I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

- Will the motor run hotter than it should if it is enclosed inside a
box with air vent on the side of the box? How much room I should leave
on top of the motor to allow enough cooling? I am asking this because
I need to run it with my sander to sand the boat deck flat, and this
may take longer than 10 minutes; therefore, I am afraid of overheating
the motor.

Yes, this is not a strictly woodworking question. But I figure people
into woodworking should be the expert in this area.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Hi,

You just have a big, big, big problem...

A vacuum cleaner by definition sucks up air, a lot of air... all that
air has to go somewhere... Did you ever notice a shop vac pushes air
on the other side?

Now ask yourself the same question again... Can you box in a shop vac?

The answer is no. You'll have to provide some sort of air exaust thus
killing the whole concept of making a box.

You want a solution? Buy a Fein vacuum cleaner... There's a lot
quieter than those stupid Shop Vacs or Ridgid...

Hope this helps,

Greg D.


On 16 Aug 2006 13:56:01 -0700, wrote:

I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

- Will the motor run hotter than it should if it is enclosed inside a
box with air vent on the side of the box? How much room I should leave
on top of the motor to allow enough cooling? I am asking this because
I need to run it with my sander to sand the boat deck flat, and this
may take longer than 10 minutes; therefore, I am afraid of overheating
the motor.

Yes, this is not a strictly woodworking question. But I figure people
into woodworking should be the expert in this area.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise

I've seen muffler-like attachments that connect to the exhaust. I'm
not sure that a box surrounding the vac would be effective. The first
thought would be that it would limit it's mobility.

Recently, I've started wearing ear muff protection when I use my
whining Milwaukee vac. As I get older, I have to save as much of my
hearing as I can.

I've seen muffler-like attachments that connect to the exhaust.

I have one for my noisy Ridgid - makes a little difference; not much.
It seems to me that if you built a box out of 1/4" pegboard, and lined
it with carpet, the air could still escape but much of the noise would
be muffled. You could even line the top of the box with egg-crate foam
or acoustical tiles or something, and since this relatively
high-frequency noise is fairly directional, extra insulation in the top
should help, especially if the vac is down in a boat. No clue about dB
levels.
Another thing to consider is a longer hose, so you can "hide" the vac
where it might be more isolated/insulated. Woodcraft, Lee Valley, and
others have longer, better hoses, i.e.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=914
Regarding overheating, I wouldn't worry too much. I've run my Ridgid
for probably an hour straight, hooked to my plunge router that has a
restricted (1") intake, with the filter increasingly caked with dust.
That seems like a recipe for overheating, and though the motor felt hot
after this, it wasn't smoking/burning/extremely hot.
Of course, the best option would be to buy a Fein - the Turbo I ($205
at Amazon with $25-off sale) advertises 63dB, comes with a 15ft hose,
and I've never heard anything bad about them (other than the price).
However, considering I use my shopvac more than any other single power
tool, it would have made sense to buy a really good one. When the
Ridgid dies...
Good luck,
Andy

"Greg D." wrote in message

The answer is no. You'll have to provide some sort of air exaust thus
killing the whole concept of making a box.

Not really. Sure, it will be vented, but still a box. It can be lined with
sound dampening materials and have a vent on the top, side, or bottom. Your
computer is in a box isn't it?

On 16 Aug 2006 13:56:01 -0700, wrote:

The best thing a box or wall will do is deflect the noise in a different
direction, usually up, which can help quite a bit....

You might also try a long hose and using your garage for the "box"...

I bought a "noise reducer" from Craftsman that goes in the "blower" port and it
seems to make a bit of difference without any noticeable loss of suction...

Bottom line is that if there is much cost involved in building the box,
including vents, cooling fan, etc., it might be more cost effective to buy a
quieter vac...

I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

- Will the motor run hotter than it should if it is enclosed inside a
box with air vent on the side of the box? How much room I should leave
on top of the motor to allow enough cooling? I am asking this because
I need to run it with my sander to sand the boat deck flat, and this
may take longer than 10 minutes; therefore, I am afraid of overheating
the motor.

Yes, this is not a strictly woodworking question. But I figure people
into woodworking should be the expert in this area.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

wrote:
I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise

I've seen muffler-like attachments that connect to the exhaust. I'm
not sure that a box surrounding the vac would be effective. The first
thought would be that it would limit it's mobility.

Recently, I've started wearing ear muff protection when I use my
whining Milwaukee vac. As I get older, I have to save as much of my
hearing as I can.

Yes, I have already had that muffler-like attachment on my Ridgid shop
vac. Unfortunately, it doesn't do a thing. I really cannot tell if it
makes any difference at all in term of cutting down noise. I believe
the main problem is that the noise seems to be coming from the motor
that is on top of the shop vac, and not from the blower port.
Therefore, attaching the muffler-like attachment to the blower port
doesn't really cut down on the noise in my shop vac.

Thanks for the info anyway. Your info may help other people whose shop
vacs have a different design than mine.

Jay Chan

Andy wrote:

Another thing to consider is a longer hose, so you can "hide" the vac
where it might be more isolated/insulated. Woodcraft, Lee Valley, and
others have longer, better hoses, i.e.
http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=914

Thanks. I definitely need to extend the hose. The boat deck is so
small that I need to put the shop vac in one end of the boat while I
work on the other end of the boat. But the hose will not be long
enough for me to hide the shop vac inside the garage because that will
be too far away and too much work.

Regarding overheating, I wouldn't worry too much. I've run my Ridgid
for probably an hour straight, hooked to my plunge router that has a
restricted (1") intake, with the filter increasingly caked with dust.
That seems like a recipe for overheating, and though the motor felt hot
after this, it wasn't smoking/burning/extremely hot.

