JeffsInventions
Member
I currently work at an industrial parts supplier and I have found some of the automated aspects of our business fascinating (particularly the conveyor system). In a couple of years, I could see myself working on control systems in manufacturing, building automation, or autonomous vehicles.
To get some basic facility with PLCs, I have done a range of projects using a hobby-grade PLC, the Arduino (http://www.arduino.cc/). These include making things including a thermostat for a computer, a light controller for a room, and a GPS-guided autonomous RC car.
Through apprenticing with some of the maintenance folks at my facility, going to trade shows, and looking around online, it seems that Allen Bradley is the industry standard for automation systems in manufacturing and conveying in the US. To get some experience with their line of PLCs, I am planning to buy a short stretch of conveyor, photo eyes, drives, etc. to tinker around with in my garage.
One puzzle I'm trying to figure out is which Allen Bradley PLC system to include in my test conveyor system. More specifically, I'm trying to decide between the Micrologix line with RSLogix 500 or the CompactLogix line with RSLogix 5000. I chose these as options because they seemed to be relatively inexpensive while still getting good exposure to Allen Bradley's PLC technology. A CompactLogix system would be substantially more expensive than a Micrologix system. Is it worth the cost for my purposes? What would be some of the main features that I would forgo learning about if I were to go with a Micrologix-based system as against a CompactLogix-based one?
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www.jeffsinventions.com
To get some basic facility with PLCs, I have done a range of projects using a hobby-grade PLC, the Arduino (http://www.arduino.cc/). These include making things including a thermostat for a computer, a light controller for a room, and a GPS-guided autonomous RC car.
Through apprenticing with some of the maintenance folks at my facility, going to trade shows, and looking around online, it seems that Allen Bradley is the industry standard for automation systems in manufacturing and conveying in the US. To get some experience with their line of PLCs, I am planning to buy a short stretch of conveyor, photo eyes, drives, etc. to tinker around with in my garage.
One puzzle I'm trying to figure out is which Allen Bradley PLC system to include in my test conveyor system. More specifically, I'm trying to decide between the Micrologix line with RSLogix 500 or the CompactLogix line with RSLogix 5000. I chose these as options because they seemed to be relatively inexpensive while still getting good exposure to Allen Bradley's PLC technology. A CompactLogix system would be substantially more expensive than a Micrologix system. Is it worth the cost for my purposes? What would be some of the main features that I would forgo learning about if I were to go with a Micrologix-based system as against a CompactLogix-based one?
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www.jeffsinventions.com
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