Reducing Noise level for a Dot Matrix Printer

I work for this dot matrix printer manufacturing company, i was assigned to reduce the noise level of the printer from 69dBA to 63dBA, please help me out.

Put it on rubber feet :wink:

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Had this problem in an office back in the day. We ended up putting it in a plywood box lined with sound-deadening foam.

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I would first start making measurements to find out where the majority of the noise is coming from.
If it’s the pins then I would next look for what part of that assembly could be dampened to limit the vibrations from traveling into other parts of the system. Then I would look at the plate material behind the pins or the paper to see if the sound is coming from either of those and if it is, can changes be made to reduce the noise with more dampening or with dampening the sound emitted with some form of shielding.

I haven’t heard that sound in a couple of decades or more.

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Designed and built these back in the day.
Structural dampening, to the extent that is possible, is usually designed in.
The problem is that the hammers (pins) hitting the platen dissipate a lot of energy.
Most of the noise emanates directly from this impact, rather than a vibration in the structure.
That is why we either accepted the noise or put it in a dampening box with a lid.

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Maybe there are new materials available today which weren’t decades ago. And who knows, anyone who’s purchasing dot matrix printers today knows they won’t be inexpensive and so options to use more exotic building methods could be applied which would have been unheard of back in the day.

Some people pour concrete and epoxy to form the base of their CNC machines today.

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