Leather Punch Impact Vibration Isolation
Mason UK was approached by a specialist leatherwork shop. Every time a punch was used, impact noise was very audible in the shop below. We designed bespoke shock mounts to solve the problem.
The punch was sitting directly above their shop. The floor construction was relatively lightweight and the machine imparted significant impact noise into the structure with every operation. The client had tried a myriad of rubber/foam mats without success.
Impact noise
If impact energy is travelling through the structure, typically the only way to solve it is with a spring. Even soft natural rubber is too dynamically stiff to react quickly enough to broadband impact pulses and will only remove the higher frequencies, only making it quieter in the space itself. The low frequencies pass straight through into the structure and can travel throughout the building.
Springs have essentially zero dynamic stiffness so can react quickly enough to absorb impacts. The taller the spring the lower the frequencies that can potentially be absorbed, but even a short travel spring offers far greater isolation than any elastomer. We used our MFS gymnasium floor spring as a basis for these mounts – the MFS has been used very successfully to isolate free weight areas, treadmills etc.
Another success!
We designed the spring mounts to sit under each corner. Each mount was only partially deflected by the dead weight of the machine, so there was sufficient travel to absorb the momentum of the heavy punch hammer. The springs worked very well and the punch is now inaudible from anywhere outside the workshop.
