sound proofing DC

[Mike Rambour]

I have a 5HP Oneida Dust Gorilla that I purchased used, it is much more dust collection than I ever wanted or needed, but for $1,000 total, I could not pass it up. And it came with some pipping and fittings, enough that I had to buy very little to install. But the thing is NOISY, I knew that and expected it when I got it. Now I find myself not turning it on sometimes for one or 2 cuts. The plate on the motor says to avoid turning that motor on/off more than 3 times an hour (I think it was 3) so when I turn it on, I tend to leave it on and I hate wearing hearing protection in the garage if I am not actively cutting or routing or ?

So, how do I quiet the thing down. I have purchased Oneida's muffler, it will arrive in 2 weeks. I assume that will help.

I really could not place it outside, neighbors bedroom window is 12 ft. from my garage wall and I felt that would be noisy for them at night even with soundproofing.

I was thinking of building a cabinet for it and soundproofing that, but when I did that for my air compressor, I ended up overheating the compressor at first, I had left ventilation but not enough. I have the DC placed as high as I can go in the shop, the motor is about 10ft off the ground and the barrel is on the ground with about 2ft of hose since the DC is up higher than normal. I placed it that high to get the best straight shot along the ceiling for the pipes. I have 9ft walls with scissor joists so about 12ft in the middle of the garage. I was thinking I could enclose the barrel and hose, that will not cause a heat issue but it seems like that would cause the least noise reduction. If I enclose the motor, it will get too hot, that leaves the filter area.

I can't be the first to want to do this, but when I searched, I didn't get any good results so I think my search keywords just were bad.

[Paul F Franklin]

My V3000 is in a purpose built closet, 2x4 stud walls filled with rockwool safe n sound and sheetrocked on the inside. the outside is covered in particle board so I can hang stuff on it. The closet walls stop at the bottom of the floor joists above and the joist cavities serve as paths for air to return to the shop. They are lined with safe n sound as well. There's no issue with overheating because so much air is moving through the closet when it's running as the air leaves the cartridge filter, moves into the closet, then moves up into the joist bays to return to the shop, flowing right by the motor on the way.

I did not (yet) go to great lengths to weatherstrip the doors, but they are made of similar construction as the walls, including insulation. It is quiet enough when running that the air rushing into the inlets on the machines is louder than the motor/blower noise.

[Alex LaZella]

the Oneida Muffler will help. I ended up building a plenum box lined with carpet and attached that in line right after the muffler, with my cartridge filter hanging from the plenum. Between the muffler and the lined plenum I can talk over my DC, though as Paul said I think the air in the pipes is noisier than anything from the blower/motor. BTW nice deal, a 5hp with some pipes for 1k is a great find. good luck

[Frank Pratt]

I built a room in the basement next to the garage for my V5000 & compressor. Wall construction is:
5/8 drywall
Greenglue
5/8 drywall
2.5" steel stud /w 3" Safe 'n Sound
1" air space
2.5" steel stud /w 3" Safe 'n Sound
5/8" drywall
Greenglue
5/8" drywall
It is a true 'room within a room' with no connection between inner & outer walls. There are 2 doors, back to back with the jambs isolated. Each door has a layer of 3/4" MDF & Greenglue secured to one side, along with an extra weather strip set. One weather strip seals with the door, the other with the MDF, which is about an inch smaller in each dimension than the door.

If I'm in the basement with the remote, and I'm standing a meter away from the door, I can't tell whether the collector is turning on & off. Right beside the door, I can tell, but just barely. Of course, it's louder in the shop because of noise coming through the return air & sound from the duct inlets & blast gates. But its not loud at all & certainly nowhere needing ear protection.

Quite a bit of work, but well worth it to me.

BTW, that's a heck of a deal on your collector.

[Paul F Franklin]

BTW, the one issue I have with the Oneida muffler is that it extends several inches into the cartridge filter and the fines really pack in behind it and seem quite resistant to removal with normal blow down of the filter. I find I have to remove the filter and then remove the muffler in order to do a good cleaning of the pleats where they are covered by the muffler.

[Alan Lightstone]

I put my 5HP Oneida in a small pre-existing closet. Truly difficult task. I didn't have room for the muffler (which I don't think they made at the time. No ability to redo the walls with Greenglue and Safe 'n Sound (which I did for the main shop and works great.)

So I took some advice I found here and put up curtain rods and thick moving blankets. Also some ceiling foam tiles, but they don't seem to stay and I really think don't do anything. Amazingly, it works quite well. I don't remember the exact amount of noise reduction, but it was about 12dB, so impressive. And costs virtually nothing.

And yes, your deal on the unit brings tears to my eyes.

[John K Jordan]

I put my 5hp cyclone and 5hp air compressor both in a 4x8 closet. I used "staggered stud" walls so there is no direct sound path between the inner and outer walls. 2x4 studs to make a 6" wall. Insulation is threaded between the studs.

staggered_studs_IMG_2013071.jpg

Insulation in the ceiling. Cyclone mounted on the outer wall. Insulated double doors opening into a back room away from the main shop for access and emptying the bin. A baffled duct with lots of turns to return filtered air to the shop. All controls mounted outside the closet, accessible from the main shop. It's quiet enough to carry on normal conversation and even hear a whisper in the shop.

