Project notes
Factory 4.0 & PLC Modifications
A modification plan that turned a single-PLC factory trainer into a five-group lab platform, plus custom encoder hardware to work around timing problems.
teachingautomationplcelectronics
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What happened
Build story
The Fischer Technik Factory 4.0 is a strong PLC teaching platform, but the stock configuration is hard to scale for larger lab sections. Before purchasing, I planned a set of modifications that would split the standard single-controller setup into five lower-cost PLC stations.
That change let up to five groups work with the factory models at the same time, which dramatically improved how much hands-on time each student group had during lab.
There was one frustrating complication. An error in the Fischer Technik PLC documentation meant the purchased PLCs had slower cycle times than the encoder pulses coming from the factory motors.
To recover from that mismatch, I designed a custom PCB around a Teensy microcontroller that combines encoder pulses and outputs fewer, longer pulses so the PLCs can read the motion correctly.
Why it mattered
Project notes
- Reworked the lab setup so five student groups could use the equipment in parallel.
- Designed a custom PCB to clean up encoder timing for slower PLC hardware.
- Turned a purchasing problem into an opportunity to improve the overall lab experience.