Quiet routers.

[Jeff Strickler]

Wondering if anybody has any thoughts on a *quiet* router. I've got small kids in the house and as a result my wife is very sensitive to anything that might say, disturb their nap time (which is of course about the only time I can get out of the house and into the shop -- after they've got to sleep at night, for example).

My observations are that routers seem to be one of the loudest pieces of equipment around. Everything else I have is fairly quiet or I've been able to add mufflers or find ways to work quietly.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Dewey Torres]

What kind of router do you have??? That would help for starters but the slow start with variable speed control ones are generally quieter. I am not sure any are quiet enough for kids naps but the higher quality tools are usually quieter than the cheaper ones.

[scott spencer]

The planer is the loudest in my shop, by a fairly wide margin. Some routers are pretty loud but others aren't. I've owned an old Craftsman 9 amp, Freud FT2000E, Freud FT1700, Milwaukee 5615, MW5625, Bosch 1617, PC690, and a Hitachi M12VC....the Hitachi is the quietest of them all. It's not the most powerful and certainly isn't the best made of the bunch, but it's very capable of most tasks, is light, well balanced, smooth and quiet. The Bosch has the nicest handles IMHO.

You might try some white noise near the kids room to mask the shop sounds.

[Charles Robertson]

Bosch Colt and Fein. Both are very quiet. White noise in the bed room sounds like a great idea.
Good luck.

[Tim Sgrazzutti]

"quiet router" is a pretty good oxymoron -- as far as electric ones go.

Depending on what you're using one for, router and moulding planes may do the job just as well. Soon the kids may want to be in the shop with you, and hand tools help make that possible. My 6 and 8 year old boys insist on being with me whenever I'm in the shop, and that means the power tools stay off. Makes for a great way to enjoy my hobby and my kids together.

[Jeff Duncan]

Well if you have the budget I believe that air powered routers are the quietest, (at least from what I've been told as I don't own one). Not cheap though, not to mention that you'll need a decent sized compressor, which will probably do a good job of keeping the kids up itself.
good luck,
JeffD

[Eric Roberge]

"quiet router" is a pretty good oxymoron -- as far as electric ones go.

Is there an alternative to an electric router out there?

I don't follow...

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Wondering if anybody has any thoughts on a *quiet* router.

They sell them in the same isle as the silent hammers.

If you are that sound sensitive maybe you might think about going galoot. It's slower but lots quieter.

[Chris Konikowski]

If you tip toe around the house during nap time, you are just setting yourself up. If you go about your business like normal, kids get used to the background noise and sleep through it. My girl can sleep through quite a bit of noise...just a suggestion...

[Rob Hermann]

Yes, god advice there! From the time mine was a baby I did everything normal weather he was sleeping or not. My shop is directly under his bed room and I run everything, DC, router, Table saw, with the stereo on all the time and he sleeps though it all. Heck, its hard to wake him! Let them fall asleep listening to the tools running. You'll appreciate it for years to come.

[Brian Kent]

I don't like router noise either. I can't sleep while I'm woodworking.

Here are the steps I took. I had a cheap, noisy router mounted to an old table that amplified the noise.

1) I use hand tools when possible. Much more fun for my tastes anyhow.

2) I bought a router according to some tool test that included noise levels. Soft Start, Variable Speed, Porter Cable 890 series.

3) I made a very sturdy router table so that the table would absorb and dampen vibration.

4) I enclosed the router in the table. I used mdf for the surrounding box, cut air inlet baffle slots that faced down, and insulated the inside of the box for sound using the soft, crumbly sheets from Home Depot that I can't remember the name of.

Now the sound of the router is smooth. I can control the cutting noise somewhat by adjusting the speed of cut, the depth of the cut per pass, and by using smooth, higher quality router bits. I also chose my dust collector in part for a tool test that showed it was on the low end of noise levels.

When all else fails, I go back to the first step and use hand tools, at least until I wake up from my nap.

[Peter Pedisich]

Jeff,

From my experience, putting my DW618 in an enclosed router table made an enormous difference.

As far as quiet routers, the PC 892 and Festool OF1400 are quiet (all relative)

-Pete

[Bruce Page]

Is there an alternative to an electric router out there?

I don't follow...

Here’s a few alternatives from the web.

[Karl Brogger]

If you tip toe around the house during nap time, you are just setting yourself up. If you go about your business like normal, kids get used to the background noise and sleep through it. My girl can sleep through quite a bit of noise...just a suggestion...

When I was a wee tot my folks used to go out of their way to make noise just for that very reason. I'm afraid it may have gone too far though, I can sleep through just about anything.

[Art Mulder]

1) ditto what the other folks have said about not tiptoeing around the house during kids naps.
(but accept that they will sometimes wake up regardless. I used to have a neighbour who thought 1pm - naptime - on a Sunday was a splendid time to mow his lawn...)

2) insulate the shop not the tool. All electric routers scream!