N&V article/series request - PLC's

[N6JSX]

N&V from a +20yr subscriber and my first request;

Could you please include articles/series into the magazine covering:

PLC's - Programmable Logic Controllers

PLC's are a manufacturing production line staple but there is a void of economical "shared" information and training. It is very typical to see job postings wanting PLC programming/designing knowledge but the Junior Colleges/tech schools often do not include PLC training. Many schools do not consdier PLC's a formal software like BASIC/C/C++, so PLC is not part of their formal Programming courses. PLC"s are usually considered an IE or MFG item.

A/B PLC software is well known inside the industry but A/B will not create a limited Student version for self education. There many makers of PLC's A/B being the most popular.

I've not found anyone willing to put together a low level/beginner's PLC course for home "self training".

For these reasons I feel it would be very beneficial keeping with N&V's focus of training techno-subjects to include a series of articles on PLC's much like the PIC programming series that is very educational and informative. TNX

[Robert Reed]

N6J
You will have better success by going to the home page and submitting your request directly to the editors under the link "Suggest an Article".

[GoingFastTurningLeft]

I just started a job where one of the things I do is program PLC's. We use Allen Bradley PLC's and program them with Rockwell RSLogix.

Thing is, I have no prior experience with PLC's, and they weren't expecting me to. They've had me do increasingly complicated tasks for training. As far as getting started, they gave me the PLC's reference manual and suggested I search on the internet for information, since they didn't really have any training.

I found this site, its been very helpful getting me started.

http://www.plcs.net/contents.shtml

Its taken me a little bit to regear the way I think, since everything I've ever done has been based on sequential logic. Ladder logic isn't too hard, though.

The lack of information probably has to do with the fact that microcontrollers are a lot more fun and useful to the tinkerer than an industrial control module.