PLC Training

Hi all,

I'm sure this question has been asked before so bare with me.

Have been writing plc programs for pick and place machines and machinery automation a few years now but want to expand into 2 axis motion control with stepper motors, pid loops, recipes etc but do not have the experience. What I have learnt so far has been through reading programming manuals and trial and error.

Should i go to tech college to get more training or am i better off building a test station with some encoders, stepper motors etc and just writing trial programs till i get it right. The nearest college to do plc training is about 1 1/2 hours from where i live with very limited coarses.

Thanks for your views

Do to my current job situation I am basically forced to reading manuals and reading manuals and reading manuals..... Then apply information this to the actually job we are manufacturing. Most of the time the machines are shipped 25 to 75 % done. No testing whatever is done. There is no room in the budget for formal education/training which I think is very important as a foundation for this type of work. Without my prior college/schooling/training ( Paid for by myself ) it would be very difficult to learn everything just from the manuals.

abomination said:

Hi all,

I'm sure this question has been asked before so bare with me.

Have been writing plc programs for pick and place machines and machinery automation a few years now but want to expand into 2 axis motion control with stepper motors, pid loops, recipes etc but do not have the experience. What I have learnt so far has been through reading programming manuals and trial and error.

Should i go to tech college to get more training or am i better off building a test station with some encoders, stepper motors etc and just writing trial programs till i get it right. The nearest college to do plc training is about 1 1/2 hours from where i live with very limited coarses.

Thanks for your views

Click to expand...

I'm a firm believer in learning through hands on methods such as test stations but you must also have some basic knowledge that you would learn in the classroom. On two axis motion control the first thing I would as is how good are you at geometry and mathematical manipulation?

Unless one of the schools near you has a motion control course, you'll probably be better off buying hardware and learning by doing. Motion control through a PLC would be considered an advanced topic in just about any school that teaches PLCs. You might even be forced to take the basic course as a prerequisite to taking a motion control course.

A good first motion control project once you get your hardware might be to program a motion profile to open a combination lock.

Check with your local PLC suppliers. Many of them have "Lunch-n-Learn" type of sessions which are usually a technically-oriented sales pitch, but you can learn through those. Also, they will occasionally have 1/2-day or whole-day training sessions that are quiet reasonably priced. Our local AB rep has even had motion-classes this way.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I've done plenty on pneumatic x,y,z pick and place but no stepper motor control with encoders to position and place.

The combination lock sounds like a great idea. couple of small steppers and a encoders and i'm away...i think. I've got plenty of plc's and hmi's and linear slides lying around

The task i am working towards is x,y,z pick and place transfering cakes from baking trays and placing/aranging them onto cooling wires. Once programmed, this task will never change (unless the product specs do). The sequence of events will remain the same. Mechanically i have desinged the unit, parts list written, just need to get the programming right. Should be a fun job, except for the maths. You had to add that. Give me a calculator and i should be ok

I guess the 1 advantage i have is that all jobs i design i get to build then test and modify.

Keep you all posted when the test bench is built
thanks