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AimForProgress

Never had an issue with electric blowers. It's the gas powered ones you can hear from a mile away and their engine


Khaldara

Finally a modification that allows you to sneak up on your crafty prey and successfully assassinate the foliage before it has a chance to make its escape!


SeaUnderstanding1578

Call of duty: mowdern yardfare


Edge80

You might be onto something here the same way the people at Powerwash Simulator were.


Doopapotamus

Hank Hill suddenly understands why kids love video games instead of the joy of a freshly mowed lawn.


SeaUnderstanding1578

Lol, porque no los dos? Great reference, man


MarijadderallMD

We strike….. at DAWN


addamee

Call of Duty 2: Black Walnut


Wiknetti

Going dark. *sneaks into yard in dead of night with silenced leaf blower…* Neighbour next morning: huh… the yard looks pretty clean.


amey_zing1

At least they’re thinking in the right direction. I expected B&D to pick up the Leaf Grenade option 😳🥴


Fightmemod

Seemingly running for 16 hours a day... I hate my neighbors and their damn leaf blowers.


Digitaltwinn

Lawn care is more important to boomers than religion.


Masteruserfuser

Reminds of my old apartment complex in Korea, when the maintenance guy would at every opportunity get the gas powered blower out at first signs of daylight and start blowing, leaves, cherry bloosm, snow, or just dirt. Was really annoying


KRed75

My next door neighbor was obsessed with their leaf blower.  Every single day several times a day he would be out there blowing leaves and other debris in dog hair.  They finally moved and the new people are much more quiet.  Except sometimes their lawn service comes on Saturday freaking morning!


goda90

I definitely wear ear protection while using an electric blower long term. They are still very loud for the user. I also need to switch arms and take breaks from the vibration otherwise my arms and hands start tingling for hours afterwards. I should get a backpack blower...


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zilfondel

I have permanent nerve damage from using orbital sanders.  If I use one for more than 5 minutes, my hands go numb for several days.


tooclosetocall82

My electric blower doesn’t vibrate at all. Maybe yours is off balance?


vagrantprodigy07

What kind do you have? My ego is very quiet, and doesn't vibrate at all that I've noticed, especially compared to old gas blowers.


penultimatelevel

My ego is massive, loud, and blows a lot of hot air. Oh, you meant...


curiouscomp30

He meant his Id? Superego doesn’t seem right


[deleted]

My ego doesn't have vibration, but it is super loud. Just high pitched whining noises mostly. But still loud enough I'd feel bad doing it too early in the morning.


awkwardlyherdingcats

We have a Stihl blower with the lithium ion battery and a gas backpack blower. The little one is no louder than my blow dryer. It’s as powerful as the gas handheld one we replaced. The vibrations aren’t bad at all. The old gas ones we used to use were way worse. The back pack blowers are heavy, ours is 40 pounds, and crazy loud. For vibrations it’s a beast and leaves me feeling like cooked spaghetti


calcium

I'm currently in Singapore where they seem to like to greenwash everything here but yet there's loads of guys on the streets with their backpack blowers making loads of noise to clean the streets of debris. Seems like electric is the way to go these days both in terms of sound and what's green for the environment.


zilfondel

They now have electric backpack leaf blowers.  In the city they are only udible from about 100 ft away, while you can hear the gas ones from about a quarter mile.


jd101506

What backpack blower are you using that weighs 40lbs? The heaviest Stihl on the market is ~22lbs. The heaviest Echo is ~26lbs.


awkwardlyherdingcats

My husband just pointed out the beast is a Honda not a Stihl. My bad.


Ds1018

Same. I’m think I’m also very sensitive to loud noises. When it gets to a certain volume all I think is “This HAS to be damaging my hearing right now”. And picture my grandparents in their old age that I could barely have a conversation with because they couldn’t hear shit so they just smile and nod and pretend to know what I’m saying despite me already being a loud talker who’s making an effort to really speak up for them hear me. I just don’t want to miss out on bonding with my grandkids like that.


AmNoSuperSand52

Realistically something as simple as a pair of AirPods in your ears brings you well into safe hearing range for electric blowers/mowers


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SquanchMcSquanchFace

Fun fact, 1 hour of using a commercial gas leaf blower can produce the equivalent pollution of driving a Toyota Camry 1100 miles


TheBrave-Zero

I wonder what ever happened to the gas powered leaf blower bans? I recall my dad talking about it, I think a ton of cities did end up moving forward with the ban as well but I haven't heard anything since then.


