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  1. #16
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    Thanks John its ukulele size段sh, my daughter designed it and wants an electric ukulele. Timber is camphor laurel.
    It was a bit of work to bend that tight radius!

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  3. #17
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    And then there were two!

  4. #18
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    A little more progress


    Bending iron is proving invaluable!

  5. #19
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    geelong
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    Default Safety concerns with electrical equipment.

    I am an electrical trades qualified and authorised tester. Recently I encountered the most dangerous appliance in my 6 years of testing - an electric heat bender. This inspired me to read through the documents on the web relating to electrical safety by the regulatory body ERAC. Anyone making, importing or selling an electrical appliance has legal obligations and responsibilities and there are penalties for non-compliance.
    The website is ERAC - News Electrical Safety Laws and www.doesitcomply.com.au>assets>files A guide to supplying safe electrical equipment. (particularly pages 22 and 23)
    So, my recommendations are, if you make it, don't sell it, don't loan it, and don't let anyone else use it. If you import it, check it carries the RCM mark of an approved appliance.
    If you don't really know what you are doing, definitely don't sell it and stick to butane up a pipe. It will only burn you, not electrocute.

  6. #20
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    Default Luthiers bending iron with PID controller

    Thanks Tomo, I understand your concern relating to the bending iron. As I have mentioned in previous posts my father is an electrician with over 50 years experience, he has worked on many big projects including the Westgate bridge (after the collapse) Nauru house in construction phase, the Wrestpoint tower in Tasmania, CSIRO AHL Geelong, C Restaurant Perth, US Naval communication towers Exmouth and many more. I worked through the plans with him (and he knows I am not stupid) and he was happy with how the unit was designed and constructed. I am fully aware of the dangers involved with a silent and extremely hot electrical device. I do not intend to manufacture or sell the item, it is for personal use only. I have in no way eluded to how it was put together on this forum, nor do I intend to. Elsewhere in the thread I discussed what process I go through in the shed each and every time I leave it, the bending iron is always kept away from everything else when in use and never left unattended when plugged in, always turned off and unplugged after use, I double check everything without fail. Your concern raises an interesting point, luthiers have been purchasing electric bending irons from retailers for many years, none of the devices have thermal cutout switches built into them nor timing devices to turn the unit off after a duration of use. There are also bending blankets that are manufactured in the same way, these I see as being even more dangerous than the iron as they can simply lay down on a bench after use without any means of protection at all. So what are we to with all of this now? Shall I ask to have this post removed from the forum? Do we have an audit of the safety of bending irons and blankets sold by Lutherie suppliers and internet sites world wide? As far as I知 concerned none of them are safe. Nor are mobile phones, tablets or laptops that are being charged on carpet or on the bed in many homes around the globe. We should also put a stop to places like Bunnings selling all a person needs to wire their house. How far do we go?
    Cheers Cal

  7. #21
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    Default Electrical Equipment Safety Laws

    Hi Cal, You are fortunate in having your father/advisor to oversee your project. My greatest concerns lie with people that don't have the skills or the recognition that they are dealing with "canned lightning". I posted because I think that many would be unaware of the situation they may find themselves in if their equipment resulted in a fatality. The Electrical Equipment Safety Laws were enacted in 2013 with a compliance implementation requirement of 5 years, meaning March this year. An electrocution would be subjected to a Coroners Enquiry. The punitive clauses in law are stated in the publications I listed in my first thread are listed as maximum penalty for a breach of regulation resulting in death is $300.000 for an individual or $1.5m for a corporation. It would be bad news if you killed yourself with a dud appliance but also if you killed someone else and a penalty was imposed that may even have a civil damages claim component as well. The laws relate to someone or a corporation who makes, imports or sells an electrical appliance.
    Again I would urge anyone tempted to make their own electrical appliance to have a read of the laws and think of the possible consequences if it all goes wrong. As far as stuff on the market is concerned, if it doesn't carry a Regulatory Compliance Mark, it probably doesn't comply. Beware if you become "the importer"!






    Quote Originally Posted by Cal View Post
    Thanks Tomo, I understand your concern relating to the bending iron. As I have mentioned in previous posts my father is an electrician with over 50 years experience, he has worked on many big projects including the Westgate bridge (after the collapse) Nauru house in construction phase, the Wrestpoint tower in Tasmania, CSIRO AHL Geelong, C Restaurant Perth, US Naval communication towers Exmouth and many more. I worked through the plans with him (and he knows I am not stupid) and he was happy with how the unit was designed and constructed. I am fully aware of the dangers involved with a silent and extremely hot electrical device. I do not intend to manufacture or sell the item, it is for personal use only. I have in no way eluded to how it was put together on this forum, nor do I intend to. Elsewhere in the thread I discussed what process I go through in the shed each and every time I leave it, the bending iron is always kept away from everything else when in use and never left unattended when plugged in, always turned off and unplugged after use, I double check everything without fail. Your concern raises an interesting point, luthiers have been purchasing electric bending irons from retailers for many years, none of the devices have thermal cutout switches built into them nor timing devices to turn the unit off after a duration of use. There are also bending blankets that are manufactured in the same way, these I see as being even more dangerous than the iron as they can simply lay down on a bench after use without any means of protection at all. So what are we to with all of this now? Shall I ask to have this post removed from the forum? Do we have an audit of the safety of bending irons and blankets sold by Lutherie suppliers and internet sites world wide? As far as I知 concerned none of them are safe. Nor are mobile phones, tablets or laptops that are being charged on carpet or on the bed in many homes around the globe. We should also put a stop to places like Bunnings selling all a person needs to wire their house. How far do we go?
    Cheers Cal

