Cheap Anti-Vibration Materials

[Ap1thy]

I am the proud (and annoyed somewhat) owner of one Lian-Li PC-7B Plus II. I love its subtle looks and great interior layout but it rattles like hell when the hard disk is in use even with a scythe disk stabilizer installed.

I was thinking when I have it disassembled for a watercooling setup this weekend to try and address the problem. As i dont stock adhesives and foams or similar materials, I was thinking of using tape (electrical or masking) to make the side panels fit on tighter than they currently do and also putting some inbetween the hard disk and the mounts. Any ideas as to if this would work or if itd just make a mess to clean up later on?

[ShadowNyfe]

saw this in another thread, but someone came across self-adhesive felt and a decent vibration stopper.

If you're going with tape, make neat "wads" of them, if that's not too much of an oxymoron. What I mean is tape it to itself and then wedge it, rather than tape it to the actual harddrive. Less of a mess.

[Cannibal23]

you could also try a little silicone caulking. it should absorb the vibration. problem is that its a touch messy

[Bopher]

what about some Dynamat? You can pick up a license plate sheet, 4" X 10" for something like 20 bucks at Circuit City. You could cut out a couple small pieces, stick it to itself, and poke or drill a hole through it to create a grommet. Just something that came to me.

[a.Bird]

I imagine the tape idea would work; electric seems best because of its material, I think would make a better seal than masking tape, however it often has the effect of not sticking well to anything but itself for an extended period of time. Perhaps just merely adjust the locking flanges on the side panel would hold it tighter to the case.

What I have done in the past is suspended my harddrives in the hdd cage with bungee material, but this is a royal pain in the butt and can make switching out harddrives not worth the entire ordeal, not to mention this method is not the most asthetically pleasing of many.

As far as the Dynamat solution goes, it's only going to be effective if you use a lot of it. That's because what dynamat really does is add an incredible amount of weight to surface metal so that low frequency audio, such as subwoofer output in the back of your car, can't push the metal as far when the soundwaves hit it and create that awful rattling noise.

[Ap1thy]

okay, thanks for the info. I ended up canelling the water kit but ill still try the tape idea ont eh hard disk and if it works ill post back in here

the wedging idea sounds good, +rep mate and +rep for the detailed info a.bird

[Ap1thy]

after going through a motherboard failure, I finally got my new board and fired up my computer with the tape installed, I layered on about 4 pieces and it works brilliantly. no more rattling and I can only hear it when it is reading a lot. so electrical tape is an awesome vibration deterent