Created Date: January 22,2013

Created by: Tinker

One question; you say "A programmable XYZ Pick and Place System " and "The XYZ distances will be different from part to part and must be able to be programmed from the Touch Screen. " What comunication does the Pick and Place use? If it is Modbus (or posibly ASCII text though that will be harder) over either RS232 or RD485 then the CLICK may well be able to do the job. But if it uses Ethernet or it uses CAN or some other protocol you may run into problems using a CLICK. Of course if we take "programmed from the Touch Screen " literaly, then it only realy matters if the HMI can talk to the Pick and Place, assuming there is another way (probably discrete i/o) for the CLICK to initiate a move and detect "move complete " or error.

Any minute now someone (probably an employee of Host) will come along and recomend the Do-More, and while I have not used a Do-More, I'm not sure I'd disagree in this case. With all the servos and stuff this project sounds like it could be in the low to mid 5 figures (or at the least, high 4 figures) a few hundred either way on the PCL will probably be pretty insignificant. While I like the CLICK, it is a fairly low end PLC.

"Also, any advice on how to program and setup the servo motors "

First we'd need to know what servo controlers you are using and how much "intelegence " the have. If they are "dumb " and will be relying on the PLC for positioning then the CLICK will not be very suitable, one could add a standalone moting controler but that adds complexcity. Personaly I'd use drives that were "smart " enough to take care of positioining on their own. I have uses a Kholmorgan S200 "Position mode " along with a CLICK in one project and it worked out pretty well, there were a few things I wasn't thrilled about, but over all it was ok. I'm currently working on a project where someone else specified Festo servos and I would NOT recomend them. I have not used SureServos myself, I did consider them for the project where I used the S200, but after reading the documentation I went with Kholmorgan. But soneone who has actual hands on experience with SureServo would probably be able to give better advice.

Created Date: January 22,2013

Created by: plcnut

Any minute now someone (probably an employee of Host) will come along and recommend the Do-More, and while I have not used a Do-More, I'm not sure I'd disagree in this case.

I am not in ay way affiliated with Host, but have become a big fan of Do-More as I have been giving one a pretty good working over. If you have high speed I/O requirements, then the Do-More with CTRIO2 is really easy to set up and use, as well as the communications capabilities are powerful, even supporting custom protocol development.

So from a user of the Do-More, I won't put any thing else in the cabinet that will be doing anything more than simple RLL only programming, (as long as I can afford it).

Created Date: January 22,2013

Created by: Adisharr

Here's another vote for the Do-more. I'm currently using it again with three Oriental Alphastep drives and two inverters for a cable cutting / processing machine. So far the changes they 've made alone to interfacing to the CTRIO modules is fantastic.

If you end up using intelligent servo's that you can communicate to serially, the Do-more can handle that with ease. There will be a significant time investment on your part though until you 're comfortable with everything depending on your programming / machine design experience.

Many times the error handling code is more difficult than the actual process.

Created Date: January 21,2013

Created by: Vinny

Can someone help me choose a PLC for my application? I would like to use the Click PLC if possible because of simplicity. Also, any advice on how to program and setup the servo motors will be greatly appreciated. This is the first time I am attempting something like this. I am not sure how to determine the correct type of Inputs and Outputs. My applications is as follows:

Steps of operation:

1. A tube will be loaded into Clamps up against an End Stop

2. Left Clamp will close and clamp tube in position (Right Camp is fixed)

3. End Stop will move up out of the way (End Stop will be activated by a pneumatic cylinder)

4. Servo motor will forward to form the end of the tube to a programmed position and then retract. (Usually this will be a Hydraulic Ram, but will be replaced by a Servo Motor with appropriate torque)

5. Left Clamp will open

6. Tube will drop into pan below machine bed

7. End Stop will move back down

Tube will be moved up against the End Stop by an XYZ Pick and Place System with Servo Motors. The steps will be as follows:

1. A bunch of tubes will be placed in a Loader which will have two Pneumatic Cylinders that move up and down. When the Pneumatic Cylinders move up, a tube will be deposited at the top of the Loader and held in position by a third Pneumatic Cylinder. At a certain time the third Pneumatic Cylinder will open and allow the tube to roll into a V-Block which will hold the tube.

2. A programmable XYZ Pick and Place System with grippers attached to the Z-axis will move into position and grip the tube.

3. The XYZ Pick and Place System will place the tube into the Clamps up against the End Stop as described above in step 1 and the remaining steps all the way to step 7 will be executed.

Note: There will be a Touch Screen to program and save programs that can be called up to run as needed. The XYZ distances will be different from part to part and must be able to be programmed from the Touch Screen.

There will be some Sensors to sense opening and closing of clamps and Relays to open and close Pneumatic Cylinders.

One thing of great importance is that the tube that moves into the Clamps up against the End Stop must at all times make contact with the End Stop, if the tube does not touch the End Stop, the machine should stop because the part will not meet the required dimensions. There must be some Sensor or some sort of control device to make this happen each and every time as this is very critical.