Arduino Based CNC Plotter Made From Scrap DVD/CD Drives

Indeed, the world of web has quad trillion tons of information but when you want to build anything you need all the intricate little details. There are already a number of good DIYs, Tutorials and YouTube videos on the topic but I was unable to dive into the details needed to build this project. Hence after its completion I am posting everything that is required. I will try to keep this walk through very simple and basic so that even a reader from non technical background would be able to replicate this project.

What is it all About ?

The idea behind it is very simple, first we select an image or text (that we want our machine to draw on a piece of paper). Then it is converted into a machine code with the help of a software. It is then streamed from a computer to Arduino which in turn talks to the stepper motors and tells them how much to rotate their respective shafts so as to get the code again transformed into an image or text as the original file.

Why build this project ?

Whether you are a hobbyist or an enthusiast, you want to explore capabilities of this machine or just want to build it for fun, this project will teach you a lot of things. Also if you are planning to build Arduino based bigger, better and more precise CNC, then this project is worth considering as it covers some basic aspects like how CNCs work, how to convert images/ text to Gcode, stream Gcode, configure stepper motor driver, power management and more. However, for a serious CNC enthusiast there are many more things to be explored & that aren't covered here intentionally to keep this instructable very basic and simple for everyone to understand. I will be posting few links where ever possible to encourage readers to dive even deeper into the subject. Although it's not extremely necessary if you just want to grasp the basics.

Disclaimer:

I am not a CNC professional, this instructable is a result of knowledge gained from books, Internet and experimentations. All the experiments and activities presented here should be tried with caution, safety and at own risk. I shall not be responsible for any damages as a result of any activities contained within this instructable.

Step 1: Requirements:

Things needed to build the project.

1. Arduino Uno

2. EasyDriver (A3967 IC based stepper motor driver) x 3

3. Breadboard / copper clad board / Perfboard

4. D.C. Power source

5. DVD /CD drives (scrap) x 3

6. Acrylic glass/ wood/ aluminum/ foam board for mounting X/Y/Z axes

7. Aluminum L brackets

8. Nuts, bolts/fasteners & washers

9. Spanners

10. Ball/Gel Pen

11. Wires

12. Female DC Barrel jack

13. Vernier caliper

14. Multimeter

15. Spring (from a pen)

16. A strong epoxy adhesive

17. Hot glue gun

18. CPU fan (optional)

19. Spacers

Step 2: Salvaging Stepper Motors

CNCs are known for their precise motions in X,Y and Z axes. The hardware responsible for executing these motions are the stepper motors. We will be using scrap DVD/CD drives for this project and in the process we shall recycle e-waste and do something that is eco-friendly.

E-waste sellers / traders and computer service centers are the places where one can easily find such kind of scrapped DVD/CD drives and they almost cost nothing. I intentionally bought 3 DVD drives made by 3 different manufacturers in-order to study the variations in-terms of the steppers motors and lead screws.

Procedure for opening the drives is shown in the images, but it should be considered as a general guide as all the DVD/CD drives are not the same. Images shown are of DVD/CD re-writable drive from Sony with model no. DRU-190A. Open the drive, take out the part shown in Figure 2.9. This is the only part we will be needing for the project.

Step 3: Stepper Motor Basics and Power Supply

Stepper motor:

As the name implies its shaft moves in discrete steps as compared to a D.C. motor that rotate continuously when current is allowed to flow across its terminals. For continuous rotation of a stepper shaft, series of electrical pulses are required to be sent. Each pulse moves the shaft to a specific angle. Most stepper motors have a step angle of 1.8 degrees i.e., when a single electric pulse flows through its coil, the shaft moves 1.8 degrees. Thus it will take 360/1.8 = 200 steps for such motor to complete one revolution. In other words a sequence of 200 pulses needed to be sent for one revolution.

With the help of part number on the stepper motor, datasheet for the respective motor can be found online.

Most of the stepper motors from DVD/CD drive have a stepping angle of 18 degrees meaning that for one complete revolution we need to send 20 electrical pulses to the motor.

The stepper motors can be driven in different modes like Wave mode, Full step mode, Half step mode and Microstepping mode. I made a few gifs of the stepper motor to show some of these modes. As the current flows through the coils of the stepper motor they become electromagnetic and the rotor turns to a certain degree because of attraction and repulsion between the unlike and like poles of stator and rotor respectively.

Click here for more information on stepper motors, type, Unipolar / Bipolar and more.

Identifying stepper motor wires:

These are generally Bipolar stepper motors. Mostly a piece of strip leads through their terminals that already have wires arranged in sequence.

If you accidentally rip off the strip completely ( like I did with my first motor) then you will have to figure it out yourself. This is necessary because if you don't hook up things correctly you might notice motor's shaft moving back and forth.

(If motor's shaft rotates correctly in one direction then you might skip this section)

There are two coils in the motor and we have to identify the wires that are part of the same winding. It can be done with any of the method described below.

Method 1: Turn multimeter's knob in resistance mode and select 200 ohms.With one probe touch anyone terminal of the motor and keep shifting the second probe on the remaining terminals until your multimeter shows some reading, no reading means not a pair. I got a reading of 6.3 ohms, your's may vary but that's fine. So in this way you will find first pair of wire, the remaining two should be your second pair, confirm it.

Method 2: Same can be done by turning the knob in continuity/ diode mode, in this case you will hear a beep and get some reading on its screen as well.

Method 3: You will need a 9v battery, a resistor and a LED . Connect them with wires as shown in Figure 3.4.

There are many online LED resistor calculators if you have a battery or a power source of different voltage. While connecting the LED please note the polarity if connected incorrectly it will never glow.

