sound-proofing

Hi guys,

I bought one of those small compressors recently. Specs are

9CFM/50Litre/116psi. Uses a single phase motor that runs off a standard 13A wall socket. Very useful to have compressed air for all sorts of purposes and certainly makes life easier when inflating tractor tyres and such like. The only problem is it's *very* noisy. 97dB it says on the side and I can well believe it. Worst thing is it cuts off at 116psi and goes totally silent until the pressure drops to 110 whereupon it immediately restarts. Given that this interval can be quite long, especially when it's not actually providing any air, that sudden burst into life again is enough to make anyone **** themselves. Given that it's only about the size of wheelbarrow (bit narrower in fact) I'd like to knock up an acoustic cover for it to deaden the racket it makes. Any suggestions as to suitable sound-deadening materials would be most welcome!

ta.

Reply to
Chris
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That is why I sold my reciprocating compressor and bought a Hydrovane. However, they are mostly three phase and not cheap.

You need lots of mass. If practical, build it a brick or concrete enclosure, preferably well away from anything else, and run fixed air lines to the places you need the air.

Reply to
Nightjar

In message , Chris writes

The stuff made to quieten boat engines works well. I bought big offcuts from a boat jumble many years ago and have used them for loads of things. It's a layer of something heavy (plastic, impregnated fibreglass sheet or lead sheet) on a layer of foam. Expensive new, fairly cheap for offcuts.

Basically, make a lined plywood box with a baffle around the air intake/outlet. If the machine needs cooling make it in the form of a chimney. A PC in a ventilated box I made to silence for studio use ran cooler than in free air. It was very heavy, though.

There are cheaper versions. Look for marine soundproofing.

Reply to
Bill

Decoupling it from the ground may also help limit the sound transmission.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Odell

Does it need cooling and of course it obviously needs an air intake. What sort of sound is it, a high pitched whine or just a mechanical type sound. I remember Braille printers were huge and make one heck of a noise. Basically put it on a rubber mat on the floor and put an acoustic hood over it was what we did with those.

The hood looked like it was very well braced plastic coated with panels to stop resonances with some foam around the bottom and parts of the top.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

In one place which used to be near residential properties they actually buried it in a waterproof hole and put a big slab of concrete on the top! Yes they obviously had some cooling on it. Never saw it up close. I rather winder why we seem unable to make quiet equipment. Even lawn mowers vary from barely audible to soundling like a wrecking machine. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

We can make quiet equipment, but usually not for the same price. You can buy a small but noisy reciprocating air compressor for under £100. An equivalent Hydrovane compressor, with a 62db noise rating, costs the best part of two grand.

Reply to
Nightjar

I'd have to wear ear defenders to be near that! ;-)

I've got one of these:

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(40db) and (depending on your needs etc) saved all the time, effort, cost and inflexibility of arranging some sort of noise management to go around a conventional jobby.

You can stand by it when it's running and whilst you can hear it is on, you can still easily talk over it.

I also have a twin cylinder 50l compressor that I've not bothered to run since I got the Bambi.

The Bambi is one of those (few) things that I would go straight out and replace if I ever had to. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

60db is conversation in a quiet room. I used a couple of Hydrovanes in my factories and they were not in the least intrusive.

That isn't comparing like for like though. 1 cfm at 8 bar at a 50% duty cycle, as compared to 4.2 cfm at 10 bar and continuous rated.

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Reply to
Nightjar

Still not 40db though eh? ;-)

Hence the smiley on my first post. ;-)

Nice, as you say, 'at a price' ... and hence my '(depending on your needs etc)' bit. For mine the capacity is adequate for most things for most of the time (especially considering what I paid for mine (25 quid)). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Maybe that's *too* quiet. The person you're speaking with will hear you break wind if that happens with only 40dB of background noise.

Reply to
Cursitor Doom

I've used some stuff that's basically a sheet of lead on rubber with adhesive on one side. Intended for automotive use. Effective.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

The OP was speaking of inflating tractor tyres. I know which I would prefer to have for that job. :-)

Reply to
Nightjar

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