And another PID / 4-20 project

[el34]

Here's mine-



I worked on this off and on for 2 months. My goals-
- sit beneath the Lee pot to raise it to eye level on my casting table (thanks Zack)
- be wide enough to be stable
- have a slanted front panel, with it and the rear panel recessed for protection from drips
- have those lights and the switch
- be purty and personalized with a salute to castboolits

The power switch and 10A fuse are on the back along with the AC outlet for the pot.
The front panel switch selects output to the pot, PID controlled or always off or always on.
The yellow HEATER light is neon and connected directly to the power outlet for the pot to show me 120VAC is there.
The red Alarm light is hooked to PID alarm 1, currently set to go on if the temp goes more than 20deg above my setting.
The green TEMP OK light connects to PID alarm 2 and is currently set to come on when the temp is within plus or minus 15deg of my set point.
The thermocouple connector on the back is an adapter that came with the TC.

A few pics along the way-




Shows 12V power supply on the left for the little Radio Shack fan, and the SSR w/heatsink.


The tray is made with 1/2 x 3/4 x 1/16 aluminum angle, the space filled in with 1/16 pc board, and diamond plate on top. The bottom feet are 1/4" for ventilation through the holes.


Note the bling on the side. The only change to the pot was to replace the line cord with a shorter grounding one, with ground connected inside the control tower.

The front panel was done in Excel (it's a spreadsheet!), printed out, and placed in a clear plastic pocket for protection and held to an aluminum plate by the switch and lights and PID.

[jmort]

Obviously you put a lot of thought/time/work into the 4-20 PID upgrade, and it shows. Nice unique touches. Diamond plate looks sweet. The el34 4-20 PID upgrade brand has arrived in style and yes, it is "purty."

[el34]

Hey thanks J, I think you caught it before I finished rescuing the post. I was too slow putting it together and a few pics were auto-deleted because I took more than an hour putting it together and not-yet-posted uploads are only held for an hour.

The diamond plate was a $17 splurge but sometimes ya gotta waste money for the fun of it.

[jmort]

I missed the top two and bottom two photos. Seeing the whole deal is even more impressive. The Cast Boolits homage makes sense now. As I said, the el34 brand has arrived big time.

[el34]

As I said, the el34 brand has arrived big time.

Can't use it, el34 is the part number for the power tubes in big Marshall guitar amplifiers. That's another hobby of mine.

[USAFrox]

Very nice! I'm working on my own PID, and may have to copy some of your ideas. Thank you for sharing!

[jmort]

Unfortunately, I am old enough enough to remember most everything electronic had tubes in it. Whatever, name or no-name, you should rightly be proud of your creation. I'm sure my hearing was fried by a few of those vacuum tubes back in the day.

[BACKTOSHOOTING]

Umm, Where is the resistor for the leakage ? That looks realy good

[el34]

Umm, Where is the resistor for the leakage ? That looks realy good

WOW good memory! It's connected behind the front switch, you can't see it in that fuzzy foto.

[el34]

Very nice! I'm working on my own PID, and may have to copy some of your ideas. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you, there's nothing special except the side decoration. And sparkly dark blue paint.
Well, jacking up the pot so the spout is at eye level is very cool. I coulda just used bricks I guess.

[kitsap]

el34,

Nicely done! The unit will provide you years of service.

DougF

[rbertalotto]

el34 is the part number for the power tubes in big Marshall guitar amplifiers.

Hey! I knew that but I just thought it was a coincidence...Rock On Dude!

(NICE WORK BTW!)

[ph4570]

Very well thought out and executed.

[el34]

el34,
I'm sure my hearing was fried by a few of those vacuum tubes back in the day.

Yep, and those F-5 afterburners.

el34,

Nicely done! The unit will provide you years of service.

DougF

Thanks Doug. Or it might blow up tomorrow.

Hey! I knew that but I just thought it was a coincidence...Rock On Dude!

Rock on Roy! Wow, your website shows you're a pretty busy guy with lots of interests.

Very well thought out and executed.

Thank you ph, the goals were pretty clear to me but the execution was totally by the wingit method. After finishing it I decided I wanted that third light (green one) and well, you know, feature creep.

[NineInchNails]

Looks real nice el34!

I'm in the middle of putting together a PID controller right now.

I understand your yellow heater light is a 110v neon light because your heater circuit is 110v. Are your other lights 12v, 110v neon or are they powered by the 12v power supply? I'm very curious because I really really like the way have your switch & lights rigged up and I would like to do something similar. The green & red lights are triggered by the relays that are built into the PID right? From what I understand the built in relays do not supply power, but just open & close a circuit.

Shows 12V power supply on the left for the little Radio Shack fan, and the SSR w/heatsink.

Why the need for a power supply for the SSR? Did you get not get a PID with "SSR Output"? I assume that your PID is a "relay output" type therefore the PID does not supply 12v to signal a SSR?

Do you happen to have a part # for the switch, lights and fuse you used? Those are the last details I have yet to work out for my PID build.

[Muleshoe Slick]

Bill, It looks great!

[el34]

Looks real nice el34!

I'm in the middle of putting together a PID controller right now.

I understand your yellow heater light is a 110v neon light because your heater circuit is 110v. Are your other lights 12v, 110v neon or are they powered by the 12v power supply? I'm very curious because I really really like the way have your switch & lights rigged up and I would like to do something similar. The green & red lights are triggered by the relays that are built into the PID right? From what I understand the built in relays do not supply power, but just open & close a circuit.


Why the need for a power supply for the SSR? Did you get not get a PID with "SSR Output"? I assume that your PID is a "relay output" type therefore the PID does not supply 12v to signal a SSR?

Do you happen to have a part # for the switch, lights and fuse you used? Those are the last details I have yet to work out for my PID build.

Sorry 9inch, I completely missed your questions.

Yep, the heater light is a 110V neon because I wanted it wired directly to the output to show 110V was being sent out.

My PID is a "SSR" model, confusing but in this case it means "SSR, SSR, Relay" defining the 3 outputs-
SSR control signal (24VDC) for the main controller output,
SSR control signal for Alarm 2,
Relay (normally open contacts) for Alarm 1.

An SSR output sends 24VDC, about 15-2mA, to control a typical SSR.
A relay output is just a set of normally open contacts.

It looks like the most common controller is SNR, meaning no Alarm 2.

The lights are from Radio Shack and I wanted all 3 to be the same size/shape. Based on what they had I got a 110V yellow neon, a 12V red, and a 110V green neon.

The 12V red is connected through a resistor to the Alarm 2 SSR signal output.
The green gets lit with 110V switched by the Alarm 2 relay as you guessed.

The 12V wall-wart power supply is only for the little Radio Shack fan. It's small, blows outward, and is placed near the SSR heatsink. I don't know if the fan or heatsink is actually needed based on the power dissipation spec of the SSR but it seemed like a good idea to have it.

The switch was also from Radio Shack, it's a center off double throw.
The fuse is a standard 3AG size, 10A. I had the fuse holder but RS should have that also.

PM me if you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

Bill

[BubbaJon]

I was a controls engineer way back and made test and production machines - so when I say "good job" you can take it to the bank. Seriously - I just threw mine together and yours makes me ashamed I didn't put more time into it.

[el34]

Thank you Bubba.

If yours does a great job of controlling pot temp, and tells you whatever status's you think you need, you did a great job. Bling is
not a functional requirement, just an emotional one. Or for marketing purposes I suppose.

Bill

[RoGrrr]

I don't remember the EL34 but do remember the EL84, which I believe is also a 6BQ5.
You're giving me ideas for my extra 4CX1000 and 3-500s....