The following review (of all other material following below) was received by Abco Research Associates on 1-21-09 from Wayne in Hawaii.  We are posting if for your information.

What Works best for me in the Long Term

This shows the finalized setup of the Venus 2000 that has proven most versatile and satisfactory over the very long term. It addresses several fiddly and major problems, mostly having to do with use of the Venus 2000 in an actual setting.

Foremost of these are sound isolation from the environs. The Venus 2000 is quiet, but it does make noise. It is heavy and that causes solid acoustic contact with whatever it is placed on. This can result in serious noise by conduction through a structure. Sound isolation is as simple as disconnecting the unit from the building structure.

The base used for this purpose is further pressed into service to provide a support arm to manage the hoses and controls more easily.

Other things to note in the above photo include the use of spiral wrap cable binding to merge the stroke control hose and the hand control wiring into a single bundle which in turn is hung from the end of the adjustable support arm at a convenient place to take stress off the fittings on the Venus 2000 and also to help control these items.

This is the base plate. The vertical arm is old salvaged monkey bars used in laboratories for apparatus support. It is half inch aluminum rod. The crossbar is the same stuff and the joiner, the coupler, is a standard accessory for joining two at right angles while allowing them to be adjusted in both directions with thumb screws. Note the drilled recesses for the four feet.

 
The original ABCO feet were replaced with these taller cylinder hard rubber feet. These fit into the depressions in the base board and prevent any sliding about. They are so tall they allow for good ventilation under the unit even when dropped 1/4 inch into the depressions.

Simple foam padding and a second board goes into the stack under the base plate. Sound isolation depends on dissimilar materials as well as vibration isolation, so including a stiff layer between two foam layers such as cardboard or wood really helps. Spray adhesive could be used to bind these together but I just leave them loose. The foam is non-skid enough to keep things from moving about too much.

 
Here is the entire stack assembled. This completely prevents sound from being conducted into the structure. Only air born sound, which is easy to suppress, is left and it is relatively minor even under heavy load. Note how the feet fit into the depressions and still leave plenty of ventilation under the Venus 2000 unit.

Control Units Merged

A major problem is the running away of the controls for both air and speed during use. They seem to love to exist on the floor. Two things were done to control this. First of all the two were merged.

A small metal plate was cut to fit the two side by side and drilled with a hole for a large split ring. Then a simple badge holder was attached with a swivel. The units were mounted in a very simple way that has proven very sound. Thick double sided tape was used. This stuff is like a clear gel about 1/8 of an inch thick and very tacky. It allowed one to deal with the recesses on the bottom of the units and get a very firm install that has stayed in place for years

With these two units merged into one, the remaining problem was their love for running for the floor at the first chance. I found a simple solution was installation of four rubber feet on the back of the new plate which has helped immensely. Finally the badge clip can be fastened to a fold in a sheet or similar fabric area to restrain it further. The support arm can be positioned to take the weight of some of the cord and hose to further decrease the love of floor this unit shows.

Here you can see the feet and the badge clip from the backside view of the dual mounting plate. This has been just great and solves the problem that the single speed controller already had and which was multiplied when there were two such units to constantly be sliding onto the floor at every chance.

This was a good idea not carried far enough. The idea was to make the buttons different in a tactile sense to help know if your finger was on the in or out valves of the controller. Having the units merged into one helps a lot with this since now on is in the middle of the combo and one is at one end of the combo, no longer symmetrical. But this idea does work. The engraved cross cut with a simple hack saw blade just needs to be more dramatic and deeper.

Hose Clamp added to Main Air Hose

One problem that I did have was the taper on the feed hose. It constantly expanded the hose over time and it became loose and slipped off easily. Cutting back the hose an inch or so solved this problem. But I finally just cut off a fresh 1 foot length of hose and even cut off some of the hose fitting itself to increase its ID. Then I used a small hose clamp to firmly attach the short hose to the unit. Then I used a double ended barbed plastic fitting which had been cut back to the correct ID range to reduce constriction to join to the actual hose.

I am very happy with this modification. It has proven worthwhile. The plastic joins come for a wide range of sizes and you just cut them at a barb which gives the proper ID which considerably decreases flow resistance when used with the larger hoses. They originally work for sizes from 1/8th inch to 1/2 inch, so the terminal ID is very small.

Summary:

1. The combining of both controls onto a single plate which has rubber feet on the back and a badge clip on a swivel to help control its hyper irritating fondness for the floor has been a fantastic frustration reliever. It is highly recommended. The use of thick 3M brand double sided adhesive "tape" which is actually a gel with a thick red peal off backing has proven ideal. This stuff makes a very firm mounting where space filling is also needed.

2. The use of a sound isolation plate is wonderful. It eliminates the main source of noise pollution, conduction through the structure. The trick is to use longer feet and depressions drilled into the base plate. I used a simple wood spade drill in a drill press to make the depressions, setting the drill press stop to make them even. The base is just some laminate covered junk pressboard I had on hand in the scrap pile. The plastic laminate coating meant I did not have to paint it and it wipes off easily for cleaning and dusting.

3. Other bits are minor but work well for me. The use of a hose clamp on a short adapter hose to eliminate completely the slippage of the main receiver hose after it flares out with time has been a long term solution. The use of a cross bar with fancy clamp to make an adjustable support arm to help control the weight of the wire and hose to the hand units to help encourage them to "STAY!" is also nice. The use of spiral wrap to bundle the hose and wire together was easy and seems to also help keep things organized and where you put them but it does make the assembly stiffer which can help keep things in place or hinder it. Personal choice. Works for me.

Final Note: I find the 15:1 version of the Venus 2000 the ideal unit. .I would recommend it to every new user. The older 10:1 unit is OK, but the newer speed range is stronger on the bottom end and more than fast enough on the top end. The gear reduction of the 15:1 is just a better fit for the application in my opinion.

Manufacturers Note:  The 15:1 is the only unit available and is what is shipped on all new orders.