Goody
Member
I have noticed an alarming trend creeping in on this site over the last few years. I have been a member longer than it says on my avitar (I think I joined about 1998)
And in that time plc’s have become more and more ubiquitous.
So much so, that now it seems that even the milkman is having a go at programming them.
And this worries me!
PLC’s seem to be treat by some as though they are toys to play with and experiment. People with no electrical or engineering experience whatsoever are going into programming as if they were programming a personal computer.
Not only this - some are not even prepared to read the manual or if they do its all double dutch to them and so they come here wanting to get straight into a live working machine and alter things.
They do not want to waste time with a manual and a plc sat on their desk practicing with it!
And so we get a lot of questions that can be answered by reading page 2 or 3 of the manual or even a quick search of this site.
Just about everything that is asked today has been asked a 100 times before on this site and is searchable.
But this alarming trend of total novices wanting to get straight into the game has other consequences that is not often mentioned.
Machines controlled by plc’s can injure and kill people if something is not programmed right!
I saw an incident the other day that heightened my concern - a man and all his tools was thrown off a conveyor and injured because someone else actuated a sensor.
This sensor should not have done this until several other conditions had been met but due to terrible programming and no ‘event’ control - the conveyor started up although the conveyor system was off (not e stop - just the red stop button)
I am all for helping people to learn programming and I always give advice where I deem it proper and know what or where the poster is struggling.
But the plain truth is - some posters here should not be allowed within 50 ft of a plc controlled machine until they have fully understood the machine/plc and all the possible consequences of their actions.
And in that time plc’s have become more and more ubiquitous.
So much so, that now it seems that even the milkman is having a go at programming them.
And this worries me!
PLC’s seem to be treat by some as though they are toys to play with and experiment. People with no electrical or engineering experience whatsoever are going into programming as if they were programming a personal computer.
Not only this - some are not even prepared to read the manual or if they do its all double dutch to them and so they come here wanting to get straight into a live working machine and alter things.
They do not want to waste time with a manual and a plc sat on their desk practicing with it!
And so we get a lot of questions that can be answered by reading page 2 or 3 of the manual or even a quick search of this site.
Just about everything that is asked today has been asked a 100 times before on this site and is searchable.
But this alarming trend of total novices wanting to get straight into the game has other consequences that is not often mentioned.
Machines controlled by plc’s can injure and kill people if something is not programmed right!
I saw an incident the other day that heightened my concern - a man and all his tools was thrown off a conveyor and injured because someone else actuated a sensor.
This sensor should not have done this until several other conditions had been met but due to terrible programming and no ‘event’ control - the conveyor started up although the conveyor system was off (not e stop - just the red stop button)
I am all for helping people to learn programming and I always give advice where I deem it proper and know what or where the poster is struggling.
But the plain truth is - some posters here should not be allowed within 50 ft of a plc controlled machine until they have fully understood the machine/plc and all the possible consequences of their actions.