I'm building a box to hold a small compress. Purpose is to mask as much of the compressor sound as possible. Of course, the compressor will need to have air intake and output availability.
Can anybody recommend a filter or filter material that reduces noise transmission but still allows air to pass through it?
Thanks
The real idea is "baffling", not restricted pass through. I am not saying it is a baffling question, I am saying build a box with baffles. You can line the baffles with foam rubber, carpet, ceiling tiles or any sound absorbent material.
You don't want to restrict airflow, just make the sound waves travel farther, change direction and crash into surfaces that can absorb them as they try to exit the box.
With a little planning you can make the path to outside like 100 feet in a very confined area by making a little maze of sorts. Making the sound change direction will really deaden it if there are surfaces to diffuse it vs bouncing it along.
One qualification, I have no real background in sound wave theory so this is just my intuited response.
When I first read that line, I thought of injury.... a compress for a wound or ice pack on a sore muscle, etc. LOL.
, the compressor will need to have air intake and output availability. Can anybody recommend a filter or filter material that reduces noise transmissi on but still allows air to pass through it? Thanks
Cloth is a good sound barrier. Why not make a small 3-sided, w/overhang, r oom divider type barrier, with heavy cloth or some draping/shielding materi al, if that's applicable, see how that might work. I would hesitate boxing
-in a compressor, maybe.
Sonny
A compressor generates a lot of heat. I would go with baffles but it needs to admit air for cooling.
Anything that has different sound propogation than air will work. I'd be tempted to start with coarse steel wool contained by screen wire. Alas, low frequency noise will require some thickness of filter to get any attenuation.
For best performance, use distance: put the compressor on the roof, and run extra plumbing and wire length.
Take a look here:
The Shop Vac enclosure demonstrates the baffle idea pretty well.
I'm building a box to hold a small compress. Purpose is to mask as much of the compressor sound as possible. Of course, the compressor will need to have air intake and output availability.
Can anybody recommend a filter or filter material that reduces noise transmission but still allows air to pass through it?
Thanks
I have a large air compressor. It is in the attached garage. I piped it down to my basement work shop. Cannot hear it run. WW
The garage works well. I'd do something like that for dust, too, except that it moves too much air (kinda the idea).
Foam rubber open cell, like couch cushions, but this is a bad idea, unless substantial extra forced ventilation is added. A squirrel cage blower of at least 1/3 HP would be needed to keep the air inside from overheating. The other ideas such as baffles will also not allow enough fresh air in to keep things cool. Look up how many BTU's are produced per amp/volt of electricity, then multiply that by how many amps your compressor is. Nearly all of that electrical energy is turned into heat. With an overheated enclosure, you risk burning out the motor, and seizing the compressor itself.
I'm with others. Locate it outside, or somewhere where the noise will not be an issue.
I live in an apartment and do have a balcony, but relocating the compressor out there is not really a viable option.
The compressor is a Senco PC1010 which is pretty small, so I may be able to get away with rubber baffles and reasonably quiet fans to input and output air flow. Hmmm, guess I have some things to consider.
In theaters, large thick curtains are used to dampen and prevent echo. Try installing some thick drapes, on 3 sides and over the compressor, to see h ow that works. Use some thick bath towels or bed blanket for the testing o f the drape option. Use dining chairs for the towel/blanket props, and may be a broom stick, across the tops of the chairs, for draping overhead. Yo u can test this option at no cost.
If the test draping works reasonably well, purchase some thick (remnant! *c heap) fabric (or thick blankets, from Goodwill, Salvation Army) and make a room divider type drape over and around the compressor, leaving one side op en (partially open?) for air circulation/ventilation.
Room dividers and workplace/work station (office setting) dividers work wel l for reducing sound/noise from adjacent areas or work stations.
Sonny
snipped-for-privacy@none.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Here's an idea... Air filters. They're designed to let air move through, but tend to have soft surfaces and pleating which could dampen the noise. Some designs have irregular shapes (and not just pleats or screens), which might be better for sound dampening.
No idea if it'll do any good at all, but it seems similar enough to some of the sound baffles I've seen to possibly work.
Puckdropper
Pretty much barking up a tree, Dave. All the well meaning ideas I've seen thus far are unlikely to attenuate the sound of an air compressor, running in an apartment, to any extent to give you satisfaction.
Based on experience as a recording engineer, studio owner and builder:
Reality of the situation, and the short explanation, is that in order to attenuate the amplitude of sound waves through absorption (baffles, gobi's, curtains, etc) the absorbing medium/material must be roughly equal in thickness the offending frequency's wave lengths.
An example, at sea level and 68F, the wave length of 1130 Hz is approx 1'.
So, while relatively easy for higher frequencies, it is much less easily obtainable for mid and low frequencies, all components of the multi-frequency sound generated by an air compressor.
Best satisfaction will come, without spending a fortune and taking up a good deal of living space, is to put it in another room, or closet in another room, where the closet is not adjacent to where you want the quieter operation, basically getting as many walls and doors between the source and the desired quieter area.
That's takes care of you, but not necessarily the adjacent tenants. ;)
There are other methods besides absorption, to attenuate sound, but they would be prohibitive in cost for your application.
Short story, is that some of the ideas may work to an extent, but I doubt seriously that they will provide the solution you are looking for.
A plywood box lined with Rockwool, or perhaps denim, batt insulation, held in place with wire cloth, that has indirect air intake and indirect air outlets would work well... The insulation absorbs sound and the plywood reflects it back into the insulation.
My club built a large one to accommodate a 2 bag 1.5 HP unit so we can use it at our woodworking show.
Sounds like you're talking about a dust collector and he's talking compressor. Two different types of sound.
One way to get compressed air quieter is to change to a belt-driven compressor instead of a direct drive one. I've had both and the noise is much louder with a direct drive.
----------------------------------------------------------- Pretty basic rules of appartment living.
He wants to run his air compressor without it pissing off the neighbors.
Lew
"Lew Hodgett" wrote
If that is the case, transmitted vibration through the floors is the larger problem. In that case, setting the compressor on a piece of plywood on top of a couch cushion is definitely the way to go. Even better, instead of plywood, something with really high mass, like a piece of marble or granite countertop.
Like the other power tools are not going to be noisy? I have often wondered how that worked. Maybe his compressor is way noisier.
Well, "quiet" in a usable workshop and "quiet" in an apartment are two different things.
The Senco PC1010 *is* the quietest one I could find for use with a brad nailer. And by my saying that, it means there's not a great amount of noise to filter which suggests that a great amount of baffling probably isn't necessary either.
For the time being I've been running the compressor for short periods of ten minutes at a time. But, it's getting tiresome, especially with the running time it takes to build up suitable pressure. I'd like to be able to run it for longer periods, so I'm trying to figure a way to do that and also do the responsible neighbour stuff. I may end up having to settle for just running it on several inches of foam rubber to curtail that vibration and leave it at that... Guess I'll have to play with it a bit.
On Wed, 30 Jul 2014 22:33:26 -0500, Leon
For short durations of noisy stuff, I use my balcony. For other longer durations of really noisy stuff, I go over to a friend's place. I sold my tablesaw really cheaply to him over ten years ago, advantage being that I get to go over and use it when needed. That's his backyard patio where I built the garden trestle table.
It's a pain having to go all the way over there, but it's damned better than not having the option at all.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.