Thanks for correcting my naive calculations of not going off the spindle nameplate.
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I am still in the process of installing my water cooled spindle, so don’t have real comparisons (and won’t against an air cooled spindle per se). I can say my screaming Makita is still louder than the cutting noises I induce into aluminum and can only imagine wood would be less. It does add complexity (and cost) into the system as you mention. Many have gotten by with simple cheap water fountain pumps and a bucket, but isn’t very elegant and adds a larger footprint vs PC cooling equipment. Some have seen failures with the pumps included in the spindle bundles, not sure how G-Penny holds up in quality of the pump.
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Ya i was looking into doing the water cooled and using PC cooling and price just started adding, up so then i was wondering how much louder air cooled really is.
I have a makita right now and i would be happy with anything that isn’t louder then the makita haha
Im sure a 800w would work fine but from what i have seen they come with ER11, i need something atleast ER16.
I got my supplies from Performance PCs which has 10% (all orders) and 15% (over $299 
) coupons running at the moment. They have been pretty fast on shipment (next day) too. Still gonna cost more than a submerged pump and bucket though 
There is also Aquarium chillers, typically require an external pump unlike that industrial one that has an internal one.
Something I may have to evaluate when Summer hits 
I don’t have a water-cooled spindle to compare against, but my “1.5Kw” air-cooled spindle is plenty quiet as far as I am concerned. With the doors to my enclosure closed, the loudest thing happening is generally… the fan on the VFD. I’ve been quite happy with the spindle - I don’t think I would even notice if it was quieter than it already is.
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Thanks! Did you have a Makita or Dewalt before the spindle? If so how does it compare?
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I had a DeWalt. The noise comparison is… an order of magnitude? Night and day? Screaming bloody murder vs quiet purring? It is so substantially better that I don’t know how else to express it, and I don’t have the equipment to do a proper measurement.
In practical terms, it was the difference between actually wanting to use the machine and not. With the doors closed, I can hear it enough to know that it is running, but that’s about it.
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Thanks for the info, air cooled might be the way I go then since i am really not that worried about it being silent, just didn’t want anything louder then my makita!
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I’ve been leaning towards an air cooled spindle myself. I know it would be way less noisy than the router. Just don’t want to go the water cooled as I’d have to do a lot of changes and additions. RV coolant, hoses, pump, reservoir or chiller, more power for the chiller or pump. Air cooled is way less complicated. Still on the fence.
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Yeah, that was my thinking as well - along with the fact that the one I got was relatively lightweight and 65mm in diameter, so it works with the stock spindle mount + Makita adapter.
As far as I know, the benefits of a water-cooled spindle are a “sealed” environment (so no worries about chips getting into it) and a potentially lower-end on the RPMs (air-cooled means “cooled by the same spinny thing driving the cutter” so there’s a minimum safe RPM - mine is 7200, I think). Neither of those outweighed what I perceived to be the costs, but everybody’s got to make that determination for themselves.
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I’ll chip in here. I spent months playing with various cooling setups, I made DIY ones from PC parts etc.
I then bought a CW-3000 circulator - its not a chiller but does the same thing as a pc fan, coolant pump, tank etc.
Hands down I’d buy the CW-3000 again - it’s way less faff, possibly cheaper, more reliable, easier to setup and cleaner then anything else I came across.
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How quiet is it ? The cheapo submersible pump that came with my spindle is starting to show signs of agony, so…
Other than a loud beep when you turn it on it’s nice and quiet. Certainly no bother when you are running a spindle or machining.
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I’ve a real chiller, a cw5000 for my laser. It is almost noiseless until the compressor kicks on, then pretty noisy, but a 3000 model won’t have that increase. But I’d hate to drop another $2-300 depending on if real or knockoff version. Would push up conversion to what, $800 plus? Pushing a thousand with wiring and hose and new drag cable. not inexpensive.
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Is the tubing on the G-penny compatible with the CW-3000 or did you have to adapt the tubing to fit. Currently have 6mm OD/4mm ID tubing. Curious if this will fit on the CW-3000.
Sounds about right, I have silicone tubing and it slipped right on the Pronged hose fittings
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