eccan

MrPLC Member
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Everything posted by eccan

  1. Has anyone found a way to convert an integer to Base 36 (uses 0-9 & a-z to count)?  
  2. Base 36

    Using this on a machine making an automotive part for Bosch, and their serial number uses this format.  It allows them to use only 4 characters in their serial number to get over 1 million unique numbers ( 36^4 ).  Found a formula to divide and use the remainder like you suggested, and it didn't take much to program.   Thanks for your help      
  3. Hello All Does anyone have a simple way to calculate the average cycle time of the last 10 parts ran, doing a live update every part? I am using Logix 5000 and my machine makes a part every 4.0 - 6.5 seconds. I want to add the last 10 cycle times, then use that to calculate the average time. I am going to experiment with a FIFO a bit, but if there is an easier way, please let me know Thanks
  4. Look at the RTA (Real Time Automation) ASCII modules. I use them for lots of barcode readers and printers. Great people to work with, and their product makes this simple
  5. Scale with parameters

    The FX3U lets you use the SCL command. That works pretty easy!
  6. Scale with parameters

    time to revisit this - is there a command like "scale with parameters" available for the FX3U yet?
  7. Thanks all Just used this on a G3 to a Micrologix 1200 - worked great
  8. Thanks - the 1.5 K resistors did the trick
  9. Looking for an encoder to go with a Micrologix 1400. The encoder shaft will be turned by a shaft at 60 RPM and I need to know the shaft's location within .3 degrees. Does it matter what type of output the encoder has? Anyone have any brand recommendations (using a flange mount encoder) Thanks
  10. Thanks All I have selected a Red Lion Encoder with an open collector output. Everything makes sense, but how do I calculate the size of the pullup resistor I need?
  11. Panelview plus

    I create a screen with my company logo and the customer's logo on it, then monitor the machine cycle and if no activity is sensed after a fixed time, I display this screen. I make a transparent pushbutton over the whole screen so if it is touched, the original screen comes back. I also use the backlight tag to lower the intensity of my logo screen slowly over a few hours of machine idle time. Touching the screen sets the backlight tag back to 100. This also lets me control when the "screensaver" is dislayed.
  12. Thanks all I used b_carlton's idea and it works great. just 2 rungs of logic Thanks for everyone's ideas
  13. I have a system with an X,Y & Z axis using Contrologix with Kinetix 6000 drives. The Y axis has a brake on the motor. I have the Y axis set so when the enable signal on the Y axis turns off, the brake engages and then the drive disables. This works great. However, on a main power loss, the axis will drop 1/2" before the brake has a chance to engage. Does anyone know a way to have the brake turn on when the axis is not moving, even though it is still enabled? This way if the power goes out and the axis was not moving, the brake would already be engaged. I thought about hardwiring this (just turn the 24VDC to the brake off when I am not commanding the drive to move) but there must be tag somewhere that would control this Thanks EC
  14. Hello all Does anyone know a way I can get 3 values out of a .dat file that is created by another process, and get them into a tag in RSView32 A remote press creates this .dat file every cycle, and now the customer needs it saved in a data file as my machine moves. Here is what is in the dat file (as viewed by wordpad) Gauged Data: Label,Value,Status Distanceat100,1.65653437,OK MaxForce,626.52803129,OK MaxDist,1.8995229,OK Thanks Evan
  15. Retro encabulator

    I have an older copy - I have put it on photobucket here Hope it helps Evan
  16. Retro encabulator

    Is this one's quality any better than what you have? I can send it to you if your email will allow a large file (it is 3MB), or I can put it on my FTP site later
  17. Hello All I have an active X program that automatically creates a bitmap of a part layout. This bimap always has the same name and is in the same location on my drive. (eg c:\holes.bmp). I want to display this bitmap image on one of my graphic screens in RSView32 - but if I just put it on my graphic screen and them run it, RSView32 always just shows the bmp file that was present during development. Does anyone know how I can make RSView32 use this "updated" bmp image each time the graphic screen is opened? I could use a script and open Paint and load this file each time into a box on the screen, but I just want to show the bmp without any other options for the operator. Hope this makes some sense Thanks Evan
  18. Thanks Paul Just tried changing the cache settings, and it has no effect on a bmp on the screen. Do you have any other thoughts?
  19. Has anyone used the LTagSubstitute command in RSView32? I have an application in English, but my customer wants a cost to add Spanish to all the screens. I only have 23 screens in this project, so I could just duplicate them all and change the text to spanish, and have a language choice at login. That may be quicker (less painfull) than using the LTagSubstitute command. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated Evan
  20. I do the same thing as kaiser_will, but I use a program called "Snagit" that captures a screen shot, or a window, etc when you hit the Print Screen key. It opens with the captured screen shot, then you can size it, add a border or other effects. Just save the JPG and then insert it into Word to create your manual.
  21. I have a Micrologix 1100, and I need to send all the date & time data from the RTC to a bar code printer. I want each part to consist of 2 digits (02/01/08 11:06:00). However, when any part of the RTC consists of only 1 digit (like 9 for 9am) I need to add the leading zero character. I figured out how to do this by using some math and sending each digit of each part to an individual string, then combining all the digits back together with an ACN, but I was wondering if anyone has a cleaner solution. My customer will look at this part of my program and wonder what is going on - and a confused customer usually means a phone call. Evan
  22. I have a bunch of memory tags in RSView32 that are used as fault counters to count 7 different faults at each hour so quality can have a breakdown of faults by hour. This ends up being 168 tags (7 faults x 24 hours). I need a pushbutton to reset them all to zero when required (move the value of 0 into each tag). I started to create a button, and do a command under the "Press Action" for each tag (&Set Counters\overcurrent_fault_hour1 0; &Set counters\overcurrent_fault_hour2 0;) etc, but I need to check 2 things. - Can I give one button 168 commands to do (even if I did half of them on Press Action & half on Release Action that is still alot of typing) or is there a way to send the value of zero to a group of tags? They are all in the same folder. Hope this makes sense. Thanks
  23. Thanks Ron Just tried it and it works great Glad you are online this afternoon Evan
  24. Thanks Ron That is exactly what I needed. Jogged a few brain cells too. Evan
  25. I need to have 3 things happen with 1 pushbutton on a screen (turn a bit on momentary to my PLC, set an internal bit on, and set a bit on in my PLC) I thought I had done this in the past by creating 3 pushbutton objects (1 with each command) and then stacking them on top of each other. However, this doesn't seem to work this way now. Am I missing something? The buttons are set to be visible, so they are active, but only the action of the top button happens when they are pushed Thanks for your help Evan