Hello everyone,
Mechanic on a stamping line, twelve years in, and I want to move into controls. The plant's all Rockwell, CompactLogix on every press. I can read a rung when the controls guy shows me, can't write one, and there's no PLC I'm allowed to touch after hours. I want to practise ladder and timers at home.
I tried a free web ladder simulator, three timers and no tag names, and burned an hour on a rung the controls guy would do in a minute. Then I downloaded the Studio 5000 trial and it doesn't seem to have an emulator in it. A guy at work reckons I should buy a used SLC off eBay for 80 dollars.
What do people who actually do this say? I don't want to waste the winter on the wrong tool.
What do you want at the end of it, to read the plant's programs and follow a fault, or to write your own from nothing? The answer's different, and not by vendor.
Read first. Follow a fault at 2 am without calling anyone. Writing later, I think.