Homemade plotter

A homemade plotter, or as it is also called a plotter, is much easier to make with your own hands than, for example, a CNC machine or a 3D printer, since the rigidity of the X and Y axes is not needed, and instead of the Z axis you can use a regular servo or any other mechanism raising and lowering the pen.

You can convert any ready-made CNC machine into a plotter - just attach a pencil or felt-tip pen instead of a router and the plotter is ready. But usually homemade CNC The machines have a rather small working field and it will not be possible to draw A0 drawings on them.

Therefore, it is much easier to assemble a ready-made plotter for the task, especially since it can be made from any parts, for example from parts of an old printer, as in the photo below.

As you can see, ready-made printer parts are used here - the carriage and its movement mechanism.

But, you can also make a homemade plotter from any other material, for example, from plexiglass.

This homemade plotter has two axes X and Y, which move using stepper motors; the pen is controlled using a servo. All this is controlled using an Arduino controller, and power is supplied from a 12 Volt power supply.

What can a homemade plotter be useful for? Of course, for use for its intended purpose - drawing drawings, because, not for nothing, it is also called a plotter! So, for example, ready coursework You can get it on the website 5orka.ru, but printing on A0 sheet will cost 350-400 rubles for one drawing. The thesis includes a dozen drawings, and this is already a decent amount that is several times higher than the cost of a homemade plotter, but if you do it for the entire flow, then printing drawings on paper can turn into a small business.

Tools for making a homemade plotter

A jigsaw or router capable of processing plexiglass
- Drill
- Screwdrivers, pliers, etc.

Materials for making a homemade plotter

Plexiglass (one side is no less than the length you need)
- A small block of linden
- Guides
- 14 bolts and nuts
- 28 washers

Electronic equipment

2 gears for improved drawing accuracy
- 2 high torque stepper motors
- 2 stepper motor controllers (ULN2003A)
- 1 piece of bread board
- 1 Arduino connector (USB compatible)

Assembling a homemade plotter

To begin with, the base is assembled, it is not difficult, all connections are bolted, however, if you are not making a dismountable structure, you can glue it with dichloroethane.

When using bolts, fastening is done at the four corners with two screws and nuts. Slots for bolts and nuts can be easily made using a hand jigsaw.

Look how it looks in the picture.

Guides are inserted into the upper holes along which the Y axis will move.

The main thing is to ensure parallelism of the guides.

Since there is no load, even even wooden sticks can be used as guides. But, it is better to use aluminum tubes or guides from printers.

So, the base has been collected.

Now the carriage is assembled, on which the mechanism for lowering the pen of a homemade plotter will be installed.

This is what it looks like in the picture.

And this is how it is installed on the guides.

Pen attachment, in in this case- a marker, also made of plexiglass, or any other material.

Look at the pen locking mechanism - it is easy to make.

Servo can be used with any weight of 16-30 grams.

The motors do not rotate the toothed belt directly, but through a reduction gear transmission, in this case the gears were laser cut on a CNC machine, but you can take ready-made ones.

The stepper motors themselves are taken from old printers, their power is quite enough.

This is what a homemade plotter looks like assembled.

As you can see, there are no problems in making a plotter with your own hands. All you need is desire and the availability of suitable material at hand.

Since childhood, I was drawn to technology, looking through magazines, model designer and young technician, I always wanted to do something interesting and useful, but due to my young age and difficult times in those early years, I had no choice but to dream. Years passed, the boy grew up, but his interests remained. Not long ago I took up aircraft modeling (I like everything that flies). And after turning a little gray with a jigsaw and scissors, I got a little tired. Since I am a lazy person, I decided to automate all this. Not long ago a CNC router was manufactured and things started to get better. But it was necessary to move on, the models had to not only fly, but also look beautiful. Cutting colored film and tape with scissors was not so easy. You can, of course, contact an advertising company and order this work from them or buy a small plotter, but this is very expensive.

Looking at the pile of junk in the garage and turning to Google, I suddenly thought, why not make a homemade one? cutting plotter, which can be used to cut film and tape quickly and efficiently.

