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  • #16
    Re: Silvia quieting

    Cheers again Mal. I willl suss that out. The pump body seems pretty well isolated but I reckon the pressure hose is sure to be touching the bodywork somewhere. Your experience of the Mokita is reassuring because it negates my suspicions about the vibrations being transferred hydraulically.

    In the short term, Im taking a different tack - looking for somewhere the walls arent so thin! Its crazy.

    On the grinder front I had a promising development. I just tried running some beans through a manual Porkert mill and it was pretty fast and quiet, though way too coarse for espresso. Ill try it again tomorrow on a finer setting.

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    • #17
      Re: Silvia quieting

      Since I doubt that extra heat will bother the pressure hose, how about wrapping some neoprene (old mouse mat? unused wet suit?) around the hose at likely spots?

      On another tack I was able to quiet my VBM somewhat by using some very thin, small bits of stiff foam to insulate the back-and-side slide-on piece from the front.

      Greg

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      • #18
        Re: Silvia quieting

        I have a friend who recently (within the last month) had his Minore I serviced by the guys at Expobar Australia in Melbourne.

        Amongst the parts replaced was the pump. My mate told me that a newer style vibe pump had been installed. Aparently, this pump is a fair bit quieter than your typical vibe pump.

        Are there any site sponsors out there who have any info on these pumps - if they do exist?

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        • #19
          Re: Silvia quieting

          Have you seen this posting on CG for isolating the pump from the frame?

          http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machinemods/358753

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          • #20
            Re: Silvia quieting

            Awesome. Thats all really useful info. Im particularly interested in the coffeegeek thread, Bill, thanks. My shot glass will also walk out from under the group. I will definitely try Jeepingeos trick. I didnt think pump isolation was the problem because it already seems pretty well isolated, but theres experimental evidence. Even aside from the noise, less vibration would be good.

            Turns out the porkert cant grind quite fine enough, but i had some good results with moving the rocky down onto the carpet. Seems remarkably quiet down there. I guess the counter is a bad resonator. Low-pile carpet + underlay + concrete seems to be a fairly good damper.

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            • #21
              Re: Silvia quieting

              In the end I had bit of success with this by swapping the Ulka pump for the Fluid-O-Tech and padding everything in sight with yoga mat. Its still louder than I would like but within acceptable parameters, I think. I tried JeepInGeos suspension trick, which worked wonders for vibration on the drainage grille, but didnt have any effect on the sound unfortunately.

              Doing the swap was surprisingly easy. The F.O.T. fitted in the Ulka mounts but was too heavy and made them sag, so I made a pad of glued-together squares of yoga mat and sat it on that, which I reckon also had some noise-damping effect. The F.O.T. seems a nicer bit of gear than the Ulka - it weighs about twice as much and has all metal fittings as opposed to the Ulkas plastic. Odd, seeing they cost the same (from Coffee Parts, who shipped it instantly, thank you)

              Heres a pic of them side-by-side.



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              • #22
                Re: Silvia quieting

                And heres a shot of it installed. There seems like a lot of space in the motor cavity until you start cramming stuff in there, especially if you dont want things touching.

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                • #23
                  Re: Silvia quieting

                  liamth,

                  With that amount of insulation against the pump body..... you have severely affected the air flow and hence the cooling of the pump....

                  Probably OK for the occasional extraction but if you do a lot in a row.... it might overheat and die.

                  The problem is the pumps are designed to dissipate the heat all over the external surface (by air flowing over them)..... and probably dont have a lot of safety margin...... thats why they are normally mounted in a cradle in "free air".....

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                  • #24
                    Re: Silvia quieting

                    Thanks JavaB, if I were running it for long periods Id be concerned about that, but I usually just pull one shot and turn off.

                    Anyway, of 6 surfaces, 4 are still open to the air and cold water runs through it whenever its operating.
                    These devcies are installed in warm enclosures with no air circulation, yet the body is enclosed in thick plastic - it doesnt seem like the designers were worried about heat dissipation from the body surface.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Silvia quieting

                      Gday liamth,

                      Looking good there mate 8-)..... That Fluidotech pump looks a pretty solid design compared to the Ulka like you say, so should last the distance OK.

                      Anyway mate, enough about that.... How are the shots from your Silvia with the Fluidotech? Pressure still getting up to where its supposed to be? Maybe you could take a pic of a shot and give us a run down on comparisons with the previous setup. :

                      All the best liamth ,
                      Mal.

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                      • #26
                        Re: Silvia quieting

                        Cheers Mal. Good call - no amount of quieting would be worth it if it had a bad effect on the output! Im pleased to say ive been using it about 6 weeks and havent noticed any probs. It audibly reaches the OPV pressure in about 5-10s and the pours seem good.

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                        • #27
                          Re: Silvia quieting

                          I found the ultimate solution to this problem - I got a La Pavoni Europiccola!  This true love for me, and not just because it works silently.  Its gives more control as well and has Class with a capital C.  

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