JKJ

[Andrew Seemann]

I have my 3HP Dust Gorilla and my compressor in a 3'x5' purpose built closet. It is OSB on 2x4 walls, and two doors the width of the closet. The doors are a few inches off the floor to allow return air. The inside is lined with acoustic ceiling tile. I think it dampens the sound as well as practical. It is noticeable, but easily bearable. The hanging air filters are probably louder than the cyclone, and the machines themselves much louder.

Some sound will always escape by way of the return air, and improving the soundproofing of the closet would likely get to diminishing returns quickly. At this point, changing the wall bracket to a self supporting stand would be a bigger improvement than better soundproofing, as the wall mount transfers a low rumble to the building structure. I haven't noticed an issue with heat build up in the motor. It gets warm, but not concerningly so. I don't tend to run it all day every day though.

[Mike Rambour]

well, going to try sound proofing this weekend. I had thought of enclosing the unit but had not thought that the exhaust air from the filter would help cool everything down, I was only thinking of the heat from the motor. This might work

Unfortunately, where I placed the unit will be a bit of a pain to enclose the filter, my stupidity when I installed it with the filter partially in a doorway, I was trying to minimize space taken in the shop itself...I will figure something out and do some insulation this weekend.

[Deryl Dowell]

Interesting approach. I am considering a free standing enclosure rather than mount the collector to the wall, for the same reason - cancelling the "direct sound path".
I see a lot of info about acoustic dampening, but I find most commercial solutions are aimed at markets where the thickness/appearance is an issue - I am only aimed at absorbing noise, and could not care less about aesthetics - but that is where the research and "solutions" are. Right now I am considering old carpet, and also "exercise mat" - the kind that fits together. I have some that are dense rubber - would probably absorb sound quite well. I think Andrew is on the right track, and I the more I think about it, I like Alan's idea of using moving blankets - that is bloody brilliant.

[Jim Becker]

Blocking direct transmission of sound is the way I choose to tackle this...I have the cyclone and my big compressor in a closet that has accommodations for reducing sound and an indirect return path for air to the shop. Folks can have a normal conversation in my shop when the cyclone is running. While my setup is a "permanent" closet (and will be the same in my new shop), temporary "structures" can also help...even a simple quilted blanked hung in front of the unit can reduce sound level a little. But isolation isn't the only thing one can do to help with sound levels in their shop...many shops have 100% hard surfaces which in many cases amplify noise through reflection. Soft surfaces, such as acoustic ceiling tiles or panels made for the purpose...just like are used in many restaurants that have open ceilings...can really help.

[Alan Lightstone]

As per my earlier post, I think you would be surprised how much noise reduction you can get from hanging heavy, thick moving blankets from curtain rods. This provides both mass to absorb sound, as well as an air/surface interface to further deaden sound.

Clearly double 5/8" sheetrock, Green Glue, and Safe N' Sound with a double wall is a more effective approach, as Frank said above and I used for my main workshop construction. But, of course, big $$$ and need the room size to add that much wall thickness.

These are an even heavier version of the moving blankets I used from Amazon. They are from a company call US Cargo Control, but I'm sure there are others. These have grommets for hanging and are 12 lbs each:
https://smile.amazon.com/Blanket-US-...s%2C163&sr=8-5
What you want is heavy weight, and holes in them so that they can be hung from curtain rods.

[Bernie Kopfer]

My V3000 is in a purpose built closet, 2x4 stud walls filled with rockwool safe n sound and sheetrocked on the inside. the outside is covered in particle board so I can hang stuff on it. The closet walls stop at the bottom of the floor joists above and the joist cavities serve as paths for air to return to the shop. They are lined with safe n sound as well. There's no issue with overheating because so much air is moving through the closet when it's running as the air leaves the cartridge filter, moves into the closet, then moves up into the joist bays to return to the shop, flowing right by the motor on the way.

This is the identical approach I took with a V3000. Works well and helps heat the shop in the winter. Unfortunately it does the same in the summer. Sealing everything except the outlet is important, the smallest crack lets out amazing amount of noise

[Andrew Seemann]

This is the identical approach I took with a V3000. Works well and helps heat the shop in the winter. Unfortunately it does the same in the summer. Sealing everything except the outlet is important, the smallest crack lets out amazing amount of noise

I've been trying to figure out how to move the cyclone to the outside of the shop to put the motor outside, while still venting the air back into the shop. Essentially I would like the heat from the motor to dissipate outside, but keep the conditioned air inside (important where the winter daytime temp can be -20F and the summer dew points be regularly over 70F). And have the filter and barrel accessible from inside and outside.

Actually I'm not certain that leaving and running the motor in that cold of conditions is a good idea. I might need to just keep the whole setup inside.

[Frank Pratt]

I've been trying to figure out how to move the cyclone to the outside of the shop to put the motor outside, while still venting the air back into the shop. Essentially I would like the heat from the motor to dissipate outside, but keep the conditioned air inside (important where the winter daytime temp can be -20F and the summer dew points be regularly over 70F). And have the filter and barrel accessible from inside and outside.

Actually I'm not certain that leaving and running the motor in that cold of conditions is a good idea. I might need to just keep the whole setup inside.

You could build an enclosure with a return air back to the shop. It should stay warm enough to satisfy the motor. The return air duct should be way oversized, like 3 or 4 times the cross section of the inlet, have a serpentine path, and insulated with duct liner on the inside. That will quiet things way down.