Shopsmith Forums

Hi, first post.

We'll be getting a ShopSmith soon due to limited workspace and the 510 is on offer here in the UK. It's down to me to get the workspace sorted prior to it's arrival.

The workshop is a ground floor bedroom, we want to be making sawdust but not annoy the neighbours. There are 2 loadbearing brick walls either end of the room, large sash windows to front and a studded internal wall at the back. There is a 4 foot gap between the ceiling and the floor of the upstairs neighbours.

What sort of soundproofing methods should we be looking at? We don't mind making the room a bit smaller by fitting padded panels if that's what it takes but we're both pretty clueless on how to do it best.

Depending on how soundproof you need to make the room...
You will need to make a false floor to dampen the vibrations from the machinery and any pounding you will do. For noise radiating from the machines traveling through the air you can apply a number of types of insulation mounted in a layer loosely to you wall. Before I graduated from school they built an an anechoic chamber using fiberboard insulation. During construction they had the stuff stacked in the hallway, it was eerie walking down that stretch of hallway and not hearing the echos of voices and footsteps. Something like this would be good as one surface of the board is coated with aluminum foil and would be easy to keep clear of saw dust. A quick google search for soundproof wall or soundproof floor turns up some helpful resources.

Troy

Welcome 273kelvin. I have seen some rooms with a black foam type material. It looks kind of egg carton shaped with little hills and valleys. As a side note can you post your location in your post? It will help us in the further locating resources for you.

273kelvin wrote:Hi, first post.

We'll be getting a ShopSmith soon due to limited workspace and the 510 is on offer here in the UK. It's down to me to get the workspace sorted prior to it's arrival.

The workshop is a ground floor bedroom, we want to be making sawdust but not annoy the neighbours. There are 2 loadbearing brick walls either end of the room, large sash windows to front and a studded internal wall at the back. There is a 4 foot gap between the ceiling and the floor of the upstairs neighbours.

What sort of soundproofing methods should we be looking at? We don't mind making the room a bit smaller by fitting padded panels if that's what it takes but we're both pretty clueless on how to do it best.

Welcome, 273Kelvin!,
I see that you are from the UK. I do knot know what kind of resources that you may have there, but most operations using the SS are relatively quiet. The table saw function, IMHO is the noisiest! If you regulate your woodworking to use the saw function during times when noise issues are knot important, you should do well.

By your description, the likeliest area that sound will penetrate is the ceiling. Do you have access to that 4' void? If so, is it possible to have wool insulation blown in to that area? I wood knot be too concerned about noise penetrating the brick walls, but the framed wall in the back could be "furred out" in order to add sound insulation to that wall. You mention that you are on a ground floor level. Is your floor concrete or is there a space under it? If there is a space, vibrations may eminate from your SS when in use, but if it is solid, like concrete, no worries there.

horologist wrote:Something like this would be good as one surface of the board is coated with aluminum foil and would be easy to keep clear of saw dust.

are you saying that there is a version of this board with a smooth (Al-clad) side toward the noise source?

Ivan

Thanks for the replies, I'm in Liverpool, Toxteth to be exact.

It's one of those 'Upstairs Downstairs' large terraced houses converted to flats. What used to be the olde worlde kitchen is now the cellar, no floor as such, just tons of builders rubble but there is access via a trap. Only joists and floorboards with hardboard/masonite on top between the cellar and the workshop/bedroom. The joists look to be of 'legal minimum' size.

Must have been high ceilings here in its original state, 8 foot to the current ceilings and a 4 foot loft aka false ceiling with trap access above, will need to clear a few years of junk before layering the loft with insulation though. Might even find my oscilloscope lol.

The neighbours are pretty cool, we sort of take it in turns to live our lives in ways that make a din, no never mind but if my brothers business ideas take off, then the SS is going to be busy and we'll be using up more tolerance tokens than we're giving out if you see what I mean.

A related problem is the floor, you can make things rattle on shelves by being heavy with the footsteps. I suggested fitting Acrows in the cellar to firm up the joists but my bro thinks I'm being OTT. Would be forever trips down to the cellar to readjust as the rubble, river silt/whatever settled but I reckon it couldn't hurt. If we 're going to be firming up the floor, might as well do soundproofing stuff as well while we're at it, hence the post.

I was looking for a cult religion to join but this ShopSmith stuff looks way more addictive and only a little bit more expensive. lol

273kelvin wrote:Thanks for the replies, I'm in Liverpool, Toxteth to be exact.

It's one of those 'Upstairs Downstairs' large terraced houses converted to flats. What used to be the olde worlde kitchen is now the cellar, no floor as such, just tons of builders rubble but there is access via a trap. Only joists and floorboards with hardboard/masonite on top between the cellar and the workshop/bedroom. The joists look to be of 'legal minimum' size.

Must have been high ceilings here in its original state, 8 foot to the current ceilings and a 4 foot loft aka false ceiling with trap access above, will need to clear a few years of junk before layering the loft with insulation though. Might even find my oscilloscope lol.

The neighbours are pretty cool, we sort of take it in turns to live our lives in ways that make a din, no never mind but if my brothers business ideas take off, then the SS is going to be busy and we'll be using up more tolerance tokens than we're giving out if you see what I mean.

A related problem is the floor, you can make things rattle on shelves by being heavy with the footsteps. I suggested fitting Acrows in the cellar to firm up the joists but my bro thinks I'm being OTT. Would be forever trips down to the cellar to readjust as the rubble, river silt/whatever settled but I reckon it couldn't hurt. If we 're going to be firming up the floor, might as well do soundproofing stuff as well while we're at it, hence the post.

I was looking for a cult religion to join but this ShopSmith stuff looks way more addictive and only a little bit more expensive. lol

WHAT is an 'acrow"?

JPG40504 wrote:WHAT is an 'acrow"?

http://www.harrisonhire.co.uk/Hire/Phir ... at_Ti_ID=3

iclark wrote:are you saying that there is a version of this board with a smooth (Al-clad) side toward the noise source?

Ivan

Ivan,

Not for the anechoic chamber but in soundproofing a room I don't see that it would be a problem and the foil would make cleaning up dust much easier. All said this is not exactly my area of expertise and I am making educated guesses based on limited experience.

Troy