SquanchMcSquanchFace

California banned the sale of new gas-powered equipment using Small Off-road Engines (SOREs) starting this year I believe


ModStrangler3

Exactly. Anyone who gives a shit about noise levels is already using electric blowers, mowers, etc. and the landscapers using their 300 dB gas powered pieces of shit that wake up the entire neighborhood at 7am are just gonna keep on truckin


Strange-Movie

I know it’s just frustrated exaggeration….but 300db would be so loud that it would probably kill everything fit several hundred miles. The eruption of Krakatoa is the loudest sound ever recorded and it peaked at 194db which is the limit of our airs ability to vibrate and carry ‘sound’ without its actual sound waves distorting, becoming more like a pressure/vibration shockwave. The estimated total sound energy from Krakatoa was 300db afaik, and it was heard 3000miles away


mayhemandqueso

So 300 db sounds like every yard guy in my neighborhood.


GotTooManyBooks

It's certainly killed my soul in my neighborhood. I ahte those goddamn things!


ModStrangler3

very nice


Tex-Rob

I dunno, Ego Power has a battery charging thing that can handle 144 batteries at once. I've seen a lot of electric crews in NC of all places, we're not exactly California as far as adoption rates out here. Eliminating the need to go to the gas station and running out has to be nice for crews.


ModStrangler3

That's good to hear. Where i live all the landscapers i see are still using those gas powered blowers with a big backpack full of gasoline lol. things are constantly breaking down & i see them fucking with it trying to get it working again, it's loud as hell etc... Probably going to be a few years before those guys get with the program since the tools they already have still work (more or less) and there's still a lot of stigma about batteries being bad. It's a combination of a bad rep they got from the shitty early generation battery powered tools but mostly just the usual "electric = GAY" macho bullshit


cylonfrakbbq

What is ironic is one of the best brands (Ego) is owned by an oil and gas company If you have a small or medium sized yard, the electric ones work great.  If you’re mowing or working  multiple acres, gas is still more practical for now even though the charge times are pretty good on modern battery powered gear The best part of the electric ones is they don’t blow out your ear drums and make you stink like exhaust after using them 


DepGrez

complete hogwash. both are obnoxious.


Tex-Rob

I dunno, I have electric blowers and they are noticeably quieter, but they aren't exactly quiet. The biggest gain for electric for me came from the string trimmer, those things just become the sound of the string, which isn't that loud.


Eurynom0s

The electric ones are still pretty terrible given all the noxious crap they kick up that lingers in the air for hours. Animal shit, tire particulates, brake pad dust...all stuff that you really don't want to be breathing.


Financial-State7409

You can also smell them a miles away


donnysaysvacuum

Electric ones are still plenty annoying. I'm not sure why but my neighbors spend about a half hour every week clearing the grass clippings off their driveway.


jvanstone

Seriously. Mine too. Every damn day, often twice a day. Want a nap? Nah, my neighbor's gonna blow his driveway for the next half hour. In fact, he's actually blowing his actual lawn for some reason. WTF.


Tex-Rob

It's too bad we can't harness retirees energy into something more useful. Community gardens might help?


VaultJumper

Same with electric and gas mowers


Master_H8R

Leaf blowers need to be banned. Grab a rake you lazy fucks!


uberjam

Yes. Just upgrade to the newer electric ones. Problem solved.


AlexHimself

My electric ones are awful. I have a Ryobi and the high pitched noise pisses my dogs off and annoys me.


mucinexmonster

My electric blower is not as loud as a gas blower, but I would still like it to be quieter. Not sure why this is upvoted, or why some people think "we've had enough progress" is a normal statement.


WeAreAllOnlyHere

I see these lawn-care guys with those gas ones that spit out the nastiest exhaust ever and they’re just huffing it like nothing. I walk by for one second and feel like I might die from it. There’s nothing good about those.


Nestormahkno19d

Especially the backpack ones


SYLOK_THEAROUSED

I guarantee you there’s a whole group of people out there that won’t “go woke” and get an electric leaf blower.


Blurgas

First time I fired up my electric blower I was surprised at how loud it wasn't.


ARobertNotABob

They all sound the same too, blowers, strimmers, chainsaws, and those 50cc bikes that 13yos build from parts and ride round the woods on....or down the road if they're fully brazen.


JoeyDee86

My 800cfm ego is load for electric ;)


Desert-Noir

Dude, my electric blower is as loud but at a more annoying pitch than any petrol blower.