Thanks for the useful info. This gives me hope that I probably will
not overheat the motor. I will play safe and give the box enough air
passage to cool the motor though.

Of course, the best option would be to buy a Fein - the Turbo I ($205
at Amazon with $25-off sale) advertises 63dB, comes with a 15ft hose,
and I've never heard anything bad about them (other than the price).
However, considering I use my shopvac more than any other single power
tool, it would have made sense to buy a really good one. When the
Ridgid dies...

Yes, I hear you. But I am afraid that it may still not be quiet enough
to be used at 5:30am in the morning on my driveway. I will likely need
to box-in a Fein shop vac anyway if I decide to buy one. If I likely
need to box it in regardless I use my old Ridgid shop vac or a Fein
shop vac, I may as well box-in my existing Ridgid shop vac and see if
the box can cut down just enough noise. If the box still cannot cut
down enough noise, I will buy a Fein and put the box over it. This
means I need to design the box in a way that it can be adjusted to fit
both my old Ridgid vac and a Fein vac. Thanks for the suggestion
though.

Jay Chan

I figure that I would need a 20-ft hose in order to link a shop vac in
garage to the boat deck. And then I need to cut a hole in my garage
wall to pass the hose. That doesn't sound like something that I want
to do.

The muffler-like attachment that I bought for my Ridgid shop vac
doesn't do a thing in term of cutting down noise. I still have it
attached to my shop vac -- not to reduce noise, but to redirect the
exhaust air down toward the floor.

Yes, I may end up buying a quiet (and expensive) Fein shop vac. But I
would like to try the low cost solution first (boxing the vac in)
before committing to the costly solution. Moreover, I can put the same
box over the Fein shop vac to further cut down the noise; therefore,
the investment on building the box will not be wasted.

Seem like no one can tell me if boxing-in the shop vac will cut down
the noise significantly. I guess I will have to try building one and
see what will happen.

Jay Chan


mac davis wrote:
On 16 Aug 2006 13:56:01 -0700, wrote:

The best thing a box or wall will do is deflect the noise in a different
direction, usually up, which can help quite a bit....

You might also try a long hose and using your garage for the "box"...

I bought a "noise reducer" from Craftsman that goes in the "blower" port and it
seems to make a bit of difference without any noticeable loss of suction...

Bottom line is that if there is much cost involved in building the box,
including vents, cooling fan, etc., it might be more cost effective to buy a
quieter vac...

I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

- Will the motor run hotter than it should if it is enclosed inside a
box with air vent on the side of the box? How much room I should leave
on top of the motor to allow enough cooling? I am asking this because
I need to run it with my sander to sand the boat deck flat, and this
may take longer than 10 minutes; therefore, I am afraid of overheating
the motor.

Yes, this is not a strictly woodworking question. But I figure people
into woodworking should be the expert in this area.

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

wrote:
Yes, I hear you. But I am afraid that it may still not be quiet enough
to be used at 5:30am in the morning on my driveway. I will likely need
to box-in a Fein shop vac anyway if I decide to buy one.

Someone, I think hoover, makes this thing called teh GUV. It's a
wall-mounted shop vac. It seemed reasonably priced iirc. You could go
with that, enclose it, and get long hoses like the others mentioned.

brian

wrote:
Seem like no one can tell me if boxing-in the shop vac will cut down
the noise significantly. I guess I will have to try building one and
see what will happen.

Please let us know what materials you use and if/how much your box
helps. I'd be very curious - I'll probably build some kind of box
eventually.
Another thing I've done is to secure a piece of open-cell foam over the
blower/motor housing on top of my Ridgid vac. This helps a little with
noise, but mostly it keeps the cooling fan from blowing air/debris up
into my face. Again, this hasn't caused overheating, even combined
with the other factors I mentioned in my earlier post.
Thanks,
Andy

wrote:
Seem like no one can tell me if boxing-in the shop vac will cut down
the noise significantly. I guess I will have to try building one and
see what will happen.

Also, have you tried searching the google groups rec.woodworking
archives? I searched for shop vac box and got some good info -
especially this thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.w... f18c8c8cf09bd
A snippet, in case the link doesn't work, from Joe Nation, May 15,
2003:
"The best way to quite a shop vac it to put it into a box. I built a
30"
cubical box with a door and latch on one side, put the cube on casters,
lined the inside of the cube with carpet scraps, drilled a hole for the
vaccum hose to exit the box and drilled 4 smaller holes (about 1.5" in
diameter) along the back bottom edge of the box for ventilation and to
allow
the vaccums exhaust streem to exit the box. The reduction in noise
from the
vaccum is remarkable. I do not have any sound level measurements but, I
can
talk or listen to the radio at normal sound levels with the vaccum
running.
This solution works!!! I often forget to turn the vaccum off after I
have
been using it for a long period of time at my workbench because it runs
so
quitely. It does not degrade the peformance of the shop vaccum or
shorten
its expected operating life. "
Andy

If drilling a few holes for exhaust works, that's fairly easy to do and
it's great. Personally, I think baffling an entire wall of the box is
probably the way to go to maximize exhaust flow and minimize noise.
Like so:

--------
| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|
--------

wrote:
I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

I have my cheapo shop vac inside a plywood box. It's carpeted all over,
it has a series of holes drilled at the top back, AND I made a little
air chute that channels the air down to about the bottom of the box.

It cuts the noise about in half. Maybe a little more. When I show it to
friends, they listen to it with the door shut and say "Yeah. That's
nice. I guess it's quiet." Then I open the door and they go "WOW. Okay,
I see what you mean. Shut the door."

