Hi. I’m new to this community and my first question will have to do with legal issues in the EU regarding selling printer kits. Is there a border on how many parts can be preasembled for the whole to still count as a kit (trying to avoid CE certification)? I understand that the electronics probably have to be assembled by the end user, but what about the motion system? Would it be possible to pre-assemble parts like hotends and linear motion to save time (and stress) for the buyer? The printer i’m building will have 24V electronics with a 220V (400W) Heater Mat (with a preset thermostat, fuses and proper grounding of all movable parts for protection).
I would appreciate if someone could give me some insights into the legal issues about selling printers. Thanks
I can tell you that selling assembled bots in the EU absolutely requires just paying the piper and abiding by all the rules. We had a bunch of bots that had passed CE, etc that was held by customs b/c improper marking on the outside of the box. They mentioned they had the right to just destroy them, but we got involved and they sent the whole bunch back at our expense (a full pallet I think). It’s no joke. We complied with everything they cited and now smooth sailing. Very expensive, btw. It is what it is.
In small volume you have little to worry about usually.
The first Ultimaker kits came with pre-assembled heads. And electronics can also be seen as “pre-assembled”
Having the end-user deal with 220V-240V could be problematic. I would highly recommend against it. Not just from a regulation standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint. It’s a fire and health risk.
Thank you @Brook_Drumm and @Daid_Braam for being the voices of reason in this post. It really comes down to asking a professional and/or hiring a professional outright to handle these kinds of things. As a small business, you likely don’t have the time or capital to screw up and lose thousands of dollars worth of product because you missed something.
Thanks for your responses. Yes, hiring a professional will be the way to go once i have everything ready. I’m still designing the printer and improving the prototype. Would it be possible to avoid complications by running everything on 24V (Heatbed around 350W) and using a CE certified power supply like Meanwell? Does anyone have experience with low voltage and CE? I’m only looking for advice for now.
Everything is easier on 24v. I believe that’s how DM also does it; afaik we didn’t pay for any kind of CE certification, but our power supplies are CE certified. We haven’t had any of our printers stopped at customs.