Pricy but amazing pid controller.

[JTknives]

So I have been a big pid fan for a lot of years. I think I did my first pid controlled forge around 15 years ago. Man those where the Wild West days it seams like. Any way I have always been on the lookout for the newer and better pid controller. When I built my heat treat oven I went with the tap controller over the normal ones from Auber that I had normally used. The tap is a great controller for the money and well worth the investment. It has performed flawlessly for me besides a few hiccups that where the fault of aging thermocouples. As of now I have 60,000min of run time on that oven and still going strong. The TAP controller app is also nice as I can check on the oven remotely.

Any ways you did not come here to read about the tap controller. I am building another oven and started looking around for controllers agin to see what was out there. My 3 tempering ovens use watlow controls and their stuff is fantastic. So I looked at what thy had to offer in the higher end range of controllers. This is when I was introduced to watlows F4T controller. Wow is all I can say, it’s everything I could ever ask for and it’s built to withstand industry abuse. The feature that stood out to me the most is replaceable modules. You can buy modules in any configuration you want and thy just plug into the back of the pid. It can take up to 6 of these modules at one time as it’s got 6 sockets. It connects to a laptop and you use the software to connect function blocks to any input or output you want. It’s 100% customizable and can be configured to do what ever you want. You can order it with up to 40 memory slots for schedules and data logging as well as a built in chart recorder. And it’s a touch screen which was what I love about the tap.

So after researching it I had to have one for the new oven. Well some how I ended up buying 2 as I want both ovens to use the same controller (keep an eye out for a used tap controller in the forsale area). Also picked up watlow proportional controllers to run with them. Thy are hands down better then the normal SSRs we use. The pid outputs a ma signal and the controller reads this and outputs the power lv accordingly.

So if your looking for a high end upgrade I would highly recommend the F4T controller.

here are a few pictures of the newly acquired items. I don’t know if should put them in the ovens or the safe lol.

 

[Ken H>]

I did a bit of reading and those are some NICE controllers, but at a starting price of $700 they are a tad on the pricey side for sure. BUT - for a commercial operation like you have I'm sure they're well worth the money. Enjoy.

 

[JTknives]

Yeah not cheep. The starting price does not include any modules and only has the basic features which is no memory and no data logging. Both mine I got with 2 modules each. The plan is to pull one module and put it in one controller so it has 3. That unit will go on my long oven with 3 thermal couples I will then use a single thermal couple on my short fat oven I’m building. Or possibly run 2 thermal couples in each oven. One just a tad deeper then half way in and one right by the door. The second TC won’t control anything like zones but I can use it to trigger a next step process showing the oven is fully soaked and up to temp.