brucechase said:
Even though it was briefly mentioned, I feel that the proper place to start is to understand the safety aspects of the machine and or installation. The first order of business should not be if I can make the machine do A or B, it should be to NOT hurt anyone.
It's good to see that everyone on here seems very safety oriented and is making sure I understand the most important stuff @ hand, that being safety. Rest assured, I am a very safe person in general. This was instilled into me by my father who was a construction guy / mechanic his whole life and has a few safety related scars from almost fatal errors that were made primarily due to poor designs of equipment (damned bobcat pressure release safeties). Noting that, I also worked with a twin to my dad (another old-europe manual laborer) who didn't quite have the safety knowhow as my dad and his visible damage to his body is extensive; not something I want for anyone. I enjoy the operation of all my fingers and appendages and now realize that there exist operators JUST LIKE HIM who are willing to put their safety on the line and will go out of their way to make a safe thing unsafe in some way. I realized that people like him will be using machines that I build ... that's scary. I don't even want to get into the stupid things this guy does on a regular basis dispite my pleading.
Eric Nelson said:
Also, be sure to read
THIS article at mrplc.com by Jim Rowell. Excellent set of guidelines to follow...
Addressing both quotes now, I read that article once so far and have saved it in my library of useful stuff off this site; my archive is starting to get big enough to require reorganization into more detailed subcategories. I never really thought about the whole pinching to ground issues or theoretically having a wire 'fall off'; I am VERY happy to have read that article. Other things like how to wire specific safety devices make no sense to me right now so reading those sections doesn't sink in yet ... hence the saving for future reference.
Ken Moore said:
PERFECT, now I am going to search for the 'bad panels' thread ... a little comic relief is in order I think. I wish I tokk pictures of the decommissioned panels at the WWTP I worked for; if the current EE guy didn't design it, then they were total ****. I scoffed a ton of practice wire off those old panels, and got to see what happens to a wooden electrical panel in a WWTP; not good.
rsdoran said:
I forgot to mention one thing that is a personal pet peeve. Its so aggrevating when you have to go into a large panel to troubleshoot but you have to lay/sit on the floor to access the terminal strip.
Jim Rowell's article mentions this
My current panel I am building will have this problem; I will see if I can fix it (read: Unlikely)
brucechase said:
Hope you do well in all your future projects and enjoy the programming - think of it as a challenge, not a job.
It's actually getting a lot more fun now that I am seeing all the cool things that I will theoretically be doing soon.
Ok, and JUST IN CASE anyone thinks that I am going commando on these projects, I am not (yet anyways). Most of the current projects that we are working on have already had all their controls quoted and panels designed, etc. These projects are intended for me to learn off of hence wh I wanted to know basically how to progress. I want to be able to gain as much "CORRECT" knowledge from these projects before they are installed and I won't have access to them (at least, not their PLCs or control panels).
Thanks for all the info, these links are amazing.
