 1/2 foam > 1/4 cork > 3/8 plywood > cockpit.

Yeah I'm afraid I'll have to consider turning down the FFB. I guess turning it down from the fanatec on wheel settings will be the way to go as it wont mess with my per car in game settings. And dont worry, they'll know about my updates. I've already went to great length to reduce the noise for neighbours.

 

yep a multilayer is the way to go.. so the energy is dampened on each stage.. but the floor will aways shake while you have contact with it.

reducing the contact patch will not make anything better right of the bat so to speak , but the fact of concentrating the energy on little spots makes it much easier to dampen those spots, all the energy will have to go somewhere, better it be in less and very little spots, this way u can dampen it with much more precision and easy since the rest of the rig isnt directly passing the energy to the floor. and is forced to go trought the spike points.

 

Well, thats some very great educated piece of advice. And to think I bought all that to do the exact opposite! So smallest contact patch is the way to go.

So you would bolt these directly under the rig legs? I would have to drill some holes, 2 per legs I suppose.

Also very great idea! My cockpit is ~1cm away from the wall in front (not against it to avoid vibrations to go through the wall) and about 1.5 feet from the wall on the right (I have my PC right there). I'll try to move it to the right.

Thanks a bunch man, you really think it through. I didnt expect to have so many great advice on a chit chat forum .

 

other easier solution to try may be only using a very thick felt carpet 10cm and put the rig directly in it.. and if needed add more layers after testing. the thicker the felt carpet less vibrations will go to the floor.
The fact that the felt has a lot of air inside will make the energy dissipate in form of heat there and attenuate a lot the noise already and will get rid of the wood pieces u are using too.
I think this might be a very good first step.
And them if needed you can go for a more advanced solutioon.. the felt being aways the under every layer dampener

 

Got the same "problem" in my apartment complex..

Driving my motion rig makes the neighbours nuts so the whole rig was put on a big wooden plate and some carpet (thing just too heavy for single point rubbers)
On all corners and in the middle I've put some foam which is also used in studio's.

Makes the rig a little unstable but 100% silent

 

I also live in an apartment and I also have wooden floor. Wooden floor is the worst enemy when it comes to any kind of vibrations, it just amplifies everything! And as it gets older you get cracking noises in different spots etc.... I am very conscious about the noise I make, I'm a pretty low profile guy and don't want to attract any attention. I never had such a rig with vibrating parts and such so I can't tell how bad it would sound to my neighbor downstairs. But one thing to consider is, putting a very sturdy panel on the bottom. Not foam or anything, just a solid piece that covers all of your rig and even maybe some more, then put your setup as it is on top of it. If it could reach the wall it would be even better. Decoupling spikes mentioned above are also a good idea, but they also need a solid base. I would recommend marble, I've seen audio setups like that and it works great.

 

Humm if this works for you u, I think the 10cm felt carpet under everything alone will do just great for him.... at least as a first step to see how it goes and evolve from there.

 

Much cheaper, post these through your neighbours letter box

 

Yeah I think I will go that route. Didn't think about felt when I built it, but seems like many of you are using it efficiently. I just did a quick research, where do you buy these? Most of felt carpet in hardware stores are not even 1 inch thick, I guess I could stack them up to get close to 10cm.

 

I told them it was a great timing to get intimate when I play, I heard vibrations were great for that kind of activity

 

yep stack five like this:
http://www.amazon.com/100-Felt-Rug-Pad-Protection/dp/B00ICNBCKO

but its kinda expensive you will have to hunt for prices... or other cheaper materials that could do the same effect i still find this one i linked too mushy not really well pressed and "rigid"... i was thinking in the kind of felt used for those speaker felt foots, there are of a much higher density than the one i linked.

 

Or u could use 5 carpets like this stacked too probly will be much cheaper and acheive similar results.

 

Yeah from my limited researched I've come to the conclusion that this first step will be a little more expensive that I first thought. Still, its less expensive than buying my own place with a freakin basement! I'll look for bargains, thanks for all the help guys, thats awesome.