Greetings to all ...
so many people have asked for this over the years, that I’ve finally put together a set of YouTube videos covering the basics of PLCs ...
well, actually another forum member, Archie Jacobs, did most of the hard work – I just provided the material ...
anyway, we’ve posted the results at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/RonBeaufort
if you’ve got some spare time, please look these over and let me know what you think ... there are 11 lessons in all – for about 95 minutes of total run time ... the main thing that I’m interested in right now is some feedback on how well I did meeting the following objectives ...
(1) something basic enough that beginners could follow - and learn from ...
(2) deep enough that experienced technicians would find interesting - and educational ...
(3) show some of the differences between my PLC training classes – and what my competitors do ... (and thereby generate business) ...
this project hasn’t been easy – and I don’t know how Archie has found the patience to put up with me ... but frankly I’m excited to have it finally posted and available ...
I’ve also posted the links on the Sample Lessons page of my website ... if you’re as new to looking at YouTube videos as I am, it might be easier to follow the links from there ... (note: the videos should be watched in order – since each one builds on the previous ones) ...
your comments are always welcome ...
Full Version: YouTube Videos - PLC Boot Camp material
Forums.MrPLC.com > PLCs and Supporting Devices > General Topics - The Lounge > For Sale, Services Offered or Wanted Items
I just got finished watching all the videos. Ron, I think you did an excellent job at showing why your training is much more effective than other companies.
Everyone, even you veterans, should take the time to watch these videos. It is not that Ron knows some insider secret into how PLCs work. Even when he stumps you, after wards when you think about it you will say "I knew that". Ron's method introduces you to a whole new way of thinking that makes you follow it step by step just as a PLC does.
Lesson 10 and 11 were probably my favorites. I admit, you got me on the seal in at the end of lesson 10. When you walk through it, the correct solution is very clear. My solution is to scorn the use of duplicate OTEs and OTL/OTUs. While I stand behind not using them in programming, I must also face that we do run into them. Simply scorning them without understanding them is not very wise on my part either.
Job well done Ron!
Everyone, even you veterans, should take the time to watch these videos. It is not that Ron knows some insider secret into how PLCs work. Even when he stumps you, after wards when you think about it you will say "I knew that". Ron's method introduces you to a whole new way of thinking that makes you follow it step by step just as a PLC does.
Lesson 10 and 11 were probably my favorites. I admit, you got me on the seal in at the end of lesson 10. When you walk through it, the correct solution is very clear. My solution is to scorn the use of duplicate OTEs and OTL/OTUs. While I stand behind not using them in programming, I must also face that we do run into them. Simply scorning them without understanding them is not very wise on my part either.
Job well done Ron!
I have not had a chance to view them all, but I echo TW's comments.
One thing I would do is dump Archie and use a sexy female voice. Ear candy.
It looks like someone has already used some of the videos, see thread below yours.
One thing I would do is dump Archie and use a sexy female voice. Ear candy.
It looks like someone has already used some of the videos, see thread below yours.
QUOTE(Mickey @ Mar 28 2009, 09:05 PM) [snapback]80491[/snapback]
It looks like someone has already used some of the videos, see thread below yours.
Right you are Mickey! I have been following Ron and keeping up with his site for a couple years now. I linked to those vids as soon as I saw them available. Most of our content is done in house, but when we find good accurate info on youtube we definately include it. If Ron gets some business from it I'm all for it!
Russell
Greetings TWControls ...
regarding your kind comments ...
thank you, Tim ... that’s one of the major points that I wanted to get across ... undoubtedly the most common argument that I run up against when trying to market my classes is this:
“We’ve already sent our guys through several PLC training sessions – and they never get any better. Our people just can’t learn this stuff.”
the fact that the training that the employees have received just might be “wrong” has never even entered the boss’ mind – especially when the previous training company is as large as some of my friendly competitors ...
well, you’re right in saying that I don’t know any “insider secrets” – because MANY people do indeed know the stuff that I cover ... but, on the other hand, it seems that most people who TEACH the subject of PLCs do NOT seem to know these fundamental concepts ... I base that opinion on the fact that about 99% of the students who come to my classes have already been through “someone else’s” PLC training – and each Monday morning session invariably points out how seriously “flawed” their previous lessons have been ...
