Waterpump Soundbox
 

I have an iwaki WMD-20 and to be honest, its a tad bit too noisy for my taste. Granted my system is pretty dang quiet with my fan controlled dual 120mm's being the only fans besides the 2 80's in the PSU, but i want it more quiet.

My idea is to build a box for my pump made out of 1/2inch MDF and some insulating foam of some sort. I have it pretty much figured out, except for the foam. My dad works at a music studio and he told me the sound insulation they use is for disperssion and not transmision. Meaning that it doesnt stop sound, it just makes it so that it doesnt bounce all over the place. I want some foam that will stop the sound from getting out of the box as much as possible.

If anyone has any experience in something similar that would be great if i could get some tips. I know cathar has his pumps in a soundbox. Maybe he might know something that would help.

That foam is made to deflect and absorb. Should work fine as far as i know.

You could use Dynamat or something like that. I know it works in car audio applications. Dynamat is probably really similar to what your dad has though.

dynamat, roofing membrane, etc. will help (a little) with stopping the transmission of sound by helping make the box acoustically dead. to stop the sound you'll need to seal it in the box. No holes. sourounded by closed cell foam. now you get major heat issues since you've made a small insulated box. Especially with MDF. It does not transfer heat well at all. Though it may work with thick metal. Heat pipe?

try a different apprach?

figure out what the noise is. If it's the water going through the lines, that sound is just (more than likely) going to transfer through the lines.
If it's the pump itself, try isolating it from the case. rubber or closed cell foam pads. Using points instead of a base, less surface area to transfer vibration.

The pump is not in the case. It is sitting next to hte case due to the fact that it is huge. the box i would make would be 10 inches by 20 inches roughly.

I dont think heat would be that big of an issue. Granted the pump does create alot of heat, its made to be in enclosed spaces such as in aqaurium enclosures. The water flow should help cool it down as well.

The noise itself is motor noise. There really isnt any water noise from what i can hear.

thanks for the help sofar guys.

I bought some foam from mcmaster-carr and it works pretty well silencing my 30rz. It's about an inch thick and is pretty cheap.

10*20*? 8?
With 1/2 in MDF you want to either add a lot of bracing, or dble up the MDF by sandwiching it together. (Gorilla glue is good for that) or go 3/4 and run a cross brace. This will keep the box from resonating and amplifing the pump sounds. (once sealed)

Not sure where I got the idea that you were tring to make it as small as possible.

Assuming it is really loud...
www.partsexpress.com.
look for speaker spikes, (keep the box from vibrating the floor.may not be necc.)
acousic foam. (looks like egg crate, should be the same stuff your dad has in the studio.)
get some hurricane, or T nuts, or someting similar

you're gonna need to be able to get into the box from time to time. MDF does NOT hold up well to multiple screwings. you'll need lots of clamps, or screws. drywall screws with pre-drilled holes work wonders. You'll basically be making a small subwoofer box with a removable lid and places for tubing.

build 5 sided box. (simple box joints are suff. Just make sure they're square)
add damping material
roofing underlayment, (looks like foil coated tar. It's basically Dynamat without the price tag)
or dense foam (anti fatigue matt could work, even the cheap stuff at the auto stores.)
add acoustic fom to help with amplified reflections. (may not be necc)
make top (don't forget damping layers) that can be removed for access. (screws and wing nuts?)
veneer with you favorite wood.
or paint. I would suggest sealing the MDF before painting. you'll save a lot of pain as MDF really suck it in if it isn't sealed.


It may work pretty good. Then again, you may be building a one note pump speaker.

(edit: finished post. Stupid dog stepped on the keyboard.)

To be able to get into the box what im going to do is make it so that where the tubing goes in not just have a hole but a slot. If u want a pic i can draw one up to show u what i mean. This way i will be able to take it out of the box without having to unhook tubing (i dread ever having to deal wiht that).

As for the top piece my dad came up with the idea of using studs that are machine screw and wood screw. half and half. Put the wood screw part into the MDF and then drill holes into the top piece and slide it on and then put wingnuts on to hold the top on nice and snug.

Speaker spikes wont be neccesary, as it isnt very loud, but its annoying. I like having my computer silent. My fans (even with case open) are nearly inaudiable.

My only thing now is Im not sure how big exactly i need to make it so that head buildup wont be an issue. The box will be sealed entirely and the foam wont be very good for heat conductivity. Its an issue. The motor area of hte pump is in excess of 100F when its in the open air. So im not sure how im going to deal with this.

Gogo's got some good advice. But I think a closed, sound-deadening box will overheat. It'll need to vent, then, so the only way to keep sound from escaping is with muffler walls. That's a maze of sound absorbing material that lets air wend through and denies noise an easy path. The baffles could be made of humble carpeting.

having open section would allow sond to escape. Kind of like when you have a hole cut in front of the computer case.


that's what I was thinking of.


it's going to work like a heating element in an oven. it's going to get too hot without some circulation.

