Fortunately, many low-cost PLCs exist on the market for individuals to purchase.

My own personal favorites are the PLC models manufactured by Koyo and marketed through Automation Direct, both for their low cost and for the outstanding quality of their documentation (Users Manuals). In the United States, where Allen-Bradley (Rockwell) holds the vast majority of market share in programmable logic controllers, it may be advantageous to learn on a low-end Allen-Bradley product such as the MicroLogix 1000.