So, it helps but it doesn't make it whisper quiet. When I had the shop
in the basement though, SWMBO said said there were times she didn't
know it was on, as opposed to not being able to hear the tv.

It's been in that box for a couple years now. No problems. I keep the
planer on top of the box and it's got a power strip on it. Instead of
the shop vac underfoot, I've got a workstation with a shop vac inside
it. One of the better shop improvements I've made.

The carpet makes the difference. I used cardboard for a while till I
found some clean scraps, and the carpet really damped out the sound.

On 17 Aug 2006 09:57:45 -0700, "Andy" wrote:

"The best way to quite a shop vac it to put it into a box. I built a
30"
cubical box with a door and latch on one side, put the cube on casters,
lined the inside of the cube with carpet scraps

I found that heavy foam carpet underlay is a better box liner, easy to find (you
can find huge unused chunks (rollends) in dumpsters behind carpet stores) and
it's easy to glue into place in layers. I have 4 layers in the 'box' under my
work bench and my huge noisy Shopvac is very quiet, as is my air compressor. My
AC sits on top of 3 layers of carpet underlay as well.

Thanks for the line-art that shows the way to channel the air flow into
the box while dampening the sound. This seems to be an easier and
better design than what I have in mind. I will definitely keep this in
mind when I build the box.

Jay Chan

Gordon Airporte wrote:
If drilling a few holes for exhaust works, that's fairly easy to do and
it's great. Personally, I think baffling an entire wall of the box is
probably the way to go to maximize exhaust flow and minimize noise.
Like so:

--------
| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
|
--------

Andy wrote:
wrote:
Seem like no one can tell me if boxing-in the shop vac will cut down
the noise significantly. I guess I will have to try building one and
see what will happen.

Also, have you tried searching the google groups rec.woodworking
archives? I searched for shop vac box and got some good info -
especially this thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.w... f18c8c8cf09bd
A snippet, in case the link doesn't work, from Joe Nation, May 15,
2003:
"The best way to quite a shop vac it to put it into a box. I built a
30"
cubical box with a door and latch on one side, put the cube on casters,
lined the inside of the cube with carpet scraps, drilled a hole for the
vaccum hose to exit the box and drilled 4 smaller holes (about 1.5" in
diameter) along the back bottom edge of the box for ventilation and to
allow
the vaccums exhaust streem to exit the box. The reduction in noise
from the
vaccum is remarkable. I do not have any sound level measurements but, I
can
talk or listen to the radio at normal sound levels with the vaccum
running.
This solution works!!! I often forget to turn the vaccum off after I
have
been using it for a long period of time at my workbench because it runs
so
quitely. It does not degrade the peformance of the shop vaccum or
shorten
its expected operating life. "
Andy

Yes, I have already read that post. But I have a difficulty
translating what he said to the kind of low noise level that I want.
Seem like this is very subjective, and I need to build it to find out.

Jay Chan

pe wrote:
On 17 Aug 2006 09:57:45 -0700, "Andy" wrote:

"The best way to quite a shop vac it to put it into a box. I built a
30"
cubical box with a door and latch on one side, put the cube on casters,
lined the inside of the cube with carpet scraps

I found that heavy foam carpet underlay is a better box liner, easy to find (you
can find huge unused chunks (rollends) in dumpsters behind carpet stores) and
it's easy to glue into place in layers. I have 4 layers in the 'box' under my
work bench and my huge noisy Shopvac is very quiet, as is my air compressor. My
AC sits on top of 3 layers of carpet underlay as well.

Thanks for the suggestion of using 4 layers of carpet underlayment. It
should be easier-to-get and cheaper than special sound-dampening foam.
I will keep this in mind.

Jay Chan

wrote:
wrote:
I want to box in a noisy shop vac (from Ridgid) to minimize its noise
to _very_ low. I have come across many designs like that in books and
in this newsgroup, and I believe boxing in a shop vac should cut down
the noise significantly. I have a couple questions though:

- How quiet should I expect to get from boxing it in? Will it be
quiet enough that I can use it at 6:00 o'clock in the morning on my
boat (parked on my driveway) inside the boat cover? Please note that I
live in a 1/4 acre property and my neighbor's house is practically next
to my driveway. What's the dB level that I can cut down to anyway?

I have my cheapo shop vac inside a plywood box. It's carpeted all over,
it has a series of holes drilled at the top back, AND I made a little
air chute that channels the air down to about the bottom of the box.

It cuts the noise about in half. Maybe a little more. When I show it to
friends, they listen to it with the door shut and say "Yeah. That's
nice. I guess it's quiet." Then I open the door and they go "WOW. Okay,
I see what you mean. Shut the door."

So, it helps but it doesn't make it whisper quiet. When I had the shop
in the basement though, SWMBO said said there were times she didn't
know it was on, as opposed to not being able to hear the tv.

It's been in that box for a couple years now. No problems. I keep the
planer on top of the box and it's got a power strip on it. Instead of
the shop vac underfoot, I've got a workstation with a shop vac inside
it. One of the better shop improvements I've made.

The carpet makes the difference. I used cardboard for a while till I
found some clean scraps, and the carpet really damped out the sound.

Thanks for the encouraging info. Sound like boxing-in the shop vac is
a good way to reduce the noise, and I should not get into the problem
of overheating the motor.

May I ask you two questions:

- How much room do you leave above the motor inside the box? Here, I
am assuming that the motor in your shop vac is mounted on top of the
shop vac just like many shop vacs. I am asking this trying to figure
out how much room to leave in order to prevent overheating the motor.

- Is your setup quiet enough to be used at 5:30am in the morning in
your driveway if your neighbor's house is just 20-ft away from the shop
vac?

