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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Sound proofing an N2/TEA?

Joined
Apr 26, 2010
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For those here who have built an N2/TEA, I am looking for suggestions for sound proofing one.

I have been waiting too long to build one of these as a dye pump source, and I'm sick of not having one.

However, I have thin walls, and baby ears. If there's a way to sound-proof these to a point where I don't need hearing protection, or at least my neighbors won't hear it, I'd love to hear it (no pun intended).

Also, for those not aware that have one of these, they are MUCH louder than you realize. If you are not wearing protection, you NEED to. Not wearing hearing protection with one of these, is as dangerous as not using goggles with a CO2.

Basically, your ears WILL be damaged, and over time, you WILL notice.

You've been warned.

So yeah, any ideas? :p
 





Joined
Jan 7, 2007
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Bloom --
Short of a monster SS device, I've seen enclosed gaps built into ~ 2" PVC pipe
with adjustments for the gap. Thread both ends of the chamber.
The first one I made was LOUD too.
HMike

How about noise canceling technology !!!!!! :)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
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I have been thinking about how I will solve this problem recently too. I ordered my NST a few weeks ago so now I need to figure it out before I move back into the dorm.

I was thinking that you could build a foam enclosure and use that? Foam is a pretty strong sound-proofer. That, and I was also thinking that I could make a miniature vacuum chamber for the spark gap and maybe even do some experiments with vacuum arcs for N2/TEA lasers.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2011
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The problem is that if you enclose the gas volume the gas in the gap eventually fails to quench the gap as it becomes more and more ionized and heated. Also the lack of heat removal will cause the electrodes to overheat, which also reduces quenching.

You can enclose the gap in a hard material (low density materials absorb low frequencies but pass high frequencies, hard materials transmit low freqs but reflect high ones) and exhaust the gas with a vacuum. The intake should be by long hose, with baffles to block direct sound.

The other way is to not use an air gap! There are hydrogen spark gap tubes that operate silently. They are usually good up to 1000pps which is fine for a tea n2/air laser, just watch you don't exceed the pulsed current rating. I have one of these and tried it out in a tea laser I was building but I found that the ignition voltage of 1200v was too low, I'd have needed four or five of them for it to work.
 




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