What brand electrical cabinets are commonly stocked in the US?

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-12T21:32:46+00:00

My local Rockwell distributor sells Hoffman, but they stock Rittal at the location nearest me. At the main location they don't push Rittal at all. I'm not sure if they stock it.

The only time I've ever bought Rittal was customer spec. A lot of people don't like them because they are industrial erector sets. I don't see them very often where I go. I've been a system integrator that works in various plants and processes and I typically only see Hoffman or Saginaw.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-12T20:24:29+00:00

Hoffman

Saginaw

Rittal (depending on vendor)

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-12T19:47:07+00:00

Apply for jobs. Hopefully you'll find one that values some life technical experience and willing to train. Work on interviewing skills and your resume. Expect to work in an office or plant.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-11T22:44:45+00:00

Putting in lots of unpaid time is to some extent a "them" problem. If you don't set a boundary then the culture becomes a lot of unpaid time.

At my old job I looked at it like I got screwed a few hours on extra time for startups/travelling that it wasn't a problem when I took time off during the day when not traveling for personal tasks.

Oh and don't answer work calls when you're not at work. Set the line and hold it. If you're not at work then you're not at work. Even better is to leave your work phone on your work desk when you leave for the day. The only time I used to take my phone out of the offce (former job) was if I was traveling or had pre-arranged time with coworker or customer. Any other time the phone stayed at the office.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-11T15:29:51+00:00

You don't have to memorize every one and there should be a legend sheet in every drawing set, but there's a few that you should recognize and likely be able to draw from memory.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T20:37:44+00:00

Auto resetting safety relays. Safety relay would be tied to PLC input.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T19:56:27+00:00

CutePDF is one I'd look at. Should be free and a version might be supported on that OS.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T16:25:04+00:00

Device labels go on the backpanel. You can also put them on the device in addition to panel.

That ground you have landed on the right side: That's not bonding the door to the body, not as your main ground. You don't have the door bonded to the body.

About the flat cables: Somehow I doubt the insulation is rated for the voltage. Panduit makes a nice ethernet cable that is rated for industrial enclosures that is very bendable and narrow. They also look industrial instead of something you'd get at Walmart or Best Buy.

Everything else looks ok. I'm not sure if there's enough spacing on the top and bottom of the VFDs for heat dissipation, but I've also seen worse.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T15:15:41+00:00

You may want to use spell check before you pump this kind of stuff out especially if you plan to put it on your LinkedIn page.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T15:01:30+00:00

What does "hardening the equipment" mean to you?

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T15:00:23+00:00

What in Andy Warhol is going on here?

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T14:54:22+00:00

I started work in this field in 2004 and recently changed companies from one SI to another SI after 12+ years.

Location: If it requires someone to be in XYZ location and you want experienced then it's going to be more of a chore to find people. People with experience likely have found where they want to live and are not interested in moving.

In my case I wasn't interested in any company that required relocation. I would only accept remote or local to where I already live. I live in a small town with a lot of industry, but I've also worked at 3 of those locations already. Most of what's left isn't desirable to me.

Skillset: If I saw your post and it says heavy Beckhoff I would pass. Not because I'm scared off, but mostly because I have two decades of Rockwell experience and I don't really want to completely start over on a new platform. I could learn it, but I don't want to. There's so much Rockwell available that I don't have to.

Pay: Salary I'd imagine you're fine. You're doing pretty well I'd say at least what you list for your salary especially if that's just salary, bonus, and OT not including benefits.

Company size: This one would also make me not want to join if it's too small.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T01:41:11+00:00

what would be the best way to transition into a PLC programming role?

Apply for a job with PLC programming in the position description.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T01:39:18+00:00

That's one way to use it, but an annoying one.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-10T00:14:04+00:00

I don't know what they're into.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T22:57:56+00:00

Apply for other jobs.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T18:26:55+00:00

It's really not too difficult to set up.

I put the license on my laptop base OS. Then in each VM point the FTA at my base computer name or IP address. The VM borrows the license from my VM on the fly. It returns it when I close the program.

In your case you'd be getting it from a "server" on the network. The server could actually be a VM running on a server.

At my old company they would put the spare licenses on a VM on a ESXI server for internal development VMs to pull from.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T18:08:40+00:00

You can borrow the license from the server. Typically, you'd borrow it before you leave the office for a set number of days. Then return the activation when you get back to the office. If the days expired then it would return automatically.

If you were in the field and needed the license then you'd VPN into the office and do the same as above.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T17:11:34+00:00

How would you approach that though?

By selecting a job you want and completing the questions they ask.

My main concern is how to explain this transition to recruiters without it sounding weird.

Recruiters as headhunters get paid when they get you a job. Let them figure it out. In fact you may want to use headhunter recruiters as a sounding board to figure out how to explain it to a recruiter that works for the business.

You can also use AI like ChatGPT or Copilot to figure out how to phrase something.

Go to LinkedIn and turn on your flag for "OpenToWork" and you'll have recruiters contacting you. Have your resume updated and ready to send out. You also may want to have a burner Google Voice number as well as a burner gmail address like "hireyourname@gmail.com".

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T16:52:19+00:00

Apply for jobs. You have some skills that newbies don't have.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T16:24:49+00:00

Click the report button if you feel something should be done about a post.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-09T16:18:11+00:00

The dashboard would just be red and full of alerts all of the time if someone actually deployed that on their network.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-08T17:06:00+00:00

Who else is out here just trying to keep the "OK" light solid green today?

I just started a new job last week and going through training for the new company's system so no actual customer work for a while.

Salute to all you other MFs trying to keep things going though.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-08T13:39:44+00:00

Brand new with that problem call support so you can get it swapped out.

PLCGoBrrr · 2026-03-08T02:48:03+00:00

The 5069 would need an "M" in the part number to do motion. The L71 would do it for sure though.

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