DC Making Planer Louder?

[Peter Aeschliman]

So I'll start with my question: Can going from a 1hp DC on 4" ducting to a 3hp on 6" ducting make my Planer operate louder? read on...

I finally got my Grizzly 3hp double bag DC (click here (http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-HP-Dust-Collector/G1030)) plumbed in with 6" PVC.

I have a Jet 13" planer (clicky (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17119&filter=jet%20planer)) which normally comes with a 4" dust collection fitting. Since I went up to 6" duct, I decided to upgrade the dust collection fitting to 6" using an HVAC fitting I found at the hardware store that is really close to the dimensions needed.

I decided to test the DC out by using my planer. I turned on the DC (which is really loud in and of itself), and then turned on the planer. I was blown away at how much noise the planer added when I turned it on. I was wearing ear protection but it was much much louder than it's ever been. Like twice as loud.

So I turned off the DC and left the planer running. Much to my dismay, as the DC winded down, the noise from the planer reduced significantly down to levels I was more used to.

At this point, I think I need to be more specific. The noise from the planer itself is what sounds like the motor humming. It's that noise that gets magnified when I turn on the DC. I'm not referring to the noise of the rushing air from the DC itself. It literally sounds as if the planer motor is getting way louder when the DC is turned on.

Maybe the noise I hear from the planer when the DC ISN'T running is not the motor- maybe it's mostly the sound of the turbulence around the cutterhead, and that turbulence is increased when the DC is turned on??

Anyway, hopefully I articulated that clearly. The DC works fantastic, but I was not expecting my tools themselves to get louder when I plumbed them in!

Thoughts?

[Cliff Holmes]

Are you hearing the air rushing into the planer? On my 3hp cyclone system the air rushing into the inlet can be very loud. Moving lots of air means trapping the deadliest of the dust.

[Alan Schaffter]

Yup, air suction causes the sound of your planer to get louder.

There is a solution- switch to a Shelix head- MUCH quieter!!

[Peter Aeschliman]

Wow, those are some quick replies. Thanks.

Cliff, I definitely hear the air rushing. In other words, if I turn the DC on and leave the planer off, I can hear rushing air. But the sound that is being magnified is very different than the sound of rushing air. It's a loud hum at the same pitch as the planer motor.

Said another way, it's as if I turn my planer on, and then by turning on the DC I'm turning up the volume on the hum of the planer itself. It doesn't sound like rushing air.

Alan, it sounds to me like you're validating my hypothesis- that I'm mistaking the hum I'm hearing from the planer as motor noise when it's really the sound of the turbulence caused by the cutterhead as it spins... and that the DC adds to that turbulence.

I'd really love to upgrade to the byrd cutterhead on this machine. Thought about it many times! Unfortunately that cutterhead is $1,000. At that price, I'd be better off just selling my machine and putting those proceeds toward a Grizzly 15" machine with a spiral head installed from the factory. I think I'd actually end up spending the same amount of money and i'd get a better machine out of it.

But at this point, I really can't justify spending that much moolah on upgrading one machine that really does work great for me as is.

[Josiah Bartlett]

You've made yourself a siren-- the old mechanical sirens worked by stuffing a bunch of air through holes that open and close at a regular frequency. Your cutter head is spinning around in an opening and varying the size while you are sucking a bunch of air through it, doing essentially the same thing as a siren. You may be able to muffle it by insulating around the pipe, or by using a blast gate or an air dump to reduce the air flow through the planer until it is just enough to suck out the chips.

[Peter Aeschliman]

You've made yourself a siren-- the old mechanical sirens worked by stuffing a bunch of air through holes that open and close at a regular frequency. Your cutter head is spinning around in an opening and varying the size while you are sucking a bunch of air through it, doing essentially the same thing as a siren. You may be able to muffle it by insulating around the pipe, or by using a blast gate or an air dump to reduce the air flow through the planer until it is just enough to suck out the chips.

That's fascinating. Thanks for the info. That also explains why going to a spiral cutterhead would reduce the noise- the cutters don't protrude from the cutterhead as much as knives do, thus causing less of pressure variance.

Well, I guess I'm stuck with this setup unless I strike it rich and get the byrd head!!

[Cody Colston]

Don't reduce the air flow just to lessen the noise. You will be better off getting a good set of ear protectors.

[Dennis McGarry]

Don't reduce the air flow just to lessen the noise. You will be better off getting a good set of ear protectors.

