Looking for dampening material.

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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helloha
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:20 am

Looking for dampening material.

Post by helloha » Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:23 am

Hi,

I'm looking for noise dampening material to put on the inside of a server cabinet, i would prefer thinner materials such as used in the fractal design R3,4 etc...

Does anyone have an idea where to find such a thing? I tried to look for products by 3M but I can only seem to find things that are used in cars etc...

Much Regards,
K.

CA_Steve
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Posts: 7651
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Looking for dampening material.

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:23 am

Welcome to SPCR.

What are you trying to dampen? Is it vibration induced noise to the case or direct noise from fans/HDD seek noise, etc? If it's the former, then two options are:
- mass loaded vinyl floor tiles (cheap) lining the interior (or exterior) of the case
- Sorbothane (not cheap) used as vibration mounts for drives, or lining case. There are potentially other tricks to reduce drive vibration...but need to know the specific case and drives.

If it's the latter, thin dampening sheets won't do anything. You need to address the noise sources directly or go with really thick foam to attenuate the sounds.

helloha
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:20 am

Re: Looking for dampening material.

Post by helloha » Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:47 am

It's primarily noise from fans (lots of it).

Not such a huge fan of vinyl as it's very toxic to have in the house. But I just ordered som cork on a roll that I'm going to try first. If it's not enough I can always add more foam on top of that.

It's for a home made server rack that is based on 2x4's and I designed it in such a way that I have 4cm of space to put insulation (like a roof structure). So if needed I can go that thick on the inside. The whole structure is then closed off with plywood.

I'll post my results in the next few days!.

K.

CA_Steve
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Posts: 7651
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Looking for dampening material.

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:54 pm

Fan noise is best reduced by:
- changing the mounting so vibration isn't induced - but unlikely if this is 2 x 4's...
- lowering the fan rpm / using quieter fans.

lodestar
Posts: 1683
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:29 am
Location: UK

Re: Looking for dampening material.

Post by lodestar » Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:50 am

helloha wrote:I'm looking for noise dampening material to put on the inside of a server cabinet, i would prefer thinner materials such as used in the fractal design R3,4 etc...
It might have been worth looking at a product from the Acousti range such as AcoustiPack LITE as these are PC/Server specific materials.

Olle P
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 6:03 am
Location: Sweden

Re: Looking for dampening material.

Post by Olle P » Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:44 am

Adhesive bitumen plates, as used for dampening in vehicles, are cheap and efficient for reducing chassis vibrations.
Less likely to prevent reflection of noise though.

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