3 Fundamentals of press design

116 Fundamentals of press design
foreign countries outside of Europe, the user should contractually stipulate
compliance with the current revision of 89/EEC/392. European
manufacturers are required in any case to comply with this legal
requirement, making a contractual provision to this effect unnecessary.
When the user himself performs no conversion work on the press, he
is only required to be acquainted with the provided operating instructions
and the accident prevention regulations applicable for press operation.
In Germany, the following accident prevention regulations are
among the most important in this context:
– VBG 7n5.1 for eccentric and related presses,
– VBG 7n5.2 for hydraulic presses,
– VBG 7n5.3 for spindle presses,
– VBG 5 for power-driven operating equipment.
Directive 89/655/EEC on the provision of equipment obliges the user to
retrofit all machines to a defined minimum standard by January 1,
1997. It is safe to assume that users who converted their machines in
line with accident prevention regulations valid up until December 31,
1993, will be unaffected by this ruling.
If the user intends to perform his own conversion work on the
machine, he assumes full responsibility for his actions. He must accordingly
be acquainted with all the valid directives, regulations and standards.
Conversion of an annex IV machine, i.e. a press intended for manual
feeding and unloading, requires notification of the testing body
which performed the EC type test. The conversion of an automatic
machine for manual feeding or unloading calls for EC type testing unless
the complete construction has been performed in compliance with the C
standard. Although the ECMD does not apply to used machinery, i.e.
machines coming into circulation in the EEC prior to December 31,
1994. These machines do not bear the CE mark and do contain certain
provisions which are of importance in this context. Used machines from
foreign countries outside Europe must always bear the CE mark and be
accompanied by a conformity declaration. The conversion of used
machines must be performed with a view to the health and safety
requirements of annex I of the ECMD. However, in case of major modifications,
functional changes or increased performance, the entire
machine or producton line must be subjected to a conformance check by
the construction foreman, after which it will receive the CE mark.
Metal Forming Handbook / Schuler (c) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1998