The project's goal was to redesign a laboratory-scale drilling rig called MiniRig at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben. Laboratory-scale drilling rigs are the most feasible way of doing drilling research. Most laboratory-scale drilling rigs are unique, but they all try to mimic real-world size rigs. The MiniRig's environment consists of many parts that have to work together. The new iteration of the MiniRig uses the previous iteration's control box, servo motor, and top drive. The MiniRig's digital hearth is hidden in its control box. The control box's hardware and control software had incomplete documentation before this project. The control box's hardware and control software were reverse-engineered to document and implement them with the new MiniRig's parts. New sensors were added to the MiniRig, resulting in a new programmable logic controller (PLC) hardware and software configuration. The servo motor, top drive, and sensors are all fitted on the new derrick. The control box's connectivity drawings were created in an electric diagram design software called QelectroTech and are presented in this thesis. Reading and understanding the connectivity diagrams is a must for new PLC programs. The updated PLC routines are described in this work. A new program was written for the MiniRig manual operation. The program is described in the thesis and commented in the PLC's programming software called Automation Studio. The project's outcome is a manually operable MiniRig, a description of the MiniRig's parts, and encountered issues and solutions are documented.