Does Melamine allow airflow?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Athlon Powers
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Does Melamine allow airflow?

Post by Athlon Powers » Wed May 21, 2003 8:53 am

I cant find out if it does on the website, if it does it would be a great sound insulation for the vents on my case.

Thanks in advance! :D

Athlon Powers
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Post by Athlon Powers » Wed May 21, 2003 9:41 am

Bump for info.

aphonos
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Post by aphonos » Wed May 21, 2003 10:10 am

Athlon Powers wrote:Bump for info.
Dude, you only made the first post 50 minutes ago. Give us working stiffs some time. :)

My initial common-sense reaction (though I don't have the foam) would be that melamine will be similar to anything else, or any other foam, you will put in front of grills/openings. It is going to cause a reduction in airflow. If close enough to the fan, it may cause turbulence. It would seem logical that any material that will cut down on the transmission of sound (the waves of which travels via/thru air) is going to cut down on air flow. I don't think you can have good CFM and good damping in the same material.

But I didn't do well in physics, so I'm open to correction. I guess you'd like to hear from someone with melamine who's willing to give your idea a try. (If I recall, you have some melamine on order...if so, give it a try and report back to us).

Vector
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Post by Vector » Wed May 21, 2003 10:27 am

I have the melamine foam covering every exposed inch of my case, and the temps didn't go up a single degree (well maybe 1 or 2 degrees, but nothing noticable). And my case cooling isn't the best in the world either. So if you've got halfway decent cooling/airflow, you've got nothing to worry about. I'll be putting this stuff in my new D8000 when it gets here, too.

miker
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Post by miker » Wed May 21, 2003 10:55 am

Yeah don't put that over your fan holes. You would create an instant easy-bake oven.

Athlon Powers
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Post by Athlon Powers » Wed May 21, 2003 12:59 pm

miker wrote:Yeah don't put that over your fan holes. You would create an instant easy-bake oven.
Darn, I thought that would be an easy way to block noise. I have that case below that has the really big grills in the front. :(

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp ... 527-07.JPG[/url]

Athlon Powers
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Post by Athlon Powers » Wed May 21, 2003 1:18 pm

Radeonman wrote:Another cheiftec user (we the l33t masses). Ah yes. Well, you could cover up some of the vents with melamine, I guess. However, you're doing this at the cost of airflow. And as we all know, lowering airflow can lead to noise and heat.
WHAT DOES l33t MEAN? I AM CLUELESSS>>>

Vector
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Post by Vector » Wed May 21, 2003 1:24 pm

Radeonman wrote:But if you're asking what happens if you put it over your fan hole the answer is : it blocks air.
Sorry. I didn't realize that's what he meant. I don't block my air vents with the foam. Of course the temps will go up if you block those.

HadroLepton
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Post by HadroLepton » Wed May 21, 2003 2:12 pm

athlon powers what you want are mufflers
mufflers forces the air to go zig zag lines which lets the air flow (air -> flows hehehe) but traps the sound in the sound absorbing material.

check out this page: http://www.muffledcomputing.com/
there are other threads about muffling here you might want to check them too. just search the forums for mufflers

some say muffling an exhaust (or intake) will hamper airflow a bit. i think it depends on how large your opening is but i have no experience with muffling so i can't say much about it.

edit:
l33t is a derivation from elite

Athlon Powers
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Post by Athlon Powers » Wed May 21, 2003 2:23 pm

HadroLepton wrote:athlon powers what you want are mufflers
mufflers forces the air to go zig zag lines which lets the air flow (air -> flows hehehe) but traps the sound in the sound absorbing material.

check out this page: http://www.muffledcomputing.com/
there are other threads about muffling here you might want to check them too. just search the forums for mufflers

some say muffling an exhaust (or intake) will hamper airflow a bit. i think it depends on how large your opening is but i have no experience with muffling so i can't say much about it.
Those are a bit large, I was hoping for something internal. Im gonna try this Melamine, take off the fiberglass and wrap it around my HDD.

aphonos
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Post by aphonos » Wed May 21, 2003 7:22 pm

Radeonman wrote:While I could be wrong, I'm guessing the fiberglass is an important part of the soudn absorbing process. While you won't ruin the product, per se, I imagine that just wrapping the textured paper around your hard drive will have little effect.

Of course, that's just radeonman speculation. I could be wrong.
I agree. Not necessarily because of the removal of the fiberglass, but because of the nature of the foam. I think you'd be better off trying the Rubber Box method. But the only real way to know is to give it a try. If you do, let us know your results.

Liquidated
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hmm

Post by Liquidated » Wed May 21, 2003 11:22 pm

the foam's acoustic properties are the foam itself, not the backing. the fiberglass is there to keep the foam from misbehaving. It's there simply to bully the foam.

as for using it as a filter... NO. If you clog the vents with this stuff you are effectively masking the vents into nonexistance.


Cheers!
-Liq

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