Exactly, would be akin to putting a Governor on a Ferrari

[Chip Lindley]

It's a TRADE-OFF I'm happy to live with any day! Noise rather than a mountain of dust! Insert-heads are quieter than knife-heads, but there again is another trade-off...Big Bucks!!!

[Peter Aeschliman]

yeah, I won't choke the air down. I'll just live with the noise.

[Lee Schierer]

I would try reducing the air flow to some degree. You may not need as nearly as much as you think in order to successfully move chips from the planer to the dust bin. I would experiment with opening a relief blast gate somewhere in the system until I wasn't adequately removing chips and then back off just a bit. There is no reason to torture yourself or your neighbors (family) every time you run the planer with ear splitting noise if it can be avoided.. Contrary to Tim Taylor, more power isn't always better.

[Stephen Edwards]

I'm with Lee on this one. It's not as if your planer is creating a lot of fine dust anyway. I'd say it's worth a shot.

[Josiah Bartlett]

The other source of noise is the knives hitting the wood, but the air flow won't change that. A helical cutting head helps that too.

[Jeremy Treibs]

It's called turbulence. Go with it. If you had a 1/100 hp planer than you might have some issues with such a powerful dust collector. But, you don't. Just put some ear plugs in and breath deeply knowing your dust collection is awesome!

[Erik Christensen]

I have a 15" griz with spiral head piped to a 5hp clearvue with 6" piping. I modded the factory planer pickup to be 6" and the clearvue is in another room in a muffled cabinet. The air noise at the planer is so loud that I cannot tell if the planer is running by sound - even with no ear protection - I have to put my hand on the planer top or look at the control panel to tell if it running.

[Marshall Border]

Don't reduce the air flow just to lessen the noise. You will be better off getting a good set of ear protectors.
I did what Cody has said get some good ear plugs or muffs , we need to be wearing them anyway when running those wood planers and loud tools . Think about the future of hearing loss.............

[Peter Aeschliman]

I did what Cody has said get some good ear plugs or muffs , we need to be wearing them anyway when running those wood planers and loud tools . Think about the future of hearing loss.............

I hear ya. I always wear ear protection- never meant to imply that i don't. I was just surprised how much of an impact the new DC has had.

Neighbors are somewhat of a concern, but the closest neighbor's house is 100 yards away or so. My shop is insulated as well, but I think it would be a good idea for me to go outside while somebody else runs the planer and DC to get a sense for how loud it actually is.

This DC and the 6" plumbing appear to be a huge improvement so far... Especially with the dual thien baffles and wynn Environmental cartridge filters I added. I can actually see the cyclonic effect through the clear plastic bags... the dust definitely swirls around in there!

[John Harden]

You've made yourself a siren--

Hilarious, but true. My home town volunteer firemen responded to an old fashioned siren of this type. Very loud. You could hear it all over town.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

Hilarious and timely thread. I just went from a 1HP DC to a 2HP DC hooked up to my 15" planer and noticed the same phenomenon.

I may open an additional gate. My 1HP DC did fine at collecting the chips and it really is significantly louder. Heck, half the reason I switched away from a lunchbox planer was to reduce the noise level for the neighborhood (I do wear hearing protection).

[Herb Stoops]

I have a 2hp Dc with 6" PVC duct running throughout my shop. With the DeWalt planer I had,the noise was unbearable,the air flow was reduced down to 4" from the 6" duct and had about 6' of 4" hose. The dust collection was no problem,only the noise,and the DC and Cyclone are outside the shop. It was so loud that I could not stand it even with sound muffs.

So I sold the planer and bought a new Delta 22-785X 15" 3hp planer w/a 4" dust port. It has the sound of a tablesaw running w/o the DC on,and when the DC is running too it sounds like the tablesaw with the DC running. Quite an improvement. I planed some 15" boards and the 4"duct took all the chips without a problem.

My recommendation would be to reduce it back down to 4" and see if it reduces the noise. You will have plenty of air flow to remove the chips.

If you think you need more air flow put a wye with a gate on it in the 4" line and open the the gate to give you more air flow just beyond the planer. The 4" outlet at the planer will bring the chips out and the additional air flow will carry them to the DC.


Good luck

[jeff niehenke]

One more thing to consider is the clearance around your blade guard. The tighter it is, aka less air gap to move air, the higher the air velocity will be throuh the openings. May try spacing it another 1/4" off the table to let more air by. My 6" grizzly with pentz cyclone and 6" ducting is fairly quiet and I don't even think twice about not wearing ear protection