[Cartman]

Anybody on here do what I do for a living?

 

[shawn]

Kinda.

 

[Cartman]

.....care to articulate on it a bit?

 

[Christoff]

Half assed do but I don't know much of anything. Both plants at our Taconite mine have almost completely been switched over to PLC stuff and now some things in the pit are starting to get switched over and for some reason people around here think I know something about them so they have me trying to debug programs.

 

[Disco Stocker]

Kinda.

Me too, I work in the aggregate industry, I design the wet side of the plant. Minus 4 mesh. I started doing plc instead of controllers about 3 years back. Most of my controls are simple analog and digital layouts. The most complicated thing is a PID loop. That’s pretty much equivalent to a thermostat in your house. I use Allen Bradley logix 5000 software and compact logix for my processor.

 

[Cartman]

Nice. The relay logic conversions can get messy... Are they Allen Bradley PLCs?

 

[Hacksaw]

.....care to articulate on it a bit?

On an RTI ramp?

 

[Cartman]

Yeah, flex it out on your mom's front butt

 

[shawn]

Some Allen Bradly stuff, and only if I have the right software and hardware to interface the controller. And then I use it to only trouble shoot. If I get involed in any minor loops and tuning them, that is a recipe for disater. But once set up correctly, the only thing needed is going it to find out why something is wrong, or where the program is stuck.

But mostly deal with BAS/BEMS stuff, like Honeywell, Siemens, Trane, but not at an admistrators level. And then there is all the stuf on refrigeration equtiptmen I deal with like Trane and York and those particulars on chiller/ac control panels.

I hate relay logic, you want to give me a headache in 3 minutes then ask me to figure out a problem on a redundant relay logic system (with prints of course).

 

[kickstand]

I used to recruit PLC Programmers, Controls Engineers, Robot Techs etc. 99% for automotive, 1% (occasionally something else).

Now I am jobless.

 

[doomsick]

I used to program plc for a company in Traverse City, GTS.. I now do laser cnc in GR.

 

[MrBi11]

I've retrofit a few machines with them and have designed logic for custom [new build] machines. I had AB reps check out one of my logic arrays because I made the ladder diagram reprogram it's self because there wasn't enough memory to make the options needed available. [kinda 'scootered' there OS to make that happen]

 

[sdwaigle]

I do maintenance in a corrigated box plant,I get into AB and direct logic programs and make minor changes to make the machine run better or work with upgrading equipment but have not written a program. Props to MrBi11 for the reprogram trick

 

[Sveen]

Yup I am a controls engineer - design automated assembly lines. Cars mostly but did do a Whirlpool job once. Use AB PLCs all da time, mostly 5000.

 

[kerryann]

my husband does that as part of his job. He designs and programs welding robots.

 

[Never_Evil]

I have an associates in electronics and was trained on a Allen Bradley PLC, but no one wants to hire me unless i have 3 years experience with one.

 

[Cartman]

I started out at a plastic injection molding factory out of high school. I've always been a computer geek so I kind of fell into the controls part of things... The pay wasn't what I was looking for so I went on to another local business that did tube & hose forming. That didn't work out so I took a job with National Oilwell Varco down in Houston and moved there for a short time going to rigs and troubleshooting PLC problems....I wasn't working very much and another company back up in Michigan hit me up cuz they saw my resume on monster.com..... so I moved back up again and here I am.

I've done 75% automotive, 25% oil field work....
I mostly use AB stuff (micro1000,1100,1200,1500,SLCs) but am starting to get into the Control Logix platform....
It's fun. I really enjoy it. It's just a shame that my current work really has nothing to do with the PLC end of things....I just test hydraulic valves now but make more money than I did doing controls...It's not really where my heart is, but it pays the bills.

 

[Cartman]

Some Allen Bradly stuff, and only if I have the right software and hardware to interface the controller. And then I use it to only trouble shoot. If I get involed in any minor loops and tuning them, that is a recipe for disater. But once set up correctly, the only thing needed is going it to find out why something is wrong, or where the program is stuck.

But mostly deal with BAS/BEMS stuff, like Honeywell, Siemens, Trane, but not at an admistrators level. And then there is all the stuf on refrigeration equtiptmen I deal with like Trane and York and those particulars on chiller/ac control panels.

I hate relay logic, you want to give me a headache in 3 minutes then ask me to figure out a problem on a redundant relay logic system (with prints of course).

Yep, relay logic gives me a freakin headache too man..I feel ya....
Talking about loops - are you talking about PID?
PID is either your best friend, or your worst enemy. Tuning them can be a disaster...

 

[shawn]

Yep, relay logic gives me a freakin headache too man..I feel ya....
Talking about loops - are you talking about PID?
PID is either your best friend, or your worst enemy. Tuning them can be a disaster...

Yes, proportion intergral derivitive except I don't fuck with the D, then you are asking for trouble.

 

[Cartman]

hahahahaha
I was always taught that I was the devil!

I tune them quite a bit with my current job...not using the PID instruction in the PLC but a proprietary amplifier card...The whole goal is simple. Make it as fast as possible, with the least amount of deviation & overshoot....I wish it were that easy.