Ways to do fabrication more quietly

These are situations where you might run a workshop inside an apartment or condo.

• air compressor
  • Quieter compressor + smaller compressor + large storage tank — Some air compressors are manufactured to be quieter than normal ones. However, they only reduce the noise somewhat, and they may still be too loud.
    • If larger air compressors are inherently louder than smaller ones (TODO: try to find evidence for this), then I could use a really small air compressor to slowly charge a larger air tank, ~30 minutes before I plan to work.
  • You can also install sound-deadening material around the air compressor.
• avoid pneumatic tools
  • Avoid pneumatic versions of tools, get electric-powdered instead. Pneumatic are noisier than electric versions, [2] they just are.

Social engineering ideas:

• Be suuuuper nice to your neighbors. Offer to help them with any projects they might have. Offer to make them small things, including bottle openers and such.
• Be very careful about what hours you work. If a neighbor has concerns, be happy to accommodate them if there are specific hours they'd like you to avoid.

I haven't researched this enough yet, but there are at least two ways to slow down an A/C motor, when the device doesn't have a built-in way to slow its speed down:

• Cheaper plug-in motor speed controllers
  • The problem with these is that they really lower the torque too.
• More expensive VFDs (variable frequency drives)