Best place to learn PLC

[donzeiler]

Hey guys,
I have a 20 year old kid that would like to learn PLC programming. What school and degree would you recommend for him? I've been working on PLC's scense 1993. I started on TI PLC's then Siemens PLC's then SLC-5, SLC 500's then SLC 5000's and am starting on FT distributed applications. I'd like for him to get the most bang for his buck. What do you recommend?

thanks,

 

[leitmotif]

Check your community colleges and trade schools.

Dan Bentler

 

[Stephen Luft]

Don,

I would be careful.

As Dan mentioned, check your local community colleges and trade schools. Not all will offer the same level of teaching.

The important thing is for your son to gain an understanding of the fundamentals first, and not emphasize the manufacturer. Whether the programming is ladder logic, function block, etc... He should first have a solid foundation.

Every PLC manufacturer does their programming differently. However, the fundamentals are same. A timer is still a timer. He should know how to use a timer, where and when to use a timer.

Phil has some good tutorials here. Click on the "Learn PLCs" icon at the top of the page. Some of them are animated.

Focus on the specific controllers afterwards.

Be careful of places like ITT. When we hired our tech at Entertron back in 2000, he came from ITT. His experience with PLCs at that time was limited to keying a ladder program into an Allen Bradley trainer. There was very little teaching done on PLC programming. Whether their program has changed since, I can't answer, however be careful, because they are very expensive. FYI, his strength was computers, which is why we hired him. We taught him what he needed to know with regards to PLCs in general and Entertron specifically.

If your son wants some software to play with, he can download the Entertron software from this link. Send me an email and I will send you the password to unlock it.

http://www.eternity-sales.com/Entertron/software.htm

There are programming examples and a built in simulator that can be used to test the logic.

If you have the time, you may be able to teach him what you know as well. You have experience across several different PLC platforms. This is valuable knowledge as well.

I believe there are still companies that do apprenticeships, so learning on the job may be possible. Also, if he gets hired by a company that offers to pay for additional education may also be a possibility. Keep in mind if a company invests in your son's education, he will have to commit to a minumum number of years at the company.

Whether your son goes the school route or the work route, there are options available.

Hope this helps.

Shalom and God Bless,

 

[leitmotif]

I also recommend Phils tutorials - they are what I started on.
After that tried to learn at home and soon concluded I had a total ignoramus for an instructor and a fool for a student.

So "hired" a qualified instructor at North Seattle Comm College and did very well indeed. Had fairly up to date Allen Bradley, granted restricted to one brand, but they are one of the leaders. Besides if I blew something up I did not have to pay - never blew anything up. Wrote my own curriculum and learned what I wanted and needed to learn at my own pace. Got a bunch of help from this site overcoming self imposed problems / challenges.

You could also check with local IBEW they may have classes or know where to find them.

Local distributor of Allen Bradley may have classes but they are fairly pricy.

Dan Bentler

 

[donzeiler]

Thanks Guys.