4mm was chosen as the manufacturing material. plywood, in fact, it was the only thing in the garage, and there was no desire to spend money on anything else. The main donor of the future plotter is a wide-format matrix printer epson lx-1050+
With minimal compass knowledge, a drawing was made (you can see the drawings at the end of the article). It was designed so that it could be cut with a hand jigsaw, but I am a lazy person, so I gave this routine work to a soulless machine.
After she finished I received the following set of parts:

We glue the parts together and get the side panels of the future plotter. I glued the drilling places and the holes for the screws with cyacrine, this makes the connection more reliable.

And this is what the carriage looks like, which will move the solenoid and the knife lowering mechanism. I glued PVA and regretted it, the part is complicated, while I was combining the elements the glue grabbed and it turned out to be a slight distortion, this is not critical, but not pleasant. I still recommend connecting all the parts together and gluing them with cyacrine.

During the process of assembly and fitting, the plywood became dirty and lost appearance, so it was decided to give it a more elegant look and paint it some fun color. I painted it with a regular spray can, and it turned out that I wasn’t much of a painter, but how did it happen? The photo below shows the side wall of the plotter with the film feed shaft bearing installed and the carriage with bronze bushings installed. The bushings were glued in with regular cyacrine.

A very important point for the operation of the plotter is the film feed shaft and rubber pressure rollers. The feed shaft on industrial plotters is corrugated, while the printer shaft is smooth and made of very hard rubber. To prevent the film from slipping, it must be covered with sandpaper. The shaft must be covered with tape in a spiral to avoid unevenness. I honestly stole this method and looked it up on the Internet; it turned out to be a very simple and reliable solution. As glue, you can use any shoe glue that glues rubber, fabric, etc.

The knife lowering mechanism is made of a piece of aluminum with holes made in it for guides and a hole for attaching the knife holder. To reduce the noise when the mechanism is activated, it is necessary to stick on porous rubber or, in this case, a felt gasket from a hardware store. To lower the mechanism, a solenoid was used that came to hand (I cannot say its origin). The mechanism is returned to its original position by two springs. This solution is not very successful due to the complexity of its implementation (it is very difficult to maintain alignment and avoid jamming of the mechanism, and it also turned out to be very sensitive to temperature)

Now let's talk about moving the carriage. Here I miscalculated a little. The fact is that the engine with the gear for the toothed belt was taken from the EPSON LX300 (it has a direct drive with a 1.8′ pitch engine) and, as it turned out later, their belts are slightly different. As a result, the belts suitable for the gear turned out to be short. I didn’t want to redo everything, so I just took two short belts, cut them and glued them together. I tried to glue it with shoe glue for leather, fabric, rubber and other things, but it absolutely did not want to stick. In the end I just glued it together with cyacrine.
The belt retainer was made from an aluminum angle. I drilled the holes, cut the threads and secured it all to the carriage.

In the photo above you can see a white rectangle; this is a support that prevents the carriage from turning. This part is made of 5mm fluoroplastic. thick. It moves along the U-shaped metal profile.
Now that we have become familiar with the main points, we can begin final assembly. Let's install the engine and assemble the gearbox.

The gearbox is assembled in the same form as it was in the printer. The 7.5′ motor is a very big step and when using direct drive it will not allow you to achieve the required accuracy. The drawing was calculated accurately, so the gears do not play.
Initially, the belt was tensioned by a spring, but in certain modes it was clear that the belt was stretching, so I removed the spring and shortened the belt so that it was installed with the required tension. This is certainly not the best option, so it is better to provide some kind of tension mechanism.

Now let's talk about pinch rollers. Industrial plotters have independent rollers with independent suspension, they can be adjusted individually. This design solution is very difficult for homemade. Therefore, a steel rod with a diameter of 6 mm was torn out from the bowels of the printer. and 2 rubber rollers are mounted on it. Exactly 2, there is no point in using it anymore, so the guide rod is pressed along the edges by hogs with a spring mechanism. As a result, the shaft bends and the pressure becomes uneven. The main force falls on the extreme points and the rollers in the middle become almost useless. This problem can be solved by using a thicker guide or independent rollers with individual pressure adjustment. But as tests have shown, for a given working width, two rollers are quite enough.

