so how'd you find yourself programming PLC's?

first off, this is a really cool forum. beer and technically minded people, how can you go wrong? but this is kinda off topic and totally self indulgent...

but my question is, how did you end up in this field?

i kinda ended up here on accident. i was 19, just flunked out of a year at college and took a warehouse job so i could pay for my drinking habit.

i took a shining to the machinery. i couldn't get enough af learning about all the **** i was running. this eventually led to a position on the maintenance crew, and it didn't take long before i realized that PLC's were at the heart of the matter.

i started out with Opto22's stuff because it was fairly intuitive and easy to get into (i.e. we had the software). finally this year, i built up the resolve to learn RLL since most of our machines are AB based and talked my manager into buying rslogix for me.

bought Phil's book about 3 months ago and now here I am.

now, out of shear curiosity i'd like to hear your story.

Another round about way

Grew up in a very very very small town in the south, Textiles were KING! That future wasn't for me. Joined the Navy, did eight years as a Machinist Mate.

Got out of the USN, bummed around for about 3-4 months, got a job as a millwright, traveling all over the world installing very large Textile machinery (Tenter Frames). These tenter frames were basically built in place, took 3-4 months to install. Some of the larger ones were PLC controlled (TI-500, circa 1985). Since I'm the curious type, I watched the guy doing the programming, asked questions etc...Got a manual and started reading it. Nothing else ever happened.

Five years later, I'm foreman at a small specialty machine shop and going to college at night, we built a lot of small to medium sized custom machinery. When I first came there, they used relays, timers, etc... I did up a little paper showing that using a small PLC would be cheaper. They decided to give it a try and off we went. Had to learn PLC's on my own and quickly.
I did go to a couple of infomercials at the local sales office, and a friend that had been programming for 2-3 years helped me out when I needed it. Once we started using PLC's on our machines, we discovered that we had been behind the times. Seemed like every customer had his own PLC specification, had to learn a little, about a lot of different brands, TI, Omron, Mitsubishi, AB etc...

Small machine shop got bought by a company, that got bought by a company and every since, I have been working for a large chemical company doing process controls...

Not just PLC's, but DCS, QNX with opto-22, instrumentation, panel design, wiring diagrams, and application specifications when we farm something out.

I finally found my niche!


Ken

My background was mechanical engineering, and I designed process equipment for the wastewater treatment market. When I started out to do automation systems I hired a programmer. I came to the conclusion that it was easier for me to learn how to program than it was to teach the "bit jockeys" how the process and machinery worked. It was also cheaper!

I started with single board computers, programming in BASIC with Opto 22 I/O. As operator interface and analog I/O prices dropped and PLC math capabilities improved I gradually morphed into programming PLCs.

Like Tom, I started out as a mechanical engineer. I was working for an OEM that had no electrical engineers. The machinery wasn't particularly complicated, so the controls weren't particularly sophisticated, well within the capabilities of the average ME, assisted by a qualified electrician. If we needed variable speed, we connected the AC motor to a PIV (Let's see how many people can identify that acronym).

We eventually developed a machine that required one driven shaft to follow another, and it wasn't feasible to have a mechanical coupling between them. Furthermore, the machine had a fairly complicated sequence of operations that justified a PLC. We farmed the controls out to a systems house. The machine turned out to be quite successful and rather than farm out the controls for each machine we decided to take it in-house. Since I had done the start-ups of the first couple of machines with the systems house, I got the nod to develop our home-grown controls.

Eventually, I realized that I enjoyed controls engineering design more than mechanical design.

I was interested in computer science and, to a lesser degree, electrical engineering in high school. When it can time to choose a major, I decided against computer science because I was already sick of computers. I'd spent a semester learning Pascal, only to have to dump that knowledge in favor of C++. I decided if that was the way computer science was going to be, I'd go with EE because the technology should be more stable.

Then, a year or two into college, I met Tom Jenkins and learned to program PLCs. I found myself instantly addicted to blinking lights! Of course, I'm doing more programming now than I EVER thought I would. But, at least it's not JAVA code (yet). I'm much happier in this field, I think.

Tom also taught me that getting into a mental rut isn't really a good thing. So, I'm always looing to get my hands on some new "toy" to try.

AK

I ask myself that question every time things get rough in a project.

"How did I end up here? I was gonna open a TV repair shop!"

Seriously though, I got going working on CNC-based circuit board assembly equipment. Had to rewrite and optimize the old software to get the speed up and improve throughput, wound up winning a Chrysler Gold Pentastar award for most-improved delivery that year.

Then, got moved over to a new department with orders to "do that, there." It was a Modicon, and I set out learning Modsoft with a vengeance. I was fascinated by how the machine was programmed, and made several improvements, including some process statistic tracking (proto-OEE) and a new operator terminal.

I spent a couple years in a prototype engineering group, programming their development laser system into an automatic stand-alone protoyping station.

