Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)

ISSN: 2278-0181
VIMPACT - 2017 Conference Proceedings

Mini CNC Plotter using Spare Parts

Yash Soni
Department of Electronics & Communication
Vivekananda Institute of Technology, Jaipur
Jaipur, India

Abstract: In this paper we are designing a low cost three axis converter. Hence it acts like interfacing module between PC
Mini CNC Plotter with a stepper motor, Arduino to Controller. This code is further passed to stepper the
microcontroller and motor control software. A Canon boring motor by easy drivers which converts the code and as per
machine or Lathe was invented but it can do only one work at a instructions the stepper motor moves. We need three axises
time and also other disadvantages like requirement of regular
X,Y,Z which operates as follows X stepper motor move left
monitoring, skilled labours and less accuracy. In 1947 Mr John
is a parsons tried to control machine tool motion with three- and right Y stepper motor moves front and back and Z
axis curvature data which was further developed for the stepper motor up and down as per given dimensions these
invention of the modern CNC machine. But this one is of high axis’s will move on.
cost and its construction is very difficult. In my project I am
trying to create a cost effective CNC plotter of small or I. Main Parts of CNC Plotter
medium size and an open structure.
1. Stepper Motor
INTRODUCTION: It is the heart of CNC plotter. The size and type of motor
Computer numerical control is an advanced form of soft speed, accuracy, CNC router precision etc.
automation developed to control the motion and operation of mainly two types of motors are used in CNC machines they
machine tools. Numerical control machine was invented are stepper motors and servo motors, within these are also
around in 19th century for reducing the work load; it is a many classifications.
method in which the manufacturing machine uses coded
format, digits and letters. Its advantages include high
efficiency, high flexibility, high production rate, low cost of
production, less working time and less losses in production.
It includes three main steps that is receiving data,
interpreting data and accordingly control of a machine.
Based on special characters letter codes and numbers a form
of program called part program (a sequential instruction or
coded commands that direct specific machine function)that
is used for automatical operation of a manufacturing
machine to build a specific part of specific dimension. The
program is then converted in to electrical signal to feed as Fig. 1. Stepper Motor
input to motors that run the machine and do the tool
movements. A machine control unit (MCU) decides depth of 2. Arduino Microcontroller:
cut, cutting speed etc. Motion of tool is based on Right hand It controls the position of stepper motor with help of
coordinate system. There are three axis of rotation x, y, z for program. It is a open source prototyping platform based on
three dimensional motion of tool plus an axis of rotation. easy to use hardware and software. They have digital and
The z-axis is one of the three which allows the movement of analog input/output pins that can interface into various
router in upward and downward direction. This axis is very expansion boards and other circuits and an Atmel 8, 16 or
important because it controls the depth. The y-axis functions 32-bit AVR
as motor mount to move z-axis in addition with slide
mechanism, x-axis uses two pieces one for front and one for
back which serves as height stands.

Objective:
To developing a low cost automatic mini CNC machine for
PCB drawing and drilling. This system reduces the cost of
machine and increases the flexibility.

Methodology:
The G code is interfaced with ATMEGA 328 CNC based
Fig. Arduino Controller
controller by FTDI module which is used to convert the
code in convenient controller code i.e serial to USB

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 Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
VIMPACT - 2017 Conference Proceedings

microcontroller with complementary components that helps As mentioned earlier input device used isserial
in programming and incorporation into other circuits. communication port DB9. Machine control unit (MCU)
Arduino programs are written in any programming language consists of data processing unit (DPU) and control loop unit
with a compiler that produces binary machine code. (CLU). On receiving part program DPU interprets and
encode it into internal machine codes. Then intermediate
II. OPERATION OF MINI CNC PLOTTER
position of the motion in Basic length unit (BLU) is
Main blocks of this system consists of power supply,
calculated by interpolator of DPU. Then it is passed to CLU
Arduino, 3 Easy drivers each connected to stepper motors X,
for further process [2]. To control driving system and to
Y, Z. From power supply we get two voltages i.e. +5volt
perform required motion data from DPU are converted in to
and +12 volt. 5volt which is required to ATMEGA328p,
electrical signals in CLU. Machine tool can be of any type,
Easy drivers whereas +12volt supply is required to stepper
machine slide should be of high accuracy and repeatability
motors. RESET is connected to5v supply through 10k ohms
and also coated with anti-frictional material.
resistors to pull up the voltage thus it act as a pull up
resistors. We have used here 16MHz crystal oscillator
connected with ATMEGA controller with two capacitors of
22pF.
The GRBL code from computer is interface with controller
using FTDI 232 module i.e. serial to USB converter. The
output of FTDI is given to pin no.2 and 3 i.e. RXD and TXD
pins of ATMEGA328p. The output of ATMEGA328 is
given to three Easy Drivers. Easy Driver consists of 16 pins
from which we are using in our project only 9 pins. Four
pins are used for two stepper motor coil i.e. coil A and coil
B. Two pins for input 5volt supply i.e. VCC and GND.
Three pins are used for STEP, DIR; GND. STEP is used for
micro stepping. DIR is direction input pin which will move
stepper motor according to the given dimensions. Third pin Fig. Schematic Arrangement
is directly grounded. Spindle motor is connected to pin no.
16 of ATMEGA328. It is used for drilling purpose. III. SOFTWARE AND CODING
According to the dimensions drilling machine will move. To complete the task of entire project three software is
When working of motors is completed the dimensions on pc used-
will roll of to again its initial value i.e zero.
 Inkscape
 Fritzing
 Processing
A. Inkscape 0.48.5-
Inkscape is used to design the plotted diagram or text. In
this project by using this software G-code file of a selected
image or text is created. G-code is a commonly used for a
numerical control programming language which includes X,
Y, Z coordinates. Creating G-Code File Using Inkscape.
The CNC plotter of our project will work within
20cm×20cm area. So we choose the document properties of
the Inkscape 40cmx40cm (Width × Height) which is four
times the working area of the plotter because the plotter can
Fig. CNC axis- x y z using right hand coordinate system draw only in the first quadrant. So we have initially kept the
axes at the nearest end of the motors which is considered as
origin to easily modify the design. The working area of
CNC plotter is shown with the text written in the pre-defined
area. The text is selected using cursor and then select “object
to path” from the drop down window to save the Gcode
form of the selected text. To create G-code of an image, the
file must have a transparent background. The image should
be dragged into the selected area then select “trace bitmap”
from drop down window to create a transparent image.
Scans are selected as 8 and “Edge detection” is selected to
create black & white image. After adding this transparent
Fig . Unit Control System image in the predefined area we‟ve used “object to path”

