Seriously the BEST $2 3D printer upgrade!

I'm not a huge fan of 3D printer upgrade but this piece of concrete paver is something I put under each of my machines that I run every day. Let me show you how you can severely reduce the printing noise in your print room but also in the rest of the house with this solution! I also performed a test to find out how different print base solutions affect the print quality of parts and we'll also quickly talk about the difference between a spring and a damper/dashpot because many seem to mix that up.

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DISCLAIMER: This video was sponsored by Raycon.

[jannes]

This is a prime example of how these videos should be make! No clickbait, first thing you see is the result and the answer to the title. Then a demonstration of why it's needed and thorough research! Absolutely love this channel, keep it up!

[matthewjordan]

For those unfamiliar with how industrial machining equipment is installed, this is standard practice. The structural rigidity and accuracy of 95% of large turning and milling machines lies in the manner in which they're installed. Typically they're anchored to an isolation pad. This pad is reinforced concrete anywhere from 2 feet to 8 feet deep possibly more depending on the application that is isolated from the earth below and surrounding edges to the existing shop floor by several inches of high density foam.

[dfly]

I did this a year ago and everyone on the forums laughed at me 😅

[qupbuqqoywogh]

To be honest? I thought you were pulling my leg. However, in order to refute it scientifically, I had to test it first. The result? Jaw-dropping sound reduction!

[SvenBro]

Dont forget, that the concret slab on itself acts similar to a flywheel by absorbing the acceleration because of its huge weight. You can compare this concept to a capacitor on alternating voltage, which smoothes the output voltage.

F = m * a <==> a = F / m

If there is a constant force F you can reduce the acceleration a by increasing the mass m.

[chili.crispy]

This video is amazing and saved my sleep. My printer is in my bedroom on an IKEA bookshelf and it's been keeping me awake during longer prints with noise from the steppers.
I bought a $1.75 concrete paver and some non-slip drawer lining foam I had lying around and now I can finally sleep again! Thank you so much!

[haley]

4:30 The paver is not to distribute the load evenly, it's to add mass which reduces acoustic coupling to air by impedance mismatch.

[PatJones]

I'm late to the party on this but in case it helps anyone: I just got a 16x16 paver from Home Depot and four 1 inch circle felt stick on's, one for each corner that the paver sits on. This fits inside my self built lack table enclosure for my Prusa MK3S with about an inch to spare in height inside the enclosure. This has made the printer practically silent, in comparison to how loud it was before. Those hollow lack tables really amplify the sound vibrations, and this solution made a HUGE, and I mean HUGE difference.

[lucianorosset]

A thing to consider is leaving the filament spool out of the printer's frame. It's sprung mass that will add inertia to the system. Having it separated will make it easier to damp the movement.

[soundmindtv]

Yes. I wish more 3D makers and small cnc makers would take time to understand the principles that cnc machine tool manufacturers spent decades researching and refining. A stable platform is step 1 for anything precise

[gosupersheep]

Well, I was so inspired I went to the store. To get a paving slab for each of my two printers... I ended up paving my drive. I am holding you responsible!!! (Also, thanks for great content as ever)
:)

[paulmcewen]

I have had this for my printer for about six months and the improvement in noise is awesome. Thanks Stefan!

[stevedonalson]

This is a great representation of isolation and dampening when it come to not only 3D printing, but just about anything that moves. A grinder on a table or a generator would be a good example.

Thank you Stefan. You have, once again, presented an incredible example and explanation of engineering principles for the
non-initiated.

[sumsarx]

I just did this and the hardest part was getting the concrete slab home without a car. I'm very pleased with the result. Best quality of life upgrade ever! 👍

[davide.ercolano]

"viscoelasticity" is the keyword here :) one of the proper material out there with a great viscoelasticity and perfect to put under your concrete block is "memory foam". Give it a try! Thanks for your work Stefan

[logmegadeth]

Your ball drop tests brought me back to one of my introductory engineering courses where we investigated coefficient of restitution. Very interesting and thorough investigation!

[flymypg]

Mechanically, all sound is wasted energy (other than in audio speakers, that is). The key to minimizing it is to ensure all motion (momentum, technically) in one direction is balanced by an equal and opposite momentum AS CLOSE TO THE SOURCE OF MOTION AS POSSIBLE. When one side of an axis is held rigid, any imbalance is transmitted through that rigid structure to whatever is supporting it, and so on to the building itself.

Motion in one axis can be coupled to other axes when the imbalance is forced through anything that can act as a lever. The spring supports were horrible at this, converting most X-Y motion into Z motion, with oscillatory bouncing! A better mount would be stiffer and/or more damped in Z, since there relatively little direct imbalance due to the slow Z axis movements.

