Electrical planners, or Electric Hand Planers, will be in the 90-100+ dB range, but, because of the fast speed of blade rotation, generally electrical planers are regarded to be extremely noisy and considerably louder than regular hand planes.
For an electric planer, the best case scenario is 70 dB – the operator can still hear dialogue at a level of 30-40 feet. The worst situation for an electric planer is approximately 110 dB, which surpasses most people’s pain threshold and would lead to irreversible hearing loss within two minutes of continuous exposure.
Planner should be more noisy but you’ll be farther away so that the router may do more harm to your hearing since your arms are long to the cutter and router transfer noises more often. You may test it with a sound meter and determine what’s louder.
A “sound meter” gives you an approximate estimate of the sound level of planers. Some instruments, like the digital meters integrated into the router itself, are very precise and can measure dB or mW in only a few seconds.
It is better to work early in the day or late afternoon when you are home and you won’t have to be as loud if you don’t want to bother others when working with an electronic planner.
You should observe OSHA standards and use hearing protection for ear safety!
I personally try to use my aircraft for a few minutes at maximum power and then switch it off and remove hearing protection. Then I work for a few minutes without hearing protection. Then I turn on my burner, direct it to me and crank the volume up. This enables me to get accustomed to the loud level without hearing protection.
If you like to operate with noisy equipment and don’t feel a little noise, an electric planner probably won’t mind.
This ends our How Noisy is an Electric Planer Discussion.
We want you to be sure of what you plan to get, please don’t hesitate to ask for advice.
Love our How Noisy is an Electric Planer guide?
You may be interested in our other related articles:
- Hand Planer vs Bench Planer
- Electric vs Hand Planers
- Hand Planer for Thicknessing Stock
- Best Electric Hand Planer
- Do I Really Need a Thickness Planer?
- Power Planer vs Jointer
- Plane Wood Without A Planer
- Factors to Consider When Buying a Planer
- Corded vs Cordless Planers
Jonathan is a veteran tree surgeon and arborist. He talks about the things he loved about this profession and how it is one of the best professions out there.
Professional tree surgeons are constantly on call, always ready to risk their lives for the sake of a client’s property or business. The job has its definite risks, but with that comes amazing rewards. Here he shares his knowledge to anything related to woodworking!
