Air compressor sound control

[Michael Reilly]

When I faced this problem, I wasn't able to find many good suggestions on Google, so I wanted to share my solution. It is unique in that it is an enclosure but it maintains sufficient ventilation to keep the equipment cool while preventing a significant amount of the noise from escaping. I primarily use it for air assist on my laser cutter, but also for pneumatic nailers in my shop.

http://www.artifacturestudios.com/blog/archives/985

Michael

[Matthew Bradburn]

Thanks for posting this. What iphone app were you using?

[Michael Reilly]

The app is RTA by Studio Six Digital (Andrew Smith). I think it was $20. I got it for car audio applications, but got side tracked. It's been good for lots of other things like this though.

Update: Looks like it's $10.99 and there is a Lite version (not sure what the difference is.)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rta/id298839433?mt=8

[Ben Martin]

Hey Michael, can you post up some more pictures of your moisture drain for your compressor, in particular how you hooked it up to the tank itself? I have been wanting to do that to mine, but sort of gave up when I knew I was going to need a bunch of adaptors to attach it to the tank.

[Michael Reilly]

Here is the drain:
158476

If you're interested, here is the intercooler thing I talked about. It's based on a design I saw online of someone trying to get moisture out of the system for painting. Note that I haven't actually finished and tested it, so it may not work as expected.
158477

[Dan Hintz]

How much pressure is copper line rated for?

[Ben Martin]

Here is the drain:
158476


Ahh, mine (Craftsman) has a big honkin' hole in it, but I definitely need to do something to adapt it like you have. I got an additional hose reel for the shop from HF yesterday and am going to be plumbing air into the basement, seems like a good time to take on this project as well!

PS. Thanks for the diagram.

[Michael Reilly]

I forget which grade Home Depot sold... L or M I think. In either case, at small diameters, the pressure ratings are quite high.

The coiled copper was listed for use as refrigeration/AC and also rates high in pressure ratings.

This site has all the pressure ratings:
http://www.copper.org/applications/plumbing/techref/cth/tables/cthindex_table.html

[Chris Tsutsui]

That array of pipes for acoustic control is interesting.

Do you think a simple muffler design would perform better?

I was planning on building a box that just has absorbing panels, but decided it was easier for me to just buy a quieter compressor. heh

70DB is pretty quiet though, I could live with that. I think my nail guns would become the thing that needs to be more quiet. Thanks for the details and your R&D. I'm going to have to look into that navy spherical acoustic mod.

[Greg Roberts]

I put mine out back in a shed with the dust collector!

Greg

[Michael Reilly]

I don't know about a muffler. A lot would depend whether all the sound originates in the air intake. Some reading online indicated that a muffler would help. I just wasn't sure what muffler would work, etc. and this just seemed cooler. :-)

But this certainly isn't the only option. When I move into a proper facility, I plan to build an equipment room for the compressor and dust collection systems. This was to handle the case where the compressor is literally inside my bedroom closet!

Michael