Loud by design

What’s the one cordless tool you’ve wanted for years? Did you say Cordless Drill Train Horn Conversion? Well, of course you did. 

I can make quite a racket on my own in the shop (and am mightily proud of it), but these guys bring the need for hearing protection to a whole ’nother level. I’d never seen one of these conversions before — or even speculated on their possibility — but they appear to be everywhere online. 

Available from a number of online merchants, the offerings are fairly similar. The makers start with a real drill in your favorite flavor (Milwaukee, Ryobi, DeWalt, etc.), strip out most of the innards, but retain switches and battery connections. Then, they drop in a small air compressor, install connection tubing, and attach an array of air horns to the top. The end user supplies the appropriate battery. 

They’re not cheap, though. Ready-to-deafen drill/horn conversions can run from $150 to $300, depending on the number of horns and loudness. If you have an old drill, you’re willing to sacrifice to the cause, kit versions including everything, but the drill run about $120-$160. 

And did I mention that these are loud? My DeWalt DW735 planer is loud, but at a mere 102 decibels it’s a real slacker. Pull the trigger on one of these babies, and you’re hitting between 140-150 dB. For perspective, that’s like standing about a hundred feet from a jet engine. At takeoff. 

My initial reaction to these was simple amusement, but they’re not entirely frivolous. Any jobsite requiring outdoor signaling – around a loading dock, out on the water, during lumber harvesting — might find one of these money well spent. 

While I don’t really have that kind of need for one, the 15-year-old inside of me thinks these are pretty cool. I’ve tossed out a few old drills over the years. Now I kinda wish I’d hung on to at least one of them.