P1000 Defeating the noise problem

[Plumber101010]

Well, after messing with this for a couple of weeks and trying various methods and materials, with an emphasis on cheap and simple, i'm ready to post my results, even though it's not quite 100% perfected yet.

No sense in boring everybody with what I tried and didn't work so I'll concentrate on what did.

I took a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, scrolled it out to the same specs as the seat, plopped it down and mounted the seat back on top of it.

Then I took some 2 inch memory foam and cut a strip and mounted it between the back of the seat and the frame to plug that small gap.

I have a rear fabric panel so I also took some memory foam and wedged it between the back of the seat and the panel.

This produced about a 50% overall reduction in noise. The beauty of it is not so much the noise reduction itself, but it seemed to put a ceiling on the ups and downs, the high notes to say.

In other words, it's not just that it's much quieter now, but the noise is much "smoother" and consistent instead of hearing specific up-and-down and all around tones.

It's almost as if it's been encapsulated and so now it's just one sound and not many sounds. A nice quiet hum.

I do not have it permanently mounted and that's why I said its not quite perfected yet.

It's easily rideable and I took her (y'all do realize that the 1000 is a female) on her first test drive tonight and simply sitting in the seat on top of the plywood with sufficient because of the two posts that come up and hold it in place.

I was actually shocked that it felt so solid without doing any additional mounting. Just laying the plywood on the frame and putting the seat on the plywood was shockingly very stable! The two post were sufficient from stopping the bottom of the seat from sliding forward.

I will leave it like this for a while but the next step obviously is to actually secure the plywood with a couple of screws to the frame and or attach the plywood to the seat bottom so that it's all one piece.

It was getting late and I was tired but I need to look to see about extending the post up three quarters of an inch and doing something to raise the metal center latch also.

In my head as I envision it, I just want it to do exactly what it was designed to do now, except having a three quarter-inch thick piece of plywood underneath the bench seat.

All in all, I think it's a project worth doing as the noise level has been reduced more than enough to make it a worthy task.

Taking the 50% out of the equation, let's just say that the noise level has been reduced sufficiently enough to make this project worth everyone's time.

 

[Admin]

 

[Plumber101010]

Worth adding is this may also reduce or completely remove the heat problem as well.

To be really honest, I just have never had any issues with the heat to begin with and so it's really hard for me to say. I feel the heat yes, but just never to a degree made it uncomfortable.

 

[CumminsPusher]

So did you just cut the plywood to fit under the seat? It seems your not quite done but do you have any pics?

 

[ghost]

How odd....
I would never have guessed that plywood under the seat would reduce noise. The seat would seem more likely to muffle noise more than most other parts (ie the plastic behind the legs).
Whatever works!

Did you measure the decibels before and after? You can download a phone app to do that.

Like CP said - pics would be awesome. I'm not clear where you put that memory foam.

 

[Plumber101010]

Laid seat on top of plywood, traced around it and cut with recip saw. Drilled out 2 holes for posts, 4 holes lined up for latch. Then trimmed excess here and there to get to lay flat.

It was amazing how much noise escaped just by not laying it completely flat and having even a small gap. Listening to it get louder and softer by raising the front an inch and lowering it back down I knew this was the ticket.

Based on that, I suspect when screwed down right will be even better.

This was a rough, fast cut just to get in place to see if it worked. And was the first thing that did it out of many other things.

Agreed Ghost I didn't either. That's why everything I tried initially was always using the seat itself as the main barrier / component and adding onto it, by either sealing around the seat or insulation type material under the seat.

After failing (they all helped but minor) was when I decided to chunk the seat and just close the whole thing off like a box. Was thinking speaker boxes I made. If cheap wooden speaker box can hold my bass...

Now that I know it works, I will chunk the trial one, jigsaw a new piece exact to what I need. Use weather stripping to seal completely and then try to devise a way to make it all one uniform seat.

If I can't, I should be able to live with removing seat then plywood when service time comes. Small price for a quieter engine.

So the sound meter before and after and pics from start to finish are coming as I redo the entire project.

Just wanted to post preliminary news that a solution was on the way.

Can't help but feel that the heat will disappear as well.

 

[CumminsPusher]

I think the heat will go down as well. Nice job plumber I'm excited to see the progress. Was wondering could you start with cardboard and trace from that? Are you still going to use 3/4? Wood is a good sound insulator I tried a plastic piece with weather strip on both sides but I think it would mainly work for heat not so much sound but I'm sure wood works better. With all the ideas at our fingertips in this site we should be able to make an already great machine better by whatever standatd needed. For anyone concerned with sound this is becoming a great option it "sounds" like

 

[Plumber101010]

I think the heat will go down as well. Nice job plumber I'm excited to see the progress. Was wondering could you start with cardboard and trace from that? Are you still going to use 3/4? Wood is a good sound insulator I tried a plastic piece with weather strip on both sides but I think it would mainly work for heat not so much sound but I'm sure wood works better. With all the ideas at our fingertips in this site we should be able to make an already great machine better by whatever standatd needed. For anyone concerned with sound this is becoming a great option it "sounds" like

I was thinking of using some cardboard also so that I could cut and trim it with scissors in place and do some really good fine tuning in trying to make the perfect jigsaw cut. I just need to wait till I go some place to find a piece big enough. I am still going to use three-quarter because I just believe the thicker the better.