one specific case in point:
a few years ago one of our best customers sent about 40 students our way ... as always, we STRONGLY recommended that they start by sending their “Top Guns” first - and then work their way downward through the rest of the plant’s technicians ... one of the first students took me aside after the first day’s class and said something along these lines:
Tim, I get comments like that in almost every class ... the point is that some technicians who SEEM to be competent don’t necessarily KNOW exactly what they’re doing ... that’s why every class is FULL of exercises just like the one in that first YouTube lesson ... how the students answer those questions reveals a lot about what’s right – and what’s wrong – with how they understand PLCs ...
that, my friend, is PRECISELY the whole point of the project ... MANY people have asked me over the years: “But how can YOUR way of teaching PLCs be any different from how everybody does it?” ... well, there IS a BIG difference ... once I convince Mr. Customer of that fact, then I have ZERO trouble selling my classes ... my only problem with marketing so far has been gaining an audience with Mr. Customer in the first place ... I’m hoping (and praying) that YouTube Lesson #1 is going to end up on enough bosses’ computer screens to build my business to the next level ...
that one gets a LOT of people – especially the skeptical ones who think that I’ve just “got another way of looking at PLCs” – and that their “old-school” ways work just fine ... as you said: “When you walk through it, the correct solution is very clear.” – but NOT if you try walking through it based on the traditional “switches and coils” and “green means true” methods that many people teach – and believe in ... when you try doing it that way, the incorrect explanation that results simply can NOT be made to agree with the reality on the Light Box ...
mine too ... I certainly don’t recommend them for programming purposes – but at the same time, I rely quite heavily on their use as “teaching tools” ... inserting these into the ladder logic is just one of many methods that allow me to take pinpoint control of the PLC’s program – and demonstrate exactly how the program works “under the hood” ... once the student fully understands these fundamental ideas, then those same concepts can be applied to MUCH, MUCH more than just troubleshooting “double coil” problems ...
finally (for now at least) I sincerely thank you for taking the time to post your comments here on the forum – where they can benefit as many people as possible ...
====================================================================
Greetings Mickey ...
well, to be honest, the voice doing the narration is actually MINE – not Archie’s ... going further, we actually had to postpone doing the audio for at least two or three weeks to let me get over a head cold – and a nagging cough ... (even so, you can hear my voice sort of crack in a few places) ...
anyway, I’ll keep your “female voice” suggestion in mind – as long as it doesn’t lead to too many people tuning in to the videos for the “wrong” reasons ...
thank you ... Archie and I were originally planning for just three or four lessons – and each one within the YouTube “ten minutes running time” limit ... once I got into developing the material, it became painfully obvious that anything less than the eleven lessons we ended up with just wouldn’t give enough detail ... so now we’re up to about 90 minutes of total running time – but at least I think we’ve put enough meat-and-potatoes into the stew to make it worthwhile - both for beginners - and for "beyond beginner" technicians ...
frankly, I’ve always hesitated to put this much of my personal “teaching material” out there in the public for free – but with retirement starting to creep up on me, I suppose that it’s time to lighten up a little bit ...
one thing that I’d really LIKE to happen is for more tech schools and colleges to take me up on my offer to “train the trainers” before I leave the trade ... hopefully these video lessons will show that my Boot Camp method is not only more accurate, it’s actually EASIER to teach - and to learn – than what’s being taught in most PLC classrooms today ...
again, I sincerely thank you for your comments ...
====================================================================
Greetings Russell ...
thank you for the kind compliments – and for the links ...
I’m still quite new to this YouTube business, so please forgive me for not answering your comment over on the “channel” yet ... to be honest, Archie was good enough to set all of that up for me, so I’m not exactly sure how to “log in” just yet – but I do appreciate your posting ...
regarding your kind comments ...
