Rubberized undercoating?

[twyztyr]

I'm sure this has been covered, but I can't locate anything about it, maybe my search terms are wrong. Anyhow, I was looking at auto paint and saw the cans of undercoating. I never really paid them much attention until I saw one of them said "Dampens Vibration" and I wondered if it would dampen vibrations/noise from fans if you sprayed the stuff on the mounting area before the fan went on. I was also thinking about using it on the motherboard tray (or maybe other places too), because, as it's rubberized, it would probably reduce conductivity to damn near zero, thus eliminating almost all possibility of an accidental short.

Anyone have any experience with this? Is it a waste of time and $2.99 for a can, or might it actually work? Surely it can't hurt, right?

 

[Mysticcal]

It can hurt your wallet, my guess is it doesnt work... anything that small wouldnt have much effect... unless it was spray glue... no more fan spinning

 

[aL Mac]

sounds cool if you don't have to worry about your case I'd try it out. 2.99 won't hurt your wallet. Also can't you do as many or as few as coats as you want ? If it's too thin you'd just do another coat.

Although I'd test it first.. see what kind of surface it makes.. how rubbery it is, etc.. Just spray it on some piece of metal let it dry and test it out.

 

[twyztyr]

The idea is that I'm looking to see if it can be an extremely cheap substitute for those expensive silicone vibration dampening kits. This stuff is designed to be used in wheel wells of cars. I don't think it's rubbery, I think it ends up being a little bit like bed liner when it's dried and set, but it also says it's paintable. I have some extra cases lying around, I'll probably mount some fans in one of them, see what the noise is like, then spray this stuff and see if it makes a difference.

If there's no difference, then I'm only out three bucks and I have a can of this stuff I can use to...um...I'm sure I'll think of some horrible thing to do to it. Maybe I'll rubberize someone's windshield.

 

[somecallmeTim]

I've used the rubberized undercoating on a car before - it stays kinda soft when it sets up. It's not the easiest thing to work with and it isnt' pretty when It's dried either. It does prime and paint okay.

Never thought about using it in a case - to damped vibration. For best results, you may have to do the entire interior of your case (sans mobo tray - then again if you are careful you could pull it off...).

Having used it, it does work - but be prepared for some mess

Like you said, for $3, why not?

Peace,
Tim

 

[kronchev]

my substituion for those kits is just buying the damn rubber washers, theyre like 10 cents each at home depot, the kits are a huge waste of money

 

[nintari]

I am going to do this to my HTPC soon but have been advised to use the 3M brand as the cheap stuff doesnt work as well (doesnt dry right, sometimes doesnt adhere right etc)

there was auser on the HTPC News forusm that first showed his that he had done. The only concer that I had though was doing this may no longer provide sufficent grounding and build up a static charge. You can use the coolermaster rounded IDE ccables that have the grounding cable built in to it to help prevent the drived from having trouble.

http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4243&hl=rubberized

 

[Qtip42]

Dynatron is the only brand that you should use for undercoating.


But undercoating anythign on a computer is highly stupid ......it will not only look bad, it's a pain in the ass to get off. And if you get another brand name, good luck trying to get a smooth surface.

 

[BigBadBiologist]

Dynatron is the only brand that you should use for undercoating.


But undercoating anythign on a computer is highly stupid ......it will not only look bad, it's a pain in the ass to get off. And if you get another brand name, good luck trying to get a smooth surface.

He's talking about doing it inside the computer. I think it's a good idea. Let us know how it turns out if you try it.

 

[twyztyr]

Dynatron is the only brand that you should use for undercoating.


But undercoating anythign on a computer is highly stupid ......it will not only look bad, it's a pain in the ass to get off. And if you get another brand name, good luck trying to get a smooth surface.

Basically what I'm thinking about doing is mounting fans, masking off the area around them, removing the fans, and just applying the stuff to the area the fans will actually be mounted to. The idea, like I said before, was to try to come up with a cheaper solution to those silicone sound dampening kits that are like $14.99.

Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but at least I'll have experimented and tried something no one else seems to have thought of. That's gotta be worth something.

 

[Qtip42]

Dynamat matting stuff is definitely better than a spray on sound dampener. Spray on stuff goes on the bottom of cars for a reason.........you dont see it

 

[twyztyr]

Dynamat matting stuff is definitely better than a spray on sound dampener. Spray on stuff goes on the bottom of cars for a reason.........you dont see it

And if it's underneath fans, you won't see it either

 

[Qtip42]

It wont make your fans any quieter......................quieter fans make your fans quieter.

 

[nintari]

the rubber coating didn't look too bad in the pics he had. it did look textured but not bad. It is not really just for dampening the fans but the overall system noise. I didn't like the idea of using all dynamat or similar, the sparay coating looked better to me. Plus I dont have to worry about if it is ever peeling off.

