Sometimes it's the little things that make you excited, like bubble wrap.
Today it's not bubble wrap that has me excited, it's 4" insulated/silencer hose ducting. But, to be fair the box it came in had bubble wrap so... right, moving on, here's a picture of it in all it's glory:
I know right? Who wouldn't get excited by fiberglass and alumunium all wrapped up in a polyester sleeve!
I'll tell you once Wiferneer stops pretending it's part of a radiation containment suit. Or robot arms. Or an alien worm. Or... just play with the bubble wrap already!
(no, there has not been any "egg nog" consumed today... yet... why do you ask?!?!)
Right. Back to the topic. Why do we care about 4" insulated hose?
We care about it because it made the office/laboratory much more pleasant to be in.
Laser cutters are definitely cool, but what nobody really seems to mention is they're also LOUD. Not angle grinder LOUD, but still LOUD. Like loud enough I usually wear ear plugs or noise canceling headphones if I'm working in the same room. And I play drums in my nonexistent free time.
But no more!
This 4" aluminum/fiberglass/polyester gem tamed the noise beast by at least half. If I had actually expected it to work as well as it did I would have taken a before and after video. The only down side is that since the interior is perforated, to use it as a vent hose I had to snake the existing un-insulated hose through the middle of it. I'm sure there's better options out there, but I was going for cheap because I was skeptical how well it would actually work.
But it works, and works well, and far exceeded my expectations! Which is good, because part of me was already designing an enclosure and multi chamber harmonic isolator. Whew, this will work for now and that means we have more time for other projects!
Here's the behind the scenes action shot!
I know, yes, I am excited about a hose. It's an odd thing to be happy about. At least it came with bubble wrap?