Most recently, I was hired as a pure controls technician, and have spent four years here. I spent the first two working for this pain-in-the-neck mechanical engineer who felt I should be able to read his mind, or else program the machine from observation of the mechanism.

::gives Tom a kick in the shin::

After he quit, I got paired with a mechanic who worked with me hand in hand to develop the mechanics and electronics as an integrated whole, and that approach worked like a charm through three different machine launches.

And that's how I got here.

TM

Went in to the Navy out of high school and then to junior college. I got an AAS degree in electronic technology and ended up taking a job as a lineman apprentice due to the implosion of the electronics market at the time. I worked as a lineman for eight years and decided that I wanted something more challenging to my mind rather than my body. I was able to study up and learn enough about instrumentation to transfer (I work for a very large company) into the instrument dept as a journeyman. I had a friend who worked with PLC's and SCADA in another shop and I pestered to move to his shop and worked helping him in my spare time. I was finally allowed to move and dove in head first. My friend eventually took a job in a new dept as Process control and about a year later my dept created a Process control position. I beat out a couple of other more experienced people and got the job due to my work ethic and desire to learn. My wife pointed out that "you were so scared that you wouldn't be able to handle the new job and now it's like you are some kind of king sh*t and they can't do anything without checking with you first." Persistence and really enjoying this type of work worked for me.

akreel said:

So, I'm always looing to get my hands on some new "toy" to try.

AK

Click to expand...

What kind of toy do you get your hands on in the loo?

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

I had an emphasis on feedback control systems in my EE program.

The PLC classes for some reason were buried in the ME department, so when I graduated I took a couple of classes at the local tech school.

I then got a job for a small special machine builder then moved here. Pretty much right schedule.

What am I doing here?

The only formal training I had was a tech school basic electronics course but I had a knack for technical maintenance and troubleshooting. I first got out of Pennsylvania with a job in Arizona maintaining copiers. I did very well until I wound up as manager of the entire San Diego area (better technician than manager). I had a mutual Friend with a guy that needed a PLC programmer for semiconductor wet bench processing equipment. Once there they handed me a Mitsubishi A1S-S1 and gave me the manual, vendor phone numbers, and a little more time than normal. None of the fellow programmers expected me to succeed with no previous PLC experience but I pulled it off and here I an 10 years later.

I'm trying to migrate toward computer network setup and maintenance but I still enjoy what I'm doing.

we connected the AC motor to a PIV (Let's see how many people can identify that acronym).

Click to expand...

A place where i sometimes work have a few PIV gear box's, I am sure I have heard the mech refer to them as

Positively Infinitely Variable gear box - do I get the cigar?

I had acquired a liberal arts degree in 1972 but the draft was still looming. I decided to choose something before it was chosen for me and entered the Air Force. Some background as a novice ham radio operator helped me a lot in electronics.

After getting out I did a few jobs in electronics repair then got into a machine company. Mostly I did leectrical troubleshooting but was intrigued by the PLC's (5TI). I leaarned enough to be dangerous and did some very small machine code modifications.

At a new (and current) company I kind of floated to the top programming job through attrition. I keep reading a lot of manuals and look like I'm really a genius. I have 'em snowed.

Goody's got it!

do I get the cigar?

Click to expand...

I'll email one to you. Will your server accept .cigar attachments?

I forced myself into a company doing CNC circuit board repairs. After they found out I had some mechanical abilities too, I wound up doing field service on anything from a grinder to a production cutting laser. Surprised myself how many machines I could fix (most of the times). Full mech/electronic/CNC programming.

That company shrunk back and us field techs were on the street, so I went solo.

The first time you arre called into a shop, you are on probation. The second time is "got another customer". The third time they expect you to fix anything. The fourth time they point at a PLC and ask...

The two times I had a PLC problem and had to wait two days for a guy with a laptop to fly in from Whizbang to fits-it, I decided to buy another hat to wear.

So, how did I get here? Curious, stubborn and pride in my work.

I'm so good now I MIGHT tackle that street light problem - if I could figure out the sequence.

Rod (the CNC dude)

Job

I learned my job in prison while serving 15 to life on a murder rap.
I was innocent but thats another story. Before being sent up to the big house, I was always stealing computers and industrial equipment such as PLC's, you get a good price when you fence those.

Well while in prison, the warden knew my background in PLC's and had me start debugging and updating the PLC's that control the prison security. I also got very good at updating the prisons regular computers, the ones that control prison background checks, prison records and such.

Well one thing let to another and due to a computer glitch , I only had to serve 5 years.

Now I am a free man and can't wait to get put my good expierence to work out here in the real world. Unless I run into that SOB that put me here, I should be staying out of trouble.

I have a lot of my own equipment, most of it like new, some of it still in the box.

Anybody interesting in helping a fellow con, please contact me here.

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