I remember well when I started applying my embedded real-time programming skills to actuator controls. I designed my software to drive the system well within specs, but when I tested it rigidly mounted to a large concrete test-bed, the mechanism tore itself apart. I next tested it attached to a mass more closely representing its operational load, only to have it shake that apart as well, severing it's mount to the test-bed. Only when I properly isolated the system did I get correct performance, in this case adding mounts that closely matched the mechanical aspects of the fluid dynamics of its intended operational environment. Quite a valuable applied physics lesson for a software engineer!

The same applies to 3D printers, though the goal is to isolate it from the environment without that isolation reflecting unwanted problems back into the 3D printer. Printers with a bed moving laterally will generate the most forceful motion on that axis, with other axes contribution less until you get to the axis carrying the carriage. Carriage motion has the longest path to be conducted to the base, and so can use the other axes to absorb the imbalance, leading to ringing when any mechanical part in that path provides any reasonance.

This gets worse as print speed grows. Fortunately, the same techniques that permit faster printing can also result in less noise! The reverse is also true: techniques that reduce noise can permit faster printing! So let's instead attack this as a single full-system problem.

The best way to reduce momentum imbalance is to reduce either acceleration (and its derivative, jerk) or the mass being accelerated. Which is the one huge reason to switch to a Bowden feed: The extruder drive stepper is no longer part of the moving mass of the carriage, with the added complexity of more difficult filament feed/retract behavior. But there is a middle solution that is nearly as good, if more expensive: Keep the filament feeder on the carriage, but move the stepper away using a flexible drive. The industry standard RepRap design also moves the stepper driving the carriage axis. The general technique of "move no steppers" can be applied further away from the carriage. The CoreXY and Delta are printer architectures having no moving steppers.

That nice for a new printer, but we still must deal with whatever imbalance is left, no matter what printer we have. How? At this point, we need to work with the printer as a whole. The solutions Stefan showed all act at the base, the primary goal being to reduce conducted noise. Can we do better?

We ideally would absorb each imbalance as close to its source as possible. But how to do so while maintaining the mechanical integrity, alignment and performance of the printer as a whole? If you are a printer designer you can add flexibility to the structure that is compensated by a drive system that models, and accounts for, that flexible structure and the applied forces. A great example of such modeling is "melt zone pressure" that is controlled to ensure actual filament flow accounts for variables such as filament composition, filament diameter, melt-zone size, heater capacity, nozzle diameter, and so on, and do so without actually having a pressure sensor at the melt zone. A model is designed then tuned for the print environment, which is what "linear advance" does in Marlin, and is why the Klipper project exists.

We can do similar software modeling for momentum imbalance. Since printers don't change like filament, we don't need a dynamic model: We can solve a static model one time, by separately tuning acceleration and jerk for each axis. I'm presently in the design phase of a project to automate this calibration, by attaching 6-axis IMUs (accelerometers + gyros) to each axis then using a very simple optimization/learning network on a PC or RasPi to null out as much imbalance as possible while still meeting performance/speed goals. (I already did a similar project to isolate my aging body from road vibration when riding my triathlon race bicycle while still providing, and even enhancing, my maximum performance: The feet, butt and hands/elbows were separate paths needing separate solutions, some of which included changing my riding style and bike fit.)

Modeling and software can get us only so far: Whatever imbalance still remains will need to be absorbed external to the printer. But we certainly can crudely model it, and in some cases directly measure it. The imbalances can get complex due to axis coupling as imbalances make their way to the base. There won't be just the linear components due to the motion of each axis, but additional components due to axis coupling.

Wow. This comment got long, and I have other things to get done. I'll end it here. Please comment if you'd like more, and I'll expand this into a blog post that I'll link here.

[TravisFabel]

So this just saved my butt. As I posted a couple days ago, it worked great for my 3d printer... This weekend we got my daughter a small rock tumbler kit. I agreed to have it in the office as we cant put it in her bedroom for days without her messing with it. Now I thought I was smart... we set it up in the closet. Since the room is an office, its never used. Plugged it in and... that was a big mistake. I didnt realize how LOUD rock tumblers are. Now I know you can cover it pretty easily, but that makes it overheat. This has to run a motor turning a barrell for days on end..and heating it up could dry out the slurry inside too.
Listening carefully I realize the sound we hear isnt from the tumbler its the door and walls and everything from the tumbler.
Then I realize.. Stefan! You saved the day for us. I fold up some craft batting (didnt have any foam), put a paver on it and put the tumbler on the paver. Its not silent, but about as loud as the washing machine.. easily ignored and fades into the background.
Thank you!

[chrismartin]

was googling this last night and then you posted a video today, brilliant!

[Micah_Makes]

I'd done similar with some scrap around the house. Used Pelican case foam (harder foam) and scrap granite that I got when a friend re-did their kitchen. It was a night and day difference. Very cool to see the actual test data. I might try and find some softer foam to use with it!
Keep the great content coming.