last time i stood outside a Palazzoli factory was in Brescia in northern Italy and with this
weather i must be back there again well close gary this is known as the Italy of Essex but
you may know it as Braintree but it is the home of another Lewden Palazzoli factory
I'm here with an old friend Gary what are we here to find out about today yeah we've got
the TopTer range and we're going to be looking at can it save electrician's time
and can it save electricians money when thinking about those installs in those
industrial units yeah so let's dive inside we're going to see how we built this unit
before i get a chance to take a deep dive into the assembly process of a topter can
you just remind us why we believe it will save electricians time you're right go we see lots of
examples out in industry where people are fitting multiple socket outlets in the same location so
you might have a three phase outlet you might have various types of single phase outlet all
wired back to a distribution board where you've got individual RCDs protecting those outlets
so we think with a different approach using the Topter you can drastically
simplify your electrical installation which means potentially saving money so we're over
here where we're going to actually assemble our efixx Topter and i'm terrible we're named so i
could really do with some help and you are gary gary we're like that one's already on a winner
what's the first process you're gonna do for us we're gonna fit the box up put the mechanicals
in and then wire it okay so then we'll introduce the wiring room shall we start that process yep
so got the customer request form here and your
diagram gary yeah and it states here you've got 75 minutes to complete the project do you think
you're built in the fact that i'm going to be pestering you throughout in order to complete
it or do you think we're in time i think we're doing time okay it's coming together quite
quickly already it already looks like uh a top term obviously is it the wiring loom it's going
to take all our time a bit yeah also a few other bits and bobs that's got to be added at some point
could you give us an example of those bits dim rails terminals uh did you do all your ferrule
in yourself are they pretty very do that myself all right okay so we've got 75 minutes so we're
going to be pressing for time let's see how we go so we're at the point then we're going to
introduce this three-phase buzz bar it's clever isn't it can you just go through the components
for you basically got the shroud and then you've got the three phases and they're offset
aren't they for each individual phase okay let's put those together when you put them together
that's you that's your first phase yep second phase goes in the middle yeah offsets are about
there and the third phase would go like that can we just clip it into position
it wouldn't be an e-fix video without having a little look at some ferals some class five
tri-rated cable as well all the wiring looms are they always feralled correct so okay and
he's always using that class 5 conductor as well yes can we see a bit of ferrule action
so gentle twist and then we go 10 millimeter squared correct
so what stage are we up to now then we're pre-wiring the sockets ready
to be loomed and then to be connected to the controls within the box okay we're
swapped over now we're on the door side is that right that's correct
so we've nearly finished and there's one more process that i'm really interested in and that's
returning the screws to the required torque setting as per the manufacturer
and you are the manufacturer correct so what's the torque set i'm going to go for 2.4 newton meters
what lovely experience it was to watch this wiring loom going in how neat you've left it and dressed
it but i also admire the amount of room that we've got this side here for our supply cable
what sort of cable are going to be swooping down into the bottom of here
between 10 and 16 millimeter we've got an rccb feeding all the circuits could we have perhaps
had individual rcbos if we wanted to can do if you wish so while gary's watching somebody
else work down on the factory floor i'm here with ian peacock technical manager of lewd and pallets
early now ian we love the top tier product you know we've used it a lot in our own factory
uh we're here exploring custom build today you know in our head though as soon as we mention the
word custom we're straight away think oh that's an expensive option solution is actually more
cost effective i mean the parts are available within our standard catalog range an assembled
item we're taking the onus on the the design and responsibility of the build and the testing of the
product and it'd be a more cost effective solution for customers by buying the item uh complete and
ready to go than it is if they were to look for the parts themselves try to find all the accessory
items and and build and test the products yeah and i mean there's a visibility there's a lot
of part numbers in the catalog there is a lot of part numbers in the catalog yeah so the natural
solution is that the best option is to come and say right this is what i want three fare socket
i want a 16 amp single phase socket yeah i want whatever i want building in there how does that
process work from an electrician they'll come to us looking for a solution it may be for a factory
or a logistics sensor we'll look and see what what it is they're trying to achieve electrically
what kind of electrical supplier do they have we'll make sure that we're going to design them
