How to reduce noise and vibration of a scroll saw to work in an apartment?

[Ash]

 

Hi all,

Hope all is well with you guys.

Here I am again with a question:) and need your valuable advises and suggestions. I know this is the best place to ask for the same. So I am a few months old in the world of scroll saw and thoroughly enjoying every bit of it. I want to know how to reduce noise and vibrations of a scroll saw. I live in an apartment and I have neighbors all around. I am planning to buy a scroll saw but i want to be sure that it will not disturb my neighbors. please share your experience with the same and let me know if I can manage a scroll say in my apartment.

waiting for your replies.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Ash 

 

[tgiro]

First you want to go to a middle to higher end quality saw. If you are buying new - look at the Kings, Pegas, or Hawks. Lowest I would go would be a Dewalt DW788. These saws use real bearings instead of Oilites and tend to be quieter running. If you aren't up to spending the money on a new saw, then look for these on ebay or craigslist, or what ever the used tool list is on Canada.

If you are working in an apartment room, then sawdust will be an issue. Get a good quiet vacuum. Some of those are as expensive as a saw (Fien - Festool).

Good luck with it.

[Ash]

2 minutes ago, tgiro said:

First you want to go to a middle to higher end quality saw. If you are buying new - look at the Kings, Pegas, or Hawks. Lowest I would go would be a Dewalt DW788. These saws use real bearings instead of Oilites and tend to be quieter running. If you aren't up to spending the money on a new saw, then look for these on ebay or craigslist, or what ever the used tool list is on Canada.

If you are working in an apartment room, then sawdust will be an issue. Get a good quiet vacuum. Some of those are as expensive as a saw (Fien - Festool).

Good luck with it.

Thanks for the reply Tgiro. I was googling and came to know about DW788. Do you think that using cushions will also help ?

 

[teachnlearn]

I replied from my viewpoint on your Introduction question. RJF

[ike]

no matter what saw you buy I would use a rubber pad uder your saw it cuts down on noise and vibration

IKE

[tgiro]

On 3/4/2019 at 1:59 PM, Ash said:

Thanks for the reply Tgiro. I was googling and came to know about DW788. Do you think that using cushions will also help ?

 

Like Ike said, a heavy rubber pad under the saw helps. But to eliminate most of the vibration, you'll want to mount the saw on a good firm stand. And that stand should be on a good firm floor. If you have rugs on the floor of the apartment you may have a bit of a vibration problem. If the floor is the layered wood construction (plywood, underlayment, linoleum, tile, or rug) you may get some vibration.

A DW788 is a good choice. If you get the three legged stand for it, it hardens up nicely.

[fordamir]

Any verticle moving arm tool will have an upward force and downward force resulting vibration. If the machine in running on concrete the force is drasticlly reduced because the concrete doesn't move noticealby.  As a result, any tool will display little vibration or no vibration on concrete.  Now change that same tool to a different surface and it will behave differently.  Putting the tool on a wood floor or wood with carpet surface vibration will increase drastically . The upward force and downward force will be will allow the vibration from the saw to radiate different because the wood floor is just not as hard as concrete and is unable to contain the vibration..The trick is how to reduce the downward force and upward force of the floor reaction to this force of the arms upward and downward force.  The simplest way is with one or two  50 pound bags of sand. This will reduce the ability of the arms force to the floor, as a result less vibration to the floor and as a reult less vibration. Hope this will be of help. dave  

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2019 by fordamir
needed to change from little to no

[savethebeer]

Hello Ash,

What I discovered by using a heavy rubber floor covering in my workshop was; standing at my saw was less tiring because of the rubber, but over a few weeks I noticed my eyesight getting worse and sometimes it was very difficult to follow the blade and the line. I realised that it was minute vibrations from the saw when it was running at anything other than min speed. I cut holes in the rubber mat to allow the legs to sit on the ground. Problem solved. This was an unintended consequence of trying to cut down on noise.

