Bear,

I did this using the OPC Server that Allen Bradley supply with RSLinx. I wrote my own OPC client using Visual Basic.

Starting from scratch with no experience I had production rates for six machines on a line being displayed in 3 days so it isn't that complicated.

I think that OPC references come with Visual Basic (its some time ago) to allow you to communicate with the server

I have no experience with LabView so can't help you in that respect sorry

Al

If you have an OPC Server, then you have a wide range of possible OPC clients on the market, depending on what you want to do with the data.

If it's OPC you're new to, there are lot's of resources available to get up to speed (before you start jumping into some custom VB development)

If you want a quick 50,000 ft overview of what OPC is here's a quick animation.

http://blog.matrikonopc.com/index.php/introducing-coffee-break-opc/

For a bit more details, follow the links to the OPC tutorial section.

http://www.matrikonopc.com/resources/opc-tutorials.aspx

You can download some easy-to-use OPC clients and servers, and take a guided test drive to get a feel for working with OPC.

If you already have the OPC Server, and the LabView HMI, then you already have both an OPC client and Server. There are also some on-line docs that deal with the LabView product

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/EA15F53DB6FECCA5862567240064DF09

(although if you've never played with OPC, I'd still suggest the tutorials first)

The last question you need to answer is once you got the data, what do you want to do with it? Each OPC client can read data from any OPC server, but each is typically a specialized applicatioin (display tool, full fledged HMI, data transfer tool, historian client, etc)

Hope that helps.

Eric Murphy - http://blog.matrikonopc.com

We use the Labview/Testview application on one piece of test equipment and a Daytronics System 10 on 2 others. The Daytronics is just a little easier to use and look at.

Thank you for the recommendation, I will look them up.