[mburns]

Well, its been 3 years and about $3K to $4K. My 3 axis router is done. I have engraved many signs and even cut out a Gibson Explorer! This thing is pretty sweet.

I am a teacher and have taken it into the school to expose the kids to some CAD CAM and hopefully start a guitar building club.

Problem: It needs to be electrically approved to stay at school...

Questions:

a) How do I get an electrical approval in ontario
b) Why can`t i find the ontario electrical code on E-laws
c) What all would an inspector look for (all componets are csa approved, all componets appropriately specd relative to the load they carry)

If you have any info, let me know. This machine will be a value learning tool in the school, if I am allowed to keep it there.

-Mike

[Al_The_Man]

Ontario I believe is one of the few provinces that require a sticker before it is used in a commercial setting.
A call to the local Electrical building inspector should be able to tell you who you contact.
As for conforming, I use the NFPA pub. Electrical Standards for Industrial Machinery as a guide line.
They may look for grounding, power disconnect & fusing and enclosure interlock, i.e. prevention of opening an enclosure with the power still on.
There are some relaxing of the rules I believe that may not entail a sticker if it is fed with no more than 120v 1 phase.
Also there may be other non-electrical safety issues that it may have to conform to especially in a school setting.
Al.

[Al_The_Man]

Hopefully you are not using this product.
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107838
Al.

[mburns]

No, thank goodness. I built my own using the Gecko G201's. They are great. I did use stepper motors from Keling Technology, they were really inexpensive (probably for a reason). The motors are rated for 495 oz in at 3 amps, which seems a bit much for a Nema 23 motor and they do run quite hot.

I emailed the ESA regarding an approval and have not recieved a reply yet. I am hoping you are correct regard relaxed requirements for 120 single phase. I'll post any info I obtain.

Thanks

Mike

[mburns]

I have a reply regarding electrical approval in Ontario:

"The construction and wiring of your machine must meet the requirements of the SPE-1000-10 Model Code for the Field Evaluation of Electrical Equipment"

I can't find this code on E-Laws, and its $150 to purchase. Does anyone have access to this code?

Mike

[Al_The_Man]

I have never personally come across this document, Over the years I have built and retrofitted many machines and have based the electrical practices on my experience and back ground in the electrical field.
Although when I first got into M.T. building, I looked for a definitive recommendation for Machine Control circuitry apart from the N.E.C., both US and Canadian.
The only document I could find at the time was the NFPA 79 Electrical Standards for Industrial Machinery.
This is a very good publication and takes the N.E.C. as a base and extends it to machine control.
If you want to take a chance at supplying the machine without an approval sticker, you could maybe get it informally assessed or looked over by a local elecrical control company, to see if there is any glaringly obvious electrical no-no's.
Probably one thing you want to ensure the E-stop circuit conforms to recommended practice.
I get the impression that many hobby builder do not incorporate a true hard-wired E-stop and often rely on one that advises the software a E-stop has taken place, or initiate it through software, instead of it using the practice of a primarily operated Hardwired E-stop.
Al.

[dmannock]

Local inspection is possible for ~$500 by your local city inspection group. That is the first place to start. They will ask for a few changes and apply an ETL sticker. David

[Al_The_Man]

A bit of a legacy thread, now 5yrs old.
Al.

[UA_Iron]

I would have gone for the CSA approval - it covers electrical safety (about 90% of the standard is based on that), mechanical hazards, user hazards etc. It is governed by IEC 61010-1:2010 and accompanying/referenced documents.

[dmannock]

There is a trade off here involving convenience, cost and technical safety. The CSA costs more for a field inspection, but have a lot of extended safety standards. In talking to my local CSA branch looking for info, they were less than helpful and were very dictatorial. Trying to get help from them in the form of information costs money, so they want you to pay up before they will help you. The UL is more helpful, but local ETL inspections are thorough and my local inspectors are glad that I have done a lot of the homework for them. I will still have some things to correct, but I won't have to gut the machine to get it certified.