QUOTE
I think you did an excellent job at showing why your training is much more effective than other companies.
thank you, Tim ... that’s one of the major points that I wanted to get across ... undoubtedly the most common argument that I run up against when trying to market my classes is this:
“We’ve already sent our guys through several PLC training sessions – and they never get any better. Our people just can’t learn this stuff.”
the fact that the training that the employees have received just might be “wrong” has never even entered the boss’ mind – especially when the previous training company is as large as some of my friendly competitors ...
QUOTE
It is not that Ron knows some insider secret into how PLCs work. Even when he stumps you, after wards when you think about it you will say “I knew that”.
well, you’re right in saying that I don’t know any “insider secrets” – because MANY people do indeed know the stuff that I cover ... but, on the other hand, it seems that most people who TEACH the subject of PLCs do NOT seem to know these fundamental concepts ... I base that opinion on the fact that about 99% of the students who come to my classes have already been through “someone else’s” PLC training – and each Monday morning session invariably points out how seriously “flawed” their previous lessons have been ...
one specific case in point:
a few years ago one of our best customers sent about 40 students our way ... as always, we STRONGLY recommended that they start by sending their “Top Guns” first - and then work their way downward through the rest of the plant’s technicians ... one of the first students took me aside after the first day’s class and said something along these lines:
QUOTE
Ron, I’m actually the “go to guy” when things get really out of hand back at the plant. To tell you the truth, a lot of the time I never knew exactly what I was doing. First I’d cycle power off and on. Then I’d “force” here and there. Then I’d “toggle” here and there. Then I’d “hunt and peck” and try something else. Eventually I’d get the machinery to start running again. People thought I was a hero – but to be honest, most of the time I never knew exactly what step (if any) really “fixed” the system. Now after just this first day of the class, I know enough to go back and do something that I’ve been wanting to do for years – write up a set of “standard procedures” for all of our other technicians to follow for specific problems with the system. It’s not that I didn’t WANT to tell people what to do all along – it’s just that I didn’t know enough about interpreting what I saw on the screen to tell them WHAT to do. Now I finally know exactly HOW the PLC is working well enough to understand it myself – and to explain it to others.
Tim, I get comments like that in almost every class ... the point is that some technicians who SEEM to be competent don’t necessarily KNOW exactly what they’re doing ... that’s why every class is FULL of exercises just like the one in that first YouTube lesson ... how the students answer those questions reveals a lot about what’s right – and what’s wrong – with how they understand PLCs ...
QUOTE
Ron’s method introduces you to a whole new way of thinking that makes you follow it step by step just as a PLC does.
that, my friend, is PRECISELY the whole point of the project ... MANY people have asked me over the years: “But how can YOUR way of teaching PLCs be any different from how everybody does it?” ... well, there IS a BIG difference ... once I convince Mr. Customer of that fact, then I have ZERO trouble selling my classes ... my only problem with marketing so far has been gaining an audience with Mr. Customer in the first place ... I’m hoping (and praying) that YouTube Lesson #1 is going to end up on enough bosses’ computer screens to build my business to the next level ...
QUOTE
I admit, you got me on the seal in at the end of lesson 10.
that one gets a LOT of people – especially the skeptical ones who think that I’ve just “got another way of looking at PLCs” – and that their “old-school” ways work just fine ... as you said: “When you walk through it, the correct solution is very clear.” – but NOT if you try walking through it based on the traditional “switches and coils” and “green means true” methods that many people teach – and believe in ... when you try doing it that way, the incorrect explanation that results simply can NOT be made to agree with the reality on the Light Box ...
QUOTE
My solution is to scorn the use of duplicate OTEs ...
mine too ... I certainly don’t recommend them for programming purposes – but at the same time, I rely quite heavily on their use as “teaching tools” ... inserting these into the ladder logic is just one of many methods that allow me to take pinpoint control of the PLC’s program – and demonstrate exactly how the program works “under the hood” ... once the student fully understands these fundamental ideas, then those same concepts can be applied to MUCH, MUCH more than just troubleshooting “double coil” problems ...
finally (for now at least) I sincerely thank you for taking the time to post your comments here on the forum – where they can benefit as many people as possible ...
====================================================================
Greetings Mickey ...
