Cyclone vibration to rest of house?

[Allan Johanson]

Hello,

I'm in the middle of my cyclone construction project and was wondering how to mount this beast. My shop is in my garage that shares a wall with our dining room and the cyclone would be about 15 feet from the corner of the dining room.

What I'm wondering is for those of you who have a cyclone mounted on a wall that's shared with a wall in the house, will others in the house feel or hear any vibration or resonance through that wall? Are you using any kind of rubber isolation dampers?

I could weld up a freestanding support system for the cyclone, but a wall mount method would be quick and easy. And I'm pretty lazy. :D

Thanks for any info!

Allan

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Allan. It is my guess that a wall will be a giant sounding board for any noise generated by the cyclone.

I am in the middle of building my cyclone, and when completed, I intend to hang it from the ceiling using "vibration mounts". Pull up McMaster & Carr website, and search on vibration mount. There are about 6 pages or so of them. Eventually, you will find the type for use when suspending equipment from overhead. They run about $12 each. You can also get them at Grainger's, search on part number 4C878. Just use threaded rod to connect the mount and the cyclone.

Good Luck....

[Steven Wilson]

Ken has a good idea. You might also want to look at page 1218 of the McMaster-Carr catalog (www.mcmaster.com) at the vibration damping mounts. If you're getting an Oneida Cyclone, or a cyclone with a similar wall mounting system, you should be able to use a number of these mounts between the cyclone and the wall mounting bracket. I would check with Oneida to make sure the shear loads are compatible. Your best bet would be a metal stand that is on isolation mounts between the stand and the floor.

[Chris Padilla]

At Graingers, do a search on "vibration hangers" to see a large assortment of stuff.

[Kevin Hewitt]

Hi Allan,

I'm going the frugal route. Suspended by four pieces of chain with a strip of rubber cut from the sidewall of a tire in each drop to help dampen vibrations.

Take care,

Gump

[Chris Padilla]

Kevin,

Nice frugality! Is it working out?

[Kevin Hewitt]

Kevin,

Nice frugality! Is it working out?

Hi Chris,

I won't know for a while. I don't have the ceiling height or the room for the cyclone in my shop. I'm waiting for the frost to come out of the ground to build an addition. Until then...

Gump

[Dominic Greco]

Allan,
In my former life as a Pneumatic Conveying engineer (dust collection), we used to install these thick black pads in between the machinery base and the concrete to reduce vibration. Hanging the unit by chains is also a good idea. But you have to make sure that the overhead structure or chains themselves won't transmit the sound waves either.

Others have suggested looking in McMaster Carr, or Grainger for isolation dampeners. Depending on the frequency of the vibration, these will work well for you. Most of these mounts will come with some type of guidelines for their installation. Some are better for rotating equipment, and some are meant especially for fans or blowers.

Now if I haven't confused you enough, here is some good news. You probably have some of the best vibration dampening material around, right near your hand. Mouse Pads. Thats right. Buy some economy mouse pads and fold them over a couple of times and see how resilient they are. Cut them into squares, drill a clearance hole through the center and stack them like washers. You'll be surprised at the results. Not enough dampening? Add a couple more slices!

I've used this technique before on my vacuum pump, and plan to use it in my own cyclone installation. My blower will reside in the loft of my garage and be piped down a short distance to my cyclone. Dampeners will be installed at the mounting base.

Another thought about the vibration, if you really want to cut it down a lot, try a short flexible joint between your cyclone and your DC pipe. We're talking about maintaining a gap of a 1/2" between the cyclone exhaust pipe and the DC pipe. The flex pipe will act as an expansion joint and will isolate the vibrating cyclone from the pipe.

Good luck!

[Allan Johanson]

I think I'll build a freestanding support system for the cyclone and I do happen to have several old mouse pads so I'll give that a shot under the stand too! I like that flex joint idea too.

Thanks!

Allan