![]() Lets leave 'noise' at that for now - for more noise related background and nerdy theory, checkout step 3. How ironic that adding a dust extractor can be so noisy then. However, by the time the loss is noticed subjectively as a difficulty in understanding speech, the condition is far advanced." (p146 Engineering Noise Control) Ok, so dust often equals more noise. As consonants carry much of the information in speech, there is little reduction in volume but the context is lost. High frequency consonant sounds of low intensity are missed, whereas vowels of low frequency and higher intensity are still heard. The person with noise-induced hearing loss complains that everyone mumbles. This is followed by a diminution in the ability to understand speech voices sound muffled, and this is worse in difficult listening conditions. " The first handicap due to noise-induced hearing loss to be noticed by the subject is usually some loss of hearing for high-pitched sounds such as squeaks in machinery, bells, musical notes, etc. ![]() I can think of a load of good reasons for my desire for quiet tools, but probably the most important, and one that anyone using power tools should take seriously, may be gleaned from the following: As anyone who reads the FE blog will know, I am particularly fastidious about cutting down on noise (see for example, my quest for the quietest bandsaw). Power tools, like an orbital sander, a jigsaw, a planer, or a router create a lot of dust, and without good extraction (sometimes even with it) the quantity of dust that gets into our tool's workings is enough to cause big increases in noise levels. ![]() Dust, particularly for those that do much woodwork with power tools, gets everywhere: in the air, in your lungs, and in the belts and bearings of our tools. We might not often think of noise and dust being co-conspirators, but they do help each other to cause workshop misery. That way we will end up with nice clean air, a quiet place to create our mad jazz, and a super sturdy, rollable worktop thrown in! Ideal if you are still setting up a workshop, as I am. In fact it can be darn right useful if we use the DS as a mobile work surface. This isn't necessarily the disaster you might think though. Namely, it is very heavy and big (compared to your average canister style vac), so it won't be perfect for everyone. It does, however, fulfil these requirements at a cost. The Dust Sniper (DS) is effective and very quiet - the two main goals I had when starting this project. lets just say they can be seriously bad for your mental and physical health, as you will find out if you follow along with this Instructable. Even the expensive ones, like the Festool, extract a continuing fee, needing regular bag and filter changes to keep working properly. I'll throw it out there to begin with, most dust extractors are bad. Because the DS's parts are mostly recycled, there is no comprehensive list of materials up front, instead I will give tips as we go along suggesting possible reclaimed bits that will do the job and where you might find them (if you don't care why we chose certain materials and just want a 'scavenging list', check out the last step). And of course we can learn loads about sound, cyclones and dust related jazz along the way. So it is possible to reused a bunch of stuff destined for landfill and end up with an aesthetically pleasing and useful tool-workbench. This DS ended up costing about £20 total. In exasperation at the dusty noisiness of it all, and wanting to re-use materials and spend as little as possible, I began the Dust Sniper (DS) project. After a fair bit of research I purchased one of the more expensive 'quiet' workshop vacuums, and was not happy with its performance (I sent it back unused after taking a dB reading of it). ![]() This project was borne out of my dissatisfaction with commercially available dust extractors. I am now giving this contraption away, to the first person that can come and collect it. But why stop there? Lets make a really fantastically effective dust extractor, one that is whisper quiet, never stops sucking or plagues you with blocked filters, one that is versatile enough to take dust from a variety of power tools, one that turns on and off on its own so you never forget, and most important of all, one that does a good job of extracting the small - most deadly - particulates from the air you breath. In this project we turn a bunch of old free stuff, including two old household vacuums into what is arguably the most useful and necessary of workshop tools: the dust extractor.
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