Kirby K.

Right, this prox see's to the sides of the tip. The detection distance is also greater than that of other prox's. It seems to be about 1.5 times the diameter of the face.

Here is something to consider when you get equipment from another country (in my case Japan). We have three new production lines of metal working machinery all automated with gantry loaders, transfer conveyors, robots etc. etc. (You know the type, two people doing the work of ten). Anyway...... all the associated equipment use Koyo Direct soft PLC's and (here it is) Koyo proximity detectors. Koyo part number APS8-12 GMD-Z is the most common one used ...... and you guessed it, I cant buy a replacement anywhere. So, I go to the Koyo website (Induction models | Proximity Sensors | Products | KOYO ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.) , find the part I need, and then I'm directed to AutomationDirect to purchase it. Nope, AutomationDirect says they don't have that part and can't help me. I questioned the referal from Koyo and was told that they dont handle all of Koyo's products (Koyo owns Automationdirect?). So I E-mailed Koyo about purchasing the part(fokuoka@koyoele.co.jp), no response. I E-mailed them again. No response again. I E-mailed Koyo's main office(tbeigyou@koyo.co.jp). No reply. So, after we use up the last spare prox that came with the machinery, we will be forced to replace them with those from another supplyer. And... another problem. The Koyo prox detects off axis, and the equipment manufacture used this capability in some of the design. So on go the thinking caps and out come the laptops...etc. etc. Just something to consider when you get equipment from another country.... that is unless someone out there knows where to get these "OEM" parts.

I have a thought here that you might want to consider. Why use a PLC? I've built hundreds of punch presses (Taber industries) with feeders and light curtains and all sorts of associated equipment; and all with relays. Sometimes its just nice to open a control panel door and 'see' if the relay is responding. Software and computer not needed.

Thanks GerryM. Now it all comes together. I didn't have access to the manual last night (mushroom worker). And to be truthful, I didn't even think to look there for the answer. It will be different tonight. Thanks.

I am working on a machine that came with 'ladder' that has a few SP Relay contacts but no 'coil' that I can find. I could see where the programer might have used these to 'set up' or 'test' the program by way of forcing them ..... but ... when the machine is running, they change state. What am I missing? I dont have alot of hair left, and this one might make me totaly bald.

Just a note, we have updated to the latest version, working on getting more ram (its on order) and also working on getting a software -vs- hardware key. Our supplier says that it is an unusual request for the software key, but I dont understand why anyone would want the inconvience of plugging a pci key in everytime you want to use the software. I've also had problems with it working (just a little loose in the socket). Anyway, haven't had much time to work with it lately as I'm on a project with a AB 1500 and 4 Cognex Insite cameras. The latter being another great peice of software.. .. challenge. So with a little luck and a little less hair, I hope to be back working with ME in a few weeks. (Hope they dont change it by then).

I'm not sure if this is going to help, but.. I remember having a horizontal boring mill with a 20 Hp. spindle motor that had 'start and run' wiring. I believe it started in delta with one contactor and after about 3 seconds another contactor tied the series coils center taps together to change the configuation to wye.

Open mind'ness is a way of life where I work. I use a company computor that is shared with 5 other electricians and a engineer. So you never know what its going to look like when you open it up. I have yet been able to connect with logic equal. I like the idea of 'change management' but we dont use that yet. Another scary thought... IT will probibly have control of that feature when we do.

Thanks Russ, this is what I had thought happened. However it still doesn't make me feel good about it. Logic master was easy to run, fast and did everything that I would ever need to do. Now I have a program that takes forever to load, is difficult to navigate and has too many bells and whistles. One of my favorite quotes is "if it aint broke, dont fix it" ........ well GE fixed it alright.

