# Noise reduction



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

As we all know planers are loud! I've got mine mounted on a rolling cabinet - metal to wood with bolts. Does anyone use any type of noise reduction material under the planer - or is such a thing even available?

I've not had any noise complaints from my neighbors but I've notice my little 4-legged buddy Peter gets upset with the noise and pretty much cowers and runs. I like having him out in the shop with me so I need to find if there is a way to reduce the noise.

I'm wondering what others may have done to decrease the noise.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

Mine's basically mounted the same as yours. It's really loud,too. I usually try to do any planing when Mimi isn't home.

Not sure there is a way to reduce the noise. I wonder if they make puppy ear muffs??


----------



## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

A good friend put in a helical head in his planer. I dropped my jaw when I heard the difference in the noise level.


----------



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

Lew - I've tried the cool sunshades for Peter but he didn't care for it, so pretty sure earmuffs would not be on his wish list, 

A helical head - that could be an option.

Thanks


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Mine is on the steel stand it came with and I always use ear muffs when running it. They are just loud!

Jim


----------



## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

I have a General International with a helical head that replaced a Ridgid. It is quieter but still loud… and you have to add the noise of the dust collection to it either way!


----------



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

Thanks all - I'm going to look into the helical head. I'm also thinking of a thin mat of some sort under it.


----------



## runswithscissors (Nov 8, 2012)

Dogs (and others) have very sensitive hearing, especially at high frequencies that we can't hear. I suspect that's it's not just the loudness, but the high frequencies that send your pooch scurrying.

The helical heads are definitely quieter, but I still wear hearing protection. Can't afford to lose any more hearing than I already have.


----------



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

I didn't think about frequency - I bet that's a big part of it.

I can't imagine working in the shop without ear muffs - I like my hearing very much.''

Thanks
Betsy


----------



## JBrow (Nov 18, 2015)

Betsy,

Reducing the noise that comes out of the planer with a helical cutter head is a great first step.

There are a couple more ideas that could be marginally effective at further reducing the planer noise. The first idea is to isolate the planer from the mobile cabinet. The goal here would be to stop or, more accurately, reduce the vibration imparted to the wooden cart. One thought would be to reattach to the planer to the rolling cabinet using a sound attenuating connection.

Strips of wood could be screwed to the rolling cabinet. The strips of wood could be held up from the mounting surface on the rolling cabinet with some rubber grommets. Then the planer could be attached to the strips of wood with a separate set of screws, again using grommets between the planer and the strips of wood. Rubber grommets of various sizes are available in the plumbing section of the home center and are not very expensive. I have not looked but rubber grommets used to isolate the blower assembly from a furnace frame may also be available in the HVAC section of the home center. If available, these would be better than those in the plumbing section. In this mounting configuration some vibration from the planer could be transferred to the wooden strips mainly through the attaching screws, but since the wooden strips are isolated from the rolling cabinet by the rubber grommets and mounted with separate screws, conductive vibration to the rolling cart should be greatly reduced.

The second idea is to absorb some of the sound from the planer. Two products I have used to quiet the dust collector are denim batten insulation and UltraSonic Acoustical panels; both are sound absorbing materials. The denim insulation could be cut and laid under the planer bed, assuming a cavity under the bed exists. The UltraSonic Acoustical Panels I used were 12" x 12" x 1" thick. These could be applied to sides and top of the planer on the OUTSIDE using an outdoor double stick carpet tape. Obviously mounting sound absorbing panels within the planer housing would be a really bad idea. Indoor double stick carpet tape would likely fail over time.

Even after these additional steps the planer will still make a lot of racket, just not as much. The interesting noise canceling technology, of which I know nothing, might also be worth researching.


----------



## RichardHillius (Oct 19, 2013)

Floor standing planers especially ones with Helical heads are MUCH quieter than those bench tops ones with universal motors. I used some Grizzly 15" and 20" ones in a shop and while I won't say they are quiet you can hear someone talk to you when using them compared to my bench top unit where it's load even with my ear muffs on. While I'm sure a helical head would help a bench top unit if this is really a direction you want to go down I think you would be much better off putting that money towards a 15" floor standing unit instead.


----------



## nomothete (Jun 15, 2015)

Our dog had anxiety with thunder and fireworks and such. There are a few things available. The "ThunderShirt" worked well to calm him a bit. There's also the happy hoodie - 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B0I5Z42/ 
Not always a favorite for the dog, or particularly beguiling for that matter but somewhat effective.


----------



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

JBrow - thanks for the ideas. That might cut it down a bit and from your explantation - I can do that without much trouble.

Lucas - Peter has a bomber jacket that is tight and work as his thunder shirt. The first July 4th I had Peter the firecrackers scare him so bad I thought I was going to have to get him sedated. I remembered about the thunder shirt that a friend uses with his dog - so I took a large towel and wrapped him up real good and help him to well past midnight. It helps a lot.


----------



## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Fortunately I have a well insulated stand alone shop in the back yard so that takes care of surrounding noise as for as my hearing I use a set of ear protection.


----------



## diverlloyd (Apr 25, 2013)

I don't use my planer very much but when I do I put it on a old black n decker workmate. My little buddy doesn't mind it all that much and just runs around in the yard till I'm done. Which is fine with me I don't want her around the loud tools anyways if I need hearing protection so does she. But she does love her some time in the Spanish cedar hand plane shavings. She also like laying around in the planer dust to but likes the hand plane shavings better. You could also try to minimize the echoing by finding out if the base is hollow and filling it up. 
Good luck and let us know what the db difference is when you try new things I know the iPhone has a db meter that I have used in the past don't remeber if it was a app or not though.


----------



## diverlloyd (Apr 25, 2013)

For those who don't know wether or not to make cake or pie for the holiday


----------