We have dealt with the mechanics, now we can move on to the electrical part. In order not to waste money, I used the control unit from my CNC machine. For those who will assemble the plotter, all electronics can be placed on the bottom of the plotter; there is plenty of space there.

The XY control of the motors remained the same, only the motor settings were changed, the divider was set to 1:16, the acceleration was set to minimum, the speed was set experimentally, and the number of steps per mm. I honestly tried to calculate, but the numbers didn’t add up, so I figured everything out empirically. I will provide the data for the belt drive and gearbox as well as the resulting values, I hope someone will comment on this point and help me understand it.

Gearbox:
Engine gear - 14 forelocks
Feed shaft gear - 68 forelocks
Intermediate gear - 63 x 17
Belt drive:
Gear - 20 teeth.
Belt - 2mm tooth.

As for the control of the knife lowering mechanism, it is driven by a transistor switch; I remove the control signal from the unused “Z” axis driver. The signal is removed from the DIR channel after optical isolation.

The IRF540 transistor already has a protective diode installed inside. We put all this in heat shrink and hide it in the case. In this case, the control unit does not lose its functionality and can still be used on the CNC.
We have become familiar with the mechanics and electrical parts, now we can begin preparing the program.
An important element high-quality cutting with a weathervane knife is compensation for the offset of the knife, good people have already taken care of this and on the Internet a small utility was found that works in the Python environment, which adapts the program to work on a plotter (all necessary programs you will find at the end of the article). The program works simply, in the root of the disk we create a folder with a simple name in Latin letters, drop our utility and the file that we need to convert into it. Next, we simply drag our file onto this utility with the mouse and in a moment we receive an adapted file for our plotter. Then everything is as usual, launch the Mach3 program and open our file, set zero coordinates and start the process.

I would also like to focus on adjusting the knife extension (the less the knife protrudes from the holder, the longer it will last). The knife should protrude so that it cuts through the film and lightly grips the backing. Usually established experimentally. Another important point, which is not implemented in this design, is the adjustment of the knife clamping force. I wanted to implement this using a current regulator, but to simplify the design I abandoned this idea. The plotter is powered from a laboratory power supply and is capable of operating over a wide voltage range. As a result, I can slightly change the tension during the cutting process, which affects the pressure of the knife. If the knife is pressed too hard, the film will jam under the knife and nothing will be cut properly.

Plotter assembly video:

Testing, cutting various kinds films:

That's all friends, write comments and share your thoughts. If the project turns out to be interesting, we will develop it further using high-quality components. For those who are interested, links to components can be found in the description of the video on my channel, thank you all, good luck, see you next time!

Plotting machines are devices that automatically draw drawings, pictures, diagrams on paper, fabric, leather and other materials with a given accuracy. Models of equipment with a cutting function are common. Making a plotter with your own hands at home is quite possible. To do this, you will need parts from an old printer or DVD drive, certain software and some other materials.

Make a small plotter from dvd drive doing it yourself is relatively easy. Such a device on arduino will cost much less than its branded counterpart.

The working area of ​​the created device will be 4 by 4 cm.

To work you will need the following materials:

• glue or double-sided tape;
• solder for soldering;
• wires for mounting jumpers;
• DVD drive (2 pcs.), from which the stepper motor is taken;
• Arduino uno;
• servo motor;
• microcircuit L293D (driver that controls motors) – 2 pcs.;
• solderless breadboard (plastic base with a set of conductive electricity connectors).

To bring your planned project to life, you should collect such tools:

• soldering iron;
• screwdriver;
• mini drill.

Experienced amateurs electronic homemade products can use additional parts to assemble a more functional device.

