Injection Press Upgrade

[reebelec]

Has anyone here used the A-B Proset 200 or the
Siemens Siject 16? What are your thoughts on both units.
I have a couple of injection molding machines that need a
new controller and these take a lot of the programming work
out of the equation.

 

[eceng]

I used proset on a machine last year. I would not do it again. The actual PLC program they give you is huge, and there are two panelview programs also. You have to load one panelview program to do the setup, and another panelview program to run the machine. It is also not very user friendly for the operator.
You can email me if you have any other questions

 

[reebelec]

ECENG, What make and size of press did you install the proset. Once you were over the learning curve was it an easy install? I had planned on using a PV Plus and create my own operator interface. What is the customer's impression of the system? Did you have to rewrite most of the program, or was most of it already available in the proset

 

[eceng]

I did this changeover a few years ago. The molder was about a 200 ton. I don't recall what make it was. It had a remote panel with a CRT, and I replaced it with the Allen Bradley system. The screens that come with the package are already made, but due to the amount of data to enter and display, they are all very full and difficult to navigate. The proset PLC program was pretty good - it is documented well and you enter your real world IO - but it it generic and has alot of things you won't need, and is missing some things I needed (like a nozzle gate, a bypass valve around the filter, etc that my machine needed). You will also need a pretty good understanding of how your hydraulic system works.
If it would help you, I could email the original proset PLC program and the Panelview screens that it comes with and you can take a look at it (don't try to print the PLC program - it is huge)
Evan

 

[jlada]

We used Proset 200 to upgrade a press in a Kodak plant. For starters, the bios of the Panelview HMI wasn't correct - this we found out only after much rending of hair. The result of bios mismatch was incorrect communications with the PLC which resulted in parameters and recipes not being saved correctly. You can just imagine the heat I was getting as the programmer. I was hip deep in that program where most programmers will never need to go. The really annoying thing was that tech support at A-B wasn't aware of this little discrepency and didn't pay attention to our pleas until we proved them wrong.

On the up side, the program is very comprehensive - being capable of handling even the most complex of injection blow molding machines.

In the end, we were able to get it working fine, even though the operator interface had a few quirks that the setup guys apparently had to get used to. I'm sorry to say that on the next retrofit, the general contractor decided to call in the big guns from A-B themselves to tailor the software. They did a good job, but of course, cost a fortune.

I can't say that I was too sorry to have lost that second contract. I still get an involuntary twitch at the mention of Proset

Jeff

 

[challenger73]

I have looked into upgrading control systems in extrusion blowmolding machines and there are 2 that come to mind. Barber Colman is the "Old Pro" in the plastics industry. There is also Beckhoff who makes a softPLC system that is very nice. I have used these on larger blowmolding machines with success.

The choice is yours on what upgrade you would like, however remember it will take much more enginnering than expected (Murphy's Law). )

Adam

 

[reebelec]

We ended up using a slc500 with the proset. We made a lot of changes to the code. Basically rewrote all of the user screens for a 10" panelview with more operator information available on each screen.
We also made it easier for the operators to make setup changes since more info was on each screen.
Overall it was a good experience, but we knew going in that we would be rewriting most of the proset