The BIG day has come. Outstation day. I was not expecting any outstation work when I first signed up for this job! Last week Mr. James said, "Make sure you understand all this..we'll be going to Johor to install that controller.." My first thoughts were, "Err..Johor? Really? For REAL?" I was very skeptical about Mr. James' statement until today when his words came true..Oh my God, he MEANS it!! We are REALLY going to Johor!!

Anyway, met with two malay technicians who will help us install the controller at the mamak restaurant near the office. Then we embark on the three-hour journey to Batu Pahat. NOT in Muar like what I mentioned yesterday. In fact, its not even a factory, but a high-tech training institute. We took the north-south expressway and exited at Yong Peng Utara.

The journey took me to places that I've never been before. Its like, the other side of Malaysia! All this while I only see the lifestyles of the people in the city but its very relaxing to observe the people in the "kampung" area. They're having a very peaceful and modest life where we, the people of the big city, are always at rage over the traffic, horrendous workloads and the crime rate. Truly a peaceful sight!

Upon arrival, the two technicians took us to a big workshop full of lathe and milling machines grouped into sectors within the workshop. We are replacing a controller module of one of the lathe machines. Originally the controller module is from Fagor but the "cikgu" requested for a different brand from Heidenhein, made in Germany. That's why we were called in, to setup the controller module and match the settings with the old and faulty Fagor controller. This is the module:

The thing with a keypad is connected to the small black box and the output goes to the inverter. It is used to control the speed of the motor in accordance with the controller's settings. At first it was quite difficult familiarizing with the controller setup but slowly we begin to learn the programming methods.

Programming at the controller alone is not enough, because we need to synchronize this machine with the other lathe machines in terms of motor speed so Mr. James suggested that I manipulate the bias frequency and the gain frequency at the inverter to compensate the new controller's settings but it was already lunch time when I start to access the inverter. We had lunch at the institute's cafeteria.

After lunch we resumed on our work. It took us almost two hours to figure out the correct settings. We cannot match the machine exactly with the other machines but the "cikgu" came and he said its good enough. That's it! We are allowed to go home! It was 3.50pm when it was all done. This fieldwork turns out to be a success!! 

I managed to capture some photos of the control box. Here's a typical sight inside a control box:

But this control box does not have any PLCs. If it does, it is usually mounted at the top-left corner of the box.

The best part of this fieldwork is that I managed to capture some photos of myself doing work! With the permission of Mr. James and the technicians of course.

This is my final fieldwork of the internship. What a great way to end an endeavor! A big job done well. An unforgettable experience! Thanks a lot Mr. James!!! And not forgetting Mr. Rizal and his brother, the two technicians who brought us here!! This is probably the most awesome day of my internship!