Got this typical china blower with my laser and wondering if i can silence it as it is super load.
Is it ok to put it in a box with some sound damping materials?
You could just make sure you have nothing really close to or touching that motor. Not sure how hot it gets when running but that sort of fan is sucking air and releasing from the flexvents so there shouldnt be an airflow issue if you end up enclosing it.
EDIT: Actually it looks like that fan has some sort of vent or intake on the left hand side of the motor you would need to see if that’s sucking or pushing in air to cool the motor and then plan accordingly. If you restrict airflow to that motor vent you could hurt the lifespan of the fan or cause overheating issues.
If the noise is unbearable - there are similar fans that vent really good but are designed/advertised to be quieter then that hog lol. That thing you have just looks loud lol but at least you won’t have to worry about smoke buildup lol. Many people recommended to me the “AC Infinity - Cloudline” in-line fan and it’s pretty quiet (for a fan) in my experience.
Hopefully your venting that thing outside and not breathing in those fumes. Almost anything you cut will produce carcinogenic fumes and you don’t want to be breathing those in.
Hi.
The short answer is no, at least not in any feasible and/or cost effective way.
Most of the sound of an axial and axial-radial fan comes from the shape of the shroud and the shape of the fan blades, neither can be feasibly modified.
As long as You make sure that the temperature of the motor doesn’t rise above the specified, yes You can.
So even with a rather low power motor, the box probably has to have some forced ventilation as well, unless You make the box rather large.
A better option IMO and IME is to sound dampen the shroud with fire code approved sound/heat insulation material.
Armaflex is the brand I almost exclusively use, but there are others.
That said, both methods are more or less “Hansaplast” remedies though since all the low frequency noise and most of the mid-frequency noise will not be affected by any feasible sound dampening material thicknesses.
Much better option to sound dampening is to purchase a fan unit that is quieter, preferably with some sort of speed adjustment possibility, bigger fans at low speed tend to be a lot quieter than a small fans at high speed.
At high air velocities, the inlets and outlets should also have no sudden changes in cross sectional area, otherwise turbulence will produce unpleasant mid-hi frequency noise.
Regards,
Sam
I believe @LSS is probably correct and you won’t be able to really suppress the noise level effectively.
I have a AC Infinity - Cloudline for my fiber. The fan is pretty quiet as they are designed for home grow ventilation. When it gets to speed, the noise of the air flow is much greater than the motor/fan mechanics.
One solution, if possible, is to move it outside where it’s vented instead of next to the machine and operator.
I think my Cloudline moves about 350cfm… on high… it’s speed adjustable.
Good luck.
So something like this maybe?
https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-CLOUDLINE-T4-Thermostat/dp/B06ZXWN3BG
Not worried about the lifespan to be honest. This is the blower that came with the laser and i just need something to work for a bit until i get more permanent solution. I’m mostly using the machine at evenings/nights and worried that my neighbours will start to complain if i use it like this 
I ran it yesterday for 2 hours and it didn’t seem to get any hotter so maybe its ok to lock it in a box.
I actually ended up installing my blower on the other side of a wall and use a solid state relay to turn it on and off from a switch I installed on the front panel of my laser. You definitely want ventilation around the motor itself, it will get hot.
I have the exact same blower in conjunction with a 24" spray booth fan. The blower is really noisy but since I am clinically deaf it doesn’t bother me much unless I forget to leave my hearing aids turned on when using the laser.
My suggestion would be a good set of noise cancelling head phones. I have those also.
I HIGHLY suggest the Sony WH-1000 lineup for noise cancelling laser noise. I have the XM4’s myself, they are on discount now that the XM5’s are a thing.
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