Make sure whatever you do that you have a way to lock out the main breaker in the off position. Osha wants to see that and it makes good sense. Make sure you also have a couple of red "lock out padlocks" around also. Keep one with your tools. I had a guy come up to me and ask what I was doing just as I was packing up my things after servicing a machine at a manufacturing plant. The idiot who was with him ( a plant management person ) failed to mention that he was an Osha enforcement guy so I explained what I had done and then the Osha guy introduced himself. He asked if I lockout the machines I work on and I just pointed at my lock hanging on my tool bag strap and said, there's my lock. The truth is that the machines are impossible to debug with the power off. But that doesn't matter, as they will happily fine you regardless. The fines normally start with 4 digit numbers. I don't visit that plant much any longer. They now ship the machines to another location so they can be serviced. Their safety "rules" are so difficult to deal with that it makes no sense to try and do work in that plant. For the same reason they can't keep any decent engineers or technicians at that location. I predict the plant will be closing within the next 5 years. The plant machinery will probably end up in Mexico. I'm all for being safe since it is my butt that is on the line, but there is a level of common sense that must be used.
Osha and some plants seem to forget that from time to time. Dave On 2/6/2016 2:39 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote: > It's really not nearly as interesting as it sounds. It start out as a 2 > spindle Digital Tool CNC Router. Eventually both spindles were replaced with > 3 Porter Cable Routers, inelegantly mounted to the W and Z axis. It is a > major pain to change tooling on (each of the 3 tools on each vertical axis > have to be set to precisely the same depth, with the only adjustment being > how far the tool is inserted into the collet. Replaceable insert tip > engraving tooling has been a god send for this machine. I used to spend a > couple hours every 2-3 days changing tools on that pos. The overloaded > bearings and ways on W, Z and X axis don't hold up very well and I have to > overhaul the thing periodically. > > Our 3phase is not the wild leg variety. The new 3ph breaker will be > replacing 3 of the 9 old 110 breakers in one of our LV main panels. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gene Heskett" <ghesk...@wdtv.com> > To: emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Sent: Saturday, February 6, 2016 2:54:45 AM > Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Rewire Question? > > On Friday 05 February 2016 23:22:35 Dave Cole wrote: > >> I'm familiar with Hill Billy engineering.. >> >> Be careful when taking single phase off 3 phase. Phase to neutral is >> what you want of course, but if you somehow make a wiring mistake (or >> they did in the past), you can easily get line to line voltage in a >> place you don't want it to be. The result can be large amounts of >> smoke and some fire! Don't ask how I know this... :-/ >> >> Dave > In my old home stomping grounds of central Iowa, we called that Shade > Tree Mechanicing. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. :) > > But in splitting off a 3 phase circuit, I'd sure want to be assured it > wasn't setup by the power folks as a "wild leg" circuit that was popular > 65 years ago. The only fix for that, that is IMO correct, is a delta > primary, 1/1 ratio but wye secondary isolation transformer of suitable > kilowatt rating. And just to be a jerk about it, I'd sue to put it in > front of the electrical metering, making the power company absorb the 3 > to 5% loses in such a setup. > >> On 2/5/2016 11:09 PM, Todd Zuercher wrote: >>> This is the last of our old grandfathered in hill billy engineer >>> machines that I have to bring into the modern era. Adding an e-stop >>> system is in the plan as well. I am still amazed that the >>> electrical contractor who installed the machine when we moved to the >>> new shop in 2008 agreed to put it in this way. >>> >>> My plan was to put in a new panel with a disconnect and feed it with >>> a 40amp 3-phase breaker from the main panel. Then from the >>> disconnect split it off into 9 single phase breakers. There already >>> are contactors and such in the control system, adding the e-stop >>> loop will be very easy. > Sounds like an interesting machine. I know where there is an 8 spindle > machine, at a split rail fenceing maker, but I believe that one has just > 2 motors, one for each 4 spindles. It does the rail holes in the > fenceposts, doing the 3 holes each in a 3 rail fencepost, in 8 posts at > once in about 2 minutes, not counting the load/unload time. > > By brute force, I don't think the tooling has been sharpened in a decade. > So the holes are ragged & splintery, but its still (shrug) a usable > hole. Probably have 20 such posts wrapped around my place. But the > original installer spaced them about 2 feet closer together than std, so > when I have to replace a rotted rail, I have to saw off a couple feet of > one of those rails, and get out my electric hand plane to put a new > taper on the end of the rail. > > Cheers, Gene Heskett ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Site24x7 APM Insight: Get Deep Visibility into Application Performance APM + Mobile APM + RUM: Monitor 3 App instances at just $35/Month Monitor end-to-end web transactions and take corrective actions now Troubleshoot faster and improve end-user experience. Signup Now! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=272487151&iu=/4140 _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