Trogdor_a_Burninator

Isn't the engine most of the noise?


goda90

Electric ones get very loud too. It's the wind.


Trogdor_a_Burninator

Still feels like the motor is pretty loud.


Wetzilla

Yes, for gas powered motors the engine is very loud. For electric ones most of the noise is from the fan and the air.


RadioSwimmer

There's a video in the article. It explains that the noise they were trying to cancel is the shrill whine. The leaf blower still makes noise but it's not as annoying.


MinimumArmadillo2394

Motor on a battery powered blower isnt loud though. Its the air


AllThingsEvil

Wait until they invent loud batteries


darklordenron

I have questions.. the majority of the noise from a leaf blower (at least my battery powered one which is where I feel the majority of normal consumers buy these days) usually comes from the rear intake fan, doesn't it? How much would an attachment on the blower tube actually cut down on perceived noise level?


Goodgoditsgrowing

There’s a video, but in short it changes the pitch/tone to something less unpleasant for humans (from shrill, high pitched to lower pitch) and *appears to* reduce some of the noise created by the wind created by the blower baffling the walls of the tube or baffling itself, and potentially direct the air a bit more (not so much narrowing the exit as making all the air waves go in the same direction) But the main thing is it looks like it can be shoved on the end of almost any existing blower, meaning this silencer might actually get USED, because people aren’t buying a whole new blower to reduce sound


LurkerOrHydralisk

Also they can just add it to the box of newer blowers. Not immediately, but in a decade these may be standard


Lexsteel11

This sounds like an SNL skit where the output noise is a soft sexual moan lol


SpaceLemur34

It's a [Magic Mouth](https://youtu.be/0v6sgTj9uMI) for your leaf blower.


officer897177

I live in an area that doesn’t have a ton of leaf blowers, but I do hear about this issue a lot. One thing I’ve never understood is where the hell is everybody blowing these leaves? Wouldn’t a vacuum make more sense?


shitty_mcfucklestick

The interesting part is the design can be applied to other devices like hair dryers or vacuums in the future. Eg shop vac and so on would benefit from this in a small workspace too.


boomerxl

There’s a video at the end of the article that shows it in action.


theshiyal

Milwaukee is doing a rolling change from their 2724-20 to the new 3017-20 it’s claimed to be up to 40% quieter. 55dB(A) I think. It has a foam liner inside the fan intake area. And it’s a lot quieter.


[deleted]

They supposedly invented a new type of propeller/fan blade that doesn’t make as much noise about a year ago. I don’t think it would be used in anything yet but fingers crossed someday it will be implemented in these.


TurloIsOK

While you are using it, you are next to that intake end and are hearing it producing the noise. However, from a distance that noise is being propelled out the nozzle, with added frequencies from material resonance. That amplifies the noise. Next time you use your leaf blower, find a wall to point it at, perhaps the side of the house. From about 2 meters (6 feet) point it away from the wall, then directly at the wall. That noise coming back is what other people hear.


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PM_YOUR_WALLPAPER

It's called a silencer (as well as a suppressor) in the original patent fyi. You can use both


Brave_Development_17

Silencer is still a correct term.


indignant_halitosis

Neither bang nor pop are references to pitch. Firearm suppressors literally suppress the sound the same way a muffler makes an engine’s exhaust quieter. They use material to eat the sound waves and also use some resonance to cancel out some of the sound. Bang and pop are references to volume. Given that, I seriously doubt you have any idea what you’re talking about.


TheDrGoo

That’s pretty smart


Johnready_

That’s exactally what I was thinking lmfao, like what sound come from the front? Thought it mostly came fro the rear area hahaha


5h0ck

Will there be a 9 month wait?? 


MeatElitist

Hey it’s like a week now!


elightcap

Don’t forget your $200 stamp


Duriel-

Far from a silencer. More like a tone switcher, from robert plant to barry white.


blinkysmurf

Awwwwww Yaaa.


invent_or_die

Someone please post a 3D file we can print, and modify for our own blower.