Assembly steps

The assembly of the cnc plotter is carried out according to the following algorithm:

• using a screwdriver, disassemble 2 DVD drives (the result is shown in the photo below) and take out the stepper motors from them, and from the remaining parts select two side bases for the future plotter;

Disassembled DVD drives

• the selected bases are connected using screws (having previously adjusted them to size), thus obtaining the X and Y axes, as in the photo below;

X-Y axes in assembly

• Attached to the X axis is the Z axis, which is servo drive with holder for a pencil or pen, as shown in the photo;

• attach to the Y axis a square measuring 5 by 5 cm made of plywood (or plastic, board), which will serve as the basis for the stacked paper;

Paper base

• collect by giving Special attention connecting stepper motors, an electrical circuit on a solderless board according to the diagram presented below;

Electrical connection diagram

• enter code to test the performance of the X-Y axes;
• check the functioning of the homemade product: if the stepper motors are working, then the parts are connected according to the diagram correctly;
• load the working code (for Arduino) into the CNC plotter made;
• download and run the exe program to work with G-code;
• install the Inkscape program (vector graphics editor) on your computer;
• install an add-on to it that allows you to convert G-code into images;
• configure the work of Inkscape.

After this, the homemade mini plotter is ready for use.

Some nuances of work

The coordinate axes must be located perpendicular to each other. In this case, a pencil (or pen), fixed in the holder, should be able to move up and down without problems using a servo drive. If the stepper drives do not work, then you need to check whether they are connected correctly to the L293D chips and find a working option.

The code for testing the X-Y axes, the operation of the plotter, and the Inkscape program with an add-on can be downloaded on the Internet.

G-code is a file containing X-Y-Z coordinates. Inkscape acts as an intermediary that allows you to create plotter-compatible files with this code, which is then converted into the movement of electric motors. To print the desired image or text, you will need to first convert it into G-code using the Inkscape program, which will then be sent for printing.

The following video demonstrates the operation of a homemade plotter from a DVD drive:

Plotter from printer

Plotters are classified according to various criteria. Devices in which the carrier is fixed motionlessly by mechanical, electrostatic or vacuum means are called tablet. Such devices can either simply create an image or cut it out, if they have the appropriate function. In this case, horizontal and vertical cutting is available. The media parameters are limited only by the size of the tablet.

Cutting plotter another name for a boat. It has a built-in cutter or knife. Most often, images are cut out by the device from the following materials:

• plain and photo paper;
• vinyl;
• cardboard;
• various types of film.

You can make a flatbed printing or cutting plotter from a printer: in the first case, a pencil (pen) will be installed in the holder, and in the second, a knife or laser.

Homemade tablet plotter

To assemble the device with your own hands, you will need the following components and materials:

• stepper motors (2), guides and carriages from printers;
• Arduino (USB compatible) or microcontroller (for example, ATMEG16, ULN2003A), used to convert commands from the computer into signals that cause the movement of the actuators;
• laser power 300 mW;
• power unit;
• gears, belts;
• bolts, nuts, washers;
• organic glass or board (plywood) as a base.

The laser allows you to cut thin films and burn wood.

The simplest version of a tablet plotter is assembled in the following sequence:

• make a base from the selected material, connecting structural elements with bolts or gluing them;

• drill holes and insert guides into them as in the photo below;

Installation of guides

• assemble a carriage for installing a pen or laser;

Carriage with holes for guides

• assemble the fastening;

Mount for marker

Locking mechanism

• install stepper motors, gears, belts, obtaining the structure shown below;

Assembled homemade plotter

• connect the electrical circuit;
• install software on a computer;
• put the device into operation after checking.

If use Arduino, then the programs discussed above are suitable. The use of different microcontrollers will require the installation of different software.

When a knife is installed to cut film or paper (cardboard), its penetration depth should be correctly adjusted experimentally.

The above design can be improved by adding automation. Parts according to parameters will need to be selected empirically, based on those available. Some may need to be purchased in addition.

