Tempur-Pedic foam as a vibration damper

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:32 am

I just saw a commercial for the Tempur-Pedic mattress. I am sure everyone has seen this ad. It's the one where a woman is jumping up and down on the bed with a glass of wine balancing a few feet away. In any event, I called the 1-800 number for the free sample block of foam. I think that there are obvious possibilities for the foam. If anyone is interested in getting their hands on some the number is: 1-800-358-3399

Hey, it can't hurt...it's free.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 7:02 am

Hmmmm. Let us know if you get anywhere with a use for this. I have one of these pillows and my first thought is that since this foam is heat-reactive (it softens based on body heat) that if if were used to support a HDD that it might just swallow the drive as the temps went up. Though being so soft, I bet it would be great for isolation.

In terms of damping the case, IMO this would be a rather expensive route to take in light of cheaper alternatives.

My $.02.

Fife · Post by **Fife** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 10:18 am

In terms of damping the case, IMO this would be a rather expensive route to take in light of cheaper alternatives.

I agree. If you could this stuff dirt cheap, I wouldnt mind getting a new mattress. The material is great and soft and may not work well when exposed to high heaet temps.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 11:16 am

Not that I expect any computer application to get so cold, but I went camping last week with a friend who brought a temperpedic foam pillow. The temperature was around freezing, and the foam pillow turned rock hard. It was like a small sack of concrete! We got a good laugh out of it.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 11:18 am

IsaacKuo wrote:The temperature was around freezing, and the foam pillow turned rock hard.

Yup, like I said, heat reactive/sensitive. If he left his head on it for a while though, his body heat would have softened the foam a bit and returned it to a pillow-like state, at least until he rolled over to a new spot on the pillow and had to reheat.

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 1:02 pm

Didn't know about the temperature factor. In any event, if it is at all usefull for anything i will let everyone know.

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:05 pm

Tsubo wrote:Didn't know about the temperature factor. In any event, if it is at all usefull for anything i will let everyone know.

I agree with Tsubo that this item has obvious possibilities for uses within a computer case (in spite of the temperature factor). I have considered ordering a free block of this foam for the same reason.

Tsubo, what are the approx. dimensions of the foam block that they sent to you?

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:28 am

Didn't recieve it yet. The block on TV looked like it would fit nicely in a 5 1/2 drive bay though. I let you know when it gets here.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:21 am

Tempur-pedic (TM) matresses are expensive. Very expensive.

Fortunately there are other temperature and pressure sensitive foamed plastics with good memory (i.e. they shape with heat, but rebound after heat/pressure is removed).

I'm not sure about using this for damping however. I haven't found any measured sound absorption indexes for this stuff nor fire retardant ratings.

Please let us all know how it goes, if you experiment with this stuff.

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:12 pm

My main reason for posting this is that the foam was free. I realize that a mattress is ridiculously expensive. I just thought that it couldn't hurt to mess around with it.

Stupid boy · Post by **Stupid boy** » Sat May 08, 2004 7:51 pm

I have a Tempur-pedic mattress. Here are two problems:

1. It absorbs heat extremely well. When I cover it with a blanket, it can stay warm from my body heat for days. This may raise the ambient temperatune.

2. When I put my ear in contact with the bed and cover my other ear with the Tempur-pedic pillow, I can still hear whiny fans.

jinu117 · Post by **jinu117** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:04 pm

Stupid boy wrote:I have a Tempur-pedic mattress. Here are two problems:

1. It absorbs heat extremely well. When I cover it with a blanket, it can stay warm from my body heat for days. This may raise the ambient temperatune.

2. When I put my ear in contact with the bed and cover my other ear with the Tempur-pedic pillow, I can still hear whiny fans.

Have u tried #2 with sound dampner pad on market? I bet u will get similar result

Funny how i thought about it about 2 weeks ago and been eyeing my pillow. Too expensive still.... maybe when pillow gets really old

mkygod · Post by **mkygod** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:24 pm

You can request a sample through their site. I think its one per household, so i got my friend to get me one too.

Surprisingly, the block is the exact same width as a 3.5" drive, and if you flatten the block slightly it will fit snuggly in a 3.5" drive bay.

I wonder how this thing compares to drive bay blocks such as the Nexus Damptek one.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 12:47 am

this is by far, the most geeky thing I have heard in a long time

great idea too.

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:45 am

Stupid boy wrote: 2. When I put my ear in contact with the bed and cover my other ear with the Tempur-pedic pillow, I can still hear whiny fans.

Aha, I see where this thread is going. Instead of buying p180's, Ninja's and Nexus'ssss, we buy a Tempur-pedic pillow for each ear

Sorry, couldn't resist, had a bad day & needed a laugh

On a serious note, is this stuff egg crate shaped? A local supplier here has foam bed underlay sheets that i might investigate but it sounds like it might not be suitable going by these posts.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:11 am

Nope - sublayers on the mattress may be, but the top layer of viscous foam is flat.

I think this foam will only stop PC vibrations if there is a woman jumping up and down in your room.

nici · Post by **nici** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:48 am

IIRC this stuff was originally developed for NASA or something.. And yes as posted its fooking expensive!

mkygod wrote: I wonder how this thing compares to drive bay blocks such as the Nexus Damptek one.

Its probably better, the DampTek blocks are crap IMO. Poke it with your finger and theres a hole in it. Also you cant pull them from the edges, my blocks look like a rat has chewewd on them... Im holding a 3,5" block of the stuff right now, and it seems that when you squeeze it white "smoke" comes out

Its not dust since the block hasnt been in a dusty environment, it must be the material of the block must be disintegrating or something when squeezed..

The blocks that come with AcoustiPack Deluxe is far better, they are more heavy and you can tie them into knots without them breaking. So you can make all kinds of fun stuff with them, like fan mounts, or block two 5,25" bays with one 3,5" block standing on its side. Too bad they arent available separately, not here at least.

ThatOldDude · Post by **ThatOldDude** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 10:12 am

mkygod wrote:You can request a sample through their site. I think its one per household, so i got my friend to get me one too.

Surprisingly, the block is the exact same width as a 3.5" drive, and if you flatten the block slightly it will fit snuggly in a 3.5" drive bay.

I wonder how this thing compares to drive bay blocks such as the Nexus Damptek one.

Wow...this topic rested for almost 2 years and you brought it back form the dead!!

Well the Tempur-Pedic mattresses might be cheaper now!!

mkygod · Post by **mkygod** » Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:13 pm

Hey, you can't argue with free dampening blocks. I just thought it needed mentioning because it fits perfectly in 3.5" slots. If you have enough friends to request these things, you can concievably line your entire case with this stuff or glue them together to make a mattress topper, although i don't know if you'd want to.

Before I tried to use it as a wrist rest for my mouse, but didnt work very well for that, so i was tryin to see what else i could do with it, and thats when i did a search for tempurpedic on this forum.

armystud0911 · Post by **armystud0911** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:18 pm

It isnt all that worth it when it comes to noise dampening, its very expensive and hard to work with, however, I have been using it to quiet my water pump for a while and it does wonders to vibrations.

truckman · Post by **truckman** » Wed May 03, 2006 2:13 am

A source of memory foam and other types of foam cut to custom sizes is http://www.foamorder.com. I purchased a custom-thickness memory foam mattress from them a few years ago, when the name-brand memory foam mattresses were $$$.

McMaster-Carr also looks like a good source for a wide variety of foam products.

Tempur-Pedic foam as a vibration damper

Tempur-Pedic foam as a vibration damper

Two problems

Re: Two problems

Re: Two problems

I am hooked on the stuff