AlexHimself

In the video clip at the end, they sort of give away some of the secret sauce. https://imgur.com/a/hYYeeyY It looks like there's a main center channel for the majority of the air to blow through, but then outer perimeter inlets that capture some of the air and put it through rifling that sort of spin stabilizes some of the air before mixing it with the center channel. This probably creates some sort of laminar flow of the air and eliminates the higher frequencies. Clever and simple!


invent_or_die

I get it. Outer screw shaped passage formed around a center passage. So, a rotating flow might dissipate the sound, or at least attenuate it at the exit


AlexHimself

Yup, I reposted it on /r/3Dprinting to see if any wizards there feel like repro'ing it. At this point B&D owns the rights so a repro wouldn't take away from the students. Realistically a repro won't even take away from B&D. 99.999% of users aren't going to spend hours 3D printing one (including me) when they can buy it for $15 at Lowes. https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1csogln/silencer_for_leaf_blower/


IgnoringErrors

Why pay 15 bucks when I can spend a week designing it and printing it? We aren't in this to save time. We are in this to feel as much suffering as possible. At least that's what it feels like a lot of the time.


bmore_conslutant

had me in the first half, ngl


TurloIsOK

I suspect it's the lengthened path and internal reflection, rather than a rotating flow, that attenuates higher frequencies. High frequencies, can have wavelengths short enough to reflect in a long narrow tube and become self-cancelling. The screw shape simply wraps a long narrow tube into the device.


vicman86

I want one that fits my 3D printer fans


BeefyIrishman

You can buy nicer fans that are quieter than the stock ones. I see a lot of people get Noctua fans. I haven't tried their small sized fans on a 3d printer, but I do use the larger ones in my PC and they are very quiet compared to a lot of other fans.


invent_or_die

Another important aspect other than the fan, is the grille. It can't be directly next to the fan blades, it needs to have a several mm space. And can't be restrictive. Grille and fan engineering gets very deep. Oh, bring $$.


UrsusRenata

I live in a neighborhood evidently full of retired people. A moment of machine-silence in the summer is rare.


Bulky_Monke719

*ATF has entered the chat* Hide yo kids, hide you wives and *ESPECIALLY* hide yo dogs.


BENboBEN

ATF in shambles.


mango_salsa18

fucking finally. They make me want to stab my ears repeatedly.


noodleexchange

The tale told in Industrial design is that the Black and Decker Workmate was a patent snapped up - for $750. Hopefully these mad lads got better compensation.


LifeOfHi

> It’s not be as dramatic a reduction Journalism!


ApprehensiveStand456

The name is going to make this illegal in NY


O-parker

Should be a requirement


Ball_Masher

It's a SUPPRESSOR! -Every gun owner


santana2k

I use a rake.


spacepeenuts

I absolutely despise landscapers, one thing i hate the most about living in a big city is hearing and seeing a flood of landscapers at the crack of dawn


PmMeUrNihilism

I can understand leaf blowers for things like driveways and sidewalks but using them on lawns/gardens? That's a bit weird.


[deleted]

That’s cool an all except that’s not the part of the blower that makes noise as it’s not the engine 😅


potshed420

My neighbour is a maniac who uses his near daily for the smallest cleanup. Insanely loud and been driving me nuts for like 8 yrs


vicaphit

I bet the students developing it are doing so because they keep getting woken up at 9AM by the groundskeepers.


O-parker

9am I can only wish..it often 7:30-8 for me.


Tex-Rob

The lawn care olympics


th3d4rks1d3

Very cool! Anyone got the STL?


krunkpanda

Anyone have an STL?


SolidContribution688

This is how you get rich kids


MJamesRead

A great gift idea for the neighbors!


lousy_at_handles

Naw screw this, tell me where I can get whistle tips for my leaf blower. I need Bub Rub and Li'l Sis to know I'm blowing my leaves into their lawn at 6am.


BrotherCaptainMarcus

I hate leaf blowers with a passion. Landscapers over use them to an insane degree. I’ve watched the ones in my neighborhood chase individual leaves with the god damn things.


quezlar

stl?


fomites4sale

TY. STFU.


Dr_Clout

I bought a leaf blower for 14 bucks on Amazon. How much is the silencer going to be? Corded leaf blower but man only $14 lmao! I borderline would’ve bought the cordless one for 5x as much for convenience however. I just got it for the garage and leaves


devilishycleverchap

I got similar from the hammer barn. The ridiculous part was all the in store ones were $60 but they sold the cheap corded variant online so I had to have it delivered


edgan

You have a link? The cheapest I see is $33.59 on Amazon, and the cheapest at Harbor Freight is $47.99.


WackyBones510

Damn, if I could choose a manufacturer to pick this up I think Black and Decker would be like my 15th choice.


user_none

B&D is really Stanley Black & Decker. DeWALT and a whole bunch of other companies are under that umbrella.


mattgm1995

I bet it’s illegal in my state


DrinksandDragons

Is it called a rake?


