Tuesday, April 15, 2014

DIY Arduino CNC Projects for 3D printing, engraving, etc.

I am working on making my own Arduino powered CNC 3D printer and light duty milling machine.  It started off as just some pieces of Plexiglas and parts salvaged from some old scanners and printers.  I will likely write my next book about building your own "Arduino CNC Projects".
I added some wood for the main platform and used an old LED sign board to hold the electronics.  The Robo raptor is jealous that I am no longer playing with him.
I bought a ball screw drive for the Z axis on eBay and figured out how to mount it.  The X and Y axis were belt driven but kept binding up and had too much play in them.
Next I upgraded to NEMA 23 stepper motors and ball screw drives for the X and Y axis.  Now it runs much smoother.
The mechanical part is just about done, but the electronics will need a lot of work before it starts running. Currently the Arduino is driving the steppers through some L298 driver IC's.

Here is the electrical so far.  I have built a L297 interface board but it is still not working properly.

Here is a link to the video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL-55GaYAvs

2 comments:

Dillon said...

What's the cost of materials for just what you've shown in this post? If the only missing pieces is an Arduino, this seems like it'll be a nice low-cost option for someone that wants to build their own CNC machine.

Bob Davis said...

I now have a book with the plans on how to make the CNC machine. However I removed the Arduino and replaced it with a parallel port break out board.