Reducing cnc noise

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Grantx

Established Member
Joined
30 Mar 2021
Messages
111
Reaction score
56
Location
Reading uk
I have a cnc machine arriving within the next 3 weeks and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for reducing the noise? I thought of enclosing it in a cabinet with acoustic sound proofing foam on the inside. The enclosure would also help to contain the sawdust and I would somehow get my numatic hose right at the spindle to catch the majority of mess.

Anyone been through a similar situation that could share a few tips or tricks? Much appreciated.
 
Build a box around it.

It will still be very loud, but just not as loud as before.

Basically airtightness and then density, but airtightness is probably the first one to deal with.

You won't get it to the point where you can run it in your spare bedroom without spending crazy money, but you can get to the point where it's just irritating, rather than being shameful, relatively quickly.

Sound is very much one of those law of diminishing marginal returns things.
 
I cant hear ours running once the extraction kicks in
 
A water cooled spindle is quiter than an air cooled one.
Sometimes the noise can be very piercing but a slight change in spindle speed can often curb it somewhat.
The spindle and cutting tool both produce noise but the cutting tool is the highest frequency, insulation can be tailored to a particular frequency range.
 
Dust extraction and noise reduction are incompatible bedfellows. Dust extraction needs an air inlet where the sound comes out faster than the air is going in!
On my m/c I've taped up the air inlet and just vacuum out at the end of the run.
Brian
 
This guy built a decent looking box. He used a muffler for the extraction which looks like it reduces noise by way of a 'chicane' the sound must get through.



The spindle I'm getting is water cooled but from the videos I've watched it seems that most of the screaming comes from the bit.
Maybe if I enclosed a small vac inside the box I could completely seal it.

The cnc I'm getting is on a 1 meter x 1 meter frame.
 
Be carefull with enclosing a vacuum inside the box. On pretty much all vacuums the motor is in the air path for cooling. If it recirculates inside an enclosure it will get very hot - Don't ask me how I know - just glad it didn't catch fire.

When I built my CNC enclosure I was on a very tight budget and built the walls from corrugated cardboard, I used multiple layers and made them about 2" thick all glued together. This is surprisingly strong and works very well on suppressing the noise. As others have said you will never iliminate it. I have my extractor in another room which helps a lot and draw air direct from outside through a carpet lined baffle.
 
My CNC is far quieter than my extractor, so it’s a moot issue for me. I would love to build an insulated outbuilding to house the extractor, but that’s not likely.
 
Back
Top