Thanks in advance for any more info.

Jay Chan

On 18 Aug 2006 09:13:52 -0700, wrote:

wrote:
On 17 Aug 2006 09:57:45 -0700, "Andy" wrote:

"The best way to quite a shop vac it to put it into a box. I built a
30"
cubical box with a door and latch on one side, put the cube on casters,
lined the inside of the cube with carpet scraps

I found that heavy foam carpet underlay is a better box liner, easy to find (you
can find huge unused chunks (rollends) in dumpsters behind carpet stores) and
it's easy to glue into place in layers. I have 4 layers in the 'box' under my
work bench and my huge noisy Shopvac is very quiet, as is my air compressor. My
AC sits on top of 3 layers of carpet underlay as well.

Thanks for the suggestion of using 4 layers of carpet underlayment. It
should be easier-to-get and cheaper than special sound-dampening foam.
I will keep this in mind.

Pick the really heavy stuff, in weight. It makes great weather stripping as
well.

wrote:

May I ask you two questions:

- How much room do you leave above the motor inside the box? Here, I
am assuming that the motor in your shop vac is mounted on top of the
shop vac just like many shop vacs. I am asking this trying to figure
out how much room to leave in order to prevent overheating the motor.

Yes, the motor's in the normal place. It's a Genie. And it's LOUD.
Can't remember the model but it's not nearly as wellbuilt as the one
Woodnet tested he
http://www.woodnet.net/reviews/archive/shop-vacuums/

The only thing it does really well is suck. This thing really sucks,
and takes a long time to fill up. I got one of those red superduper
hoses for it. In that box, with that hose, it's great. :-)

There's 29 1/2 inches of height in the box and the vac is about 20
inches high. I believe that's way more than I need. I just built the
box from one sheet of ply and it ended up being about 21 inches square
and 29 1/2 deep, AFTER the carpet was in.

In my opinion, it's the air flow, not the amount of space available. If
the unit can vent the air fast enough it'll be fine no matter if
there's no extra space at all. Heat does not seem to be an issue - I've
had it running for over an hour and it's no hotter in there than it is
after ten minutes.

I've got about ten one-inch holes drilled in the top along one side.
You could hear the vac through those holes. Then I fastened a 3/4 strip
above them and down the sides, then put a sheet of 1/4 ply over that,
so the air was vented almost to the bottom. It made a big difference.

- Is your setup quiet enough to be used at 5:30am in the morning in
your driveway if your neighbor's house is just 20-ft away from the shop
vac?

Not this one. They'd hear it. But I think the idea could be taken to a
new level if you spent the money and started with the best stuff - a
quiet vac and sound-deadening box liner material - you could get your
hands on, instead of being like me and spending the least amount of
money possible. :-) My budget was much slimmer then.

With mine, if I was in the garage and also shut the garage door, that
might work.

But I would have to try it and then ask the neighbors. Actually, I've
never run ANYTHING in the shop at that time of day. I know that the
neighbor next door - about the same distance as yours - knew when I was
using the planer with the doors shut but said it didn't bother either
of them. I always take care to do my planing between noon and about 7
PM. The planer is the only one that anyone has noticed - the dust
collector, table saw, router, etc, they don't care about. Lawn mowers
make more noise than that, and we have a reel mower. :-)

I also note that neighbors really appreciated me asking them which
tools they could hear. I got cookies. I like this neighborhood.

wrote:
wrote:

May I ask you two questions:

- How much room do you leave above the motor inside the box? Here, I
am assuming that the motor in your shop vac is mounted on top of the
shop vac just like many shop vacs. I am asking this trying to figure
out how much room to leave in order to prevent overheating the motor.

Yes, the motor's in the normal place. It's a Genie. And it's LOUD.
Can't remember the model but it's not nearly as wellbuilt as the one
Woodnet tested he
http://www.woodnet.net/reviews/archive/shop-vacuums/

The only thing it does really well is suck. This thing really sucks,
and takes a long time to fill up. I got one of those red superduper
hoses for it. In that box, with that hose, it's great. :-)

There's 29 1/2 inches of height in the box and the vac is about 20
inches high. I believe that's way more than I need. I just built the
box from one sheet of ply and it ended up being about 21 inches square
and 29 1/2 deep, AFTER the carpet was in.

In my opinion, it's the air flow, not the amount of space available. If
the unit can vent the air fast enough it'll be fine no matter if
there's no extra space at all. Heat does not seem to be an issue - I've
had it running for over an hour and it's no hotter in there than it is
after ten minutes.

I've got about ten one-inch holes drilled in the top along one side.
You could hear the vac through those holes. Then I fastened a 3/4 strip
above them and down the sides, then put a sheet of 1/4 ply over that,
so the air was vented almost to the bottom. It made a big difference.

- Is your setup quiet enough to be used at 5:30am in the morning in
your driveway if your neighbor's house is just 20-ft away from the shop
vac?

Not this one. They'd hear it. But I think the idea could be taken to a
new level if you spent the money and started with the best stuff - a
quiet vac and sound-deadening box liner material - you could get your
hands on, instead of being like me and spending the least amount of
money possible. :-) My budget was much slimmer then.

With mine, if I was in the garage and also shut the garage door, that
might work.

But I would have to try it and then ask the neighbors. Actually, I've
never run ANYTHING in the shop at that time of day. I know that the
neighbor next door - about the same distance as yours - knew when I was
using the planer with the doors shut but said it didn't bother either
of them. I always take care to do my planing between noon and about 7
PM. The planer is the only one that anyone has noticed - the dust
collector, table saw, router, etc, they don't care about. Lawn mowers
make more noise than that, and we have a reel mower. :-)

I also note that neighbors really appreciated me asking them which
tools they could hear. I got cookies. I like this neighborhood.

