I received a large batch of these feet, it came out of some defunct inspection factory which housed metallurgical microscopes (I think). These feet were mounted onto a custom board that was far too heavy to ship. I obtained the feet and the mounting bracket.
Below is one of the feet disassembled. The feet itself only consist of 15 parts, 14 are shown -- 16 if the bracket is included and just 20 with its 4 screws! A soft padded adhesive feet can be added, readily available from 3M.
Three bearing balls sitting in a grooved circular base, a retainer with 3 holes, a couple housings, one screw, one washer, a piece of foam and one O-ring. Then, there is a retainer with a piece of plastic cover.
At the heart of the feet is a rather unique looking wavey spring. It is called an interlaced wave spring.
Assembly requires the bear minimum of thought.
The three bearings fall into the plastic retainer, a cylinder sits on top, wobbling around. This allows lateral movements to dampen vibrations, as long as installation is adequate. The wave spring goes in swallowing a piece of foam with a threaded cylinder swallowing it, all connected with a long shaft screw. The threaded cylinder allows levelling. Very simple! Below is a cutaway.
As long as the load is proper, the mechanical dampers will counter vibrations. Too much or too little will as expected, compromise its performance.
Out of curiosity, I purchased a set of wave springs from a Chinese company. I would like to see if I can swap the existing springs to increase the load capacity, my microscope is rather fat and very heavy.
I will report my findings some time later, I need to get a board made for the mounting brackets first. This will help a lot if simply swapping the wave spring out will increase the rated load. The aftermarket springs are not cheap, but cheaper than getting these feet used or new.