Both considered options for plotters can be made independently, as long as you have the old unnecessary equipment and desire. Such cheap devices are capable of drawing drawings and cutting out various images and shapes. They are far from industrial analogues, but if you need to frequently create drawings, they will greatly facilitate the work. Moreover, the software is available online for free.

4mm was chosen as the manufacturing material. plywood, in fact, it was the only thing in the garage, and there was no desire to spend money on anything else. The main donor of the future plotter is the epson lx-1050+ wide-format matrix printer
With minimal knowledge of the “compass”, a drawing was made (you can see the drawings at the end of the article). It was designed so that it could be cut with a hand jigsaw, but I am a lazy person, so I gave this routine work to a soulless machine.
After she finished I received the following set of parts:
We glue the parts together and get the side panels of the future plotter. I glued the drilling places and the holes for the screws with cyacrine, this makes the connection more reliable.
And this is what the carriage looks like, which will move the solenoid and the knife lowering mechanism. I glued PVA and regretted it, the part is complicated, while I was combining the elements the glue grabbed and it turned out to be a slight distortion, this is not critical, but not pleasant. I still recommend connecting all the parts together and gluing them with cyacrine.
During the process of assembly and fitting, the plywood got dirty and lost its appearance, so it was decided to give it a more elegant look and paint it some cheerful color. I painted it with a regular spray can, as it turned out I was just a painter, but how did it happen? The photo below shows the side wall of the plotter with the film feed shaft bearing installed and the carriage with bronze bushings installed. The bushings were glued in with regular "cyacrine".

This is what the entire set of parts needed to assemble a plotter looks like, with the exception of bolts and gears.
A very important point for the operation of the plotter is the film feed shaft and rubber pressure rollers. The feed shaft on industrial plotters is corrugated, while the printer shaft is smooth and made of very hard rubber. To prevent the film from slipping, it must be covered with sandpaper. The shaft must be covered with tape in a spiral to avoid unevenness. I honestly stole this method and looked it up on the Internet; it turned out to be a very simple and reliable solution. As glue, you can use any shoe glue that glues rubber, fabric, etc.



The knife lowering mechanism is made of a piece of aluminum with holes made in it for guides and a hole for attaching the knife holder. To reduce the noise when the mechanism is activated, it is necessary to stick on porous rubber or, in this case, a felt pad from a hardware store. To lower the mechanism, a solenoid was used that came to hand (I cannot say its origin). The mechanism is returned to its original position by two springs. This solution is not very successful due to the complexity of its implementation (it is very difficult to maintain alignment and avoid jamming of the mechanism, and it also turned out to be very sensitive to temperature)

Now let's talk about moving the carriage. Here I miscalculated a little. The fact is that the engine with the gear for the toothed belt was taken from the EPSON LX300 (it has a direct drive with a 1.8" motor per pitch) and, as it turned out later, their belts are slightly different. As a result, the belts suitable for the gear turned out to be short. I have to redo it I didn’t want anything, so I just took two short belts, cut them and glued them. I tried to glue them with shoe glue for leather, fabric, rubber and other things, but it absolutely did not want to stick. In the end, I just glued it with “cyacrine”
The belt retainer was made from an aluminum angle. I drilled the holes, cut the threads and secured it all to the carriage.


In the photo above you can see a white rectangle; this is a support that prevents the carriage from turning. This part is made of 5mm fluoroplastic. thick. It moves along a U-shaped metal profile.
Now, after we have familiarized ourselves with the main points, we can begin the final assembly. Let's install the engine and assemble the gearbox.

The gearbox is assembled in the same form as it was in the printer. A 7.5" motor is a very large step and, when using a direct drive, will not allow you to achieve the required accuracy. The drawing was calculated accurately, so the gears do not play.
Initially, the belt was tensioned by a spring, but in certain modes it was clear that the belt was stretching, so I removed the spring and shortened the belt so that it was installed with the required tension. This is certainly not the best option, so it is better to provide some kind of tension mechanism.

