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Posted
Hi all, I have recently started an apprenticeship working for a bookbindery in the Toronto area. I work as an industrial mechanic and am beginning to get involved in troubleshooting and repairing electronic components. I'm fine with basic NEC drawings and basic wiring. However when it comes to more complex issues like circuit boards, plc's and the million other electronic components of our machinery I don't even know where to begin. I'm looking into some part-time education that I can either do on my own or at a school around my work schedule. Any information about productive courses and other education in the field would be great. How did you guys get to where you are? Cheers
Posted
I was selling electrical equipment and the company took on PLCs - 80s by the way - step controllers. Had to learn to show and help customers. LOL Became addictedf and went back to my trade! No couses - just did it myself and took on helping customers write software.
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Posted (edited)
I left school and started a maintenance apprenticeship in the dairy industry. NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) in Engineering Maintenance, level 2 and 3. NC (National Certificate) in Electrical/Electronic Engineering. Was introduced to PLC's in the 2nd year of this. This was on a day release basis. After my apprenticeship I went on and did a HNC (higher NC) and then HND (diploma) in Operations Engineering (used to be called "Plant Proess Engineering". This was also on a day release basis. After that I left the dairy industry and joined the automotive industry. I started a B.Eng in Mechatronics upon joining it and am about to enter my final year. I'm now a Systems Engineer and work mainly with National Instruments (LabView, TestStand etc). My degree is online... the university is a 3hr drive away. I go down 4 days per academic year for lab days and of course for exams. Obviously I don't know the canadian academic routes. But based on what you've said Mechatronics sounds like what you need, or pure electrical/electronic. For an apprenticeship day release should be approved by your manager (and you should be asking him the same question you asked the forum). HTH, Regards p.s. I think once I heard a statistic that Harvard offered one of their traditional, class room taught courses, as an online course. IIRC, they had more applicants for the 1st year of the online course than they had had cumulatively for the history of the class room taught for the same subject. Edited by the_msp
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Posted
Each PLC platform is different and the training almost always is expensive and only available from the company directly or, more rarely, from distributors of that platform. Getting training yourself would be expensive, but you might be able to get your employer to send you to training. In general though, the best thing to do is try to get the data sheet for whatever component is causing your problem. Short of getting into the program, most controls stuff and sensors have LEDs that will give you a good idea of what is going on if you have the data sheet to tell you what they mean when they are blinking in that particular way.
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Posted
Try (Google) some of the local colleges like George Brown, Seneca or Mohawk. They do block course work and some evening classes for electrical, electronic, plc topics. If you're looking to do 'distance learning,' try the Sarnia and Calgary colleges as they cater more for the petrochem/oil & gas industry.
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Posted
I am new to the world of PLC's. This blog points out how to successful start and operate a PLC at your school. I liked how it explained at the beginning teachers will not feel completely comfortable sharing their ideas with the group. The leader of the PLC needs to develop trust and assure that no one is being judged, and once that is done teachers will begin to share their ideas. Any ways thanks to all

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