Building a Compressor-Box

[steven88]

BUILDING A COMPRESSOR BOX

Hi guys,

The last few days I worked on a compressor box.
At this moment it reduces the noise about 50%, a big improvement in my opinion.
Below is an overview of the construction.
Note that I only can show 12 pics in one post, so I will write this text and then split it up into 3 posts...


So this is my compressor, it's a small oil-free PowerPlus with a 6 liter tank (96 decibel).
Despite the noise, I am very satisfied with this machine, the output pressure is adjustable and it is pretty compact.

First I screwed it apart to see how everything works and which parts makes noise ...
(I showed the basic parts in the picture)

I thought about how I would build it and also searched the web for ideas and techniques.

Eventually I drew the plan below, this seemed like a fairly compact solution.
(added some color for clarity: blue is fresh air, red is heated air to dissipate)

Then started sawing panels (18mm MDF) and gluing them together.

I also found 4 (used) wheels to make the box some more mobile, here I'm (pre)drilling the holes for the screws.

After gluing I rounded the corners with a router.

First coat of white primer with a paint roller.

Painted and drying

There will be a 90mm 12V pc-fan inside the box to remove the heat.
To minimize the contact-noise I made a small sound absorber from 2mm foamboard.
Cutting the hole:

Screwing the fan on the wood.

Other side

---- end of part 1 ----

 

[steven88]

After that I glued the panel in place.

The 90mm fan has a good flow rate, so in order to prevent it sucking a vacuum in the box, there must be a fresh air inlet.
I have calculated the surface area of ​​the fan-hole and then provided an air inlet a little larger.
Below you can see the air inlet, The fan sucks air through the slot in the box (the green arrows)

All panels are glued... (left heat-outlet, right fresh air inlet)

At the bottom of the lid I glued 6mm MDF to properly seal the lid.

I put black sound insulation on the inside, glued here and there with a hot glue pistol ...

All pieces first cut to size and then mounted ...

The 90mm fan I power with a 12 volt adapter, the fan draws 300mA according to the sticker.
Below I solder the fan to the adapter ...

When everything is sound isolated, the compressor goes into the box...

I put a socket in the box in which both the compressor and the 12V adapter are plugged in...

The heat exhaust passage I glued two more cross pieces and I coated the wall with 2mm black foam board, this to avoid direct-noise-rays as much as possible.

---- end of part 2 ----

 

[steven88]

At the bottom of the lid I also glued sound-isolation...

I then did a sound test with the compressor on and the box closed, and the result was pretty good.
The remaining noise came from the air-inlet-slot because there was no filter and the sound-rays could just bounce between the walls of the slot.
For this problem I made a weird filter based on this link : Sound dampening enclosure for air compressor

I drilled about 48 holes in each plate, and then sawed 48 dowels from a 15mm thick pole...

Then glued those dowels in the holes...

And the sound-filter was ready to install, the sound waves go through the dowels and get filtered at a certain frequency depending on the size and distance of the dowels.

The filter in place, between the walls of the air-inlet.

So this is the final box, air inlet

hot air outlet

So it reduces the sound about 50% which is good, I should be able to reduce it some more by placing it at a good spot with more acoustical insulation close to it.
- The box needs an other coat of paint
- The wheels could give me 'contact-noise' because of vibration by the compressor
- The heat dissipation seems to work very well, the compressor is even noticeable cooler than before.
(because it gets cooled constantly and only producing heat when it starts pumping)

So thats it!
hopefully it can inspire some of you who are about building their own compressor box.
Thanks for reading and good-luck with your projects!
Steven

 

[WhiteKnight]

Very nice, you seem very handy maybe you could eventually build your own silent compressor with a fridge compressor

 

[steven88]

I didn't know about fridge compressor modifications for airbrushing before, so I googled it and that's actually a great tip!
For now I'll just stick with the one I have, but I might try to build one in the future. :friendly_wink: thanks!


This afternoon I installed the box under my desk and put 4 pieces of a foam-cylinder (swimming-pool toy) underneath the box, so the wheels aren't touching the floor;
The noise is now definitely less than 50% so I'm very happy about the result.

I'm also trying to create a paintdust-ventilation system, but having some (insufficient) power issues with the fan when I mount the pipes to it. So that'll have to wait for now.

 

[shadow2462]

Good job, well thought out hope it works for you.