CW-3000 Chiller adventures

and if it has an alarm for overtemp, you can always crank the fan up based on that

It does have an alarm, but it goes off at 60°C / 140°F, so not so useful because I assume the spindle would have died before reaching that coolant temperature.

I also know that the other alarm (detecting the absence of coolant flow) works fine, I discovered that when I unintentionally pinched the tube and had a near heart-attack when it beeped (the alarm is LOUD, as it should be)

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Are you planning a test with the fan full blast?

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Sure, can do (next time I have a long job to run).

It will be so much fun to have it 73dB during 5 hours, yay! :slight_smile:

Surely your router/spindle makes more noise then that when hacking stock?

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Hey that’s a good question, I never actually measured the spindle. But it’s quite different, it’s the sweet sweet sound of making chips, I crave that! :slight_smile:

Seriously though, it’s more the sum of semi-loud devices that gets on my nerves (that @$*&#! VFD fan, the muffled sound of the vacuum under the enclosure, the chiller, and optionally the washing machine and dryer nearby)

By the way, I had a wild shower thought (literally) the other day, I could extend the cooling circuit to go through the VFD sink. Water-cooled VFD !

Yeah I know how it sounds (dangerous), but I wonder if I could just use a PC water-cooling [part that goes on the CPU] and attach it to the back of the humongous VFD sink. It would be away from the power area, and in the unlikely event of a leak, gravity would do its job and not soak the inside of the VFD.

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Well with that said I’m surprised you haven’t re-wired your VFD fan to only come on when it heats up…

You are either mad or have too much time on your hands :yum:

I gave up on trying to cut the noise out. Now I just wear noise cancelling headphones - after you have a compressor, VFD and spindle going it’s the only way to win a loosing battle, other than locking everything in a cupboard…

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That was my first intent…and then I saw in that video that you have to tear the whole thing apart, and decided that it would be for another day.

Good point…I should try one of those.

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I know the sounds are annoying but the human senses alert you to danger. When I sit on my big lawn mower it is tempting to listen to music but if my mower deck starts making a racket I need to stop it before too much damage is done. Same in the shop. Music is fine for sanding but when doing things where I can lose a finger the music is off and my attention is focused on the task.

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Odd that he didn’t just use some thermally conductive epoxy to attach the thermal switches to the heatsink! The fan likely would rarely, if ever, turn on.
image

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Here’s a quiet compressor.

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I’ve got a 50l quiet compressor which runs about 60db. It helps but when chips are flying, VFD going, compressor cycling it’s never going to be pleasant. I will add that my machines are not in enclosures, with all the testing we’re doing it’s a pain to drag them in and out :wink:

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I love this adventure! A couple thoughts in case someone wants to repeat this.

  1. “Forbidden to anhydrous boot” means “Don’t start without water”. I’ve read and interpreted many Chinglish labels and it’s become a fun game now to figure them out. Essentially the pump needs water in the fittings.
  2. One idea is you could replace the existing fan with a 150mm PC cooling fan (not sure why Julien is using inches to measure his fan size :stuck_out_tongue:). PC fans are made to be very quiet and move a lot of air so they can have nice quiet bearings.
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@Luke - Which noise cancelling headphones are you using? I’m considering going that route.

I have a set of bose 700’s which are great. Half the time I just have them on noise cancelling to cut out the drone, I’m not always listening to anything.

I also used the earlier bose 35ii (I think) previous gen. They were just as good but had buttons. I’d buy last gen if I had to buy again.

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Nice work @Julien, Thanks for the detail. if there is something a dimmer switch can’t fix, I’m yet to find it!

@MikeG and anyone else thinking of BT earphones, be aware that the Bose or other audio branded ‘Noise-cancelling’ gear, while awesome (I have bose NC headphones and earphones myself and love them) they offer reduced hearing protection - So standing in front of a makita router going through plywood for hours may eventually result in you going deaf…

Check out Isotunes earbuds (they should be paying me). They’re cheaper than Bose and are legit OSHA compliant hearing protection, IP68 water resistant, BT for audio and calls… Also far cheaper than Bose/sennheiser etc.

Sorry for the rant… Comes with the territory of working in heavy industry

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I also use [bluetooth] Isotunes in the garage shop and have a set of wired Plugfones too, that I use while riding my motorcycle (wind noise can be deafening).

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Another good hearing protection option, also designed for shop workers, includes the 3M Work Tunes there are a handful of different models; these would be a nice alternative to the people that prefer the over the encapsulated ear design.

@DanStory do you prefer one over the other, Plugfones versus Isotunes? I think I’m going to give one a shot since my over-the-ear hearing protection interferes with my safety glasses or the other way around, and doesn’t have Bluetooth.

@Julien given your experience, would you ever consider simply an air cooled spindle? I’m curious what the decibel comparison would look like. Coincidentally I believe it was a thread on spindle comparison that led to the CW-3000 conversation. We’ve come full circle.

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I’m not sure you are correct about noise cancelling headphones not providing any hearing protection.

They cancel out the sound waves from external noise by providing an inverted wave.

So, if you can’t hear anything through them, it’s because nothing is vibrating your eardrum.

I have no idea how quiet an air-cooled spindle is in comparison, I hear they are pretty quiet.
Myself, I have developed a general dislike for fans (as this thread illustrates :slight_smile: ), so I would probably buy a water-cooled spindle again (if only because the spindle is completely sealed so it’s naturally protected from dust/chips). I’ve seen many posts from happy air-cooled spindle owners though.

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