Thanks for pointing out that air flow is more important than the head
room above the motor. Great, this means I don't need to reserve so
much head room for the motor. I need to make sure the air outlet is
pointing right at the motor area (very near the blower hole); then I
can sure that the air flow will go around the motor and cool the motor.

I will also make sure the air passage way out of the box will be
insulated and loop around before it lets the air out to keep the noise
down.

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

I am hoping that this setup without using a Fein will be good enough.
My neighbor always has the windows closed, and use central A/C all the
time. I have a feeling that I may be OK. But I will surely ask him
to make sure he will not hear anything.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

wrote:

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

Make sure you pad the bottom nice and thick. I don't know about density
as noise abater but I know solid wheels on a solid surface really
increases the vibration.

The better the lining is at sound deadening, and the thicker it is, the
better. The more room you give it to add soundproofing, the better. The
more I think about it, if you baffle the air flow out, and you really
pad those walls, you could probably get the noise down low enough so it
didn't make any more noise than an idling car.

I'd check it every few minutes to see how hot it was getting in there,
though. Best o' luck with that. :-)

I would like to make the following comments concerning my noisy shop
vac

1. I used 3/4" thick mdf to make my box because, in general, its
higher mass will deaden the high frequency sounds better than plywood.
I have a Sears shop vac and it gives off mostly high frequency sounds.
Also, a thiner plywood or partical board would not have worked as
well, but it would still reduce the noise considerably.
2. Cooling of the vaccum motor is dependent on the movement of air
into the cubical box(suction) and movement of air out of the
box(exhaust). The air comming out of the box will be warmer than the
air going into the box. The vaccum's cooling is dependent on a
sufficently large volume of air passing out of the box since the cube
acts as a thermal insulator surronding the vaccum motor. In use, the
temperature of the vaccum cleaner inside the cube will depend somewhat
on how large a volume of air the suction hose is able to pick up and
pass into the inside of the cube that the electrical motor is operating
in. You need to be sure that the suction is not completely block for
long periods of time. A portion of the electrical energy the vaccum
motor consumes is converted one way or another into heat that must be
exhausted to the exterior of the cube for long term cooling of the
vaccum motor.
wrote:
wrote:

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

Make sure you pad the bottom nice and thick. I don't know about density
as noise abater but I know solid wheels on a solid surface really
increases the vibration.

The better the lining is at sound deadening, and the thicker it is, the
better. The more room you give it to add soundproofing, the better. The
more I think about it, if you baffle the air flow out, and you really
pad those walls, you could probably get the noise down low enough so it
didn't make any more noise than an idling car.

I'd check it every few minutes to see how hot it was getting in there,
though. Best o' luck with that. :-)

I have already partially finished building the body of the box (except
for the baffle air outlet). I am using 3/4" thick particle board. I
use particle board instead of MDF because particle board is cheap and
seem like it is dense enough; moreover, it is what the dust-collection
book recommends. Not sure if it is any better for the saw blade than
MDF though. But this box is really heavy (3/4" particle board). I
guess my idea of carrying it on and off the boat is not quite practical
afterall. I will have to leave it on the ground and use a long
extension hose to reach inside the boat.

Thanks for pointing out that the air flow volume is the key to keep the
motor cool. Would you please tell me how large the air outlet hole
that you have in your box? Then I can have something to base on.

How much quiet your shop vac is after you have housed it inside the box
that you built?

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75 -- this is more
than what I really want to spend on building the project. I will have
to wait until I come across a dumpster full of carpet underlayment to
finish this project. Meanwhile, I will have to make do with using some
left over fiberglass insulation as sound-dampening material.

Jay Chan


wrote:
I would like to make the following comments concerning my noisy shop
vac

1. I used 3/4" thick mdf to make my box because, in general, its
higher mass will deaden the high frequency sounds better than plywood.
I have a Sears shop vac and it gives off mostly high frequency sounds.
Also, a thiner plywood or partical board would not have worked as
well, but it would still reduce the noise considerably.
2. Cooling of the vaccum motor is dependent on the movement of air
into the cubical box(suction) and movement of air out of the
box(exhaust). The air comming out of the box will be warmer than the
air going into the box. The vaccum's cooling is dependent on a
sufficently large volume of air passing out of the box since the cube
acts as a thermal insulator surronding the vaccum motor. In use, the
temperature of the vaccum cleaner inside the cube will depend somewhat
on how large a volume of air the suction hose is able to pick up and
pass into the inside of the cube that the electrical motor is operating
in. You need to be sure that the suction is not completely block for
long periods of time. A portion of the electrical energy the vaccum
motor consumes is converted one way or another into heat that must be
exhausted to the exterior of the cube for long term cooling of the
vaccum motor.
wrote:
wrote:

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

Make sure you pad the bottom nice and thick. I don't know about density
as noise abater but I know solid wheels on a solid surface really
increases the vibration.

The better the lining is at sound deadening, and the thicker it is, the
better. The more room you give it to add soundproofing, the better. The
more I think about it, if you baffle the air flow out, and you really
pad those walls, you could probably get the noise down low enough so it
didn't make any more noise than an idling car.

I'd check it every few minutes to see how hot it was getting in there,
though. Best o' luck with that. :-)

On 28 Aug 2006 07:16:49 -0700, wrote:

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75

Check the dumpster's behind any REAL Carpet store that does installations.

I have so much of it I use it in front of my tools to stand on, (Great for the
feet) when it starts to wear I throw down another chunk.

pe wrote:
On 28 Aug 2006 07:16:49 -0700, wrote:

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75

Check the dumpster's behind any REAL Carpet store that does installations.

