Soundproofing a 3D printer.

[flaxenPhoenix]

I have a 3D printer which is located in my bedroom. Unfortunately, my 3D printer is 1, very noisy, and 2, right above my mom's bedroom. She complains that the noise keeps her up at night. Are there any options I can look into for making my printer less noisy, for longer print jobs that might go late into the night?

[shokoshiro]

the end-all-be-all solution would be to build a secondary box for your printer that is as isolated as possible - "float" the inside, use vibration-damping fasteners and feet on everything, and build an acoustic-foam-lined labyrinth for ventilation with something like a Noctua fan or two.

however that's a major undertaking and expensive, so for some quick and easy options, you need to determine what kind of noise you're actually trying to isolate.

is it the noise of the cooling fans?
is it the noise of the motors?
is it the noise of the printer against the surface it's sitting on?

the last one (noise of the printer on the surface) is likely what your mom is hearing, since that's what tends to travel between rooms - "mechanical" noise, AKA noise that's caused by direct surface contact with a vibrating object. in that case, getting some nice isolating feet/spikes and a foam rubber mat would help quite a bit.

if it's fan noise, you can shop for replacement cooling fans with lower decibel ratings, but you have to be careful not to remove too much cooling capacity or else you'll run into printing issues.

for the motors themselves, not much you can do unless there are direct drop-in replacements available that are quieter. the real solution here would be, again, to build an acoustically isolated box for the whole printer.

SO, yeah, lots of options, but aside from a fan swap and damping feet/mat, the other solutions will take some time and money...

[flaxenPhoenix]

the end-all-be-all solution would be to build a secondary box for your printer that is as isolated as possible - "float" the inside, use vibration-damping fasteners and feet on everything, and build an acoustic-foam-lined labyrinth for ventilation with something like a Noctua fan or two.

however that's a major undertaking and expensive, so for some quick and easy options, you need to determine what kind of noise you're actually trying to isolate.

is it the noise of the cooling fans?
is it the noise of the motors?
is it the noise of the printer against the surface it's sitting on?

the last one (noise of the printer on the surface) is likely what your mom is hearing, since that's what tends to travel between rooms - "mechanical" noise, AKA noise that's caused by direct surface contact with a vibrating object. in that case, getting some nice isolating feet/spikes and a foam rubber mat would help quite a bit.

if it's fan noise, you can shop for replacement cooling fans with lower decibel ratings, but you have to be careful not to remove too much cooling capacity or else you'll run into printing issues.

for the motors themselves, not much you can do unless there are direct drop-in replacements available that are quieter. the real solution here would be, again, to build an acoustically isolated box for the whole printer.

SO, yeah, lots of options, but aside from a fan swap and damping feet/mat, the other solutions will take some time and money...

I'm thinking that it's probably the table the printer is on. I have a small workbench that I keep it on in the corner of my bedroom, and the feet aren't exactly the most cushiony.

[shokoshiro]

I'm thinking that it's probably the table the printer is on. I have a small workbench that I keep it on in the corner of my bedroom, and the feet aren't exactly the most cushiony.

ah yeah, i didn't even think of that. good point!

in that case, the idea would be to isolate your table from the floor, to prevent the mechanical vibrations from transferring from your printer through the table through the floor through to the other room. hopefully that makes sense.

i can think of two things that could help in my mind:

1. add mass to the table. if you have the tools you could cut some plywood and screw it onto the bottom surface. OR you could get something called MLV or "mass-loaded vinyl" on Amazon or similar, which is specifically designed for vibration reduction and acoustic isolation inside the walls of a house. MLV is pretty easy to cut with normal scissors and it adds a decent amount of dense mass to whatever you attach it to.

2. add some vibration-damping feet or spikes to the bottom of the table legs, depending on what your floor surface is. if you have carpet you want spikes, if you have hardwood floors you want rubber feet. something like this: https://www.mcmaster.com/products/table ... -stud-1~~/ or this: https://www.amazon.com/MECCANIXITY-Shoc ... 181&sr=8-7