Cyclone - 94dB - building enclosure

Bartee Lamar

Member
Messages
499
Location
Alpharetta GA ( Metro Atlanta)
Well,

I work at a computer for a living and lately I have had web site side work, so I have been sitting in front of a computer WAY TOO MUCH.....

So Saturday, the wife had a class and I decided I was going to get some more work done on the Cyclone ( it's been a year !!! ).

I borrowed a dB meter ( Sound Levels ) and measured the Cyclone. It is 94 dB in the middle of the shop. THIS IS LOUD!!!. I wanted to get a baseline measurement.

My orginal plan had walls around the cyclone. So now I know to be able to use this I have to dampen the sound some.

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So here we go......

Well you always needs new tools... I have a room to build for my wife very soon and saw the reviews on circular saws. I picked this one up from the Milwakee refurb store. Ended up with good deal since I got the rip fence free.

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This is a GREAT saw. Very heavy duty, a button that locks the blade so you can tighten it with the allen wrench which is included and has a very good holder built into the case.

Here is the general space that has to be enclosed.

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I took me about an hour of messing around with angles and space to make sure I can get the canister out of the room and get the air compressor from behind the hotwater heater/furnance.

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The ceiling will present a bunch of challenges.

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So That's what I did yesterday. I will add to this thread as I get more time. Should be interesting.

The db level is the important thing......
 
The Sound is Still With You!

Hi,

Your cyclone is in the room where you work. You can sound absorb all you want to. However, air going into the DC from your machinery has to exit someplace. If the exit is not outside of your shop, the air coming out of the DC will be going back into your shop CARRYING ALL OF THE NOISE WITH IT.

You need a way to close the DC off from your shop and yet have the air exiting the DC go someplace else...taking the noise with it.

My solution was to build a shed outside of the shop. It has a common wall with the shop. It exits air to the outside. The house next door is about 40 feet away from the DC shed wall. (By the way we call it the Outhouse.) My neighbors claim that they do not hear it inside of their house and that it does not disturb them when they have company out on the patio. I hope that is true and that they are not just being nice.

If they are in the patio I don't use the DC or use it in short bursts.

My son Glenn has a Delta DC. It is much smaller than mine. He has it inside of his shop. For the sake of his ears I hope he uses it as little as possible (it is a conversation stopper when it is running).

Even though the above is a bit grizzley I will say

Enjoy,

Jim
 
Jim,

You are exactly correct...

My goal is for the surrounding enclosure to absorb some of the sound energy. I know I will not eliminate it. :(

As you can see, my shop is in my basement. So I do not have the ability to add on a out building.

So we shall see....
 
I was able to cut about 20dB enclosing mine in a closet just using 2" styro and a 6" thick filter on the air return. I think you can do even better if you get a bit more selective on the sound deadening material and make a baffled air return. Mine isn't objectionable at all noise-wise now. I can't hear it over whatever machine is running. There's pics of the closet build amongst all the other pics in my album on Clearview's site
http://www.gallery2.clearvuecyclones.com/v/Cv1400/Dougs-Mini-CV1400/
 
I'm not fortunate enough to have a Cyclone, but when I bought my HF DC, I knew I didn't want the noise in the shop... I spent a few years on the flight line of a major airlines, so I've lost a little high and low range hearing and have a constant ringing in the ears... all the other tools are loud enough...
I put a shed/closet on the end of my shop and set the DC in there.. when it's running I hear a low hum, enough for me to know it's running but not enough to be annoying.
 

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One problem with having the exhaust exit to the outside is that if your shop is heated or air conditioned you will loose that heated/cooled air while the DC is running. I have filters that are in openings I built between the wall of my shop and the utility room added to the outside. There are some calculations that need to be done to determine the size of the filters and the opening needed to return the proper amount of air. I had help from the DC salesman with that.

Granted, I am lucky to have a separate room for the DC, but no matter how you build an enclosure you should consider returning filtered air.
 

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UPDATE: Progress 2" foam and framing

I spent 5 hours today installing 2" foam board and framing out the basic structure. It just a big closet.

I picked up 5 sheets of the 2" hardfoam. My approach is to absorb as much sound in the closet as possible. It will never be air tight.

I simply force fitted large sheets on the two back concrete block walls.

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Then I started the framing. Here the result of today's work. You can look at the web album for all of the other pictures and detailed comments.

