Any way to quiet a pancake compressor?

[TomKo]

There's a lot of talk about DC noise lately... and it reminded me of an article I saw once that included plans for a cabinet to enclose a pancake style air compressor. It was lined with carpeting and padding and rubber on the base to absorb vibrations - and it included an ingenious shop made muffler contructed with PVC Pipes. And yes - it was ventilated. I thought I had seen it in either Shopnotes, WOOD, Family Handyman, or Workbench... but I can't find it. I then thought that maybe I saw it here - but after searching the forums - no luck! Does anyone recall such plans?

"If it ain't broke... then I probably didn't try to fix it."

UPDATE - thanks for your replies - just to clarify:

My shop is actually my attached garage... and while I do plan on getting a larger compressor down the road - I am making do with the portable pancake model. I have run copper lines with 2 drops (with valves at the end of each for drainage) in my shop, and then one into my little work area in the basement (which will be used extensively when I begin finishing my basement this summer)

The design I saw is specifically for the pancake style units. I can remember most of the design - was just hoping someone would have a link to it if they remembered

[DUD]

I have seen the plans, but can't recall where. Sorry, Bill

[Tom Miller]

Sorry, I can't recall such an article. Have you considered putting the compressor in another area, and plumbing the air to your shop? It could be a lot less work, especially if you're just snaking the rubber hose into the shop.

Regards,
Tom

[final_t]

I've seen a few around, but none directly in my bookmarks (means it was a link on another page).
Basically, all the ones I've seen is a plywood box lined inside with rigid foam with an S-shaped air channel, and sometimes a computer case fan to force air movement. I keep mine in the base of my planer unit, and it mitigates the noise decently.

Googling turned up this:
http://www.rvproject.com/compressor.html

[eezlock]

noisy compressor

There's a lot of talk about DC noise lately... and it reminded me of an article I saw once that included plans for a cabinet to enclose a pancake style air compressor. It was lined with carpeting and padding and rubber on the base to absorb vibrations - and it included an ingenious shop made muffler contructed with PVC Pipes. And yes - it was ventilated. I thought I had seen it in either Shopnotes, WOOD, Family Handyman, or Workbench... but I can't find it. I then thought that maybe I saw it here - but after searching the forums - no luck! Does anyone recall such plans?

"If it ain't broke... then I probably didn't try to fix it."

UPDATE - thanks for your replies - just to clarify:

My shop is actually my attached garage... and while I do plan on getting a larger compressor down the road - I am making do with the portable pancake model. I have run copper lines with 2 drops (with valves at the end of each for drainage) in my shop, and then one into my little work area in the basement (which will be used extensively when I begin finishing my basement this summer)

The design I saw is specifically for the pancake style units. I can remember most of the design - was just hoping someone would have a link to it if they remembered

Tomko, maybe the best thing is a GOOD muffler for it. I don't pay any attention to my compressor, it sits outside the shop under a lift up, attached
cover to the shop wall. The reason for that is it is huge! A 60 gallon horizontal tank with a 3hp motor turning a twin cylinder cast iron pump! This was an old garage/service station compressor that I traded a friend for 3
years ago...it was only about 50 years old when I got it, but still does job!
eezlock

[softop41]

TomKo,
the latest ShopNotes has amuffler for ShopVacs the might give you some Ideas. Made of PVC and foam wrap. If you can't find it, let me know and I will scan it and e-mail it to you.
HTH
Jerry

[BigHand]

This isn't exactly what you were describing, but it looks like a good place to start.

I just picked up FWW "Tools & Shops" Annual Issue. It's No. 188, Winter2006/2007. Not sure how long it's been on the newstand.

Page 106 shows a ventilated cabinet which looks somewhat like the enclosure around a garden hose reel. Insulation would be easy to add.

The author is Chris Ermides, who is listed as having written about portable compressors in the 2007 Tool Guide

[Carpintero]

Tomko,

Look up this guy's enclosure, I am sure this can be scaled don to suit your application, I am a little concerned about the size of the fan he is using, but I think that for your pancake compressor it would be more than enough.

http://www.cianperez.com/Photo/Expos..._Enclosure.htm

[TB Roye]

The article is in the current issue of Shop Notes page 44. The muffler is for a Shop vac. in an article on turning down shop noise. Noise no problem for me just turn off the hearing aids. My hearing was damage during the years I was involved in racing, before anyone used hearing protection. I still jump when my pancake compressor starts up when I don't expect it.

Tom

[final_t]

That's the one I was remembering but couldn't find the link to!

Tomko,

Look up this guy's enclosure, I am sure this can be scaled don to suit your application, I am a little concerned about the size of the fan he is using, but I think that for your pancake compressor it would be more than enough.

http://www.cianperez.com/Photo/Expos..._Enclosure.htm

[TomKo]

Thanks! That was very helpful. I completed my mini compressor cabinet last night. If I figure out how - I will post a picture. Basically, I used 3/4" ply to create an elongated cabinet. The inside is lined with carpet padding and carpet. I purposely made the enclosure bigger than necessary to provide additional fresh air for the machine to breathe. I used Cian Perez's air intake idea to assist in muffling the sound. The end result is amazing. You can barely hear the compressor now! Also - just to be cautious, I installed a thermometer on the inside to make sure it doesn't get too warm. Too test it, I kept it running constantly for 15-20 minutes - and the temperature in the box didn't go up - so I am pretty confident it is getting enough fresh air.

Now... how to go about quieting down my HF DC since relocating it outside is not an option.

[ExYankee]

Try this, run your compressor and then take the INTAKE filter off the noise should get much louder. I was surprised that was where most of the noise came from on mine . I would start with that and maybe some sort of plenum box and a filter from a big shop vac. One other consideration is that if your compressor is using 10 amps, its using 1200w and since that being turned into mechanical motion it going to be dumping a lot of those watts back as waste heat and if you box it air tight to be acoustically tight you could shorten the life of the motor and components. I look at an “openish” box with baffles and foam to capture the noise. Or buy some more hose and stick it outside!