I have so much of it I use it in front of my tools to stand on, (Great for the
feet) when it starts to wear I throw down another chunk.
Yeah, what he said. Or find a carpet seller/installer and check their
showroom to see if they have remnants for sale. Top dollar carpet and
underlayment, brand new, for peanuts. Fill the truck with the stuff for
twenty bucks. Our cats have one really fancy cat tree. It's got the
most expensive carpet in the house.

Around here they actually chase you away and maybe even give you a
ticket if they catch you around somebody else's dumpster. :-)

On 28 Aug 2006 13:38:45 -0700, " wrote:

wrote:
On 28 Aug 2006 07:16:49 -0700, wrote:

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75

Check the dumpster's behind any REAL Carpet store that does installations.

I have so much of it I use it in front of my tools to stand on, (Great for the
feet) when it starts to wear I throw down another chunk.
Yeah, what he said. Or find a carpet seller/installer and check their
showroom to see if they have remnants for sale. Top dollar carpet and
underlayment, brand new, for peanuts. Fill the truck with the stuff for
twenty bucks. Our cats have one really fancy cat tree. It's got the
most expensive carpet in the house.

Around here they actually chase you away and maybe even give you a
ticket if they catch you around somebody else's dumpster. :-)

Our carpet place encourages dumpster diving during business hours.
The installers fill them up pretty fast. You can't get at them after hours as
they are in a locked compound.

The box I made initially had five 1 1/2" holes in the back of it for
exhaust ports. My vaccum exhaust its air from the canister into the
upper part of the space in the cube and I located the holes along the
bottom edge of the cube thinking that the interior air in the cube
would have to be more completely exchanged this way. It works pretty
well this way for me. Heat build up inside the cube is completely
acceptable with what I have. I think the thing to watch for in your
box is if there is much back preasure buldup in it when the vaccum is
running. I am sure different vaccums will have different air flows
through them when setting in an open room. I discovered that if there
is a large back preasure inside the cube the peformance of the vaccum's
suction in the intake hose will be degraded.

The cube I am using actually has had two different vaccums in it. The
first shop vac was a 12 year old Sears that was on its last noisy leg
when I first tried reducing the noise by putting it in a box. I built
the box with more interior room than I needed for this vaccum because I
knew that this vaccum was not going to last too many more years. I
wanted a box that would not have to be rebuilt for a change of vaccums.
The first vaccum is now dead and I have bought another noisy Sears
12-15 amp shop vac. For some reason, the new vac sits much lower to the
ground than the old vaccum did and probably passes more air through it
than the old one did. Because it is much lower to the ground, it was
necessary to drill a new hole in the side of the box for the suction
hose to pass through. The hole I drilled in the side is the outside
diameter of the 2 1/2" hose that is standard for this vaccum. This
new vaccum probably needs the extra hole since I have observed that
there is air under very low preasure passing through it. Just check
your exhaust ports on the box you are building and make sure that the
air passing out through the holes (or through the port) you are
building is under very low preasure and that there is no signifigant
preasure buildup inside the box when the vaccum is running.

Conderning your question on the noise reduction. My box has worked so
well that as I said It has had two vaccums in it. The carpet on the
interior of the box probably contributes signifigantly to the noise
reduction. For me, the high pitch whine that is so typical of a cheap
shop vaccum is almost totally absent. What I hear is some noise from
the lower pitched sounds that the vaccum gives off. I do not have sound
measuring equiptment and am unable to give any science based accurate
measurements of the noise reduction. But, I maintain that you will be
able to talk to someone in your shop in a normal tone of voice or
listen to the radio without having to increase the radio volume
signifigantly nor will you have to turn the volume on the radio down
when you turn the vaccum off. I often use my vaccum attached to my
random orbital sander for long sanding sessions and the sander makes
much more noise than the vaccum. The 1 1/4" vaccum hose that is used
to attach to the sander makes somewhat of a high pitched sound
whistlening sound when it pulls lose from the sander and the
whistlening sound of the vaccum hose is much louder than the shop vac
running.

Because the cube that the shop vac is in is somewhat heavy, I have
purchased 18' of 2 1/2" vaccum hose and I move the hose to where I want
to use it instead of moving the vaccum. My cube is on casters, but
experience has shown that for me, I am more comfortable moving the hose
than moving the vaccum box. I also have adapters to attach various
tools to the 2 1/2' vaccum hose or a short length of 1 1/4" vaccum hose
to attach to various tools

I liked this arrangement so well that I have build a cube to put my
Grizzley dust collector in. I have been disappointed in how large the
noise reduction has been for the dust collector. The box reduces the
noise but not nearly as much as it does for the shop vac Thinking about
why the dust collector noise reduction was not as dramatic as the shop
vaccum, I have come to several conclusions( None of which as of this
date have been proved).
1. The dust collector box was built out of 5/8" birch plywood,
2. The primary noise frequncies of the dust collector are much lower,
more energenic and more likely to pass through the box one way or
another,
3. I failed to line the interior of the dust collector box with carpet
or other sound deading material,
4 Because of the signifigant weight of the motor and fan, I am sure
that both of them will need to be futher isolated from the bottom of
the box in a way that lower pitched sound vibrations are not
transmitted to the box. They are currently bolted to the bottom of the
box.