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 Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
VIMPACT - 2017 Conference Proceedings

command to create the G-code file of the selected image by if (e2 >-dx) { err -= dy; x0 += sx; }
following the steps described earlier.
if (e2 < dy) { err += dx; y0 += sy; } } }
Two stepper motor is used to control X and Y axis, and a
servo motor is used to control the Z axis. The test code of Y
axis stepper motor is shown below-
#include const
int stepsPerRevolution = 20;
// Connection pins: Stepper
B. Fritzing- myStepperY(stepsPerRevolution, 2,3,4,5); void setup()
It is friendly open source circuit simulator software which is {
mainly used for PCB design. Creating PCB Layout Using
Fritzing Using „Breadboard‟ option any circuit can be built // Set speed: myStepperY.setSpeed(100); //
easily by simply dragging and dropping down different max 250 steps for dvd/cd stepper motor
components. Schematic circuit diagram and PCB layout will
be generated automatically. In PCB layout we need to myStepperY.step(160);
choose positions of the components, their layers and delay(100); }
establish connections. Then „Export for PCB‟ option is
selected and choose „Etchable SVG‟ (Scalable Vector void loop()
Graphics). From the saved folder the top layer mirror file is The code for X axis stepper motor is also same except the
loaded. The file is automatically loaded in Inscape software pin numbers. The Z axis is represented by a servo motor
and from there G-code will be generated as described controlled by the PWM pin of the arduino. The full CNC
earlier. code is uploaded in the arduino then the arduino will wait
C. Processing for G-code file from processing software. When the
Processing is open source programming language software processing software send command to arduino it will start
which is used for electronic drawings. GTCRL processing plotting using the G-code.
program is used to send G-code file from user interface to E. G-CODE
CNC plotter machine. To draw a text file or design a circuit layout by the CNC
plotter firstly the files need to be converted into G-Code. G-
Code is a set of instruction that contains number of X, Y, Z,
coordinates depending on the file. G-Code instructs X axis
of the machine to travel from X1 to X2 points with a
specific speed and same is true for Y axis, but for Z axis the
coordinates are fixed because only vertically up & down
movements are involved.

Fig. Proccesing Softwere

The port of Arduino Uno is selected by pressing „P‟ button

on keyboard hence „G‟ button is used to upload our desired
G-code file. Immediately CNC machine will start sketching
selected G-code file. Sketching can be stopped by pressing
„X‟ button. Fig. 6 Uploading G-code file.

D. Coding
Bresenham's Line Algorithm is used for plotting in the CNC Fig. G code Generating Method
plotter. A part of this algorithm is shown below
F. Calibration
void line After finishing the complete build-up of the machine, it is
necessary to calibrate the movement of the axes. Test code
(int x0, int y0, int x1, int y1)
for stepper motor mentioned in the section IV (D) is used
{ int dx = abs(x1-x0), sx = x0dy ? dx : -dy)/2, e2; where stepper motors steps per revolution was 20 and 160
steps were allowed for the motor to travel. On running the
for(;;){ setPixel(x0,y0);
code, it is found that the motor has travelled 26.5 mm which
if (x0==x1 && y0==y1) break; e2 = err;

