Even with best efforts to supply clean and dry plant air, point-of-use air preparation is still needed for safe and reliable pneumatic machine operation. Pat Phillips, Product Manager, Fluid Power & Mechanical Products at AutomationDirect, wrote an article for the August 2018 issue of Industrial Equipment News titled Safely Provide Clean Air to Machines with…
Jerry Reaves, PLC silo product manager at AutomationDirect, wrote an article for the July 2018 issue of Control Engineering titled Comparing ladder logic and object oriented programming In the article, he discussed how many young automation professionals are comfortable with object oriented programming (OOP), but Reaves says ladder logic remains the standard for industrial automation applications:…
Ethernet is the most widely used network in industrial plants and facilities, here’s a primer covering its foundational concepts. By: Bill Dehner, AutomationDirect Ethernet was first conceived and deployed in a research setting in the 1970s and was soon standardized in the early 1980s under IEEE 802.3. This quickly led to commercial adoption in office…
Pneumatics have been used in industrial machines and manufacturing plants and facilities for decades, so most of the basic components are tried and true, with significant innovations few and far between. But there are many innovative ways to combine these different components to create pneumatic subsystems. The explains four pneumatic subsystems, showing how combining basic…
The line between programmable relays and micro PLCs has moved to a much lower price point over the last few years, making a micro PLC a better option for controlling many small to medium size machines. Micro PLCs are no more expensive nor difficult to use than programmable relays in these applications, and the required…
As with any engineering decision, it’s always best to put it on paper first to see the “big picture”. The same holds true when choosing the most effective PLC for your application. This choice depends on a number of factors and the following steps serve as a checklist of things to consider when determining PLC…
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Let’s Ride the Roller Coaster! - An AutomationDirect Case Study
Manny Salazar, the Manager at Automated Integration LLC, wrote an article titled Roller Coaster Overhaul for the April 2018 issue of Automation World. The article told the story on how Automated Integration replaced an old PLC, a bunch of relays and what seemed like miles of wire when upgrading the control and safety system on…
The desire for remote access to plant floor PLCs, HMIs and other automation components is becoming a must-have feature for many manufacturing facilities and machine builders. For many applications, providing the desired level of cybersecurity requires more than just a router, namely a VPN. Jonathan Griffith, Product Manager, Industrial Communications & Power Supplies at AutomationDirect,…
If you’re searching for clear, no-hype training on industrial automation products, you’ve in the right place. InterConnecting Automation prides itself with technical instruction delivered in a clear and concise method. Founder and instructor, Doug Bell provides tutorials that cover time-saving suggestions and advanced programming techniques, as well as showing programming examples that are common on simple automation controls. He offer courses…
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Are CLICK PLCs Really That Simple? - A DIY PLC Project
By now you know that CLICK PLCs are considered one of the easiest PLCs to use and the perfect choice for beginners and small applications. I know you know that, because I am one of the many who keeps bringing it up. As a technical marketer for AutomationDirect, my job is to let you know…