QUOTE
One thing I would do is dump Archie – and use a sexy female voice.
well, to be honest, the voice doing the narration is actually MINE – not Archie’s ... going further, we actually had to postpone doing the audio for at least two or three weeks to let me get over a head cold – and a nagging cough ... (even so, you can hear my voice sort of crack in a few places) ...
anyway, I’ll keep your “female voice” suggestion in mind – as long as it doesn’t lead to too many people tuning in to the videos for the “wrong” reasons ...
QUOTE
I have not had a chance to view them all, but I echo TW’s comments.
thank you ... Archie and I were originally planning for just three or four lessons – and each one within the YouTube “ten minutes running time” limit ... once I got into developing the material, it became painfully obvious that anything less than the eleven lessons we ended up with just wouldn’t give enough detail ... so now we’re up to about 90 minutes of total running time – but at least I think we’ve put enough meat-and-potatoes into the stew to make it worthwhile - both for beginners - and for "beyond beginner" technicians ...
frankly, I’ve always hesitated to put this much of my personal “teaching material” out there in the public for free – but with retirement starting to creep up on me, I suppose that it’s time to lighten up a little bit ...
one thing that I’d really LIKE to happen is for more tech schools and colleges to take me up on my offer to “train the trainers” before I leave the trade ... hopefully these video lessons will show that my Boot Camp method is not only more accurate, it’s actually EASIER to teach - and to learn – than what’s being taught in most PLC classrooms today ...
again, I sincerely thank you for your comments ...
====================================================================
Greetings Russell ...
QUOTE
I have been following Ron and keeping up with his site for a couple years now. I linked to those vids as soon as I saw them available. Most of our content is done in house, but when we find good accurate info on youtube we definately include it. If Ron gets some business from it I'm all for it!
thank you for the kind compliments – and for the links ...
I’m still quite new to this YouTube business, so please forgive me for not answering your comment over on the “channel” yet ... to be honest, Archie was good enough to set all of that up for me, so I’m not exactly sure how to “log in” just yet – but I do appreciate your posting ...
I got a tip earlier this morning from one of our members that might help out some of our other readers ... seems he wasn’t able to view the videos at work – due to his company’s IT department disabling any connections to YouTube ... he WAS, however, able to run the “embedded” version of Lesson #1 that appeared on the “Sample Lessons” page of my website ...
I’ve now reworked the links so that ALL of the lessons (not just the first one) are now embedded – each one on a separate webpage ...
anyway, this might provide a “workaround” if you haven’t been able to link to YouTube and view the lessons yourself ...
if anyone else notices “issues” like this, please bring them to my attention ... naturally our intention is to make these lessons as easily available to everyone as possible ...
along these same lines ... once in awhile a video might “skip” just a little ... that’s YouTube messing up – not Archie ... if this happens on your system, try pulling the “slider button” back just a fraction of an inch – and let the video run through the “skipped” part again ... usually it works perfectly after that ...
(thanks to Jeff for the tip) ...
I’ve now reworked the links so that ALL of the lessons (not just the first one) are now embedded – each one on a separate webpage ...
anyway, this might provide a “workaround” if you haven’t been able to link to YouTube and view the lessons yourself ...
if anyone else notices “issues” like this, please bring them to my attention ... naturally our intention is to make these lessons as easily available to everyone as possible ...
along these same lines ... once in awhile a video might “skip” just a little ... that’s YouTube messing up – not Archie ... if this happens on your system, try pulling the “slider button” back just a fraction of an inch – and let the video run through the “skipped” part again ... usually it works perfectly after that ...
(thanks to Jeff for the tip) ...
Ron,
Thanks for the link to your video's. I started watching your first video and found that I could not stop until I went through all of them. It was like being in your class again. I was answering the questions before you gave them. I surely hope there are more to come. I'm hoping to take your Control Logix class.
I watched some of the other video’s after watching yours and they are no where near the caliber as yours. It’s evident they don’t have the ability to reach the audience as you do.
