Thicknesser noise reduction

[Bluekingfisher]

Having purchased a mobile thicknesser recently I forgot how noisy it was when I turned it on the other night. My new workshop is at the bottom of the garden, relatively close to a neighbour, who by the way took umbrage at the workshop earlier in the summer when I built it. (Town council got involved) so I don't want to give her the opportunity to complain again.

Unfortunately, even with the workshop insulated and lined it still seems to "leak" noise to the outside outside, more noticeably on the recent still and quiet nights of late.

Therefore, has anyone come up with a means of dampening the sound at source?? I was thinking of building a surround or box and line it with as much of the 1&2" polystyrene sheets I have left over. Of course it will require access to the winding handle on/off switch etc. What would be the best adhesive to attach the polystyrene sheet to the plywood box.

Any advice or success stories on this matter would be appreciated.

Regards

David

 

[Racers]

Hi,

Heat from the motor and polystyrene sheet is asking for a fire, I would do your thicknessing during the day, or buy a different thicknesser.

Pete

 

[Max Power]

Oh dear David, sounds like the obnoxious little man that lives in the house next to mine.
Spends all day at church on a sunday and the rest of the week writing letters to the council (obviously forgets Jesus was a woodworker)
Don't worry too much about the noise, you are allowed to have a hobby, just make sure you carry out your loudest activities at reasonable times and for reasonable duration ie don't do two hours of planing at 11pm
I had the council man out who listened to my equipment from a distance
and was happy for me to carry on and I have a Sixteen inch Felder planer as well as a load of other machinery in my shed

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Good point on the fire risk but was going to use an 18mm plywood box, lined with polystyerene then a lining of 6mm ply on the inside, to protect it from damage. It will only be used occasionally so the threat from fire is minimal.

Thicknessing during the day not really an option as I have to go out and earn a crust, which unfortunately doesn't include woodworking.

Besides, aren't all thicknessers noisy?????

 

[Racers]

Hi,

The heat build up will be a problem, motors need ventilation.
A lot of the noise will be from the brush motor an induction one will be quieter.

If you aren't making lots of noise ignore her, the council will probably doing the same.

Pete

 

[Peter T]

I had a similar problem earlier this year. Working all day to earn a crust, and trying to build kitchen units in the evening!

I had a 6 inch bench top planer and a DW portable thicknesser, both of which were screamers!

I sold both these and bought a PT106 planer/thicknesser which is considerably quieter.

There will always be noise when wood is being cut, but the background motor noise has now changed from a scream to a hum.

As a backup I checked on our local council website for times for acceptable noise levels and times of day when different noise making activities were acceptable. I also bought a cheapo sound level meter from Maplins to verify how much noise I, and my neighbors, make.

Since then I have not had any complaints, but I have been sticking strictly to council guidelines as to when noise-making DIY activities are acceptable.

 

[RogerS]

I'm not convince that you'll make that much difference to the sound since it will leak out around where you feed the wood in and out.

A useful link ? http://www.explainthatstuff.com/soundproofing.html

 

[Eric The Viking]

I'm not convince that you'll make that much difference to the sound since it will leak out around where you feed the wood in and out.

A useful link ? http://www.explainthatstuff.com/soundproofing.html

That's a pretty good site.

Firstly: Rockwool is fireproof and a far better sound absorber than polystyrene.

Secondly: Most of the noise comes from the planer knives. As Roger says. You'll have great difficulty trapping it because of the need to feed wood!

Thirdly: Stop the noise escaping the workshop! The most cost-effective noise reduction of all is blocking all air movement into and out of the space. Find the gaps (doors, eaves, etc.) and seal them thoroughly. Big vibrating panels like up-and-over doors and metal sheet roofing (and windows!) need damping, ideally with stuck-on Rockwool or similar. This helps the heat too, so it's not all just to appease the neighbours.

Windows: Double or triple-glazing is best, but if that's too pricey, simply putting in laminated glass instead of a simple pane will help lots. The plastic layer in the laminated stuff almost stops the glass resonating (if you tap a sheet gently it 'thuds' rather than 'rings', and it thus reflects rather than transmits sound. It also becomes much more burglar proof!

This isn't good for breathing though. Search earlier threads for ideas/suggestions for how to manage ventilation in this context.

HTH,

E.