Our IT department (which is there to help us?) has forced us to change over to the greatest and latest: Proficy ME ver. 5.0; and of course getting updates is like pulling frogs teeth... especialy for me seeing that I'm a mushroom (3rd shift worker). Anyway.... everytime that I have need to look at the logic of a machine, I go get the laptop, go sign out the key (hard key for ME) startup the computor, open ME and ... about 20 minutes of waiting around I'm able to make target, upload, change to programer mode, download and then I get this warning stuff that gives me a nice warm wet feeling: Uploading from the connected device Uploading: CONFIG VERSION Uploading: REF MEMORY ALLOC Uploading: RACK SLOT CONFIG Uploading: I/O CONFIG Uploading: SNP ID Uploading: _MAIN.dec Uploading: _MAIN.pdt Uploading: FAULTS.pdt Uploading: FIS.pdt Uploading: HMI.pdt Uploading: MAIN.pdt _MAIN.pdt Processed successfully. FAULTS.pdt Processed successfully. FIS.pdt Processed successfully. HMI.pdt Processed successfully. MAIN.pdt Processed successfully. Building block: _MAIN.... Size of Logic Binary File = 157 Bytes Successfully processed. Building block: FAULTS.... Size of Logic Binary File = 1134 Bytes Successfully processed. Building block: FIS.... Size of Logic Binary File = 270 Bytes Successfully processed. Building block: HMI.... Size of Logic Binary File = 543 Bytes Successfully processed. Building block: MAIN.... Size of Logic Binary File = 1948 Bytes Successfully processed. ---------- Upload from PLC completed ---------- Importing Hardware Configuration... Importing Folder File... Importing Smart Store... Importing Variable File... Importing block _MAIN... Importing block FAULTS... Importing block FIS... Importing block HMI... Importing block MAIN... Warning 8099: Variable [R00167] was automatically aliased to [R00166[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00108] was automatically aliased to [R00106[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00083] was automatically aliased to [R00082[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00078] was automatically aliased to [R00076[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00059] was automatically aliased to [R00058[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00029] was automatically aliased to [R00028[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00026] was automatically aliased to [R00025[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00053] was automatically aliased to [R00052[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00035] was automatically aliased to [R00034[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00168] was automatically aliased to [R00166[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00158] was automatically aliased to [R00157[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00134] was automatically aliased to [R00133[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00146] was automatically aliased to [R00145[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00128] was automatically aliased to [R00127[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00030] was automatically aliased to [R00028[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00014] was automatically aliased to [R00013[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00002] was automatically aliased to [R00001[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00159] was automatically aliased to [R00157[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00092] was automatically aliased to [R00091[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00023] was automatically aliased to [R00022[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00161] was automatically aliased to [R00160[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00129] was automatically aliased to [R00127[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00086] was automatically aliased to [R00085[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00080] was automatically aliased to [R00079[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00071] was automatically aliased to [R00070[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00068] was automatically aliased to [R00067[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00062] was automatically aliased to [R00061[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00056] was automatically aliased to [R00055[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00005] was automatically aliased to [R00004[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00003] was automatically aliased to [R00001[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00205] was automatically aliased to [R00203[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00170] was automatically aliased to [R00169[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00140] was automatically aliased to [R00139[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00149] was automatically aliased to [R00148[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00104] was automatically aliased to [R00103[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00101] was automatically aliased to [R00100[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00024] was automatically aliased to [R00022[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00162] was automatically aliased to [R00160[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00122] was automatically aliased to [R00121[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00096] was automatically aliased to [R00095[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00074] was automatically aliased to [R00073[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00072] was automatically aliased to [R00070[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00050] was automatically aliased to [R00049[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00044] was automatically aliased to [R00043[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00032] was automatically aliased to [R00031[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00006] was automatically aliased to [R00004[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00017] was automatically aliased to [R00016[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00107] was automatically aliased to [R00106[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00105] was automatically aliased to [R00103[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00131] was automatically aliased to [R00130[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00097] was automatically aliased to [R00095[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00077] was automatically aliased to [R00076[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00075] was automatically aliased to [R00073[2]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00143] was automatically aliased to [R00142[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00152] was automatically aliased to [R00151[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00089] was automatically aliased to [R00088[1]] Warning 8099: Variable [R00065] was automatically aliased to [R00064[1]] The selected memory was successfully uploaded from the connected device Oh, it gets better... so I'm doing some changes to a TCP and the program tells me that I cant use a chosen %RXXXX because its used somewhere else. Huh? So I go looking and I cant find it being used anywhere. So I spend another 1/2 hour or so looking and find that it was "aliased". Why do these PLC company's have to make things so difficult? There was nothing wrong with LM-90. And I miss it... Oh, so whats with this 'Warning 8099..' stuff? Anyone seen this before? I've got about 150 or so PLC's to update. And its just getting plain scary.

This 70E thing has almost turned into a joke. I work in the Auto manufacturing industry (UAW), and now when I open a panel to look at the status of a PLC, I must wear my "face shield (special UL appr.), HV gloves (rubber/ under leather), special clothing and no synthetics'. The company had to pay out big bucks for a survey on 'calory' exposure, training, etc etc. Now, per law, when your working with a 24 volt signal and a 22 ga. wire in a enclosure that has 480v in it......you gotta wear all that. Unless you lock out/ tag out. So I really love these guys out there making all the rules for us. If your a real sparky, you know the one hand rule, dont touch the hot wire, and dont carry on a conversation when you got your hand in the box. Oh, did I mention how comforably WARM these Bullwark shirt and pants are. Cant wait for summer.

Yes I believe that you can call this a SCADA system. We are running a Kurt software for statical process control. It incorperates a 24 point discreet I/O card and space for five A/D converter cards 4 input ea. Measurement is done with LVDT's presently but gives wide range of various sources with the ability to span, set gain etc. etc... The software gives the ability to 'calibrate', which would be a zero or tare function in this instance as the data collection and control is a user defined upper and lower limit. Anyway, still looking and thinking about buying a load cell (40 of them). My thinking is why pay for duplicate electronics that I allready have in the A/D converters. That is unless I have to. Still researching - need more data. thanks for the help.

I've come upon an idea to check identical machined parts by weight to ensure that there are no missed operations (like deburring, broaching, counter bores, etc). I found that each operation removes a repeatable amount of material to a tenth of a gram. Each part is checked for height, out of square, OD and bore by a SPC program ran on a computer that is interfaced to the lathe (GE 18i T control) to make offsets. I would like to add another configuration to the computer to check the weight of the finished (green) part and depending on the results; place the part for rework or reject the part and take the lathe out of 'continuious' or repeat operation. Now, all this I can do. The part I know little about is: should I buy a scale with a 232 port, or can I build a load center that will give me an analog output with the ability to measure 0 to 600 grams with .1g accuracy?

Dont forget good'ol logic master. There is a posibility that the shop where this project is going is still using this software. I'm in the auto manufacturing industry and this is what we are using even though the 'lastest and greatest' is availible. Oh, did I mention that I like logic master?

Has anyone had problems with the 18i controls getting alarm 1 on the power supply and alarm 30 on the spindle drive when the machine (lathe) is brought out of E-stop? I have called and talked to fanuc about this problem and they keep telling me to change the power supply etc... However, I have 35 (+/-) out of 40 machines doing this at startup (sunday night; I work 3rd shift) and at other times durring the week. I dont see all the machines in the shop having bad power supplys, plus, changing them has not corrected the problem. Incoming power is clean and within spec. Isolation transformer taps and voltage is good. Anyone been here before. Help.