I have a few spots on my Alex that vibrate and make noise when the pump is running and I'd like to add some sort of padding to dampen the noise. What type of material have you folks used to do this? Since the parts are hot, I don't want to use something that will melt or soften and leave a mess.

The primary source of the noise is where the cup warmer tray sits on top of the machine, and also from the cups sitting on the warmer tray. I'd like to put a few small pieces of foam between the cup warmer and the rest of the machine and I'd like to put a mat on top of the cup warmer (maybe some sort of rubber mesh so that it doesn't block the airflow through the machine). I though I saw a post here about someone doing this sort of thing, but I can't find it.

Any thoughts?

You might want to try Dynamat to reduce the vibrations from the motor and pump. There is a Dynamat that is designed for high temp. applications. This material is used to dampen noises in cars and should work for your application.

As far as the cups vibrating, try a mesh rubber mat sold at most hardware stores for lining kitchen cabinets and drawers. I believe it is a 3M product.

Nick

Ron_L wrote:I have a few spots on my Alex that vibrate and make noise when the pump is running and I'd like to add some sort of padding to dampen the noise.

Doesn't that machine have a rotary pump? It's better to stop the vibration at the source than try to dampen its effects. In the early days, the La Spaziale S1 was noisy as rotary pumps go. They replaced the motor mounts and it's now one of the quietest espresso machines around. If you bought it from Chris' Coffee, give them a call. They're very good at diagnosing and correcting nigglers like this.

HB wrote:Doesn't that machine have a rotary pump? It's better to stop the vibration at the source than try to dampen its effects. In the early days, the La Spaziale S1 was noisy as rotary pumps go. They replaced the motor mounts and it's now one of the quietest espresso machines around. If you bought it from Chris' Coffee, give them a call. They're very good at diagnosing and correcting nigglers like this.

Agreed, but the La Spaziale has a plastic case that would not vibrate with the same frequency of a stainless steel case. It also has different dampening factors so it would uncouple from the vibration of the motor-pump. Dampening is the key here as it will cause the case to vibrate at a lower frequency so as to become a non-factor in noise production.

I have a Vetrano that was vibrating and it turned out to be a motor produced by Ulka. I replaced it with an RPM-Spa and the vibration is all but gone. Now all that was left was the case vibration. Dynamat Extreme solved that problem. Now it is very quiet and all I hear is the hum of the motor. The amount of stainless steel and size of the cases on these machines act as a very large source of noise and also as a sounding board to increase the level of sound. Isolation of the motor-pump is only a small factor in reducing noise.

First decouple the motor-pump from the case, then dampen the case to reduce sympathetic vibrations that remain.

Nick

Thanks guys...

Nickel, thanks for the tip on the Dynamat. I'll track some down. As far as the Rubbermaid mesh, We have a bunch of it laying around, but I wasn't sure how it would hold up to the heat of the warming tray. Have you used it on your machine?

Dan... I hear what you are saying and i will check with one of Chris techs. If i remove the cups and the warming tray the machine is very quiet, so isolating the "loose" parts should fix the noise. it's not really loud, just annoying. I have a pet peeve for vibrating things, I guess. Overall, even with the cups vibrating the machine is quieter than my Millennium was.

Ron_L wrote:I have a pet peeve for vibrating things, I guess.

Me too. I grew weary of tracking down vibrating this and vibrating that and outboarded the (vibe) pump to the cabinet below. Then I learned that the pump itself is actually quiet, but it's good at transmitting vibration through the line. Adding a few feet of braided stainless steel tubing surrounded by neoprene piping insulation (from Home Depot) brought vibe pump to rotary pump quietness for an hour's work and less than $10 in loose parts.



The drawback, of course, is that the installation is permanent. No biggie, La Valentina is bolted to the countertop because I have a pet peeve about machines that move when locking in the portafilter, too.

I got a sheet of sticky back felt pads at the dollar store and put some in between the warming tray and frame. Quieted mine down quite a bit and have stayed on since I got the Alex.

on a related note:

i picked up some new vibe mount pads, as one of my existing ones was bent-out-of-shape and vibrating quite a bit thanks to bad factory installation

the pump doesn't sit as tightly in the new mounts. can anyone suggest a way to give it a tight fit ?

I added this to the top of of the Vibiemme to stop the rattle of the cups and top cover.
It has little 'feet' to raise the mat above the cover so ventilation is not impeded.

It's an InterDesign SinkWorks small clear sink protector.
Available at Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens n Things and sundry other kitchen retailers.

This is what I did for my MK1, should work on a MKII though.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/_sgg/m1mc_1.htm