Either way you're going to have to modify the post and the latch and will be the exact same amount of work whether it's 1/2 or 3/4 so I might as well stick with it. I am also convinced that it will make the heat issue completely disappear I really do. When I had it on the other night I just didn't feel absolutely any heat at all.

 

[CumminsPusher]

I'd like a copy of your cutout when you're done

 

[Plumber101010]

I'd like a copy of your cutout when you're done

Folded 6 ways and stuffed into a FedEx envelope, you got it, but everyone must sign it before sending it to the next

 

[CumminsPusher]

That would be more then fair!

 

[Stauvo]

Sounds like the open space under the seat is nothing other than a large sound amplifier. Thanks for all your ideas to improve it.

 

[CumminsPusher]

Sounds like the open space under the seat is nothing other than a large sound amplifier. Thanks for all your ideas to improve it.

It is in mine but seriously I agree with stauvo I know you've been working hard on this I've been watching and I appreciate you as well!

 

[Plumber101010]

Thanks everyone for your positive comments!

I have ordered a roll of thick brown paper and waiting to arrive on Amazon. 48x30 and wasn't available for prime so waiting a few days extra.

I also ordered a Dewalt 18 V cordless jigsaw eBay. Always wanted a reason to add that to my collection..

I'm going to use it to trace out and then cut the plywood so it will be an exact fit. It will also be easier to mail this template to anyone else who wants it.

Anxiously tapping fingers for everything to arrive and should be here no later than Monday. I hope to have it all completed by end of week assuming the monsoon of rain storms will slow down a bit

 

[Plumber101010]

As fate would have it, after getting everything I needed Tuesday, my company is having some issues and I need to go out of town for a couple of weeks which puts the noise solving problem on hold, so I can handle some other problem solving! I hope. So much for retirement!

But secretly I'm getting very bored so it feels good to be at work for a while. Retirement is overrated you all, trust me, stay working for as long as you can

 

[Plumber101010]

Came back last night, put the original cut out piece of plywood on just for kicks just now to see, and got a phone call and looks like I'm heading back out for that OTHER week I thought I could avoid!

Put the noise meter on both ways just now and noticed about a 15 decimal drop but again I reiterate it's not so much the level of sound but the way the noise sounds.

I really like it because it's just more muffled and its not that kind of a in-your-face noise but more of a background noise like a car engine. It's there but it's not noticeably there!

Really anxious to get this thing completely sealed off properly because the way it is now there is definitely some gaps from where the plywood is a bit warped and such.

But it will have to wait...

 

[Plumber101010]

All in all I think it comes down to this with the 1000 and it was something that I absolutely did not factor at all at purchase time.

This machine is meant to be opened up, to take the bridle off and let this pony run free. Because all of my usage is roughly around 5 to 10 miles an hour it's probably not the best machine for that.

Too much jerking, too much noise, too much back-and-forth and because it has six gears, you're alway maxing the engine sound out as it peaks out in that gear as well as how it feels when you're driving it.

For constant low speeds which I am stuck with, a CVT transmission with just a low and high would've been a much better choice.

The few times that I've had the opportunity to get this thing on asphalt and really open it up to 55-65 miles an hour it is an absolute monster, a powerful beast and it's like a Boeing 747 taking off!

This was designed for higher speeds and not meant to piddle paddle around at slow speeds and whenever I'm going that fast all of a sudden I could care less about things like heat and engine noise and ride and shifting jerks, etc., etc.

It's only at consistent slow speeds that of all that stuff becomes noticed. The back-and-forth, constant jerking of the body between gears is really what I dislike. And that only happens when you're driving around at slow speeds all the dang time.

I need to put it on the trailer and take it somewhere that I can open it up because that's when I enjoy the most

 

[Plumber101010]

Well...had to clean house and start from scratch. Almost. Kept 2 out of 5 guys.

As such, I will be donning a uniform again and going back to being a repair plumber!

Long story short, my new house in the mountains and newly found retirement has been flushed down the toilet! Pun intended..

So all bets are off for at least a month, maybe longer concerning the noise issue. It has now become a back burner project.

Anybody who wants to do it it's not all that, and I firmly believe the reduction in noise is well worth the effort. As well as heat. I don't see any way that heat can possibly escape having it boarded off completely

Such is life...

But if nobody decides to do it, it WILL get done as I enjoy driving it much more with just a temporary piece of plywood cut out to cover the area.

 

[Plumber101010]

OK everyone, things have settled down and I'm starting to wrap my brain back around this project.

I feel like I let everyone down by stating I was going to do this and then it became a back burner project because of personal needs.

Seeing as I already have everything I need to proceed, I will try to have it finished up within one week from now and will post my results and hopefully have this template done, so I can share it with others!

 

[CumminsPusher]

I for one am glad to see you back at it!


Sent from iPhone

 

[Plumber101010]

OK OK OK I know. You can plaster "big fat loser" on this thread if you want.

But once again I had to turn around and go back in to Charleston and just spent the last few weeks trying to ensure my retirement!!!

I am back as of last night and I would like to say that I will have this project finished in the next few days, but we all know better don't we...

Best I can say, is I have every intention of doing this. But if that damn phone rings again asking for me...