Vibration measurements on a selection of powered hand tools revealed that many exceeded recommended handle vibration levels. Handles attached to the tool bodies with isolating mounts generally vibrated less than non-isolated handles. Resilient (foam rubber) handgrips, placed between the tool handles and the operator's hand provided good isolation at higher frequencies. Reasonable thicknesses of foam soft enough to reduce the lower frequencies were not strong enough to withstand the high handgrip and other forces required to operate the tools without complete compression of the cells. The resulting configuration caused increased stiffness and loss of low frequency attenuation.
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