The exhaust hole needs to be much larger than the suction hose or it, too, will reduce suction. Given enough exhaust area, I don't think heat would be a problem. These are usually cooled by the exhaust.
I left the back of the cabinet 1" short of the top. That's a 23 sq in opening, more than enough. Face frame, door and foam lining will be done tomorrow. I might have room for one baffle shelf, but definitely not 2. I'll see how it sounds without it first.
Between the exhaust fan, the router table extension for the table saw and this dust collection cabinet, I'm spending way too much time working
*on* the shop instead of *in* the shop. ;-)
Try it with the door open and closed. If there is no difference, you have enough exhaust opening.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do much of either. :-(
[snip]
Working "on" the shop is an investment that earns time to enjoy the shop. In the end (unless you're rebuilding after a disaster), it's all fun. ;-)
I built one years ago. I use it attached to my thien separator and then attached to all my equipment.
If I did it again, I would put the baffle on top to get rid of the heat of the vac more easily.
Yep! My guess is there will be plenty of gap between the doors and the face frame.
The baffle shelf isn't about the exhaust, it's about the noise. From the various "baffle videos" I've seen I'm sure 23 sq in is enough for the exhaust.
Oh...wait...was that a joke? Now I get it. ;-)
But the baffle will also inhibit the exhaust. "Trust but verify." ;-)
Don't. Consider, instead, putting the noisy bit outdoors and plumbing the intake through a wall. Or just putting it in an adjacent room. A cabinet will just take up space, make the vacuum into a bulky fixture, and waste building materials, compared to (for instance) wearing earplugs.
That's not really an option. Climate, location of the shop in the house, and not to mention that if I were my neighbors/SWMBO I wouldn't want to hear a wet-dry vac turning on and off at random times until late evening.
That's not really an option. Location of the shop in the house, and not to mention that if I were my SWMBO I wouldn't want to hear a wet-dry vac turning on and off at random times until late evening.
The cabinet takes up no room when it is used as the base for the miter saw and *prevents* the vacuum from being a bulky fixture because the vac takes up no floor space.
One $30 sheet of plywood is the only thing I had to buy. A few pocket screws and an old foam mattress topper that I had lying around is all I needed. I actually used up something bulky that's been hanging around in a closet for years.
It's not just me that has to put up with the noise. At close to 70 dB, the bare vac can be heard way beyond the confines of my shop. I'll be posting the results of my sound readings at various points in the projects. Stay tuned.
Not to mention that earplugs inhibit the ability to listen to tunes, etc.
I completed the cabinet and ran some sound level checks. Before any one jumps all over my testing methods, I'll state right up front that all of my readings are based on the non-verified calibration of my smart phone sound meter app. The app says to find a "silent" spot and set the dB reading to between 10 and 20. The initial reading in a basement bathroom before calibration was 24 db. I set the level to 11 dB and then registered the same reading in a 2nd floor closet. Therefore, all readings below are relative to my "control" reading of 11 dB.
I set the smart phone on a firm stand in my shop and took an ambient reading. In comparison to the 11 dB in the bathroom and closet, I read 16 dB in the quiet shop. There was some outside noise at the time. All vacuum sound level readings were taken at a line-of-sight distance of 8'.
Here are the complete test results:
Test environment:
- 3/4" plywood cabinet, 28" H x 24" W x 21" D
- Craftsman 2.0 HP, 8 gallon, wet-dry vacuum
- 1" x 23" opening at top rear of cabinet for exhaust
- Foam lining is an old mattress topper, flat, not egg crate, 1.5" thick. There is some "egg crate" texture added because of the staple gun.
- The readings were taken with the cabinet was fully lined, i.e. all 6 surfaces.
Sound levels:
- Closet/Bathroom: 11 dB
- Quiet Shop: 16 dB
- Vacuum outside of cabinet: 67 dB
- Vacuum inside of cabinet, no foam, door open: 70 dB (more focused sound?)
- Vacuum inside of cabinet, no foam, door closed: 58 dB
- Vacuum inside of cabinet, foam installed, door open: 65 dB
- Vacuum inside of cabinet, foam installed, door closed: 53 dB
As a relative measure, with music playing comfortably, and ranging between
40 and 45 dB, I was still able to hear it (barely) when the vacuum was running and the meter showing 53 dB.Kitchen table, 1 floor above shop:
- Ambient reading: 15 dB
- Vacuum outside of cabinet: 22 dB
- Vacuum inside of cabinet, door closed, foam installed: 17 dB
A note on the foam: I had originally put foam on the underside of the top of the cabinet, but that barely left 2" of open space above the vacuum. The foam felt warmer than I liked after about 10 minutes of run time so I removed it. I think that will help with both air flow and heat build-up. Removing the foam from the top did not seem to make much difference in the dB reading but the readings were never rock solid anyway so it's hard to tell. In any case, I'll opt for safety over slightly less sound attenuation.
As long as heat does not become an issue, I'm happy with the results. Worst case, there's room for a small fan inside the cabinet.
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