New to PLC and Motion Control!!!

[jimmyo]

Hello everyone,

I'm building a themepark-type project that requires motion control servos. Eventually it will blossom into hydraulics, but trying to keep it simple.

I'm just tinkering around and bought a slc 500 and rslogix 500 on ebay. It hasn't arrived yet, but i'm thinking that my level of inexperience will be greatly helped by advanced software.

I've started to look at rslogix5000/contrologix and the RMC 150. I found the people at RMC to be very helpful and giving with there time.

What other systems should I be looking at? What are some important differences between these two?

I'm very intereseted in the versatility of the contrologix and drawn to the easy of setup with the RMC.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Lancie1]

Jimmy,

I take it that you are builidng a model theme park?

(If you were working on a real theme park, you probably would be required to know all this stuff before starting!)

You might find the SLC-500 PLC programs in this thread (from Bob of the Reading Company Technical & Histroical Society) applicable to what you are doing. Bob helped build a model of the Hershey theme park.

http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=38078&highlight=Hershey

 

[PeterW]

The software you are looking at is incompatible with the PLC's you are buying (I believe).

 

[dskohio]

Peter is absolutely correct. RS-Logix 500 works with the SLC-500, and RS-Logix5000 works with the ControlLogix platforms.

ControlLogix is much easier for motion control than the SLC-500 family, but it can be done.

I agree with Lancie, I hope this is only a model project at the moment.

 

[Peter Nachtwey]

The PLC doesn't make much difference. A SLC500 will do.

The SLC can communicate with the RMC150 using Ethernet when required. The PLC has nothing to do with motion control because the the RMC can do it all. The RMC can store up to 270,000 points in its cam table so it can store the whole motion profile.

270,000 divided by 30 frames a second = 9000 seconds total.
Divide that by the number of axes and you get the length of the show that can be run.

BTW, Jimmy Neutron at Universal uses the older RMC100s and SLC 500s. We have been told it is one of the trouble free rides they have.

The PLC is not a place to store large cam tables of these sizes. The PLC just needs to take care of extra I/O and safety interlocks. The big thing is the interface for correcting the cam tables. Usually people use a PC for this and the cam tables downloaded directly to the RMC by passing the PLC.

See the recent post
http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=41247
Here the racetrack is simulated by downloading about 10000 points for a two mile track for each wheel and shock and the virtual axis is used to index into the cam tables.

The key is getting the mechanics right, having the correct safety features and an easy way to edit the cam table. For quick and dirty we use the RMCTool. Then people usually graduate to Excel and downloading the profile and the advanced people use VB to draw the graphics and down load the result cam profile.

Keith, jimmyo is going to have the fun on this one.

 

[jimmyo]

Thanks for the replies

The RMCTool software is awesome and I much appreciated the gotomeeting demo I received.

This will be full scale I've done mechanical design and rapid prototype development for 16 years and feel totally comfortable with the physical design and fab. Have wanted to get into motion control for almost a decade and haven't had a chance at work so I'm going to do my own thing.

I've been working in LA for the last few months and will be heading home for a few weeks next Wednesday. After I get some power to my cold saw, I'm going to build a prototype and meet with the Delta and AB distributors while I'm home.

I have no experience with motion control, but have been doing research on the weekends. I was going to try and use the SLC 500 for an inexpensive prototype, but then decided because of my inexperience, I would need a more intuitive motion controller than the HSRV.

I've been looking at the RMC150 with RMC tools or the Contrologix/softlogix with some kinetix 2000 drives and RSlogix5000 software. I'm trying to find out what questions I should be asking, what the important differences are and what reasons one would go with a particular system over another. I realize my questions are very general, but unfortunately that's where I'm at right now.

I'm very excited about my supper secret squirrel project and and starting what will probably be a lifelong journey in the "Black Art" of motion control!

I may be jumping the gun here, but I've got to start somewhere. Thanks for your responses.

James