something that meets 18 position wine regulations in terms of icd protection we also look to the
mechanical side and you know we've got indoor outdoor applications switched interlocked or
different options that can lead you to a tailored solution each time there's that many charges in
the catalog yeah by just you know could i just do a sketch we get a lot of architect drawings
even just we call fag packet sketches from uh that's how we work yeah that's exactly how i think
when customers yeah when we did the uh the building siteboard a famous sketch on the back
of LS Lousy i think they called it and just just build us one of this and yeah it turned up
to that specific question now does that process though take a long time because again as soon
as anyone mentions to me custom again we've got the price equation out the window but then i'm
thinking oh it's going to take ages it's going to be some sort of difficult process no i mean
generally for us i mean we're holding a lot of stock of these these individual component parts
ready to go we can react pretty quickly if customers need it a couple of day turnaround
or less if someone you know someone's really desperate for something i guess it's just going
to depend on how complex they need to be and you know how many pieces they're ordering
custom build if it's you know mega quantities if it's hundreds or thousands no we're quite happy on
a one-off basis right so you'll do a one-off yeah and it's something i would definitely explore um
and there's also flexibility isn't there in the circuit protection that's right especially with
with outlets i mean you're looking at you know a lot of time we don't know what's going to be
connected um so we do a little bit of exploration with the customer and find out whether it's uh
outlets for general purpose whether they're feeding dedicated machinery
you know how important it is that machinery stays on if there's if there's a
fault you know if they want to go down to the levels of individual rcbos we can cater for all
absolutely and trying to fit that protection in a centralized distribution board yeah you end
up needing enormous enormous distribution boards where you can actually move that down to the level
generally these boxes comprise of a transparent window so you can see all circuit breakers in a
in a nice line without opening the enclosure you can see the status plenty of room to distribute a
single phase or a single phase or three-phase supply coming in and break it down into the
you know however many circuits we need with the with the overload short circuit protection and
residual current protection built in the unit we've specified there looks pretty standard but
you've also we've seen as we've wandered around some examples of other projects that you've done
yeah we've discovered the cat flap yeah the famous cat flap these type of boxes for applications
such as maybe colleges or marketplaces we'll do a feeder pillar that's got a front access door and a
little what we call a cat flap on the side through which you can parse your all your trailing leads
plug into the socket outlets on the on the on the top to the unit and then close the outer door so
that no one can temper while it's in use on that note we'll go and see how gary's getting on with
the final test of the unit we've specified here okay we've finished the assembly process with
gary and we've moved over to juve it's practice here for somebody to assemble and something
different to test it are you going to show us that testing process yes i will thank you so
first i'm going to check the wire diagram against against what has been built inside the unit here
this is very very important because sometimes they can make mistakes so
i'm going to check i'm going to pass it through so continuity test on the condition yes now yes
okay start from the bottom here it's not live yet so no
first the first one i'm gonna go this way so as you're building
it through effectively you're doing a visual polarity at the same time yeah
now i'm gonna close it i'm gonna put live on it and i'm gonna check the rcd
and check the polarity of the sockets and you can do that from the front yes yes okay
happy with the polarity yes i will say it now
there we go okay that's fine it's on the right circuit and the switch function test as well yes
we're going to check the RCD as well it's an autotest is it yes that was the RCD test
now i can check the polarity with this one as well i'll check that one here that one's done
switch is working pull out his right right circuit
so completion of the test what uh what's left to do that's it i just check in here just checking
again if the wiring is all right and then and then i put my stamp on it and fill out the test form
okay thank you wow gary what's really impressed me is how quick this custom
build process has been and how actually easy it is to go from that initial concept through
to this finished product now don't take our word for it check out the contact details below for
looting pallets early and give the service a try yourself and let us know what you think
yeah it's got a unique sticker now on our unit from our drawings if we wanted to order any more
we just quote that sticker and the assembly process starts again wow that's good and the next
time you'll see this unit will be installed back at line side studio where we started this problem
off we'll see we have multiple socket outlets where this solution is ideal so we hope we will
check out that video and give this a try on your next project but let us know what you think below