Beuwolf_1

MrPLC Member
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Everything posted by Beuwolf_1

  1. Simple problem but driving me nuts!

    Thanks for the help. The multiply by 100 got me to thinking. After that it was all downhill from there. I knew I was missing something simple and that got the ball rolling. Thanks again for the assistance. Even the Boss thought it was a cool idea. LOL
  2. I know I must be missing some thing but what I'm looking for is a bit of sample code or insite into an IBOX that will allow me to enter a time, Hour and Minute, for an operation to start and a time in Hour and Minute to stop. I need it to automatically start and stop if the times are changed. I have no problem with the start and stop I have now but my boss would like it to sequence correctly in real time if the schedule is changed. I am using an equals on start and preset hours and minutes to start and stop. But if the start time is set earlier or later, you need to wait till the next start time for it to correct. He would like it to monitor the presets all the time and start and stop as the presets change. While the screen capture isn't clear it should give you an idea of what I'm presently doing. If equal to hour and minute start time, latch the output. If equal to hour and minute stop time, reset the bit. Once its latched, changing the times require it to complete what it has first and then go. So if anyone has an idea or example or an instruction set I have missed, I sure would appreciate it. Thanks in advance
  3. Horner PLC's

    We have used quite a few of them as multi function process controllers for things like temp control and fan controls. We haven't had a failure in the five years or so we have been using them. The language is a bit crude and hard to grasp at first but for the price, not bad over all.
  4. Has anyone played with PLC Direct's new CLICK PLC? Seems pretty cool, but not sure how to do addressing in modbus. I sure wish things were more transparent when it comes to modbus addressing. Any info would help.
  5. Has anyone tried the new Click PLC yet

    Thats the problem I think is the fact that the drive takes a five digit numbering, and the Click is six digits. I tried to use hex addressing with no results. Also I am using a FA-ISOCON to convert the RS232 to RS485, and not sure if thats working or not or if the drive isn't getting the info cause of the number issues. Any help would be appreciated.
  6. Barcode Scanners

    Well from past experince with bar code scanners and readers, they will allow an external trigger to let them read the right code, or they can be configured to accept any code that it "sees" as long as that code is legible. I've used scanners to configure machines by product, and prefered to have it do the scan when the product is presented.
  7. Hmmmmmm. I guess I'll stick to my lowrider. The old shovel head ain't that fast, but its plenty reliable, and compaired to the bikes that seem to be the center of attention, a lot slower too. But while ya'all will get there a lot quicker then this old biker, I sure hope I look a lot better while I'm on my way. lol As far as the Bike VS the Robot, I also think I will stay with the two wheels. But I gotta give credit to the programmer who did manage to make a robotic vomit comet.
  8. Another Modbus application

    I am attempting to use the Modbus link on a Lenze AC Tech SCF series drive with an Automation Direct D06 with a D0-DCM module in slot 4 of the plc. I am using port 2 on the DCM to attempt to communicate with the drive but am having absolutely no luck. I plan on using TB1 as my start/stop command thru an external relay fired from the PLC but wish to set the speed of the drive thru the Modbus link, and also read back speed, current draw and any faults the drive might have during operation. I have never had the pleasure of doing any Modbus stuff in the past and was wondering if anyone had any examples of programs that might be addapted to the Lenze drive. Normally I would attempt to sweat this out in the wee hours of the night with no one to bother me, but unfortnately, time is of the essence
  9. Another Modbus application

    Well, according to the rest of the world, this shouldn't be this difficult. But I did manage to get the reads to work, now just need to figure out the madness to the addressing of the writes. Seems like in order to do what I would like to do requires way too much overhead in the program. It sure would be nice to be able to do some indirect addressing but thats no possible with this guy.
  10. I know this is a bit out of the rhelm of the normal control type topic, but it seems that I have been awarded the new title of "Arc Flash Guru Guy" for our facility. I was wondering if anyone else out there has been awarded this title, and if so, have they found any good modeling and analysis software? Also, has anyone found any good websites regarding the arc flash topic? Any information on this subject would be fantastic. Thanks in advance, Beuwolf
  11. Networking questions

    This is my first post here and hope it doesn't show my ignorance in areas of DL series PLC's but I figured I would ask those that know in an attempt to cut down on my search and hope to hit the right answer time. We are attempting to do some networking here with five existing DL250 CPU's and an additional 5 DL05 series PLC's to be added in soon. So far we have no network at all, but I figured we could assign one of the exsisting 250's as a master, and designate the rest as slaves. So far, I thought that sounded simple but we also want to take data from the master and send counter values and a few numerical values to a PC on our net some place with in our plant. So I looked up the networking information on the Automation Direct website, tried to force myself thru the manuals on the topics and for the life of me, I seem to get conflicting methods. Hence my confusion and ignorance. Is there a rather simple method to just hook up 9 of those lil buggers as slaves to one master, and take data from the master and ship it off to a PC? If so, could someone enlighten me. Thanks in advance, Beuwolf
  12. TC connections, best practice?