For others reading this thread I would like to say I have attended Ron’s PLC5 class and the videos are just a small sample of what his classes are like. I was overwhelmed by all of his knowledge on PLC’s. I highly recommend his PLC classes if given the opportunity.
Ron, you are in a league all by yourself. You have a great gift of teaching and I really appreciate your knowledge. My hat is off to you!
Keep up the GREAT work,
Gary
Thanks for the link to your video's. I started watching your first video and found that I could not stop until I went through all of them. It was like being in your class again. I was answering the questions before you gave them. I surely hope there are more to come. I'm hoping to take your Control Logix class.
I watched some of the other video’s after watching yours and they are no where near the caliber as yours. It’s evident they don’t have the ability to reach the audience as you do.
For others reading this thread I would like to say I have attended Ron’s PLC5 class and the videos are just a small sample of what his classes are like. I was overwhelmed by all of his knowledge on PLC’s. I highly recommend his PLC classes if given the opportunity.
Ron, you are in a league all by yourself. You have a great gift of teaching and I really appreciate your knowledge. My hat is off to you!
Keep up the GREAT work,
Gary
Ron
You are more than welcome. I am not finished with them yet. They look great keep up the great work.
ADVERTISMENT NOTICE
As you all can tell by my avatar I have been thought a great training class. I was fortunate enough to get a one on one class with Ron. He created a class around my needs. Structured Text, Sequential Function Chart, Ladder Logic in the ControlLogix. Whether Ron used me as a Guinea pig or not I may never know. He said that I was the first to need SFC so we did it. It wasn't the same old training that I had been to from others training sources. It was a fast, intense and direct. We didn't spend a day learning to count, or playing monkey see monkey do off a overhead projector. When I made a mistake Ron let me and then let me answer my own question about why and how it happened. Some of the other classes I have had the instructor would stop you mid stream and correct you. We took a short break every day for 15 or 20 minute at lunch and then started running again.
The side trips or odd stories that he has in his head are worth the price of admission and then some. Twice since then I have had his stories come true and fixed them at a customers site in no time. It will give you a complex if you are not careful (lucky for me I have you all to remind me what I don't know).
In short this guy is a GURU he will not admit it but he is.
Jeff Kiper
You are more than welcome. I am not finished with them yet. They look great keep up the great work.
ADVERTISMENT NOTICE
As you all can tell by my avatar I have been thought a great training class. I was fortunate enough to get a one on one class with Ron. He created a class around my needs. Structured Text, Sequential Function Chart, Ladder Logic in the ControlLogix. Whether Ron used me as a Guinea pig or not I may never know. He said that I was the first to need SFC so we did it. It wasn't the same old training that I had been to from others training sources. It was a fast, intense and direct. We didn't spend a day learning to count, or playing monkey see monkey do off a overhead projector. When I made a mistake Ron let me and then let me answer my own question about why and how it happened. Some of the other classes I have had the instructor would stop you mid stream and correct you. We took a short break every day for 15 or 20 minute at lunch and then started running again.
The side trips or odd stories that he has in his head are worth the price of admission and then some. Twice since then I have had his stories come true and fixed them at a customers site in no time. It will give you a complex if you are not careful (lucky for me I have you all to remind me what I don't know).
In short this guy is a GURU he will not admit it but he is.
Jeff Kiper
Greetings Gary and Jeff ...
and thank you both for the kind compliments ... it's things like this that keep me going - and I sincerely appreciate your thoughts ...
and thank you both for the kind compliments ... it's things like this that keep me going - and I sincerely appreciate your thoughts ...
for those of you have slow internet connections - or other similar problems - Archie has put the series of eleven "Sample Lesson" videos on a CD which is available here:
CD of videos on ebay
as you can tell from the price, we're not trying to make any money on this - and the same material is already available for free on the internet ... however, this CD format should make it easier for those of you who've had problems accessing the videos over dial-up connections, etc. ...
hope this helps ...
CD of videos on ebay
as you can tell from the price, we're not trying to make any money on this - and the same material is already available for free on the internet ... however, this CD format should make it easier for those of you who've had problems accessing the videos over dial-up connections, etc. ...
hope this helps ...
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.