What Makes a Woodworking Machine quiet… or LOUD!?

[Brian Kent]

I do wear ear protection,
but I do not enjoy woodworking machines that are loud even before their first contact with wood.

So what makes a woodworking machine quieter?



(and examples of quieter machines would be great) :)

[Tony Joyce]

So what makes a woodworking machine quieter?
(and examples of quieter machines would be great) :)

Sound enclosures:) (Moulders)

Seriously on machines that use knives, the farther the knife hangs out past the head holding it the louder it will be - think airplane loud on some shapers and moulders. If you turn on a shaper without the head it is relatively quiet, but once the head is on it gets loud. Some cutters are actually quieter while the knives are in the wood(cutting).

Tony

[ed vitanovec]

When I added a Byrd head to my 8" Jointer it cut noticeably quiter. I also added a 80 tooth thin kerf blade to my Table Saw and noticed the cut was quiter. I have heard that adding a Silencer or Muffler to a Cyclone Dust collector will reduce the noise. A Router is loud and I think when a Router is under powered for the bit or if the bit is dull will cause the noise level to get louder.

[Steve knight]

routers are noisy when on because of the fan on top. if they made them like my spindle with a separate fan they would not be as bad. but cutting can be noisy and you can't do a lot about that. a fein is quiet till you remove the motor then it is 100 decibels. Most of the noise is air movement.

[Van Huskey]

A ton of cast iron and a direct drive motor.

Coming back to add a couple more induction motors and insert heads.

[Dick Mahany]

I recently upgraded my DC system from a 1.5 HP bagger to a 3 HP cyclone and 6 " ducts. My little Jet 6" jointer is now MUCH louder than before. So it's a combination of machine noise and air flow noise. Even though the jointer now sounds like it's getting ready for a take off, I'd take dust collection over sound abatement any day.

[Stephen Cherry]

Here is another reason people need to own shapers- they are lots quieter than routers.