On Sep 16, 2:23 pm, Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Sep 15, 10:29 pm, RickH wrote:





On Sep 15, 8:36 pm, Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Automotive fuses...

Today's mail brought me a Safety Recall notice from Harbor Freight
telling me to stop using, remove any in use, and return the 120 piece
Mini-Blade Automotive Fuse Assortment I'd tacked onto an order I placed
with them a few months ago, because getting 120 fuses for $4.99 seemed
like a good deal. (TOO good a deal I guess...)

They're paying the postage, will refund $4.99 and gave me a "$5.00 Off
coupon" good till next February.

The recall notice includes this explanation:

"Specifically, manufacturing inconsistencies max exiat with the
materials, connections or size of the fuse elements which could result
in the fuses failing to protect the circuit from exessive current which
could cause damage to a vehicle and possibly a fire."

What's next folks?

The fuse issue isn't as funny as the "Stove Bolt Assortment" I bought
from Harbor Freight several years ago and stuck on the shelf. When I
finally wanted to use eight matching fasteners rather than the onsies
and twosies I can get from my "hell box" I went to that assortment, only
to find that all the 10-24 nuts in it had missed the threading operation
and had smooth bore holes in them.

Just for ****s and grins I wrote a letter to HF and taped a couple of
the unthreaded nuts to it. I described the problem and explained that I
assumed the threads were on backorder and asked when they expected to
ship them to me. I wasn't sure what that would get me, but figured
someone might get a laugh out of it and maybe send me another box of
fasteners.

Unfortunatly, my letter was answered by some ditzy woman with no sense
of humor because I all I got was a letter from her saying my complaint
exceeded their allowable time limit for returns and there was nothing
they could do about it now.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.

Sounds like my Chinese kitchen faucet that lasted all of 3 days.

I hear they are planning on importing a $9000 car to the US, the
Cheri, those fuses should work in those.

China can make things real cheap and fast, but they dont believe in QA
departments.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The consumer IS the QA department.

And the irony is that it is American companies that are selling the
stuff to us.

They are the ones who closed their eyes to this developing problem.

And they are as usual trying to pass the buck to the supplier instead
of taking responsiblity themselves.

TMT- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

An example of closing the barn door after the horse has left the
building....

Only a kick in the old profit line will get their attention.

TMT

Toy recalls put testing labs on overtime By MICHELLE R. SMITH,
Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 20, 4:22 PM ET



Gone is the 40-hour work week at Specialized Technology Resources Inc.
Boxes of toys are piling up in the middle of its testing lab, workers
are coming in on weekends, and product testers who normally would
check tools or candles are working on chess sets and plastic cars.

Business is bustling since the recent recalls of millions of toys.
Management at the international product testing company is considering
adding to its 1,600-person staff.

"Right now, we're using everybody in toy land," said Linda Root,
manager of the company's toy testing lab here.

The recalls have toy companies from the largest toy maker Mattel to
small importers clamoring to hire companies such as STR to test and
retest their toys as a way to allay consumer fears ahead of the key
holiday shopping season.

Several testing firms operate worldwide, including Switzerland-based
SGS Group, which has 48,000 workers in 1,000 locations, Bureau Veritas
Group, with 26,000 employees in 700 locations, and London-based
Intertek, which employs 20,000 people in 100 countries.

Mattel's first recall this summer, 1.5 million toys tainted with lead
paint, was a wake-up call for the industry, said Sue DeRagon, STR's
associate director of toys and premiums. Since then, Mattel and others
have recalled more than 20 million toys for high lead levels or for
small magnets that children can swallow, prompting toy companies to do
more tests.

That's kept the lab, housed in an old textile mill in this town north
of Hartford, plenty busy. Toy companies are sending samples of
finished toys to test, especially for lead and magnets, which can be
dangerous if they are swallowed and join together in the digestive
system.

Testers conduct a battery of tests on each toy, based either on U.S.
toy safety standards or something more stringent, if that's what a
company wants.

To check for lead, lab workers use a razor blade to scrape off paint
from the toy's painted surface. They need .1 grams of paint to test,
which can be a challenge when dealing with something like dice which
has only painted dots, or a chess set with lots of nooks and crannies.

"It is very tedious work. It's not easy," Root said. "You do have to
pay attention so you don't lose fingers and cut yourself in any way.
There is no easy way of getting it off. It can take hours."