Kobuchi's muffler walls idea would work better, except you'll need a bigger box, that pump is almost 11" long plus the tubing. I don't know how well the heat will move without a fan (more noise) It'll have some place to go, but it'll sit mostly in the pump's chamber w/o some air flow.

Is it possible to add metal mass to the motor housing? or a heat pipe?

though a fan in the chamber with the pump may work. You can get very quiet AC fans. Though I don't know how quiet.

adding noise to reduce noise :shrug:

Thanks for the info guys. My dad came up with the baffles idea when he brough up the heat issue. When i heard baffles i kind of shyed away.

As for heat pipes that woudl be prohibitvly expensive and i could add a hetsink, but the only place that heat is coming from is round and i have no way to mount my heatshinks (effectivly) to somethign that is round.

As for the baffles, would anyone have any suggestions as to how to add that to the case. I was thinking thati i could but out a hole t hat was 80mm and put a 80mm quiet case fan in there (this would be in the back) and then build a little box that is 8cm by 8cm and goes ******d some distance. In the box there would be the baffles. But how would i make the baffles. I could glue them to the sdies of hte box. I was thinking of a zig zag pattern.

You should talk to blackeagle he has a similar project where he used sheets of some sound stuff, I'll see if I can dig up the link.

okay the site is http://www.b-quiet.com/

and the two prodicts are brown bread (absorb vibration) which is just like dynamat but much cheaper and Lcomp (absorb sound)

You can also get basically the same stuff from McMaster-Carr for cheaper.

Aaron Spink

If you go with McMaster-Carr check the differant noise foams for the sound reduction rattings. The 1" with surface film and adhesive backing there carrys .8 rate. The egg shell foam they have 1" thick isn't as low a rate, but a good second layer if your water loop case is large enough. The McMaster's stuff is good & lower cost than the B-Quiet foams. Up to you to decide how much you are willing to spend for the amount of noise reduction you need/want & how much space you have for the foam to fit in.

If you plan the water loop case large enough you can also mount the PC case on top of it. Then just cut two holes in the top of your water loop case, and two in floor of PC case for water lines to run through. This allows the smallest floor area requirement for whole set up, although does of course make things taller. But the water case under the PC case does a couple other things as well, 1) keeps lines short & straight as possible. 2) If any leak were to ever develop in the water case it can't damage any puter parts.

The answer to the pumps heat is this. Place rad also in pump case close coupled to the pump & two, or more, rad fans. These all go near to center of the pump case. Baffles as your father said contain the noise. Air comes in one end flowing around baffles & out the other end, still flowing around 2 or more baffles again. My design is a wide box that allows setting my MD20Z Iwaki in sideways to reduce the length of box needed. Turn pump outlet to the side & low insead of up, directed into rad inlet which is on it's side to lower overall height needed. Rad outlet is now on top & the end with the inlet/outlet is 1/4" higher than other end to aid in air evacuation from inside rad. The rad fans are mounted not on the rad but in a 1/8" mahogoney panel that fills the inside of case top to bottom & side/side pulling air through rad and flowing around pump. Both the rad/CPU/GPU heat & pump heat go out together. Pump is sandwiched in between the rad in it's panel & the panel with the fans. Fans are in panel high enough to allow better air flow over top of pump.

Reading the above, I'm not sure I'd understand it well enough so let me try again.

From front to rear.

1/8" mahogony underlayment panel with cut outs for air inlet & filter => gap => baffle (all baffles are foam covered) which takes up a bit over 50% of opening => gap => second baffle come'n from opposite side or top/bottom also covers a bit over 50% of open area, and so overlaps with first baffle => gap => Full size panel with rad mounted into it => as close as possible to rad the pump which is close connected to the rad inlet => full size panel with dual fans pulling air => gap=>baffle=>gap=>baffle=> OUT evil heat! ! Trapped evil noise! !

Box is 15" wide X 11.5" tall & 26" deep for a Lain Li PC 76 server case which is wider & deeper than standard. Box still is 2"+ wider on all sides/ends than the server case, add some home wood trim that doubles as a added insurance of case not moving & looking good. Yeah, huge case, but you can adjust as required for your use.





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Work ******ds: add the case to the baffles. Build a frame, set a maze of soundproofing (low-pile carpet's just fine, you don't need overpriced audiophile stuff) in it, then put a louvred, perforated, or grilled covering on the frame. Pegboard? Just go all around, access from top.

EDIT: Swearcop snags 0utwards?

Dang black eagle.. that sounds like a sweet box. Sadly mounting below isnt an option. My case is already one of hte talles there is and it barely fits under my desk. It has aobut 3cm of clearance... So the pump will be in a seperate box, that is far away from me as the tubing lenght i currently have will allow. (not much more than 7 inches)

I think i have decied on the final design. Basicly what i had in mind before but with a low rpm 80mm blowing air out of the box where the baffles are. It should keep it cool enough and it should be quiet quiet.