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http://picasaweb.google.com/bartee/CycloneEnclosureRoom
 
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bartee, my dust collector makes the most noise from open blastgates, the air wistlin` through......are you doing this as a premptive strike or have you run pipe and hooked up tools to see if what you are doing is going to help?
 
Question guys I thought most of the noise came from the motor I didn't even think it came from the air outflow?

When I get enough money I have a small shed on my house that I keep the garden tools & a basement window right next to the shed I could run a line from the shed through the window to my basement shop. My question is how loud would it be outside of the shed? it's just 2x4 construction with siding on it now?
 
Question guys I thought most of the noise came from the motor I didn't even think it came from the air outflow?

When I get enough money I have a small shed on my house that I keep the garden tools & a basement window right next to the shed I could run a line from the shed through the window to my basement shop. My question is how loud would it be outside of the shed? it's just 2x4 construction with siding on it now?

that question is kinda like asking "how much does a car cost"......too many variables to give a pat answer.
my d/c pump is in the attic with both the pick-up and discharge in the shop, when i`m running the pump it`s really not very noisy in the attic but in the shop with a gate or two open the wind noise overpowers the pump entirely.
 
bartee, my dust collector makes the most noise from open blastgates, the air wistlin` through......are you doing this as a premptive strike or have you run pipe and hooked up tools to see if what you are doing is going to help?

Tod,

The way mine sucks, I can see that as being a problem, but I have not gotten their yet.

I did do a test when I had to do a bunch of MDF work for church. I hooked it up temporarily. It did a GREAT job. About 2" of MDF dust in the canister and practically nothing in the plastic bag under the filter.

What I found out is the sucking is very powerful. So gate noise will probably happen. I have purchased Lee Valley gates.

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http://picasaweb.google.com/bartee/ChurchBoxes
 
that question is kinda like asking "how much does a car cost"......too many variables to give a pat answer.
my d/c pump is in the attic with both the pick-up and discharge in the shop, when i`m running the pump it`s really not very noisy in the attic but in the shop with a gate or two open the wind noise overpowers the pump entirely.

I have noticed this too. My shop is louder by the machines compared to the dc room. Gues it means are dc systems suck to much.:rofl:
 
Time for another update.

I worked a couple of nights this week for a about 2 hours each and made progress. It beats watching TV ( aka falling asleep on the couch ).

This enclosure is a one piece at a time thing. I have found that I can carefully fit the 2" foam into all kinds of spaces, shutting off more are returning where I don't want it and providing a little sound absorption with each piece.

I will be working this afternoon on the last two pieces of sheeting. One over the door and the other on the exhaust side. More details later....

So here are a couple of new pics.. This side is done.

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This tool has really come in handy for the tight spaces.

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Lots more pictures in the web album http://picasaweb.google.com/bartee/CycloneEnclosureRoom#
 
The noise level was reduced substantially when I hooked up ALL of my piping. Before the entire system was hooded up I had to practically yell to talk to someoein the shop. Now it is much better.
 
Garry,

I did notice the difference when I had the temporary piping hooked up.

The new enclosure will help a lot. I worked 4 hours saturday and got the final 2 pieces of sheeting up. So Friday Night and Saturday I will make the "door" really a hatch... then it has to be painted white.....

Then I start on the piping..
 
Well, the enclosure is done. ( Except it has to be painted WHITE... A rule !!! )

To be sure, it is over engineered and I am not certain how much sound it will kill. But that much mass around the unit has to reduce the sound some. It also has a really heavy very low end ( aka bass ) rumble, which I think is getting absorbed.

I also cleaned up most of the mess in the shop. It was really getting dangerous to walk.

The web album has been updated if you want to all the pictures.

Here are a few...

The hatch really worked out well. It is secured with 4 5/16" hanger bolts and some jig knobs that I had. Also a picture with the hatch off. I put a cheap 4ft light inside so I can see when I need to pull out the canister to empty it.

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I mounted the control box. The angle does not seem to make a difference for the remote working

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So how does the it exhaust air ??

Here ya go... The opposite side of the wall does not go all the way to the ceiling. So the air can come down thru the wall. This gives me more baffling of the sound as it exits the enclosure.

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There is more detail in the web album.

Now on to the piping. My wife is going out of town next weekend so I am going to try and get a bunch ofthe piping done. The bummer is she is taking the camera. So I will just have to document the installed piping. I will some pictures, but I am just starting on putting pipe pieces together.
 
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