Vibration Dampening Grommets

I saw a jabrams @ rcgroups post where he mentioned the vibration dampeners he's using.

He got them from element14.  Note you need two pieces.  Read the post for more details.

GEL MEC - GVD-1010-40
DAMPER, 10MM GEL MECGVD-1010-40
Manufacturer: GEL MEC
Order Code: 1422144

GEL MEC - SCR10UNC
FIXING BOLT, UNC6-32, FOR GVD-10 GEL MECSCR10UNC
Manufacturer: GEL MEC
Order Code: 1422159

Theraband Data

Here's a thread on RCGroups where jackerbes goes into great detail about using 1/8'' slices of blue Theraband to make high quality prop savers.

Sparklet follows up and shows how they make good vibration dampers for quad photography.  He uses it to attach two bolts together

It seems that ebay vendor drdcsupplies is the goto guy for retail quantites of Theraband.  At the time of writing it's $1.50/foot postpaid for yellow (thin), red (medium), green (heavy), and blue (extra heavy).

Full specs and info are on the manufacturer's page.  Here are the physical dimensions of each kind of tubing:


Color  Dimensions                      Part Numbers
Tan    .062 ID x .031 wall (.125 O.D.) #21010 #21110
Yellow .200 ID x .045 wall (.290 O.D.) #21020 #21120
Red    .200 ID x .057 wall (.314 O.D.) #21030 #21130
Green  .200 ID x .069 wall (.338 O.D.) #21040 #21140
Blue   .200 ID x .085 wall (.370 O.D.) #21050 #21150
Black  .200 ID x .098 wall (.396 O.D.) #21060 #21160
Silver .200 ID x .125 wall (.450 O.D.) #21070 #21170

Motor balancing in addition to prop balancing

Old Man Mike posts an interesting note regarding vibrations.  Not only is prop balancing critical, but blade orientation plays an important role as well.  He says:

This chart shows that even with balanced props, there is a sweet spot for mounting that will provide a minimum vibration level. Without testing, it is very unlikely that a low vibration will be achieved and most likely the number will be at least two times greater than the minimum. It could even be much worse. One of the five motor/prop combination had more than 6 times times the minimum vibration for some prop positions and more than 4 times as much even just 45 degrees away from the minimum position!

It typically takes about 10 mins per motor/prop to find the minimum so it adds a bit of time to my quad builds. Since I'm somewhat obsessed with getting low vibration performance with my quads, I think it is worth the effort.

Anti-vibration fasteners

FrozenCPU.com has a lot of grommets, etc, designed to reduce vibrations from hard drives.  Could these be useful for mounting quad controller boards?