Lighthouse motor noise levels

[Burkhardt]

I wondered about using a Lighthouse motor for a special vacuum chuck application on the lathe. Checking the data sheet (LH6354-00) I see they spin at serious rpm and I am getting concerned how much noise they produce. I can not afford an air raid siren in our residential neighborhood (tried that already with a roots blower that is now sitting idle). Can anybody give me a subjective measure (e.g. loud, extremely loud, horrific) how noisy they really are? Thanks...

[tri4sale]

Can't help you but except for a quick suggestion for whoever is able to measure, if you have a smart phone, use a free decibel meter to measure. Just search the app store for "decibel" and you should fine some. It's fun to track how loud things in the shop are. And on a positive note, if you have a noise ordinance, you can measure and show you are within (or find out if you are outside) the legal level. Doubt it will hold up in court, but nice to know anyways.

[jTr]

G,
Too Loud for that application. Not an air raid siren, but think cheap shop-vac.

I highly recommend this product from this supplier:

http://www.veneersupplies.com/products/Vacuum-Pump---Thomas-315-CFM-120-VAC.html

Even mentions in description it is intended for lathe chucks. These pumps are much easier on the ears- a gentle purr vs. the vac blower. The volume of air produced by the Lighthouse motor is unnecessary for a non-bleeding vac application such as a lathe chuck. You may even save a few bucks.

Note: Joe has a free shipping day scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 30. Sign up for newsletter and you may still get key code email Tuesday - I think he says $150 order min, but if you need any chuck parts/gasket materials, you could easily hit that level with this purchase. Dig a bit and you'll find all the fittings to build your own lathe chuck there. Best customer service on the web, next to shopbot.

Jeff

[Burkhardt]

Thanks Jeff, that is what I thought.

Actually, I do have such a GAST style pump as you mention and use it very successfully for the CNC machine as well as the lathe. If everything is sealed well, the blanks hold like bolted on. However, when spinning blanks that have cracks, loose knots or have only minor porosity the high vacuum/low volume pumps give up quickly. It becomes really annoying when it first holds the blank but after removing most material I dig into a crack that has not been visible and the almost finished part goes flying.

I thought the Lighthouse might be an option here. The other obvious problem would be a suitable high volume rotary air coupling because the 5/8" center hole in the lathe spindle would defeat the pump capabilities. Well, got to think about that...

[knight_toolworks]

they are really noisy by themselves they are 109db's if I remember right. boxed they get down to about 97 dbs. otehr 220v motors I can get down to about 85 dbs with mufflers.