 

[wayne]

why not use those foam mats thing... i dont know what they are called... not the ones for cars, altho its also a good idea

its like egg foam or something, i dont know the exact name and i heard people call it with a name that has something to do with eggs

*shrugs shoulders*

 

[twyztyr]

why not use those foam mats thing... i dont know what they are called... not the ones for cars, altho its also a good idea

its like egg foam or something, i dont know the exact name and i heard people call it with a name that has something to do with eggs

*shrugs shoulders*

FOr the purposes I had in mind, that stuff would be way too thick. For making an entire PC quiet, it would work wonders, but it would also insulate it really well, so you'd have to be damn sure your cooling was perfect. I have some actual studio soundproofing I'd like to throw inside a case someday just to see what happens.

It'd probably be damn quiet, but also heat up and burn out.

 

[Captain Colonoscopy]

Only the Antec kits are $15. You can get a Vantec kit for as little as $3.99 from: http://www.svc.com/sounddampening.html
Each kit, except the PSU kit, comes with 2x gaskets for the fans and 8x silicone washers for your screws.

Your idea with the undercoating spray will probably work just as well. You will probably get more than two fan mounts done with one can of spray, too. Let us know how it turns out, I would definately be interested. Most of the computers I build these days are on the cheap.

 

[twyztyr]

Only the Antec kits are $15. You can get a Vantec kit for as little as $3.99 from: http://www.svc.com/sounddampening.html
Each kit, except the PSU kit, comes with 2x gaskets for the fans and 8x silicone washers for your screws.

Your idea with the undercoating spray will probably work just as well. You will probably get more than two fan mounts done with one can of spray, too. Let us know how it turns out, I would definately be interested. Most of the computers I build these days are on the cheap.

I got a really big ass can, and I barely used any to do 4 fan holes and the PSU mounting surface. a little bit covers a LOT of area. I did it about 12 hours ago...I should go check it to see how it set up. It's ugly stuff, but it'll be hidden, so I don't much care. If it looks too bad or flaky, I'll either scrape it and try again or I'll just say to hell with it and go ahead with the paint I was going to use and try rubber grommets.

 

[nintari]

is it just the texture of it that you don't like? see I like the texture to it as it would also help muffle the sound in the case. I may do the rubber all over the inside and then paint the chassis black on the outside to at least have it consistently black. That would look kinda sweet as the wire loom I am using will be black and the motherboard is black. I may end up naming my HTPC Project Monolith

 

[nweibley]

http://www.secondskinaudio.com/specialpricing.html

That guy sells car audio sound deadening for good prices, and I'm thinking his spray/brush on deadener might do what you guys want. I bought some of his STFU-80 a while back and it was definatly thick as all hell and deadened my car excellently, so I can't expect any less of his other stuff.

May want to give it a try if you have a large project and $60 to burn

 

[nomar]

I just don't understand why people think vibration is the big cause of noise. If all of your componets are screwed in tightly guess what - they won't vibrate. How is a hard drive going to vibrate if it is secured against the HD cage?

As someone else in this thread said, what makes computers loud is the fans themselves. Buy larger, slower fans and the noise will go down. If you hear the sound of metal clanking or vibrating, you might want to bust out the screwdriver.

Rubberized coating may help in absorbing sound but it just may provide an insulating effect and it will increase the surface area - making it hotter in there. Reduce the things that make the sounds guys. A hard drive secured into a hard drive cage does not make any more sound than a hard drive floating in the air.

 

[kronchev]

what the hell are you talking about? everything certainly does vibrate and if its not insulated it will make it louder, its just like if you put a vibrating phone on your desk, guess what its LOUDER because the desk acts as an amplifier.

 

[nweibley]

I just don't understand why people think vibration is the big cause of noise. If all of your componets are screwed in tightly guess what - they won't vibrate. How is a hard drive going to vibrate if it is secured against the HD cage?

As someone else in this thread said, what makes computers loud is the fans themselves. Buy larger, slower fans and the noise will go down. If you hear the sound of metal clanking or vibrating, you might want to bust out the screwdriver.

Rubberized coating may help in absorbing sound but it just may provide an insulating effect and it will increase the surface area - making it hotter in there. Reduce the things that make the sounds guys. A hard drive secured into a hard drive cage does not make any more sound than a hard drive floating in the air.

Yeah, uh, no.
Securing the HDD to the chassis will transmit the vibrations away from the HDD and whatever the HDD is screwed to, but those vibes are still going to be radiated as energy, be it heat or sound, somewhere. Although I am not into all of this vibration dampening nonsense... there is definatly benifits of doing it, and yes, stuff inside your case is going to vibrate, no matter how tight your screws are... it may just end up being your entire case, or your case bezel against the chassis or something.

