Gaffle
Well-Known Member
My grow spot is small. It is a under stairs room. My supplies weren't real extravagant, small carbon filter, 4in inline fan, cheap LED light, nothing crazy. I lined my room with 1/2in foam board. I was hoping that this would create a descent sound barrier. The day my equipment finally arrives was super exciting, until I plugged in my inline fan. Holy shit that fan was loud. Loud enough that anyone in my basement would ask what that noise was. Loud enough that I would have to have the TV louder than norm just so I could drown out the inline that is just a few feet away. I now had a new mission. I didn't want to hear my fan at all. It would REALLY bother me if that was a constant sound running around my basement. Time to find a solution.
On another site I saw a thread of a fellow who built a box around his inline and made it so quiet you could not hear it at all. Oh, Snap, thats what I'm talking about. I had to do this. Here is what I have done. This is a project that is not 100% finished yet, but will be on Monday.
I first made a fully rigged box of old plywood. Now I am not a carpenter so my design is REAL rudimentary. I used a table saw to cut a 2x4 in half, I didn't want to try to screw into that 1/2in plywood and split it all up. This box was very cheezy and not really as well designed as I would have liked, but it made a good model to begin from.
I used a small hole cutter on top to get access to the mount on my fan. I was going to hang this from the ceiling. Once I had it hung for reference, I realized that this was too much in my room. It was really in the way of my LED. My wife checks this out and asks me why it isn't on the floor? Well thats a good damn question. In a basement stairs setup you have some wasted space due to the angle of the stairs. I can work with that.
New setup has begin. This will sit on the floor and I am going to run insulated ducting from carbon, to box, to exhaust. My supplies are as follows.
3/4in MDF board - comes in a 4x4 sheet which is plenty
Table saw, circular saw, jig saw - whatever floats your boat to cut material
wood screws and washer - this was my original plan but as I will show later I have changed this out
caulk
extra foam board - use this as some more sound proofing. I don't want to hear this fan at all.
I made the box big for simplicity. The top bottom and sides are all 16in boards. You screw them together as you wish. After I screwed in the fan to the bottom piece I lined up one of the side boards. Remember, to do the sides you must account the extra length which comes from the width of the boards. My 16in boards when made into a box will have an extra 1.5inches in length or height depending on how you screw the box together. I lined up my side to drew a semi circle from the fan itself. To cut the side hole I raised the line to start my hole 3/4in, to make up the difference because my side was not flush with the bottom of the box, it was sitting on top of the bottom board. I do not have a 4in hole cutter so I used a drinking glass that had a 4in opening for a template.
After I had the sides connected I used some caulk to seal the seam of the box. I want this air tight. Next I used a piece of extra foam board over my hole and caulked it to the inside of the board.
I then connected my ducting to the fan and pulled it through the hole. I calked the inside of my board and screwed it together. Some caulking came out after it was screwed meaning this is sealed shut.
I bought supplies yesterday to change my box. I am ditching the wood screws and washers for a bolt with rubber washers, a rubber sheet, a fender washer, lock washer, and a nut. This will not sit on the box as it is now, it will hang. After running the fan I noticed a loud vibrating sound. When I pressed on the fan the vibrating went away. On Monday I will post some pics of the finished project. Essentially it will look the same, just flipped over. Once this is done I have some extra foam board that I will caulk to bare sides. I also have a piece of cardboard that came with my fan caulked to a hole side for more sound proofing. When I am done my fan will be silent and perfect.
On another site I saw a thread of a fellow who built a box around his inline and made it so quiet you could not hear it at all. Oh, Snap, thats what I'm talking about. I had to do this. Here is what I have done. This is a project that is not 100% finished yet, but will be on Monday.
I first made a fully rigged box of old plywood. Now I am not a carpenter so my design is REAL rudimentary. I used a table saw to cut a 2x4 in half, I didn't want to try to screw into that 1/2in plywood and split it all up. This box was very cheezy and not really as well designed as I would have liked, but it made a good model to begin from.
I used a small hole cutter on top to get access to the mount on my fan. I was going to hang this from the ceiling. Once I had it hung for reference, I realized that this was too much in my room. It was really in the way of my LED. My wife checks this out and asks me why it isn't on the floor? Well thats a good damn question. In a basement stairs setup you have some wasted space due to the angle of the stairs. I can work with that.
New setup has begin. This will sit on the floor and I am going to run insulated ducting from carbon, to box, to exhaust. My supplies are as follows.
3/4in MDF board - comes in a 4x4 sheet which is plenty
Table saw, circular saw, jig saw - whatever floats your boat to cut material
wood screws and washer - this was my original plan but as I will show later I have changed this out
caulk
extra foam board - use this as some more sound proofing. I don't want to hear this fan at all.
I made the box big for simplicity. The top bottom and sides are all 16in boards. You screw them together as you wish. After I screwed in the fan to the bottom piece I lined up one of the side boards. Remember, to do the sides you must account the extra length which comes from the width of the boards. My 16in boards when made into a box will have an extra 1.5inches in length or height depending on how you screw the box together. I lined up my side to drew a semi circle from the fan itself. To cut the side hole I raised the line to start my hole 3/4in, to make up the difference because my side was not flush with the bottom of the box, it was sitting on top of the bottom board. I do not have a 4in hole cutter so I used a drinking glass that had a 4in opening for a template.
After I had the sides connected I used some caulk to seal the seam of the box. I want this air tight. Next I used a piece of extra foam board over my hole and caulked it to the inside of the board.
I then connected my ducting to the fan and pulled it through the hole. I calked the inside of my board and screwed it together. Some caulking came out after it was screwed meaning this is sealed shut.
I bought supplies yesterday to change my box. I am ditching the wood screws and washers for a bolt with rubber washers, a rubber sheet, a fender washer, lock washer, and a nut. This will not sit on the box as it is now, it will hang. After running the fan I noticed a loud vibrating sound. When I pressed on the fan the vibrating went away. On Monday I will post some pics of the finished project. Essentially it will look the same, just flipped over. Once this is done I have some extra foam board that I will caulk to bare sides. I also have a piece of cardboard that came with my fan caulked to a hole side for more sound proofing. When I am done my fan will be silent and perfect.
) .
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