@mods: do we need a 'sticky' thread on this stuff?

 

[Tinbasher]

I also have neighbours who complain about sawing and woodwork even during the day at weekends despite strimming and grass cutting themselves with petrol equipment.

My own "rules" are that I dont make BIG noise before 10am or after about 8pm. If I can, I try not to have the saw or planer running for long periods and will batch cut in short periods so the noise is not constant.

Now, when I hear the sound of a planer or bench saw, I don't think "What a racket" I think "I wonder what he /she is making"!

It takes all sorts (allegedly) :roll:

 

[Max Power]

Sounds like you've got it sorted Tinbasher

 

[Shane]

In the slightly warmer months I can be found in my garage banging bits of metal rather than wood, and my self imposed cut-off time for noisy stuff is 9pm. As long as you're sensible I can't see a problem, although there are people in this world that are never happy, they can sod right off

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Many thanks all for your input on effective noise reduction and reassurance on what is acceptable noise.

Thankfully now as my hobby and workshop has grown so has the quality of my tools, most of them now have induction motors and therefore not particularly noisy. The only one left is the thicknesser (which I haven't actually used in anger yet) but was concerned about the high pitch noise it made, hence my post.

With this in mind I had a trawl of the net yesterday and found the Jet JPM-13cs thicknesser which I understand has an induction motor.

Has anyone got this machine and got any comments on it??

Thanks again all =D>

David

 

[Shrubby]

David
For soundproofing stuff look at Cusomaudiodesigns.co.uk the design advice is good
When you buy a machine the manufacturer should give Noise,Vibration and Dust emissions levels
Matt

 

[La Gib]

Hi David.

I think the problem may lie in the method of insulation for the workshop. You said that you have some polystyrene left over from when you built the workshop. polystyrene is ok to keep heat in but no good for noise.

The idea you had about building a box to sit around your thicknesses is a good one. I would not use ply to line the inside I would use rockwool and canvas. Even though the machine is not totally incased the rockwool will soak up the noise.

As an example I built a router table out of MDF it was rubbish and thrown together for a quick job. In the table I used a freud 1/2 inch collet router. While it was in use it was not very noisy. After some time I got a metal bosch router table at a car boot sale. The build design was of the same layout as my crappy MDF creation. When I put the router in and started it up the noise was deafening yet there was the same amount of open space for the noise to escape. The reason is that the metal frame resonates with the router and the MDF soaked it up. I also worked in a house where the owner was a sound engineer. He had a music room that was all hard surfaces (no curtains). He built sound soaking panels that hung on the wall. 3x2 pine frame, 2 inches of rockwool level with the front of the frame, a 1 inch gap at the back and an open weave material at the front (material similar to speaker cover). He explained to me that sound waves travelled in through the rockwool bounced of the back wall and returned into the rockwool. The rockwool soaked up the noise and any sound waves that got through got a second chance of getting soaked up after the bounce back. Very clever.

Or you could just buy your neighbour a nice bottle of wine. Ha ha!!

Cheers Alan

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks for getting back gents.

The option of re insulating the workshop not really an option. It is built from 2x4 Timber cladded with 22mm T&G boards. I have a 25mm gap then 75mm of ploystyrene boards then lined on the inside with 18mm Ext Ply. Best I could do at the time but I am hoping when I get all the tools in and hang wall and floor cabinets and all the other bits and bobs that will be hung on the wall it will absorb a lot of the noise.

i was just hoping someone had come up with a design to deaden the noise from for their Thicknesser??? As it happens I am looking at the Jet 13-JPM thicknesser, which will still make noise with the blades on the timber, the induction motor should be more of a hum than a scream.

Cheers guys.

David

 

[OPJ]

When your thicknesser is setup, do you use it in an 'open' space in the middle of your workshop? If you were to place it nearer to a wall, you may find that some of the exhausted noise is absorbed by the wall. It certainly won't make the tool as quiet as an induction-motored model but, it may help a little. I do the same thing when using a vacuum; it 'deadens' any of the screams when working with power tools.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

Thanks Olly, hadn't thought of that although I do tend to keep most of the noisy machines away from the end of the workshop nearest my neighbour so perhaps, inadvertently i do have it near a wall but I'll remember your tip next time I am making big noise.

Cheers mate

David