If a piece of a toy can be grasped or bitten, such as an arm or leg on
an action figure, testers put that piece in a torque gauge and twist
it to see if it snaps. Then, they pull the arm or leg for 10 seconds.
Any piece that breaks off is measured in a "small parts cylinder." If
it fits inside the shot glass-sized cylinder, it could choke a child.

Toys are also dropped several times and placed over a candle flame for
five seconds, then allowed to burn for one minute to see whether they
will easily catch fire.

Testers check for sharp edges and points, and look for long strings or
other pieces of cloth that could strangle a child. If a loop of string
can pass over a metal "head probe" about the size of a baby's head, it
could be dangerous, Root said.

Testers also look for so-called "filth" in the stuffing inside plush
toys.

"You find bugs. Dead bugs usually. If they sweep up the floor, there
could be sawdust," Root said. "We found just recently we had one that
had metal shavings in it."

STR even sends toys out to a local day care center and testers watch
the children play.

"We'll direct them and say, 'See if you can break the head off this
figure,'" DeRagon said. "It's important to get some real-life
information. Let's really see how they're playing with it."

American law does not require toys to be tested before they get into
children's hands, although the Toy Industry Association now supports a
federal mandatory testing requirement. For now, how thoroughly toys
get tested - if at all - can vary widely from one company to another.

The cost of testing is often borne by the manufacturer or importer. A
basic lead test could cost $35 for a toy line, DeRagon said.

Costs for more extensive tests can range from a couple hundred dollars
for a line of toys that's already packaged and in a warehouse, down to
nearly negligible if a company has a long-term testing program in
place at the assembly line, said Sean McGowan, an analyst with Wedbush
Morgan Securities.

Much of the testing that's been going on recently is retesting, so
it's more expensive, he said. More regular testing, which the industry
is now considering making a requirement, would bring down costs, he
said.

Companies are supposed to adhere to voluntary standard consumer toy
safety regulations. Toy makers, testers and retailers work with the
Toy Industry Association to set the standards.

"What's scary is when you hear a toy manufacturer say 'Huh, I've never
of this,'" DeRagon said.

Companies like Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, Van Nuys, Calif.-based
MGA Entertainment, and Canadian companies Spin Master and Mega Brands
already require all their toys to be independently tested.

Several toy companies are retesting toys they've already checked - and
some retests have resulted in recalls, such as vinyl bibs and wooden
art sets recalled by Toys "R" Us last month after new tests found
excessive levels of lead. The retailer this month said it will use an
independent laboratory to test every branded product.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. increased the number of toys it tests. Mattel
promised to test the safety of Chinese-made products with its own
laboratories or with company-certified labs. The toy store FAO Schwarz
will require its suppliers to test all toys with an independent lab.
Even the Walt Disney Co. said it will independently test toys that
feature its characters.

STR and other toy testing firms won't release the names of the
companies they work for, citing client privacy. But DeRagon said STR,
which has two dozen locations around the world, counts 285 toy
companies as active clients. Since Mattel's first recall this summer,
STR has received 25 inquiries from toy companies and signed up at
least half of those as clients, she said.

STR, which tests toys at six of its locations, does most of its
testing in China and Hong Kong, where most toys are produced. That
allows inspectors and testers tighter watch over the production
process, DeRagon said. In companies with stringent quality controls,
she said, inspectors will pull five samples from every production line
every two hours. The lab in Enfield typically tests toys made in the
United States or toys that have already been shipped to the U.S.

This time of year is always busy for toy companies as they rush to get
their products on toy shelves by October ahead of the holiday shopping
season. That makes it all the more important for toy manufacturers,
designers, importers and toy stores to quickly ensure the safety of
their products, DeRagon said.

"The timing is just really critical for the toy companies because it
is coming up to the critical season," she said. "They have to make
sure that the toys are going to be safe."

___

On the Net:

Specialized Technology Resources, Inc.: http://www.strlab.com

Toy Industry Association: http://www.toy-tia.org

Mattel, Inc.: http://www.mattel.com

Toys "R" Us: http://www.toysrus.com

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.: http://www.walmartfacts.com

FAO Schwarz: http://www.fao.com

SGS Group: http://www.sgs.com

Bureau Veritas Group: http://www.bureauveritas.com

Intertek Group: http://www.intertek.com