Another issue I have noticed over the years is its actually the blade cutting through the wood that makes the most noise, rather than the saw. I used to worry about the neighbours. I was very concious of the noise I was making, so I noticed that some wood made more noise than a different one. I never bothered actually taking note of the type that was more noisy. I actually set a piece  of wood cutting in the saw, went out the back door and listened through the window. Turns out that I could barely hear the saw at work so I gave up worrying.

Bob

[teachnlearn]

Just a note. Rubber mats and form found in pillows, mattresses, seats have different resilence. Took cheap chairs and couch and reupholstered them. Found a whole area of different prices and grades of foam. Something found at Walmart will crush completely compare to a pricer foam that sits very comfortably and has a lot of push back. Same goes for rubber mats. I have no idea what is in peoples homes shops, though with local supply a generalization is the cheaper foams will be on the shelves. Reupholstered the car and upgraded the headliner with higher quality. "also rebuild the springs". Made a difference in sitting and noise. RJF

[jerrye]

I would think that better quality carpet padding would be a good mat to use. Fairly thin and dense,  and smaller pieces can often be scrounged from the dumpster of a carpet supply house. Best to get carpet padding from such a place instead of a home improvement store, as it is likely to be higher quality.

Edited March 8, 2019 by jerrye

[tgiro]

Heavy thick foam under the saw may not be the best idea. I actually bought a computer mouse pad, which was some cloth glued to a 1/4" thick piece of heavy rubber foam. I cut squares of that and put them, under the feet of the saw, on the stand. Works fine - but - my saw sits on a tiled cement basement floor.

When I was using an old Dremel saw, that had some serious vibration at certain speeds, I found the sand bag idea worked very well. The weight of the bags held the table and saw down and the looseness of the sand helps cushion the vibration.

[fishntechnishn]

Hi Ash,

 I also Live in London Ontario. I second the rubber/foam. I used some foam type practice hockey pucks under my Beaver 3100(massive and VERY heavy!) that worked well. Now I have one of the original black Excaliburs VS30" and vibration seems to be minimal. Keep your eyes on Kijiji in London area as they do come up fairly frequntly and quite reasonable. I picked one(19") up for my son in law for $100 recenty. Even came with the original manual/blades etc.

Most of the manuals for the original Sommerville Excaliburs can be found on vintagemachinery.com

Have had great success with Olson PGT(Precision Ground Teeth) blades. Can get them at Busy Bee Tools cheap or even better from R&D  bandsaw www.Tufftooth.com and they will ship right to your door very reasonable

For dust collection I used a QSP Shopvac hooked up to a Dust Deputy cyclone which captures 99% of dust and keeps your vacuum filter CLEAN!!

If you want to discuss over a coffee at Tim Hortons, send me a private message and we can set it up. I live in South end of city.

Mike

[jbrowning]

I know when I set my scroll saw Hawk on a Rubber Matt from Harbor Freight there was a ton of vibration. I thought I had messed up the saw somehow. But as soon as I set it back on the concrete floor (in my garage) all of the vibration was gone again.

 

Jim

[Ash]

On 3/7/2019 at 12:11 PM, fordamir said:

Any verticle moving arm tool will have an upward force and downward force resulting vibration. If the machine in running on concrete the force is drasticlly reduced because the concrete doesn't move noticealby.  As a result, any tool will display little vibration or no vibration on concrete.  Now change that same tool to a different surface and it will behave differently.  Putting the tool on a wood floor or wood with carpet surface vibration will increase drastically . The upward force and downward force will be will allow the vibration from the saw to radiate different because the wood floor is just not as hard as concrete and is unable to contain the vibration..The trick is how to reduce the downward force and upward force of the floor reaction to this force of the arms upward and downward force.  The simplest way is with one or two  50 pound bags of sand. This will reduce the ability of the arms force to the floor, as a result less vibration to the floor and as a reult less vibration. Hope this will be of help. dave  

 

 

 

And where to put those sand bags :)?

 

[Ash]

On 3/11/2019 at 11:21 AM, fishntechnishn said:

Hi Ash,

 I also Live in London Ontario. I second the rubber/foam. I used some foam type practice hockey pucks under my Beaver 3100(massive and VERY heavy!) that worked well. Now I have one of the original black Excaliburs VS30" and vibration seems to be minimal. Keep your eyes on Kijiji in London area as they do come up fairly frequntly and quite reasonable. I picked one(19") up for my son in law for $100 recenty. Even came with the original manual/blades etc.