I am sure I will eventually go back and make an attempt to reduce the
dust collection noise futher using improvements that are outlined in
the four unproven reasons above. When I do I will report on the
results if there is a large noise reduction in the dust collector.

wrote:
I have already partially finished building the body of the box (except
for the baffle air outlet). I am using 3/4" thick particle board. I
use particle board instead of MDF because particle board is cheap and
seem like it is dense enough; moreover, it is what the dust-collection
book recommends. Not sure if it is any better for the saw blade than
MDF though. But this box is really heavy (3/4" particle board). I
guess my idea of carrying it on and off the boat is not quite practical
afterall. I will have to leave it on the ground and use a long
extension hose to reach inside the boat.

Thanks for pointing out that the air flow volume is the key to keep the
motor cool. Would you please tell me how large the air outlet hole
that you have in your box? Then I can have something to base on.

How much quiet your shop vac is after you have housed it inside the box
that you built?

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75 -- this is more
than what I really want to spend on building the project. I will have
to wait until I come across a dumpster full of carpet underlayment to
finish this project. Meanwhile, I will have to make do with using some
left over fiberglass insulation as sound-dampening material.

Jay Chan


wrote:
I would like to make the following comments concerning my noisy shop
vac

1. I used 3/4" thick mdf to make my box because, in general, its
higher mass will deaden the high frequency sounds better than plywood.
I have a Sears shop vac and it gives off mostly high frequency sounds.
Also, a thiner plywood or partical board would not have worked as
well, but it would still reduce the noise considerably.
2. Cooling of the vaccum motor is dependent on the movement of air
into the cubical box(suction) and movement of air out of the
box(exhaust). The air comming out of the box will be warmer than the
air going into the box. The vaccum's cooling is dependent on a
sufficently large volume of air passing out of the box since the cube
acts as a thermal insulator surronding the vaccum motor. In use, the
temperature of the vaccum cleaner inside the cube will depend somewhat
on how large a volume of air the suction hose is able to pick up and
pass into the inside of the cube that the electrical motor is operating
in. You need to be sure that the suction is not completely block for
long periods of time. A portion of the electrical energy the vaccum
motor consumes is converted one way or another into heat that must be
exhausted to the exterior of the cube for long term cooling of the
vaccum motor.
wrote:
wrote:

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

Make sure you pad the bottom nice and thick. I don't know about density
as noise abater but I know solid wheels on a solid surface really
increases the vibration.

The better the lining is at sound deadening, and the thicker it is, the
better. The more room you give it to add soundproofing, the better. The
more I think about it, if you baffle the air flow out, and you really
pad those walls, you could probably get the noise down low enough so it
didn't make any more noise than an idling car.

I'd check it every few minutes to see how hot it was getting in there,
though. Best o' luck with that. :-)

wrote:
The box I made initially had five 1 1/2" holes in the back of it for
exhaust ports. My vaccum exhaust its air from the canister into the
upper part of the space in the cube and I located the holes along the
bottom edge of the cube thinking that the interior air in the cube
would have to be more completely exchanged this way.

If I understand you correctly, the air outlet hole of the box is
actually far away from the actual air outlet of the shop vac itself. I
thought this might not help the air flow around the motor to cool the
motor. But now I think of this, I have a feeling that this probably
doesn't matter: The shop vac forces air through the motor to cool the
motor down and not depends on natural air venting; therefore, having a
shorter path between the motor and the air outlet probably is not
critical. On the other hand, having the motor far away from the air
outlet may have helped reducing the high pitch noise. I am just
guessing...

It works pretty well this way for me. Heat build up inside the cube is
completely acceptable with what I have. I think the thing to watch
for in your box is if there is much back preasure buldup in it when
the vaccum is running. I am sure different vaccums will have
different air flows through them when setting in an open room.
I discovered that if there is a large back preasure inside the
cube the peformance of the vaccum's suction in the intake
hose will be degraded.

I guess we can fix this "excessive back pressure" problem by enlarging
the air outlet, right?

The cube I am using actually has had two different vaccums in it. The
first shop vac was a 12 year old Sears that was on its last noisy leg
when I first tried reducing the noise by putting it in a box. I built
the box with more interior room than I needed for this vaccum because I
knew that this vaccum was not going to last too many more years. I
wanted a box that would not have to be rebuilt for a change of vaccums.
The first vaccum is now dead and I have bought another noisy Sears
12-15 amp shop vac. For some reason, the new vac sits much lower to the
ground than the old vaccum did and probably passes more air through it
than the old one did. Because it is much lower to the ground, it was
necessary to drill a new hole in the side of the box for the suction
hose to pass through. The hole I drilled in the side is the outside
diameter of the 2 1/2" hose that is standard for this vaccum. This
new vaccum probably needs the extra hole since I have observed that
there is air under very low preasure passing through it. Just check
your exhaust ports on the box you are building and make sure that the
air passing out through the holes (or through the port) you are
building is under very low preasure and that there is no signifigant
preasure buildup inside the box when the vaccum is running.

Conderning your question on the noise reduction. My box has worked so
well that as I said It has had two vaccums in it. The carpet on the
interior of the box probably contributes signifigantly to the noise
reduction. For me, the high pitch whine that is so typical of a cheap
shop vaccum is almost totally absent. What I hear is some noise from
the lower pitched sounds that the vaccum gives off. I do not have sound
measuring equiptment and am unable to give any science based accurate
measurements of the noise reduction. But, I maintain that you will be
able to talk to someone in your shop in a normal tone of voice or
listen to the radio without having to increase the radio volume
signifigantly nor will you have to turn the volume on the radio down
when you turn the vaccum off. I often use my vaccum attached to my
random orbital sander for long sanding sessions and the sander makes
much more noise than the vaccum.

I am very glad to hear that the noise of your shop vac is now
comparable to the noise from your random orbital sander. I find that
the noise from a random orbital sander is quite low and is quite
acceptable. Sound like I can keep my hope high in term of getting a
great reduction of noise from my shop vac.

