Has anyone ever measured the decibel rating of their central shop vac? I'm looking for something that's as quiet as possible, suitable for using in a room in an apartment. Ideally, I'd be able to use it in the middle of the night without the neighbours banging on the door. I know that air flow is going to have it's own decibel rating. That's something I'd deal with after finding a suitable machine that's reasonably quiet from the get go.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
What are you going to be collecting dust from that by itself is quiet enough to run in an apartment in the middle of the night?
todd
Power machines and apartment life just do not mix. However, I've done plenty of woodworking in an apartment using hand tools--even then had to deal with an occasional complaint. My habits eventually forced me into home ownership--not a bad thing for a woodworker. For an apartment, a simple shop vac will do. Expect to pay 30% or more for a quieter model.
I can easily carry on a conversation over the noise of my Penn State dust collector equipped with the optional muffler. I can't do it with my shop vac... the scream of the vac is just too loud.
Bandsaw.
Might be something I could use. Only problem is that it runs on 220v. Don't know if I could arrange a connection for that in a rented apartment. I'll have to look into it. Thanks.
My Jet 650 with cartidge filter measured 68 db A weighted this morning in the basement. My basement is 30x36 stud wall with insulation on 2 outside walls, concrete on the other 2. Much stuff in the basement. Accoustically the basement is not as live as my living room which has hardwood flooors and a high sloping ceiling. I mention this trivial because the acoustics of the room and the construction/framing affect what the neighbors will hear. The dust collector makes a lot of noise in relatively low frequencies compared to the noises the bandsaw makes when cutting hardwood.
Jim B.
Yeah. It seems that everywhere I turn, I'm facing difficulties. This living in an apartment is literally driving me nuts for the single reason that I can't do the woodworking I'd really like to do. What I'd really like is to set up my tablesaw somewhere, but the bandsaw would do for a usable second choice. It might be that the only real relief I'm going to get is to rent some small floor space in a manufacturing or business environment. But, that has it's attendant problems too.
The "Caddy" of shop vacs: (hold your wallet before looking at this)
Upscale wrote:
Try this one then:
Thanks. My next step is to approximate a few noises at approximately that decibel level to see it it's going to be too irritating for the neighbours.
Here's a pretty good page to look at to get an idea of what X number of decibels represent:
I run my bandsaw with no dust colletion and just sweep up after. Of course this is in the shop environment. Could you just vacum in the morning?
I found an exhaust silencer for my 10 yr old ShopVac a few years ago, which civilizes it to about the level of the current quieter ShopVacs. Might even be quieter. Neighbors like it.
HTH, J
"SonomaProducts.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Several years ago, I helped a neighbor build a table for his wife. After the lamination of the maple, I loaned him my best plane at the time, a Stanley Handyman #4, and he took everything home to his apartment to work on the top.
Tiring of the miserable job of hand flattening the top with the wrong tool, and a bad one at that, clamped to the dinner table, I found that he was using a belt sander, in the dining room. Running the vacuum was the least of his worries before his wife got home. ;-)
The project turned out OK, though.
Patriarch
Possibly. My experience with wood dust though is that it manages to get everywhere and be tracked everywhere unless properly controlled. In an attempt to head that off, I'm thinking that catching most of it right from the bandsaw would be easier than vacuuming a wider area of floor space.
Thanks.
Maybe you could get a neighbor or 2 interested in woodworking? Kind of like inviting all the neighbors to a party... most won't come, but the one's that don't come won't complain about the noise..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Pat is right...I own a Fein Turbo II and it is indeed very quiet. I bought if for another reason... it really sucks. Plus you can buy all the filter bags etc. to get true HEPA performance without hindering the airflow. The cooling of the motor is done by a separate fan (a by-pass system) so even if the thing gets plugged, it won't overheat.
I bought mine from Federated Tool in London ON... ask for David Eisan..IF he isn't busy running from Godzilla *G* You won't be paying list price.
I actually pet mine and keep it all shiny. Damn..I love a good tool.
BTW..it mates perfectly with the Festool Rotex sander for absolutely dust-free sanding.
About the bandsaw... if you have neighbours under you, you'll want to isolate the vibration from the band-saw to the floor. One of my jobs when I was working for Mother Hydro, was to develop and design sound-proof quarters for the operators. If it is an issue, I can give you some tips.
Have you by chance used an adapter to hook up a 4" hose to it? I'm wondering how effective the air flow is when converted to the larger hose size?
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