Most of the manuals for the original Sommerville Excaliburs can be found on vintagemachinery.com

Have had great success with Olson PGT(Precision Ground Teeth) blades. Can get them at Busy Bee Tools cheap or even better from R&D  bandsaw www.Tufftooth.com and they will ship right to your door very reasonable

For dust collection I used a QSP Shopvac hooked up to a Dust Deputy cyclone which captures 99% of dust and keeps your vacuum filter CLEAN!!

If you want to discuss over a coffee at Tim Hortons, send me a private message and we can set it up. I live in South end of city.

Mike

WOOOOOOOOw Mike thats so cool that we met here and thanks for the advise.  I am sending you a private message

[Ash]

On 3/7/2019 at 5:39 PM, teachnlearn said:

Just a note. Rubber mats and form found in pillows, mattresses, seats have different resilence. Took cheap chairs and couch and reupholstered them. Found a whole area of different prices and grades of foam. Something found at Walmart will crush completely compare to a pricer foam that sits very comfortably and has a lot of push back. Same goes for rubber mats. I have no idea what is in peoples homes shops, though with local supply a generalization is the cheaper foams will be on the shelves. Reupholstered the car and upgraded the headliner with higher quality. "also rebuild the springs". Made a difference in sitting and noise. RJF

Thanks for the suggestion. I will try that.

[Ash]

6 hours ago, jbrowning said:

I know when I set my scroll saw Hawk on a Rubber Matt from Harbor Freight there was a ton of vibration. I thought I had messed up the saw somehow. But as soon as I set it back on the concrete floor (in my garage) all of the vibration was gone again.

 

Jim

Hmmm but Jim I live in a rented apartment. so concrete floor is not an option for me. Thanks or sharing your experiences.

 

[Ash]

On 3/8/2019 at 5:48 AM, jerrye said:

I would think that better quality carpet padding would be a good mat to use. Fairly thin and dense,  and smaller pieces can often be scrounged from the dumpster of a carpet supply house. Best to get carpet padding from such a place instead of a home improvement store, as it is likely to be higher quality.

Thanks for the advice I will do that.

[Ash]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:42 PM, savethebeer said:

I actually set a piece  of wood cutting in the saw, went out the back door and listened through the window. Turns out that I could barely hear the saw at work so I gave up worrying.

I did not understand it. what do you mean Bob?

[fordamir]

as far as where to put the sand ballast-  the saw is causing the vibration and transmitting this energy to the floor.  Therefore, the weight has to be on the saw.  I added a shelf on the stand of my saw secred it  put the bag of sand in a plastic garabage bag and finally put the whole thing in a pillow case and closed up the bag.  The reason is if the sand bag starts leaking Icould contain any splill.  Putting the ballast is about the only way to really resolve the problem .  Location in the room is very important also,Place the back of the saw close to the wall for extra added floor support,rather than in the center of the room. next try two bags if needed.  This has alwasy solved the problem.  Good luck  David

 

[MrsN]

I don't think that using a scroll saw is much more noisy than a sewing machine, and most people wouldn't think twice about using a sewing machine in an apartment. 

[grampa]

make a square box about 2 inch deep  and big enough for your scroll saw  to sit on  drill a small hole in the top then fill it with expanding foam when dry take off the top and you will have a base that should deaden the sound

[CATRK]

All great answers, but you could just turn the music up really loud.!

[crupiea]

I scroll in an apartment with neighbors all around,. never had an issue. Its not that noisy.  I have my windows open 90% of the time too so everyone could hear it if it made that much sound but it doesnt.

[Kepy]

A sandbag on the base of the saw will help control a lot of the vibration.  The saw running is really not a noise problem but dust collection can be.  I tried a shop vac but it was very loud.  I found a small canister type vacuum that even has an on/off button on the top so that I can just touch it with my foot and it is not as loud as the shop vac.