The 1 1/4" vaccum hose that is used to attach to the sander
makes somewhat of a high pitched sound whistlening sound
when it pulls lose from the sander and the whistlening sound
of the vaccum hose is much louder than the shop vac running.

Because the cube that the shop vac is in is somewhat heavy, I have
purchased 18' of 2 1/2" vaccum hose and I move the hose to where I want
to use it instead of moving the vaccum. My cube is on casters, but
experience has shown that for me, I am more comfortable moving the hose
than moving the vaccum box. I also have adapters to attach various
tools to the 2 1/2' vaccum hose or a short length of 1 1/4" vaccum hose
to attach to various tools

Glad to hear that the suction of your shop vac is not impaired by the
18-ft long extension vaccum hose. I will definitely try a long hose
like yours; hopefully, I can keep the shop vac inside the garage and
run the extension hose to my boat (that is parked right outside the
garage).

You must be much stronger than I am. I find the box that I am building
_very_ heavy (it is made from 3/4" particle board). I have splitted
the box in half (a body and a lip) in order to minimize the weight of
each piece that I need to man-handle; but I still find it to be very
heavy. Anyway, I am pretty much giving up of the idea of moving the
shop vac and the box onto the boat -- too heavy to do this often. The
shop vac and the box will have to stay on the ground.

I liked this arrangement so well that I have build a cube to put my
Grizzley dust collector in. I have been disappointed in how large the
noise reduction has been for the dust collector. The box reduces the
noise but not nearly as much as it does for the shop vac Thinking about
why the dust collector noise reduction was not as dramatic as the shop
vaccum, I have come to several conclusions( None of which as of this
date have been proved).
1. The dust collector box was built out of 5/8" birch plywood,
2. The primary noise frequncies of the dust collector are much lower,
more energenic and more likely to pass through the box one way or
another,
3. I failed to line the interior of the dust collector box with carpet
or other sound deading material,
4 Because of the signifigant weight of the motor and fan, I am sure
that both of them will need to be futher isolated from the bottom of
the box in a way that lower pitched sound vibrations are not
transmitted to the box. They are currently bolted to the bottom of the
box.

I am sure I will eventually go back and make an attempt to reduce the
dust collection noise futher using improvements that are outlined in
the four unproven reasons above. When I do I will report on the
results if there is a large noise reduction in the dust collector.

I think you are right to say that the low pitch noise from a dust
collector is hard to reduce.

You may need to suspend the entire dust collector inside the box to
keep the virbation from transmitting out of the box. I think I read
something like that in one of the very popular DIY dust collection web
site (from Bill?).

Hope you will find a way to reduce the noise from your dust collector.

Jay Chan

wrote:
I have already partially finished building the body of the box (except
for the baffle air outlet). I am using 3/4" thick particle board. I
use particle board instead of MDF because particle board is cheap and
seem like it is dense enough; moreover, it is what the dust-collection
book recommends. Not sure if it is any better for the saw blade than
MDF though. But this box is really heavy (3/4" particle board). I
guess my idea of carrying it on and off the boat is not quite practical
afterall. I will have to leave it on the ground and use a long
extension hose to reach inside the boat.

Thanks for pointing out that the air flow volume is the key to keep the
motor cool. Would you please tell me how large the air outlet hole
that you have in your box? Then I can have something to base on.

How much quiet your shop vac is after you have housed it inside the box
that you built?

I will finish the body of the box quite soon. But I probably cannot
finish this project for quite a long time because I cannot find any
free carpet underlayment. Buying new carpet underlayment from home
center for three layers of insulation will cost me $75 -- this is more
than what I really want to spend on building the project. I will have
to wait until I come across a dumpster full of carpet underlayment to
finish this project. Meanwhile, I will have to make do with using some
left over fiberglass insulation as sound-dampening material.

Jay Chan


wrote:
I would like to make the following comments concerning my noisy shop
vac

1. I used 3/4" thick mdf to make my box because, in general, its
higher mass will deaden the high frequency sounds better than plywood.
I have a Sears shop vac and it gives off mostly high frequency sounds.
Also, a thiner plywood or partical board would not have worked as
well, but it would still reduce the noise considerably.
2. Cooling of the vaccum motor is dependent on the movement of air
into the cubical box(suction) and movement of air out of the
box(exhaust). The air comming out of the box will be warmer than the
air going into the box. The vaccum's cooling is dependent on a
sufficently large volume of air passing out of the box since the cube
acts as a thermal insulator surronding the vaccum motor. In use, the
temperature of the vaccum cleaner inside the cube will depend somewhat
on how large a volume of air the suction hose is able to pick up and
pass into the inside of the cube that the electrical motor is operating
in. You need to be sure that the suction is not completely block for
long periods of time. A portion of the electrical energy the vaccum
motor consumes is converted one way or another into heat that must be
exhausted to the exterior of the cube for long term cooling of the
vaccum motor.
wrote:
wrote:

I will use particle board instead of plywood to construct the box. I
am under the impression that dense material is better in term of
keeping the noise down. If this still cannot keep the noise down
enough, I will need to consider getting the expensive and quiet shop
vac from Fein.

Make sure you pad the bottom nice and thick. I don't know about density
as noise abater but I know solid wheels on a solid surface really
increases the vibration.

The better the lining is at sound deadening, and the thicker it is, the
better. The more room you give it to add soundproofing, the better. The
more I think about it, if you baffle the air flow out, and you really
pad those walls, you could probably get the noise down low enough so it
didn't make any more noise than an idling car.

I'd check it every few minutes to see how hot it was getting in there,
though. Best o' luck with that. :-)