    Just had to ask if it was a feed back problem with grounding. We've had Type J TCs give strange readings due to stray voltage differences between grounds. Just an idea that I though would be worth mentioning.
  13. Vacuum application

    The cups we have used are about four inches in diameter, and last a long time, the biggest issue with wear is when the board is still moving when the cups try to engage. I would suggest looking at some of the standard type industrial cups. There are a lot out there and a wide variety to choose from. I would go with the type that has the steel backing tho, since those do last a little bit longer.
  14. Vacuum application

    The dwell time I was thinking about would have been about a half second is all. That doesn't seem like much but it is enough time for the cup to conform to the surface of the board and get its grip. Some people make the assumption that a cup is suckin the milisecond it makes contact with the target and don't give it a chance to develop a solid grip. Two seconds is way plenty of time to do your operation. I would think that a bellows style cup would probably be a good choice as well for this application just cause it can conform to a lot more profiles then a solid non-bellows style cup. Hope this helps. Beuwolf
  15. Vacuum application

    I've done a lot of vacuum applications within the wood working industry. We made machines to lift sheets of plywood into forming machines prior to becoming kitchen countertops. There is no problem with suction at all, but as others have said, filter it before it enters your vacuum generator. The other thing you really need to remember is have enough dwell time for your vacuum to generate prior to the lift, and also ramp the speed slowly. The best way is to have a series of cups, one to lift one end of the board first, and that breaks the "suction" between the boards themselves, and the rest to actually do the lift and carry to position. We averaged one sheet of ply about every 30 seconds, and while that seems slow, that was on a rotating selection system that allowed different sizes and thicknesses, and we seldom had a sheet fall.
  16. Mechanical Press Two Hand Controls

    I assume that its a mechanical press. Either way if you check the OSHA regs, it says that what ever you use for a "safety monitor" should be fail safe, and that pretty much dictates a redundant processor. Besides the anti-tiedowns, there has to be a brake stop monitor as well. Guarding and such is pretty well stated that it has to be interlocked, and cannot be operated with the guards removed, unless you provide a "bar mode" in your monitoring that allows the clutch and brake to release so that the setup operator can manually move the press for set up of shut heights and such, without the motor in operation. This is only for smaller presses, and larger units require blocking anytime the guards are removed. Before investing a lot of effort in design or development of press controls, it might be wise to check out the commercially available units just for liabuility purposes alone, and then install what ever control for feeding that you may need. Beuwolf
  17. Trying to self teach

    Well lots of "data" that an HMI has on display is either static, or dynamic. Static displays such as text or graphics are stored in the HMI and displayed only on the operator's screen. Dynamic information is stored in the PLC. Anything that changes with the machine that is displayed would be dynamic. There are two forms of dynamic info on a HMI screen. One form of info would be your temperature set point. You enter that and it is written to an address you assign for the plc to look, the other is information written to the HMI from an assigned address, such as the actual temperature of your cooling process. Inside the PLC "junk" is always stored in binary, but the development software usually allows you to display it in what ever format you desire, ASCII, binary, hex, decimal, octal and what ever else someone has thought handy. Where the fun starts is how you want the HMI to interpret or write stuff. Some of the more programmer friendly HMI's allow you to enter ASCII strings as text, and some of the more stone age units require you to enter the ASCII strings as segments of ASCII Code. Just remember that no matter what, PLC's and HMI's only do what you tell em to do. Not what you wanted them to do, so take your time and just have fun playing with stuff. I think most of us learned by examples, thought, experimentation, and picking apart other people's programs, and I know I still have favorite subroutines I have "found" or written myself over the last ten years or so. Hope that helps a lil bit
  18. Virtual controls vs hardwired

    We also hardwire all safety circuits as well, plus any manual overides that may need to be cycled if there should be a controller fault that would prevent the operator from initializing the machine that needed to be cleared prior to the fault reset. Any buttons that are continuously hit are hard wired, as well as any controls located in a hostile environment that require frequent changes.
  19. gasoline odor

    Does that work with beer oders too? LOL
  20. Cleaning Slip Rings

    M109. Hmmmm, that has to be a 155 if I remember right. Its been a few years. Do they still have the FIST calling the shots or did they go the way of a lot of the other MOS's out there?
  21. Cleaning Slip Rings

    Do not use abrasives on any kind of electrical contacts. They tend to leave little pieces of abrasive behind, and they tend to cause a very little bit of arcing when contacts open or close or collector rings rotate. We have used rubber erasures for slip rings that were used for signals such as thermo couples and other analog signals with very good luck. As far as rings used for the transmission of power, you can try the erasure trick, or contact cleaner, but once they get pitted or worn, either have them lightly machined or have them replaced. Just had way too much bad experiences with crocus cloths and other abraisives on electrical stuff, so hope this helps a little bit.
  22. CFM Guidelines

    We have five compressors, ranging from 150 hp down to a couple of 50's usually on stand by. Normally the 150 takes care of the entire plant but if we step up production, and those cylinders do start cycling at the same time one of the stand by's goes in. Usually tho, the only time the stand by's go online is if the reserve tanks run low like was mentioned earlier. We have roughly four times the "storage" of air then our computed usage, with the tanks placed evenly around the plant so that the reserve doesn't have to get to the long range spots thru the headers. Our usage right now is somewhere above 300 CFM at 95 PSI and the pressure is monitored for low air faults. Since adding the additional storage in the plants, the only time we experince a loss of air is when we have a mechanical failure. Extra storage makes up for a lot of unused and expensive compressor operating times.
  23. Keyence 24VDC Sensor Test Box?

    I know that SICK makes test boxes that are for sale, as well as AB, but I am not sure of the part number. I would just make my own anyway just like your doing.
  24. Fuse Expiration Date?

    I wonder if the date of manufacture was more of a quality control issue rather then a "born on date". I know that certain items have the date of manufacture on them so they can track back to a particular run, or shift in case of failure out in the field. I havne't seen experation dates on fuses but we do have tracking numbers on steel shafting here that has a date of manufature lazored in along with a batch number that they can actually track that shaft back to the original steel supplier in case of manufacturing defects.
  25. Spell Check

    Spell check is only important if you can't read and write fluent typo.