International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Engineering Research (IJETER)

Volume 6, Issue 2, February (2018) www.ijeter.everscience.org

Arduino Based Cost Effective CNC Plotter Machine

Puja Girhe
Student, EXTC Department, DES’s COET Dhamangaon Rly, India.

Shubham Yenkar
Student, EXTC Department, DES’s COET Dhamangaon Rly, India.

Arpita Chirde
Assistant Professor, EXTC Department, DES’s COET Dhamangaon Rly, India.

Abstract – Due to the rapid growth of technology the usage & from supporting software like inkscape. Presented plotter is
utilization of CNC machine in industries are increased. The one dimensional 1D plotter.
fabrication of low cost CNC machine is used to reduce cost and
complexity of machine. This paper deals with the design of The Idea behind this technique is to design PCB based on low
automatic mini CNC machine for PCB drawing and drilling. The cost CNC system the lower cost is achieved by incorporating
Idea behind our project is to design and drill PCB based on low features of PC with ATMEGA 328 controller in an arduino. We
cost CNC system the lower cost is achieved by incorporating have use an G code for whole system operation G code is
features of PC with ATMEGA 328 controller in an arduino. We nothing but a language in which people tell computerized
have use an G code for whole system operation G code is nothing machine tools ‘How to make something’. The How is defined
but a language in which people tell computerized machine tools
‘How to make something’. The How is defined by instructions on
by instructions on where to move & how fast to move.
where to move & how fast to move. A Plotter is a special type of printer that uses a pen to draw
Index Terms – CNC, Arduino microcontroller, part program, images on solid surfaces. In Computer Numeric Control
interpolator. (CNC), microprocessor is used which is capable of processing
logical instructions interfaced with a computer. The logical
1. INTRODUCTION instructions are provided by using a computer in the form of
The computer numerical control is an advanced form of soft code or text or image which is then transformed into a machine
automation developed to control the motion and operation of language by microprocessor to be executed by the machine. A
machine tools. Numerical control machine was invented CNC plotter machine is a 3D controlled 2D plotting machines
around in 19th century to reduced work load, it is a method in which uses a pen to draw text or image on any given solid
which the manufacturing machine uses coded format, digits surface. It can be used for the purposes such as PCB Design,
and letters. logo design, etc.
CNC Machining is a process used in the manufacturing sector This technique is based on CNC plotter machine. With the
that involves the use of computers to control machine tools. increasing demand for the use of CNC plotters in universities
Tools that can be controlled in this manner include lathes, and laboratories, a cheap and less complex design is an absolute
mills, machines and grinders. The CNC stands for Computer need. The parts used for the plotter in our project are easily
Numerical Control. Inspiring from this CNC technology and available at a very low price and spare parts are also used. The
revolutionary change in the world of digital electronics & construction is very simple and robust.
Microcontroller, we are presenting here an idea of CNC pen 2. RELATED WORK
plotter using custom built PLC. The idea behind this project is
to make a small CNC machine which can draw images or 2.1 Block Diagram of CNC Plotter Machine:
pictures on surface which can be a paper or anything. It uses
“In this idea of technique, Arduino microcontroller platform
three stepper motors as linear actuators on each axis X, Y & Z.
with ATMEGA 328 core is used. It can be easily interfaced
While printing / drawing, the proper synchronization of all this
with PC using FTDI module where as also with the easy drivers
three axis i.e. stepper motors, is most challenging task. At
and stepper motors to. The basic block diagram is as shown in
present the data to draw is given programmatically i.e.
the explanation is given as follows:
hardcoded in program in binary format. A pen touches the
surface & prints the pixel for logic 1 and lifts up in air for logic The G code is interfaced with ATMEGA 328 CNC based
zero & actuator changes it position for next commands controller by FTDI module which is used to convert the code
execution. As in future plan, it can access the G-Code directly in convenient controller code i.e serial to USB converter.

ISSN: 2454-6410 ©EverScience Publications 6

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Engineering Research (IJETER)
Volume 6, Issue 2, February (2018) www.ijeter.everscience.org

Hence it acts like interfacing module between PC to Controller. 2.3 Plotter

This code is further passed to stepper motor by easy drivers
Pen plotters print by moving a pen or other instrument across
which converts the code and as per instructions the stepper
the surface of a piece of paper. This means that plotters
motor moves. We need three axises X,Y,Z which operates as
are vector graphics devices, rather than raster graphics as with
follows X stepper motor move left and right Y stepper motor
other printers. Pen plotters can draw complex line art, including
moves front and back and Z stepper motor up and down as per
text, but do so slowly because of the mechanical movement of
given dimensions these axis’s will move on.
the pens. They are often incapable of efficiently creating a solid
region of color, but can hatch an area by drawing a number of
close, regular lines.
Plotters offered the fastest way to efficiently produce very large
drawings or color high-resolution vector-based artwork
when computer memory was very expensive and processor
power was very limited, and other types of printers had limited
graphic output capabilities
A plotter is a printer that interprets commands from a computer
to make line drawings on paper with one or more automated
pens. Unlike a regular printer , the plotter can draw continuous
point-to-point lines directly from vector graphics files or
commands. There are a number of different types of plotters:
a drum plotter draws on paper wrapped around a drum which
turns to produce one direction of the plot, while the pens move
to provide the other direction; a flatbed plotter draws on paper
placed on a flat surface; and an electrostatic plotter draws on
negatively charged paper with positively charged toner.
Fig. 1 Block Diagram of CNC Plotter Machine Plotters were the first type of printer that could print with color
and render graphics and full-size engineering drawings. As a
2.2 G code rule, plotters are much more expensive than printers. They are
G code is nothing but a language in which people tell most frequently used for CAE (computer-aided engineering)
computerized machine tools ‘How to make something’. The applications, such as CAD(computer-aided design) and CAM
How is defined by instructions on where to move, how fast to (computer-aided manufacturing). Hewlett-Packard is the
move, & through what path to move. leading vendor of plotters worldwide.

