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 
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I love this adventure! A couple thoughts in case someone wants to repeat this.
- “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.
- 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
). 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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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 
), 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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So I was talking about these with my dad ( also has a cnc router). We had the idea of using a mini fridge.
I like the plug and play ability of these “chillers”. But I’m curious if they can put up with a 1.5 kw spindle running 18 hours a day cutting wood. I do this when I’m batching things we sell. My garage is heated and air conditioned and kept below 75 f year around.
But how well would it work to but a mini fridge and put a small radiator in side of it? A pc cooling radiator with a fan or two on it for example. You would still need a separate pump.
My biggest concern with this would be the spindle being too cold until it warms up.
For now this chiller is in my amazon cart (110v version). My spindle is being delivered today.
Problem with aircooled is that they build up heat in an enclosure whereas a watercooled moves the heat outside. And they can get quite loud at elevated rpms.
As a test I de-fan’d a Makita brushless. The difference was amazing in both sound and vibration. Should be even quieter with a watercooled housing.
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I would say that if they aren’t OSHA and NIOSH compliant, then don’t wear them for workshop protection. I always thought that BOSE or some business like that would consider OSHA and NIOSH compliance a very good marketing strategy, but they don’t have it.
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I first discovered the Plugfones, when looking for hearing protection while riding my motorcycle but also allow easy listening of my com device. This was before all their options, 5 years ago, it was just a wired version with or w/o inline controls 
. I still use them to this day for riding.
Discovered ISOtunes years later (I think due to April Wilkerson’s channel) and I bought the ISOtunes Pro last year and have worked well. I only wear them for short bursts 1-3 hours, as it is only when I have the bandsaw or CNC router going in the garage and I’m not in a noisy work environment otherwise. I could see them being bothersome after several more hours of wear, but isn’t an issue in my situation.
I use the provided silicone plugs for both as they are more comfortable for me and supposedly more noise reduction.
Edit:
I don’t really have a preference and got the versions tailored for my use, I wanted wired for my motorcycle, didn’t need inline controls and be as small as possible to allow them to fit with-in my helmet.
I got the ISOtunes bluetooth for the shop, I wanted wireless as a wire down to my pocket (phone) can be annoying. I will say the tether between them is a little annoying at times on the back of my neck (or catches my shirt when I turn my head). The “FREE” version might be nicer in that regard.
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I’m wondering if the dust collection of a water cooled spindle is better. It seems it should be as the spindle / router isn’t blowing air down and scattering chips all over the place while fighting the updraft of the vacuum.
I’ve been curious about this for a while now, and had initially wondered if the airflow from a trim router could be used to clear chips/cool the endmill.
Finally got around to experimenting, and it takes a tediously long time to fill a garbage bag with air using the air blown out of a trim router, but if one then sticks a length of hose with a stiff brush into the center of a garbage bag full of air, it is evacuated almost instantly when one turns on the vacuum, so the airflow from an air-cooled unit would seem to be inconsequential.
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Related to Will’s pondering I have a Tite-CNC dust shoe that redirects the downdraft of the Dewalt router out the side to keep it from competing with the dust collections.
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I would say that if they aren’t OSHA and NIOSH compliant, then don’t wear them for workshop protection.
I think that’s very sensible.
I was just commenting on @stutaylo 's previous comment about them having absolutely zero protection. I couldn’t find anything to back up that assertion, but could find plenty of articles to the contrary.
I did considerable research myself after your comments @Gerry (being quite happy to be corrected and remove/edit my post)
I was going off the information the Australian Equivalent of OSHA gave us at my workplace, saying that though the Noise cancelling earphones do produce a soundwave 180° to the background noise to cancel it out, the 180° sound has energy of its own, which impacts your ears along with the background noise, which can cause damage.
All I can find online is articles saying they do decrease hearing loss because they result in your music not being turned up as loud to hear it. I couldn’t find anything saying the ‘active’ noise cancelling actually reduces noise induced hearing loss. The ‘passive’ noise cancelling of having something jammed in your ear, or over your ear is definitely providing protection to external noises.
Maybe the only difference is that isotunes paid the money to get them certified.
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There ya go again. 
(I like to quote President Ronald Reagan!) I’m purty sure that Isotunes obtained the certification, because their sales are enhanced by that certification.
I guess I haven’t seen all noise cancelling earphones, but the ones I’ve seen (over-the-ear) don’t look anything like the passive muffs that I’ve worn most of my life for hearing protection. I’m purty sure they don’t try to produce passive sound reduction in a way that would allow them a 20+ dB rating. In any case, it probably is a negative marketing point for them to offer their devices in competition with passive devices such as Isotunes (or those green and orange foam things); so they don’t.
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but it is what it is.