 

[nomar]

You guys are funny. So nweibley, by coating the interior of a case with rubber that will help the potential of the front bezel rattling against the case how? And kronchev, the vibrating of a phone on a desk is because... well... the phone is vibrating against the desk. If the phone was secured against the desk the only vibration you would hear is that of the internals of the phone - or something else on the desk that is not secured.

I know what you guys are saying and I know that there is some resonance from all of the spinning components. If you were in a completely silent atmosphere it may atcually be detectable. But to say that vibrations of the internal components of a case - or the case as a whole when everything is tightly secured - causes a significant increase in the noise level, I don't buy it.

My point is this - it is the source of the vibrations that is the main problem, not the surfaces that they are vibrating against. If you have loose components in your case and you can't properly tighten them, then sure, $6 worth of rubberized spray may help. But coating your case and using rubber washers around your hard drive is not going to stop the fact that you have a loud ass hard drive and some loud ass fans.

I'd love to see some real studies on this matter.

 

[twyztyr]

My point is this - it is the source of the vibrations that is the main problem, not the surfaces that they are vibrating against.

While this is true, sometimes we have to make do with what we have available, because, let's face it, quiet fans that produce any kind of significant airflow ain't cheap. Those of us that can't afford SilenX fans (for example) have to try other things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Also it's a simple fact that transferring vibration from a fan to a chassis will have an effect, although how large an effect definitely depends on all the individual components.

If you want to see a difference, do what I did. Take a particularly noisy component, put it in a case, make a mental note of how loud it is. Take that component out, and suspend it in the air. I used an old WD 9GB hard drive and I suspended it with rubber bands. I noticed a distinct difference in the sound levels, and my guess is because I eliminated all vibration transfer except to the rubber bands, which, for my purposes is negligible. Actually, if I had the time and the motivation, I'd build a case where everything was suspended in mid air.

 

[wayne]

I just don't understand why people think vibration is the big cause of noise. If all of your componets are screwed in tightly guess what - they won't vibrate. How is a hard drive going to vibrate if it is secured against the HD cage?

As someone else in this thread said, what makes computers loud is the fans themselves. Buy larger, slower fans and the noise will go down. If you hear the sound of metal clanking or vibrating, you might want to bust out the screwdriver.

Rubberized coating may help in absorbing sound but it just may provide an insulating effect and it will increase the surface area - making it hotter in there. Reduce the things that make the sounds guys. A hard drive secured into a hard drive cage does not make any more sound than a hard drive floating in the air.

WTFF????!?!?!!!

how do you think noises are caused?... its by something vibrating... when you talk, your larynx or pharynx or whatever, is vibrating to produce sounds... so what if you screw in your components tightly... the vibration will be absorbed by the case and whatnot and trasmitted to less tighter space which cause it to vibrate producing noise

yes, fans do make computers loud, but it is NOT the only thing that makes noises

next time think about what you're going to say before making a stupid comment like that...yeesh

 

[wayne]

My point is this - it is the source of the vibrations that is the main problem, not the surfaces that they are vibrating against. If you have loose components in your case and you can't properly tighten them, then sure, $6 worth of rubberized spray may help. But coating your case and using rubber washers around your hard drive is not going to stop the fact that you have a loud ass hard drive and some loud ass fans.

yes, that is true... the main problem is the source of the vibrations but the surfaces (depending on what it is) may be able to transmit or amplify (like kronchev mentioned) the vibration which will cause noises

i dont know about coating your case with rubber but using rubber washers between the case and harddrive/fans/etc will reduce the noise because the rubber absorbs the vibrations since its soft so it kinda stretches and compresses along with the vibration to cancel out some vibrations so that the vibrations that are passed along to the surface have been reduced...

I'd love to see some real studies on this matter.

trust me, these rubber grommets/washers, are VERY effective.. when i built my first computer, it was LOUD but i didnt mind, after some time, it got annoying so i cut pieces of a foam mouse pad to use as a washer in between the fans and the surface..i think that dropped the noise level to 1/3 to almost 1/2 ....so yea, you asked for real studies, i cannot provide a standard experiment with notes and observations but i am telling you the results out of my personal experience

 

[wayne]

If you want to see a difference, do what I did. Take a particularly noisy component, put it in a case, make a mental note of how loud it is. Take that component out, and suspend it in the air. I used an old WD 9GB hard drive and I suspended it with rubber bands. I noticed a distinct difference in the sound levels, and my guess is because I eliminated all vibration transfer except to the rubber bands, which, for my purposes is negligible. Actually, if I had the time and the motivation, I'd build a case where everything was suspended in mid air.

lol, why not suspend the whole case in mid air?... yea, i know, it wouldnt work

its a pretty good idea though