Sound deadening for a shaping bay

General Discussion
1

Hey guys

I’m pretty new here, I’ve been reading and reading and then reading a little more on top of that. Of course when I’m not reading Swaylock’s, it’s because I’m reading Swaylocks.

Anyway, I don’t have much to give back since I’m new, but I did read thru a few posts with members looking to quiet down their bay’s a little. This is one thing I can help with as I’ve helped to build a few home music recording studios and I’m attending school for audio engineering right now.

I’m not sure if these things were talked about at all, but I’ll mention them and you can take it or leave it!

The most fatiguing frequencies for ears are mid and high frequencies (I won’t get too technical) and that is the frequencies planers and other power tools are going to make. Have your ears ever litterally RANG (or could you FEEL the vibrations within your eardrums?) That’s really bad for your ears. again, i won’t get too technical, but if you literally feel your ears vibrating, it could be causing some permanent damage (Even though minute, it adds up)

Also, not only are your ears hearing/reacting to the sounds of your power tools, but also to the sound reflections off your walls. These sounds are just as harmful, and can actually sum up and be LOUDER than the actual power tools.

The most cost effective way to deaden up a room is RIGID FIBERGLASS. This stuff can be a little difficult to come by, but with everyone prying around looking for a new source in blanks, I’m sure the effort wouldnt kill you in comparison! Another great absorbant material is ROCKWOOL. Space is likely a concern, so I again won’t go into the full out construction of Gobos and such… But a peice of 2" thick ROCKWOOL or RIGIDFIBERGLASS will absorb a good amount of sound. If you build a small frame out of thin wood and can hold the fiberglass/rockwool a few inches off the wall of your shop, you’re really going to be in business. THe sounds will travel through the wool/fiberglass, reflect off the wall, and then AGAIN have to pass through the fiberglass. It will also absorb a lower frequency range (making it more broad of an absorbtion)

Since it’s fiberglass, you’re going to want to cover it with something. I use Guilford Cloth of Maine, but it’s pricey (9 or 10bux/squarefoot) The most cost effective material is simple burlap, which can be dyed. It smells a little funky of course, but hey, deal with it… it’ll go away!

Of course there are other options, blankets, eggcrates, etc etc. They help, but for $70 you can pick up a box of (8) 4’x2’x2" sheets of rigid fiberglass. This will REALLY REALLY REALLY help in a shop that has no other absorbtion, especially considering most shop bays are very small in nature.

There’s other stuff too, but i’ll start with that. If this interests anyone, i’ll anwser as many questions as I can. I hope it helps!

Scott

2

I just drown the noise out with my new 150 watt 5 disc player boom box.

3

any tips for not f-ing up your cd player with dust?

cheers

tom

4

but for $70 you can pick up a box of (8) 4’x2’x2" sheets of rigid fiberglass.

hi Scott,

Thanks for the info.

But not really sure what mat’l youre talking about here…2" thick FG is REALLY thick…what am I missing?

I know HD sell thin FG panels (~1/8") that are used for making shower enclosures etc etc…

Btw, xps and eps makes good absorbing panels as well…cheap too.

5

Well, rigid fiberglass is kind of tough to find. it’s used in commercial applications for insulation. It’s basically a really compressed version of the “fluffy” insulation we use in our homes (which is bulky and thick, take up alot of space)

Drowning out the noise is even worse for your ears! If the noise is 120db and you’re drowning it out, it means your playing music at over 125db! I can throw a chart up showing how bad that is for your hearing :-p Then again, as shapers I suppose the eyes are more important, and I’m used to talking to other audio engineers about this stuff :slight_smile:

For keeping dust out of the CD player, I’d say simply throw a thin plastic bag over the CD player. I’d throw bags over the speakers too, especially if they’re decent speakers. Fine dust particals will go right through the speaker coverings and clog up the speaker cones over time. The plastic bag isnt going to block any sound frequencies your ears can hear anyway, especially in a little shop. (Perhaps you’d hear in an accoustically treated studio environment, however)

As for the XPS and EPS panels, I never thought about that. I would imagine the fiberglass is more dense and would absorb a little more frequencies. I’ve never seen any tests on XPS or EPS. Again, perhaps all this is a little overkill. I know if I end up building a shaping bay it may double over as an overdub studio if I can keep it clean enough so it’ll probably be the best sounding shapers bay in all the land :wink:

Scott

6

The howl of a planer is damn loud. You’re holding the thing less than 3 feet from your ears when in use. Sound proofing your wall is a good thing for keeping your neighbors as friends. If you want to protect your heairing, ear plug 'em or wear some cans.

As far as tunes go, an iPod with noise cancelling in-ear phones works unreal but, its hard to hear anything else like the phone ringing or somebody talking to you.

7

Atomized has a great suggestion to protect your hearing. Ever spoken with Rich Harbour? Eh? What?

For shaping bay you can go Hustle and Flow by tacking drinking cup holders on your wall like the old style egg crate sound insulation. But to really insulate on the less cheap, find some sponge foam, like those foam mattress pads, and tack that to the wall.

8

Scott thank for the post,

I have been dealing with this issue for 35 years now and the hearing in my right ear not so good.

Might be that imp right handed and tend to leave the planner in the on position till ive finished roughing out a blank, which I typically do 5 at a time.

As I often travel to shape and find myself making do with the bay as it comes, I have had the opportunity to shape in many different types of wall mediums Ply, plaster sheet and cool room insulation (aluminum laminated to Styrofoam ) they all suck. A few tears back I fitted a bay in under my house with carpet wall and ceiling this seem to help with the rebounding sound considerable muted even wearing plugs which I always do I had less ringing in my ear at the end of a days shaping.

So here is the question would I get a perceptible advantage both inside the bay and out if I had a composite wall beginning with the outer wall (framed ply or brick) - air space - 2’’ of fiberglass insulation glued to carpet?

Nik

9

Egg Cartons stuck on the wall…perfect…

10

Egg cartons will diffuse the sound minimally, but not much for absorbption. You’d be better off hanging up old shirts and pants then those :stuck_out_tongue:

So here is the question would I get a perceptible advantage both inside the bay and out if I had a composite wall beginning with the outer wall (framed ply or brick) - air space - 2’’ of fiberglass insulation glued to carpet?

Nik

To anwser that… I’m not exactly sure what you’re suggesting. In the studio world, airspace is the best insulater (You get better sound properties from 1" of drywall, 1" airspace and another 1" of drywall then simply 2 1" peices of drywall together. If the outter wall is plywood or brick, and you’re tryign to keep the sound inside the bay from travelling out, I would suggest a layer of drywall (relatively cheap) with a layer of rigid fiberglass over that (Fiberglass facing inwards towards the shop) spaced a few inches off the drywall if possible. This will also greatly reduce inner reflections within the bay. Again, you’d still wear ear protection for the power stuff, but instead of a 120db electric planer reflecting 120db off the walls (depending on the size of your bay, you’d get 100db reflections which would sum with the 120db to make it even louder, more like 125db … depends… it would be significantly louder without any treatment though just as an example)

Sorry if this is confusing :slight_smile:

Scott

11

I have no tips for keeping dust out of a CD player. Sorry.My old one was in my shaping room for two years and still works but, it was only a single disc player. My new one is in a seperate room from my shaping room. I only have the speakers in the shaping room.

12

Plastic shroud.

Add a few bits of tape if you want to keep it air-tight (I just use bigger bits of plastic, tho).