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 Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
VIMPACT - 2017 Conference Proceedings

indicates that the motor takes 6 steps to cover 1mm. this is X-axis: X-axis basically moves the pen to and fro to cover
how calibration is done for both X and Y axes. the x-coordinates of the G-code. The X-axis has placed
perpendicular to Y-axis lifted up by two wood legs of equal
IV. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
length shown in Fig. 10. A distance of 15 cm is kept from
A. Mechanical Design of Cnc Plotter Machine the starting point of the X-axis so that the Z-axis, which is
The two dimensional mechanical design of the body of CNC mounted on the X-axis and holds the pen, is positioned at
plotter is shown Mechanical design of CNC plotter the center of the PVC board where both the axes X and Y
B. Stock Materials has been centered.
• Wood
• Melamine board
• PVC board
• Metal rod
C. Components Required
To erect the CNC plotter, the required components are listed
below: • Stepper motor ( 2 pieces)
• Stepper motor driver module (2 pieces)
• Servo motor
• Power supply
• Arduino uno
• Gears
• Pen
Fig. X-axis movement stepper control
• Hose Clamp
• Bread board
• PCB Z-Axis: A PC DVD drive has been disassembled and its
• Connectors and Cables stepper motor has been replaced with a servo motor. A gear
has been worn on the spindle of the servo motor. A belt has
• Diodes
been used to connect the gear with a pole and the belt has
been glued with the moving mechanism of the DVD drive
D. Mechanical Body Description attached to a hose clamp. The Z-axis is mounted with the X-
1) Motor Mount axis on the moving cartridge tray shown in Fig. 11 with
Two inkjet printers (HP1000) have been disassembled and caution so that it remains perfectly perpendicular with the
their printing mechanism units have been collected. One of X-axis during operation.
which will act as X axis and the other as Y axis.
2) Axis Mount
Y-axis: A melamine board (61cm X 52cm) has been used
for the base. The Y-axis has been mounted on the board
maintaining a ground clearance of 4.8 cm because of the
height of stepper motor. An A4 size PVC board has been
placed on the tray with one end fixed on the tray and the
other end on a metal rod so that the tray can easily move
with the embedded board to and fro with less friction shown
in The level of board has been carefully checked with a
meter tape.so that it is perfectly horizontal with the base. As
a result the pen moves smoothly on the board without
interruption.

Fig. Z-axis Servo motor holding a pen

V. LIMITATION
The machine runs in a slow pace and generates excess heat
which causes the heat sink to be heated quickly. A slight
error may remain on the image file after it has been plotted
due to one side of the Y-axis fixed to the moving
mechanism and the other end is free to move. The Z-axis is
not very rigid so it causes slight vibration.

Fig. Y-axis movement stepper control

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 Special Issue - 2017 International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
VIMPACT - 2017 Conference Proceedings

VI. FUTURE SCOPE:

The pen of the machine can be replaced by a laser to make
it work like a laser engraving or cutting machine. Engraving
machine can be used on wood. The pen can also be replaced
with a powerful drill so that it can be used for both milling
and drilling purposes. The servo can be replaced with a
stepper motor and the pen with a 3-D pen to make it a 3-D
printer which can print objects with dimensions. By
extrapolation of the axes, the working area of the machine
can be extended keeping the algorithm unaltered.

VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT :
We would like to express our special thanks to our mentors
Arun S and Anumodu DM for supporting and guiding us in
completion of this project and we would also like to thank
Electrical and electronics department, Amal Jyothi College
of engineering, Kerala for giving us this wonderful
opportunity to express our technical skills through this
project.

VIII. REFERENCES:
[1] Madekar, kajal j., et al. "automatic mini cnc machine for pcb
drawing and drilling." (2016).
[2] linggarjati, jimmy, and rinda hedwig. "manually
interchangeable heads of homemade computer numerical
control (cnc) machine." internetworking indonesia journal 1.1
(2013).
[3] m.r. wright, d.e. platts, d.b. french, g. traicoff, m.a. dupont,
andg.a. head,“cnc control systempatents,” us patent 545393,
sep 26,1995.
[4] Torjus spilling “self-improving cnc milling machine”
university of oslo (2014)
[5] Neje 200mw mini diy laser engraving machine cnc laser print
er
[6] Industrialsuppliesonline.net/craftsman-cnc-router
[7] Geocities.ws/industrialmarketplace/cnc-machines
[8] Arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno
[9] En.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATmega328
[10] Dual full-bridge driver. multiwatt15. ordering numbers : l298n
(multiwatt vert.) l298hn
[11] Sg90 9 g micro servo. tiny and lightweight with high output
power.
[12] Stepper motor sth-39d1126-06 1.8deg/step 2 phase hybrid
stepping motor electric motor step motor cnc
[13] En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_unit_(computer)
[14] W. bosshart, printed circuit boards. new delhi: tata
mcgrawhill,1983.
[15] D. christian and f. i. hariadi, "speed control of spindle motor
in the designing control module of computer numerical
control (cnc) pcb milling machines," teknik elektro, sekolah
teknik elektro dan informatika, institut teknologi bandung,
bandung, 2014.

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