  8. #22
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    Thanks for the reply. I understand completely from an electrocution standpoint, and rightly so. But what about the fact that none of the devices for sale have a thermal cutoff or timer and the person burns the shed or house down because they have failed to turn the iron off and injures or kills someone? Where does the individual stand then? I think there are two parts to this, the devices should have failsafes built in to prevent or reduce a fire risk also.

  9. #23
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    Aldinga Beach
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    When we find a cheap electrical product from China....we should expect that those products most likely are not "approved" products or components.
    Using any unapproved part when building mains operated devices for use here in Australia would not be wise. I have seen some of them...scary stuff

  10. #24
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    I知 talking about this item sold by a retailer in Australia http://luthierssupplies.com.au/produ...roducts_id=238

    No thermal cutout or timer in these units and with a uk plug on the end of it, purchase an adapter for Aus.

  11. #25
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    I was just making an observation about stuff sold on eg ebay from China. I can't comment on the item you refer to...

  12. #26
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    Default Chinese Junks?

    Quote Originally Posted by ericks2 View Post
    I was just making an observation about stuff sold on eg ebay from China. I can't comment on the item you refer to...
    The item pictured is the one that scared the socks off me, as referred to in my 1st post, but there are more!
    A friend of mine asked me to test one of those. It came up with "no connected earth" on the tester, so I investigated further. Admittedly, it was old and had done a lot of work and maybe the design and materials used may have been improved, but it still looks like the one offered for sale now. The owner assured me he had not modified it. First I looked at the plug and found an active/neutral transposition to correct their colour coded wires to their correct terminals in the plug. The lead had been installed end for end. I then opened up the appliance. The appliance end of the cable had a captive ring fitted which didn't prevent rotation of the cable, hence the 3 cores were tightly wound together. The earth cable end insulation was burnt and not connected. I then undid the stem mounting bolts and lifted it clear. the earth lug was fitted to a mounting bolt, not directly to the stem and the cable had broken or corroded through. One side of the fiberglass heat proof wiring to the element had been in contact with the side of the stem and the insulation was holed at that point. The heat insulation material was useless as the top of the wooden block was charred and would not have prevented moisture ingress. The earth cable insulation was cooked by transferred heat down the mounting bolt that it's lug was fastened to. I returned the thing in bits to it's owner who consigned it's various parts to re-cycling and land fill.
    No2. I was also asked to check another bender, bought from ebay, of Chinese origin. This one has a metal base with I assume 11, 22mm vent holes down each side. It was fitted with a 2 core cable and not earthed, and a not grommeted entry and obviously was not a double insulated appliance, so immediate fail of standards. The vent holes would indicate the metal connection box gets hot, so what is the purpose of the fitted heat insulant? The vent holes are oversize (there is a Standards Test Finger) as I could poke my finger in to it's base and touch all the connections easily, so fail again.
    It dismays me that this stuff can be bought by people not realizing the hazard they expose themselves to, but also that the first wood block type is sold from an Australian and an American website. They are Timebombs in my opinion, even though they probably test OK early in their life. And Cal, I agree with what you say about burning the house down, as this can be covered by using a temp. controlling PID, but that wouldn't necessarily be an item with electrical safety standards regulations.

  13. #27
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    Wow, scary stuff but I am not surprised by your findings at all. Growing up with a sparky as a father I saw first hand many deadly appliances that Dad would pull apart to show me how unsafe they were. All of which were dismantled and disposed of.
    The temp PID i have in will not shut off the power it just regulates the temp and I have it set at 160c so it is a fire risk for sure. I am seriously thinking of installing a timer to my device as a safety measure. And no it is not a guarantee that the thing will be off and I can just forget about it.
    I don稚 think that the manufacturers of these bending irons have changed the design since they were first manufactured (I may be wrong though)

  14. #28
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    I always add one of these type of units to protect against overtemperatures in case the controller fails...

    safety1.jpg

  15. #29
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    .....you doing a great job with those guitars

  16. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by ericks2 View Post
    .....you doing a great job with those guitars
    Thanks! I have another thread going with them on here now, a little more progress on them than is showing here.

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