When I learnt about the GF kickstarter I immediately knew I had to have one. I dived for my credit card and ordered one without even considering whether there would be any import restrictions or not. Now, as the shipping date is closing in, I suddenly realized that this is something I need to research. I would be devastated if my GF was stopped at the border and sent back.
An e-mail to the Norwegian radiation protection authority taught me that although class I lasers can be imported to Norway without any special permits, I need to make sure that the laser cutter is “made, marked and classified in accordance with the European standard for safety of lasers EN 60825-1”
Now, my question is this: does anyone know whether the GF is in accordance with this standard? I figured I’d ask here before starting a major google and standard reading session =P
As I understand it the EN 60825-1:2014 standard should apply to EU as a whole in addition to Norway. I am sure the Glowforge team / @dan are on top of this, but an confirmation is always nice.
I know they have orders from all over the world, and I’m sure they intend on accommodating them.
UL & CE certifications are part of the plan, but I wouldn’t think those have been acquired yet considering it would have to be a production unit that they evaluate. Just my speculation.
The power supply just reached it’s final design recently, and I’m sure Glowforge wouldn’t have full production on anything until those certifications have been secured, but for all I know they may already have them.
Understood, but do you intend to have the GFs UL (or other NRTL) tested? I don’t see lack of NRTL certification as a major problem from a personal standpoint but others might and my understanding is that obtaining the certification can be a somewhat expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
In a past life, one of my responsibilities was to inspect all non-NRTL-listed electrical equipment and I was sometimes surprised at what passed NRTL certification though non-NRTL-listed equipment could be much worse.
Rick - just looking for official confirmation that UL listing is still planned at release. If you are familiar with the UL certification process, can you comment on how long that might take for a product like the GF? If it takes a week, fine, but if it takes a few months that could be another matter and something that might affect full product release. My sense is that certification can take a while but I have no idea if that is typically days, weeks, or months.
Other than Dan saying they are planning to do the certifications and also saying that if there are problems he would let us know before shipping, we have no way of knowing. My understanding is there is no such thing as typical time for certification testing because it depends on the type of product and there are many different processes. Either way it’s but one step in hundreds on a project timeline, any one of which could take days or many months. No answer other than “It’s done” or “we give up” will get us any closer to understanding impact on schedule.
@rpegg is right - it’s something we’re working on, and like most aspects of the schedule, we’ll talk about it when it’s done - which may or may not be before we ship.
Amen.
Last year we went with two different CE certification companies. One took 18 months and the other “DSL in Chicago” took 4 months. Those guys really know their stuff! We had to make tons of changes during both processes.
Some sort of NRTL listing (like UL, TUV, etc.) would be more important in the US than CE. My last employer required that all electrical equipment be NRTL-listed or it had to be evaluated by in-house inspectors and it was surprising what problems were found with even name-brand manufacturers. CE-listing was explicitly disallowed, though they were a lot more anal than most other companies are likely to be.
If any engineering changes are still being made to the GF, NRTL listing may not be likely by the time product starts shipping, if your experience with CE certification is at all typical. I wonder if that would be a problem for those customers that require or need NRTL listing? For example, if the GF starts a fire in our house, could the insurance company legitimately deny the claim because the device was not listed?