Set of instructions or labs for Noob?

[cityjack 0]

Good morning all and Happy New Year.

Its been a year since I've taken Mr. Beaufort's class down in SC. That had to be the most informative yet grueling class I have taken since college. But unfortunately due to a crazy work schedule and life, I have not been able to practice what I learned and time with PLCs other than watching the control guys at work, I have done nothing.
However I did get the company to fork over some money and with the guidance of the control guys at work, I purchased a Control logix controller, power supply, and a digital and analog input/output card. We did also buy a end card piece I believe was some sort of terminator at the end of the cards I was told we needed. I forget actually what it was called and what its used for.
I have been given the time this year and the funds to buy and build my own trainer as well as a place to practice.

I need some practice labs or a set somewhat like that eUniversity site has. Beginning to advanced then more advanced. Something I can work through over the year. I am told we have Studio 5000 licenses available and a pc is not a problem.

Please, any guidance would be most helpful.

Thank you again.

Sid

[PLCMentor.com 60]

You are welcome to checkout our PLCMentor site.  We have training in the ControlLogix with programming exercises.  We allow you to submit a number of programs for review which allows you to get expert advice on your progress.  We also have a good library arranged by instructions or topic so that it is easy to review an instruction or learn about a new instruction.  Our site was designed for guys like you that either can't get away for a week or do get to go for a 3-5 day training session and come back to all the stuff that piled up while gone.  Generally by the time that new knowledge gets a chance to be applied, half of it has leaked out!  Our training is all self paced and there is a weekly web class for our Stage 3 subscribers that is used as a question and answer session.  In that class you can bring programs from your facility to discuss or just ask for help with something you are programming or trying to figure out. 

[Armadillo852 25]

I have not used this website or company, but I have a few friends that have. It is another alternative to PLCMentor's website. I like this one because it splits up the training based off of your job title and/or job description.

http://koldwater.com/index.html

 

I have not used PLCMentor.com either. So I am not saying either is good, bad, better then the other, etc. 

[kaiser_will 65]

Rockwell/Allen-Bradley develops concise lab exercises that offer a great amount of reference information for learning examples of what their equipment can do.  Great playgrounds for budding control engineers.  Seek out the files and archive them for your reference.  https://www.rockwellautomation.com/resources/downloads/rockwellautomation/noa/RAOTM%20Lab%20Manuals/L18-manual.pdf  

https://www.rockwellautomation.com/resources/downloads/rockwellautomation/pdf/events/raotm/sessions/labs/L17Studio5000LogixBasicsFinal.pdf

[PLCMentor.com 60]

Kaiser,

The problem I have with Rockwell's labs is that they are designed to get you in and out in an hour thus they hold your hand through the entire process.  I think that works ok for us experienced guys, but new programmers have to learn the struggle and work through creating a program without all the hand holding.  That't the biggest problem I have with all of the manufacturer's training programs.  They lead you through everything to make sure they can cover the material in the time allotted.  For me and you that's OK.  I know I am generally just looking for the new stuff that has come out when going through one of those labs.  New programmers end up being as lost at the end as they were in the beginning.  Having to program with a nudge or two is the only way I know for someone to actually learn to really program.  That's why we offer the mentoring approach.  I think most experienced programmers on here can point to at least one mentor that has helped us along the way. 

[gclshortt 51]

Here is a couple of labs to try...

Make the game of Simon with the PLC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_(game)

Make a sequence of cylinders that can be taught.

Regards,
Garry

[cityjack 0]

Awesome input and thanks a ton for the help.

 

Have a good rest of the week.

 

Sid