What is a Pilot Device? “Pilot devices” is an industry term given to products such as pushbuttons, indicating lights, selector switches and various types of switches and visual and/or audible signaling devices. All these devices are used for a system, control panel or as an integral part of most automated processes to provide control and…
A stepper motor (sometimes called a step motor or stepping motor) is a DC motor with a fixed number of steps that make a full rotation. The motor can be commanded to move to any one of those step locations and hold position without any need for a position sensor – assuming it is properly…
1.) Conveyor Race Three boxes of automation equipment are traveling in the same direction on parallel conveyors in the AutomationDirect warehouse. At a certain moment, a box full of motors is a certain distance behind a box of gears, which is twice that distance behind a box of timing belts. The conveyors are all moving…
Recently, AutomationDirect’s very own Rick Folea, Senior Technical Marketer, was featured on North Fulton Business Radio speaking about STEM and how local Robotics programs are helping kids learn and become excited about science, technology, engineering, and math. The complete interview can be heard here. A Little Background Since 2006, AutomationDirect has been sponsoring Robotics programs…
Industry has a seemingly endless variety of machine and process control applications, and a correspondingly wide range of controller choices. When selecting a controller, there are many similarities and some differences to consider. And, while some controllers will control just about anything, others may be more suited for a particular task. The main controller choices…
January 2017 marks the sixth consecutive year that Automation World readers have voted for their “FIRST TEAM” suppliers in PMMI Media Group’s 2016 Leadership in Automation program.
[videoembed type=”youtube” align=”aligncenter” width=”640″ height=”360″ url=”http://youtu.be/JpBL9A8hXrM” id=”JpBL9A8hXrM”] We hope you have had a good year! It’s been a year full of anticipation, concern and surprises both in business and in life. And although there are always challenges, we hope that at this time of year, we can all reflect on the many positive influences…
AutomationDirect’s Terminator I/O line includes a new thermistor input module for the Do-more T1H-series PLCs. The T1F-16TMST is a 16-channel Thermistor input module with a temperature input range of -40° to 150° C (-40° to 300° F) and a resolution of +/- 0.1°C or °F.
After working tirelessly for six weeks, the student team from Forsyth Central High School in Cumming, GA won the district qualifier at the Georgia FIRST Robotics competition and also received the quality award. This is the first time the AutomationDirect-sponsored team has won the competition and everyone was smiling – including Smiley!
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Experience is the Best Teacher
Colorado Mountain College’s Applied Engineering Technician Program partnered with AutomationDirect to provide their students with real-world experience using state-of-the-art automation technology. Working with AutomationDirect controllers, the CMC students apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to real equipment used in process control applications. The following excerpt from the CMC campus newsletter explains the opportunities further…