Learning Industrial Automation
by Building It
I’m documenting my journey learning controls engineering through hands-on study, experimentation and troubleshooting.
Why I’m Building This Site
I’m learning industrial automation and controls engineering, and I wanted a place to document the process from the beginning.
This isn’t meant to be a site where I present myself as an expert. I’m learning. Some things will work, some won’t, and some of the most useful lessons will probably come from figuring out why something didn’t behave the way I expected.
I’ll use My Controls Lab to keep a record of the courses I take, equipment I work with, experiments I try, PLC programs I write, problems I encounter, and what I learn while troubleshooting them.
Where I’m Starting
Right now I’m concentrating on PLC fundamentals and building the foundation for my home controls lab.
As I gain experience, I plan to work through industrial electrical controls, motor controls, VFDs, analog signals and instrumentation, industrial communications, HMI/SCADA, and eventually larger integrated automation projects.
Instead of filling those sections now, I’ll add them as I actually reach them.
How I Want to Learn
Learn → Build → Test → Troubleshoot → Understand → Document → Publish
The goal isn’t simply to finish courses. I want to develop practical controls-engineering ability by applying what I’m learning to real hardware and real problems.
This is the beginning. I’ll add to the site as the lab—and my understanding—grows.