Now let's talk about pinch rollers. Industrial plotters have independent rollers with independent suspension, they can be adjusted individually. This design solution is very complex for home production. Therefore, a steel rod with a diameter of 6 mm was torn out from the bowels of the printer. and 2 rubber rollers are mounted on it. Exactly 2, there is no point in using it anymore, so the guide rod is pressed along the edges by hogs with a spring mechanism. As a result, the shaft bends and the pressure becomes uneven. The main force falls on the extreme points and the rollers in the middle become almost useless. This problem can be solved by using a thicker guide or independent rollers with individual pressure adjustment. But as tests have shown, for a given working width, two rollers are quite enough.


We have dealt with the mechanics, now we can move on to the electrical part. In order not to waste money, I used the control unit from my CNC machine.
(for those who forgot or didn’t know, here is the article, where you will also find instructions for setting up Mach3)

Budget CNC milling and engraving machine for modellers+309
3 Sep. 2016, 15:12:15 |  Sergei Korotkevich Mogilev
Article http://www.site/blogs/view_entry/14237/
But for those who will assemble the plotter, all the electronics can be placed on the bottom of the plotter; there is plenty of space there.

The XY control of the motors remained the same, only the motor settings were changed, the divider was set to 1:16, the acceleration was set to minimum, the speed was set experimentally and the number of steps per mm. I honestly tried to calculate, but the numbers didn’t add up, so I figured everything out empirically. I will provide the data for the belt drive and gearbox as well as the resulting values, I hope someone will comment on this point and help me understand it.

Gearbox:
Engine gear - 14 forelocks
Feed shaft gear - 68 forelocks
Intermediate gear - 63 x 17
Belt drive:
Gear - 20 teeth.
Belt - 2mm tooth.

As for the control of the knife lowering mechanism, it is driven by a transistor switch; I remove the control signal from the unused “Z” axis driver. The signal is removed from the DIR channel after optical isolation.


The IRF540 transistor already has a protective diode installed inside. We put all this in heat shrink and hide it in the case. In this case, the control unit does not lose its functionality and can still be used on the CNC.
We have become familiar with the mechanics and electrical parts, now we can begin preparing the program.
An important element of high-quality cutting with a weathervane knife is compensation for the offset of the knife, good people have already taken care of this and a small utility was found on the Internet, working in the Python environment, which adapts the program for working on a plotter (you will find all the necessary programs at the end of the article). The program works simply, in the root of the disk we create a folder with a simple name in Latin letters, drop our utility and the file that we need to convert into it. Next, we simply drag our file onto this utility with the mouse and in a moment we receive an adapted file for our plotter. Then everything is as usual, launch the Mach3 program and open our file, set zero coordinates and start the process.

I would also like to focus on adjusting the knife extension (the less the knife protrudes from the holder, the longer it will last). The knife should protrude so that it cuts through the film and lightly grips the backing. Usually established experimentally. Another important point that is not implemented in this design is the adjustment of the knife pressing force. I wanted to implement this using a current regulator, but to simplify the design I abandoned this idea. The plotter is powered from a laboratory power supply and is capable of operating over a wide voltage range. As a result, during the cutting process I can slightly change the voltage, which affects the pressure of the knife. If the knife is pressed too hard, the film will jam under the knife and nothing will be cut properly.

Plotter assembly video:

Tests, cutting various types of film:

That's all friends, write comments and share your thoughts. If the project turns out to be interesting, we will develop it further using high-quality components. For those who are interested, links to components can be found in the description of the video on my channel, thank you all, good luck, see you next time!

Often modelers and other hobbyists self made You have to face the challenge of designing your products. Self-adhesive film of various colors is ideal for such purposes. This design significantly improves the appearance homemade models. To make design elements look neat, it is best to cut them not manually with scissors, but on special equipment with software- plotter. Using this device, various drawings or drawings are reproduced, for example, on paper. Purchasing such a device in a store is expensive and not always advisable, since you can easily make a plotter with your own hands.

Flatbed plotter from an old printer

A plotter in which paper or other media is fixedly fixed, called tablet. This is a relatively simple design, the capabilities of which are limited to working in the vertical and horizontal directions.

