Beginner to PLC

Hi guys, I'm trying to dig into PLCs and learn the ropes. My aim is to figure out how to design and build packaging automation machines for the company I work for. We do a lot of tedious tasks like filling bottles, labeling, boxing, capping, over and over and I think there's a better way. I talked to a distributor of Rockwell Automation and was recommended their MicroLogix line of PLCs as a good intro PLC. I also managed to get my hands on the RSLogix 500 software. I understand learning how to program the PLC to accomplish a given task with the given inputs, is one problem, which I am still reading and working on. But my goal is looking more like a series of problems I am not familiar with such as picking the correct sensors, connecting them to the PLC, operating a motor, component selection. My question, then is: how can I best spend my time to read and absorb the most useful information for my given task? What do I need to be learning? And is the MicroLogix line the best PLC I shoud explore first?

Sounds to me you could benefit from the lessons in Logixpro. it resembles Rslogix 500. a plc. and different plant scenarios such as filling a box on a conveyor. and filling and sorting bottles. It taught me lot when I first started out and it's very cheap (35$ us)

Ah! Yep, I was actually going through those today! Just started though....It's the simulator right? I have a manual its 78 pages and I just started the first few exercises pg 6

Yes, the simulator will do you good. Also helpful is Ron Beaufort's Videos on youtube (or if you can, attend one of his classes)

If I were you, I would check out your local Vo-Tech, there you could learn the basic of motor controls and PLC in a couple of nights, for little money.

For example, my local Vo-Tech has:
Motor Controls
and Intro to PLC's

Things other than the PLC itself belong to a broad subject base. Siemens has a self-paced set of tutorials you can find here:
http://www.industry.usa.siemens.com...-courses/Pages/Online-quickSTEP-Training.aspx

boneless said:

If I were you, I would check out your local Vo-Tech, there you could learn the basic of motor controls and PLC in a couple of nights, for little money.

For example, my local Vo-Tech has:
Motor Controls
and Intro to PLC's

Click to expand...

Wow that is ridiculously cheap. Class here in Texas cost $500+. The Rockwell 4 day seminars are like $1000+ too. I checked with auditing courses from UT Austin (only $20) but they don't have PLC courses just embedded systems really.

RDS said:

Things other than the PLC itself belong to a broad subject base. Siemens has a self-paced set of tutorials you can find here:
http://www.industry.usa.siemens.com...-courses/Pages/Online-quickSTEP-Training.aspx

Click to expand...

Nice, Thank you.

Well to start at the top of this web site is a section for learning PLC’s and you can find all kinds of video’s on Youtube some of which are specific to a veriaty of PLC’s with the MicroLogix 1100/1400’s being very popular (here’s one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGc5iSXoY7I).
I think the MicroLogix is a great starter platform. You can get free programming software for the 1000 and 1100 and as long as you have a basic understanding of Ladder Logic they are pretty easy to program.

I've used Rockwell PLC's for years and love them, but if I had to pick a cheap & easy PLC I'd probably recommend something like the "click" from Automation Direct. It's not fancy, but it does the basics and it's simple.

As for sensors, see if you can get a real (paper) catalog from Automation Direct and Banner engineering. Banner usually has a few pages showing "typical" uses for their sensors. Automation Direct tends to have a reasonable selection of basic sensors with simple part numbers.

I think the vo-tech is a great option for learning motor controls if your company doesn't already have someone to show you the ropes. I haven't stumbled across a good basic reference book yet. Maybe someone here will post one.

Also, if you can find a local electrical panel shop, you might find someone there that could walk you through fuses, transformers, starters and power supplies and show you the basics of panel layouts. If you're going to have a few panels built over the years, it will be mutually beneficial. A good panel shop could be a valuable second-set-of-eyes if you're on your own.

treellama said:

I've used Rockwell PLC's for years and love them, but if I had to pick a cheap & easy PLC I'd probably recommend something like the "click" from Automation Direct. It's not fancy, but it does the basics and it's simple.

As for sensors, see if you can get a real (paper) catalog from Automation Direct and Banner engineering. Banner usually has a few pages showing "typical" uses for their sensors. Automation Direct tends to have a reasonable selection of basic sensors with simple part numbers.

I think the vo-tech is a great option for learning motor controls if your company doesn't already have someone to show you the ropes. I haven't stumbled across a good basic reference book yet. Maybe someone here will post one.

Also, if you can find a local electrical panel shop, you might find someone there that could walk you through fuses, transformers, starters and power supplies and show you the basics of panel layouts. If you're going to have a few panels built over the years, it will be mutually beneficial. A good panel shop could be a valuable second-set-of-eyes if you're on your own.

Click to expand...

Great suggestion! I found a electrical panel shop in my area. I'll try and give them a call and ask. Thanks. Any good book recommendations for electrical panel basics?

I've never used the automation direct PLCs but, in my opinion the Micrologix is a good one to start with. I was (mostly) self taught on Rslogix 500. I then took a class for Siemens TIA. Rslogix simplifies many things that you have to keep in mind on the Siemens PLCs. I think I would have had a lot of trouble teaching myself Siemens PLCs whereas RsLogix was easy. I have been exposed to several other systems and have seen their strengths and their weaknesses. I think TIA is a great software. I think the FANUC and OMRON are good softwares. I think Rslogix is the best to start with.

As far as the PLC to start with most people on this site will list an Ethernet version as the best to use. They are probably correct as this gives you the most flexibility and the future ability to easily network PLCs. However if this is a project where management will not spend money get the cheapest micrologix you can get on ebay.

The one other thing I would recommend is to go with a 24 Volt model. Osha likes to ding manufactures on arc flash these days. I have my own take on this osha requirement because so far, in my experience, it is a joke. However going with a low voltage system gives you certain advantages. 24 volts is high enough that the voltage drop might not effect you but is low enough in voltage that there is no special connection guarding requirements and you will probably have class 0 arc flash rating (if you have motor connections in a different cabinet) (of course in the newest NFPA 70E I'm fairly certain that they do not recognize class 0)

Good luck