Many pieces of sensitive testing equipment appear to be heavy and solid machines, but are actually a collection of fine and fragile components. Optic fiber machines, for example, can be damaged or unaligned very easily. The same is true of calibration machinery that can be altered by a few degrees of temperature change. A Vibratory Testing Table looks like a solid piece of metal that can withstand just about anything, but utilizes many intricate sensors and parts. Extensive training is needed for operators to know the purpose of each part, and how to maintain and properly use the equipment.

A vibration isolation table price is used to apply controlled degrees of movement and noise to subjects to see at which point they will be destroyed. The purpose is to establish reliability and determine safety margins for the subject. Specially designed amplifiers are used to produce audio power, and there are two operating systems that are used for the shaker piece. One is hydraulic force that is used for very low frequency testing. The other is an electro-magnetic system, which consists of a fixed magnetic field and a moving coil inside a linear motor. That is used for high frequency testing.

Lightweight and strong fixtures are used to hold the subject onto the mount, and an accelermeters are attached to measure responses during testing. It is not simply a matter of putting something on a vib table and hitting a switch to make it shake. Shakers, at any size or frequency, give off a lot of heat which has to be removed during testing to avoid damaging the machine and obscuring readings. A blower acts as a vacuum to pull heat from small and medium shakers. Large shakers require a water-cooled cylinder system to remove the heat.

Next, controllers are needed to enter responses into a specific curve determined by a software program. Controllers can be either rack mounted analog parts, or digital and computer-based. The response curve is set to compensate for the components of the vibratory table, the type of mounting used, the weight of the test subject itself, and the effect of mechanical resonances. Testing usually begins at zero frequency and rises slowly during testing. Degrees and speeds of increase can be pre-set on most systems, or manually controlled during testing. The point is to simulate the real-world environment in which the test subject will operate. That can mean the noise and vibration within a vehicle engine, sound waves emitting from jets taking off at the airport, or the force of high winds on storm windows.