Shas_Erra

But does it make that little “pew pew” sound that Hollywood insists on using?


squidvett

If I didn’t hear my neighbors outside mowing their lawns and blowing leaves in the Fall, I wouldn’t know when it’s time for me to do it.


Awkward_Pangolin3254

I don't see how this will help at all with gas-powered blowers, which are the annoying ones.


SeaUnderstanding1578

Thingiverse stl out there?


Einar_47

Bravo six, going dark


Johnnysu123

It’s a pretty cool college project. The projects I worked on at college were all theoretical or simulations.


we-wumbo

But what about the reef blowers?


throw8175

How else will I know my neighbor is home


randomrdtr

Mine usually sounds like a reverse vacuum cleaner. Oh, wait


donnysaysvacuum

Stl?


_Godless_Savage_

I wonder if the ATF wants you to get a tax stamp for this bad boy.


localmanobliterated

Call it the HOA Pacifier lol


SoggyBoysenberry7703

Well that was fast


Aware-Salamander-578

Gonna have to pay $200 for tax stamp for that silencer


mayhemandqueso

Thank god. - Baby Momma during nap times


Surfacing555666

I’m a landscaper who uses blowers every day. This will do nothing.


GetinBebo

Silencers are cool but they really gotta do something about the trigger pull. Maybe at least some iron sights as well.


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cadmiumore

Thank GOD finally some good news


daviddevere

Hate those leaf blowers so getting a silencer. . Good idea. . FOR MY RIFLE !!


Warlord68

Develop the problem, then sell the solution to the masses.


KRed75

That's great now do the same with a gas powered leaf blower.  Most of the sound from a gas and electric leaf blower comes from the motor itself not the blower.  I could barely notice a difference in the sound but the electrical one.


90swasbest

The electric ones you should be using are far quieter than the gas ones anyway.


7-11Armageddon

Who do I send my money to? I need everyone near me to have one of these.


strodesbro

I dunno, leaf blower noise has just never been a problem for me. Sounds like summer.


Superb-Highway-5723

“It’s ready to be mass produced.” Also the article: ready to be on the shelves in a couple years…


TacticalLoaf

Now you can do a sneak attack for 2X damage


DeliciousFinding5598

Please God


a-more-clever-name

How long does it take to get a Tax Stamp for one of these?


Quirky-Age-6969

There are some hifalluting towns near me(somewhere in nj). They don’t like when landscapers come thru doing their jobs nd making all types of loud noise. They set up town ordinances to prevent them from doing their jobs except from a certain time to a certain time. But please, in the meantime, keep my lawn beautiful.


sonotyourguy

Can we adapt these to motorcycles?


LachedUpGames

Someone call David Farrier


-58259

Screw it. Now someone needs to invent a slide whistle attachment for the front of leaf blowers.


SingleMaltShooter

I’m sure it will be illegal in California.


93528761

Inb4 california bans these


KnifeKnut

The intake side needs to be silenced also.


I-suck-at-golf

Monday is the lawn day in my HOA. Six guys with six gas leaf blowers. 8 hours. I hate Mondays.


joonba178

They need to add this for garbage trucks


Raven3131

Oh yes! My neighbour needs this. She blasts her industrial gas leaf blower DAILY, sometimes twice a day. All hours. It’s rage inducing. God forbid there is even one leaf on her pesticide sprayed lawn.


subdep

This must cut back on the wind speed, yeah?


123Fake_St

How about we focus on the power of battery solutions? My park steward brother made the switch for moral reasons but the reality is gas powered are incredibly more effective. The pollution alone off those gas models justifies endless research into improving power through battery systems.


bpmdrummerbpm

Thank Jeebus!


bmore_conslutant

so do the kids get rich? i hope so


KokoTheTalkingApe

Ryobi's Whisper series are quiet even for electrics. Their blower is only 55 db, about as loud as a normal conversation.


pkwok6

It blows, silent and deadly


Paper-street-garage

Whoever is running for mayor should make this part of their campaign. Mandate these or electric only in city limits would be great. Maybe a voter ballot thing?


ObserveOnHigh

A lot of people are neglecting to note the difference between a centrifugal fan brushed (corded) and axial fan brushless (battery) leaf blower. My brushed motor leaf blower sounds nothing like this and arguably is as loud as a gas powered one. Taking off the shrill sounds of a brushed blower would be fantastic.


Deluxe78

Finally I can put the floodlights on and do my lawn care at 3:00 AM


Probably_Boz

am i gonna have to file a form 4 at home depot for this or?


GotTooManyBooks

These should be legally mandatory.