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> From my experience doing IT in industrial manufacturing, there is a ton of room for them to replace expensive PLCs where they aren't really needed Just for f
by mike_d 2y ago
> From my experience doing IT in industrial manufacturing, there is a ton of room for them to replace expensive PLCs where they aren't really needed
Just for fun try to find a way to get a Pi mounted up to a DIN rail with an enclosure that can resist industrial vibration and has good particulate penetration/filtering and ruggedized connectors. Good luck finding accessories that aren't 3D printed with materials that will break down when coated in machine oil or in direct sunlight.
Now try to figure out how to get whatever monster you built installed in an ISO 9001 or AS 9100 shop.
- bongodongobob 2y agoAgain, I'm not talking about machinery that actually needs PLCs, I get that. A lot of stuff doesn't have vibrations, temperature, safety issues etc. but is built around PLCs out of tradition and BoM reasons. "Here's our end of the production line fan that blows dust off of your product for $4k because we used a PLC." There is lots of stuff like that that just has no business using a PLC.
- mike_d 2y agoI (thank god) got out of manufacturing IT around 2000 but I still have friends working in that industry. A guy I know makes an absolute fortune frankensteining old MFM drives together and fixing resistors on 10base-T network cards because someone thought the exact same thing and subbed out a PLC for a computer to save a few bucks. Trust me, I loathe PLCs, but Allen Bradley will still sell you a drop in replacement for something the now retired previous guy put in service 15 years ago.
- bongodongobob 2y agoYeah I'm out of it now too. You still have the same issues running PLCs. I've had to find old ass network cards on EBAY. I understand why PLCs are used. I turned down a project building a machine using Arduino's and raspberry Pi's because it was inappropriate for the application. But there is definitely a subset of manufacturing equipment that doesn't require PLCs. I've already seen it happening scanning networks and seeing devices show up with RPi MACs.