Draw a drawing, a picture or cut out a specific pattern for scrapbooking - all this can be done using a flatbed plotter. He might be like printed and cutting– it all depends on the working tool attached to the device. For printing devices this can be a pencil, fountain pen, marker, and for cutting modifications it can be a knife or laser.

Such devices work with various working surfaces: cardboard, paper, different types films.

Important! The format of the materials used depends solely on the dimensions of the manufactured tablet, which, in turn, are determined by the length of the shafts used during assembly.

Required materials and tools

Having an old printer in the house provides almost all the spare parts needed to make a plotter with your own hands. First of all, it is necessary to disassemble the inkjet or laser device and select the spare parts necessary for the new product:

• stepper motors (2 pcs.);
• guide shafts;
• carriages;
• power unit;
• gears;
• belt;
• bolts, washers, nuts, glue for assembly.

In addition to the parts obtained from the printer, it is necessary to prepare the material for the product body (organic glass or plywood) and the control board. As the last suitable for Arduino(Arduino) with USB connectivity. You can also use another microcontroller, such as ULN2003A or ATMEG16.

Arduino has built-in processor and memory, with the help of which you can set the operation algorithm of any electrical appliances. For those who like to design various electronic devices, this control platform is a good find.

On Arduino there are about 20 contacts, to which you can connect various kinds of sensors, routers, lamps and other electrical equipment. Another advantage of Arduino is the ability to expand by adding additional boards with new functionality.

Advice! To convert a printer into a plotter, you must first prepare a screwdriver, knife, drill and soldering iron so as not to be distracted during the assembly process. You also need a small saw with a blade for plexiglass or plywood.

Device assembly algorithm

The plotter is assembled in the following sequence.

The final stage of putting the plotter into operation is connecting electronics and installing software. Drivers that Arduino can run on are freely available on the Internet.

Important! If the home plotter was intended to be a cutting plotter, it is necessary to experimentally adjust the depth of immersion of the tool into the workpiece material.

Homemade plotter based on DVD drives

You can make a homemade plotter using stepper motors and guides from DVD drives. If there are no old disk drives left at home, then they can be purchased very cheaply at any radio market, because devices for reading CDs are already an outdated attribute of computer equipment. The working area of ​​such a device will be relatively small - 4*4 cm.

Preparing for assembly

For work you will need to prepare the following parts and materials:

• 2 DVD drives;
• servo motor;
• 2 L293D chips for controlling stepper motors;
• solderless breadboard;
• installation wires;
• Arduino board;
• bolts, nuts, solder and other fastening materials.

To make a plotter from a DVD drive, you need the same set of tools as to assemble a product from a printer.

Sequence of plotter manufacturing

The assembly process begins with the old drives being disassembled and the necessary ones being selected. constituent elements for the manufactured unit. The device being created will require a stepper motor and drive panels, which will serve as the side bases of the plotter.

Advice! The circuit assembly should be carried out in accordance with the diagram presented above. Particular care must be taken when connecting stepper motors.

After assembling the chain it is necessary test the assembled electrical appliance– when loading the test code, the engines must start. Otherwise, you should check the connections with the circuit drawing, correct the errors and retest.

For final preparation for work, CNC (CNC) products download the working code for Arduino and run the program to work with it. Then they install and configure a graphic editor compatible with the existing software.

Important! The best option graphics editor is a widely used, free and professional program Inkscape. It works successfully on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

All necessary programs available for download on the Internet. If the installation was completed correctly, the self-made cnc plotter is ready to perform its functions.

Conclusion

The proposed options for manufacturing home plotters can be easily improved through greater automation if desired. Thanks to this, it is possible to achieve greater productivity if necessary. You can also equip your homemade plotter with a Bluetooth module and provide a wireless connection between the device and your computer. To improve the design of a homemade product, you need to use blanks specially made on a machine for the body instead of improvised means. Such improvements will not have a large impact on manufacturing costs.