The Cutting Edge — September 2003

Product & Engineering Standards

By John Schultz, Super Thin Saws, jschultz@superthinsaws.com

For North American tooling manufacturers hoping to export their products to the European Union, it is important to understand the procedures for getting the CE mark for those products. The CE mark is a declaration that a product meets EU safety, health, and environmental standards. It is often referred to as a sort of a “passport” for your products.

For tooling, the primary issues seem to be the safety concerns involving mounting, dismounting, vibration, kickback, improper assembly, distortion, loosing knives, and, of course, disintegration during operation. To eliminate or minimize hazards, a manufacturer has to demonstrate compliance with standards on balance, knife projection, clamping, gullet geometry, etc, even proper labeling.

These standards are an outgrowth of the German insurance industry’s “BG Test” standards, including the justly famous overspeed test. “The overspeed test shall be conducted with blanks for the largest cutting diameter and the largest cutting edge width.” This, and other requirements, are spelled out in the European Standard DIN EN 847-1, “Tools for woodworking – Safety requirements, Part 1: Milling tools and circular saw blades.”

EN 847-1 is under revision. The provisional update prEN 847-1 (May 2003) is at the stage of European enquiry. The deadline for voting is November 2003. For more information on the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) see http://www.cenorm.be/ Or contact Mr. Eberhard Barthel, Secretariat of CEN/TC 142/WG 8, at EBERHARD.BARTHEL@DIN.DE

Both documents are available from Beuth Verlag GmbH, Burggrafenstrasse 6, 10787 Berlin, Tel: +49 30 26 01 27 59, Fax: +49 30 26 01 12 63, foreignsales@beuth.de

EN 847-1 references several other EN and ISO standards. For more information on ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and to obtain copies of the relevant ISO standards, see http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/aboutiso/introduction/index.html

There is also a pamphlet named “CE Alert” available from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in this country. Contact National Center for Standards and Certification Information, Bldg 820, Rm 164, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. Copies may also be requested by phone: 301-975-4040; fax: 301-926-1559; ncsci@nist.gov

For last month’s article, click here.