G-code (also RS-274), which has many variants, is the common 3. PORPOSED MODELLING
name for the most widely used numerical Main blocks of this system consists of power supply, FTDI
control (NC) programming language. It is used mainly module, ATMEGA328, 3 Easy drivers each connected to
in computer-aided manufacturing to control automated stepper motors X, Y, Z. From power supply we get two
machine tools. G-code is sometimes called G programming voltages i.e. +5volt and +12 volt. 5volt which is required to
language, not to be confused with views G programming ATMEGA328, Easy drivers whereas +12volt supply is
language. required to stepper motors. RESET is connected to5v supply
To draw a text file or design a circuit layout by the CNC plotter through 10k ohms resistors to pull up the voltage thus it act as
firstly the files need to be converted into G-Code. G-Code is a a pull up resistors. We have used here16MHz crystal oscillator
set of instruction that contains number of X, Y, Z, coordinates connected to ATMEGA with two capacitors of 22pF.
depending on the file. G-Code instructs X axis of the machine The GRBL code from computer is interface with controller
to travel from X1 to X2 points with a specific speed and same using FTDI 232 module i.e. serial to USB converter. The output
is true for Y axis, but for Z axis the coordinates are fixed of FTDI is given to pin no.2 and 3 i.e. RXD and TXD pins of
because only vertically up & down movements are involved. ATMEGA328. The output of ATMEGA328 is given to three
G-Code is one of a number of computer code languages that Easy Drivers.
are used to instruct CNC machining devices what motions they Easy Driver consists of 16 pins from which we are using in our
need to perform such as work coordinates, canned cycles, and project only 9 pins. Four pins are used for two stepper motor
multiple repetitive cycles. Industry has standardized on G- coil i.e. coil A and coil B. Two pins for input 5volt supply i.e.
Code as its basic set of CNC machine codes.

ISSN: 2454-6410 ©EverScience Publications 7

International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Engineering Research (IJETER)
Volume 6, Issue 2, February (2018) www.ijeter.everscience.org

VCC and GND. Three pins are used for STEP. Third pin is To interface the computer to the controller we use FT232RL IC
directly grounded. which converts the USB data into serial data.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A Our CNC machine consist of three axes x, y, z axis for three
dimensional motion of tool. The numerical data required for
working of the plotter is provided by a program called part -
program which in turn converts the numerical data to electrical
signals. These electrical signals are then given as input to
stepper motors. Each signal specifies a specific point in the
coordinates and according to the point the tool moves. As
mentioned earlier input device used isserial communication
port DB9. Machine control unit (MCU) consists of data
processing unit (DPU) and control loop unit (CLU). On
receiving part program DPU interprets and encode it into
internal machine codes. Then intermediate position of the
motion in Basic length unit (BLU) is calculated by interpolator
of DPU. Then it is passed to CLU for further process [2].

Fig. 2 Circuit Diagram of CNC Plotter Machine

According to the given dimensions Easy drivers or drilling
.machine will move. When working of motors is completed the
dimensions on pc will roll of to again its initial value i.e zero.
3.1 Serial to USB Converter
It is used for making the communication between USB based
computers and serial devices. We use here, FTDI (Future Tech
Fig. 4 Machine control unit
Devices International) serial to USB converter is used.
FT232RL IC is used. It is bidirectional converter. This Driving system includes stepper motor, which converts electric
converter is used to load the data which is coming from the PC pulses into discrete mechanical rotations of motor shaft. These
system into the controller. This converter converts human pulses are provided by the machine control unit. Stepper motor
interpretation language into its ASCII value which is would be the best simple device that can be applied to CNC as
understandable by the controller. it converts digital data to actual mechanical displacements.
They are mainly used because of slow speeds, low torque, and
FT232RL is 28 pin IC. It has internal clock generator so that
low resolution and easy to slip in case of over load.
no external crystal is required. It works on FIFO i.e. First In
First Out technique. 5. CONCLUSION
We have presented the use of CNC machine for small scale
application purpose due to the rapid growth of technology the
usage & utilization of CNC machine in industries are increased.
This project is about building a mechanical prototype of a CNC
plotter machine which is able to draw a PCB layout on a given
solid surface. It consumes low power and works with high
accuracy due to precise controlling of stepper motors. This is a
low cost project as compared to other CNC product. It is made
with easily available components and spare parts. It is designed
for private manufacturing and small scale applications in
educational institutes. The machine is designed with a very
simple construction scheme and can be carried anywhere
without much effort. The algorithm used is simple. The pen can
Fig. 3 FTDI Module

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International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Engineering Research (IJETER)
Volume 6, Issue 2, February (2018) www.ijeter.everscience.org

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