Make the circuit and touch the test lead to anyone terminal of the motor and keep shifting the second lead on the remaining terminals until the LED glows. If it glows you have found a pair.

After finding out the pairs connect the wires from motor to the motor driver as shown in Figure 3.5.

At this point it looks quite tempting and hard to resist from connecting everything and powering up the circuit. But there are few things we should know about the power supply and motor driver which in-turn will not only save our time but the module itself.

Power supply:

Use power supply from 6v to 30v anything below it won't probably give better performance and above maximum range could fry the electronics. Remember higher the voltage and current hotter the A3967 chip will get during operation. I mentioned A3967 chip as I will be discussing EasyDriver module based on the same chip.

Stepper motors that we are using in the project requires 100 mA to 200 mA current per coil. Since we will be using 3 steppers, we need a power supply capable of delivering current above 1 Amp. I used 12v 1 Amp for this project which was adequate everything stays cool . At 12v 2 Amps I noticed both EasyDrivers and stepper motors getting very hot. If excess current is delivered EasyDriver gets extremely hot and after reaching a specific temperature it enters thermal shutdown mode in order to protect the chip. If this happens disconnect the power source and let things cool down for a while.

Step 4: Know Your Motor Driver

We need a stepper motor driver to be able to drive these motors efficiently. There are number of ICs and circuit diagram online which should serve the purpose and could be cheaper to implement. However for beginners I would recommend a prefabricated stepper driver module. These are not only convenient but are lot safer as you won't end up blowing something by the back EMF of the motors.

Other popular drivers include Big Easy Driver A4988, DRV8825 modules.

EasyDriver module:

It is based on Allegro's A3967 chip. It can work with anything that can output 0 to 5v or 0 to 3.3v pulse.The module can provide a minimum of 150 mA (milli ampere) and a maximum of 750 mA per coil. This can be adjusted by turning the trim pot as per the current requirements of the stepper motor. The silver screen shows MIN/MAX markings just below the trim pot. This marking indicates the direction you need to rotate the pot so as to decrease or increase the amount of current going to the motor. But you can't blindly trust the silver screen as it may be sometimes printed falsely.

If after powering up the module, motor gets extremely hot then turn the pot very gently towards the MIN direction and if the MIN/MAX markings are correct then the motor should cool down otherwise move it in the opposite direction. The motor gets hot if it is being delivered excess amount of current. Current is to be lowered to a limit such that motor stays cool when it is idle but at the same time not low enough to lose a step. Knowing actual current being delivered is not that crucial for this project, with trial and error one can easily set the right amount of current.

Those who are interested in finding out the actual amount of current being delivered, link to the formula is given below others may skip this part and may can continue with the above method.

For current calculation per coil you may refer to this article the author had simplified it very nicely please click here for more information. This link is published on schmalzhaus.com

Pin description :

1) GND (Ground/negative) : There should be 3 pins on the EasyDriver board labelled as GND, all of them are connected together inside the board. Connect the negative of power supply and Arduino to one or more GND pins of EasyDriver.

2) M+ : This is the power supply pin. It should be between 6v to 30v.

3) A and B : These are the motor connection pins. Connect one pair to A and other to B.

4) STEP : This is to be connected to Arduino which will be sending digital signals that is 0 or 5v (or it could be 0 or 3.3v if you've set your EasyDriver that way)

5) DIR : This needs to be 0 or 5v.

Motor drivers generally don't like reverse polarity at their power input pins and also sudden disconnection of motors when they are energized. I haven't tried that yet, but to be on safer side let's not do that.

For more information on EasyDriver stepper motor module click here

Microstepping :

Microstepping simply means breaking a single step into number of steps. By default EasyDriver is set to 1/8th microstepping mode. However it can operate in four different modes viz., Full, half, 1/4th, 1/8th steps. MS1 and MS2 pins decide the microstepping modes.

Here HIGH = 5v and LOW = 0v. Pull these pins accordingly to enable the desired microstepping mode.

1) MS1 (LOW) and MS2 (LOW) = Full step

2) MS1 (HIGH) and MS2 (LOW) = Half step

3) MS1 (LOW) and MS2 (HIGH) = 1/4th step

4) MS1 (HIGH) and MS2 (HIGH) = 1/8th step

See Figure 4.1 for MS1 and MS2 pins.

With adequate knowledge, we can now step ahead and connect the stepper motors.

Step 5: Flashing Grbl to Arduino:

Grbl is a free, open source, high performance software for controlling the motion of machines that move, that make things, or that make things move, and will run on a straight Arduino

The Grbl software that I will be talking about in this section is a special kind of hex file and can't be uploaded through Arduino IDE directly. We need to use a software called Xloader for this purpose. This is the method which I used and its quite simple and hassle free.

But if you wish to use the Arduino IDE only instead of Xloader then you have to download the Grbl source code first. Its very well documented on GitHub. For step by step instructions click here.

For more information on Grbl click here

Download link:

• For Grbl file click here

On the Grbl download page you will find different versions of hex files. I downloaded the file with name "grbl_v0_8c_atmega328p_16mhz_9600.hex" for this project. After downloading the required softwares connect Arduino to computer through USB cable. Your computer should make a sound telling that something is connected. Identify the COM port your Arduino is connected.

For com port identification there are few ways:

First method: Open Arduino IDE, click on Tools tab. Move cursor over Port: and select the port which shows (Arduino/Genuino Uno) see Figure 5.1.

Second method (on Windows 7): Right click on 'Computer' icon, select 'Manage' and click it. Then click 'Device Manager', click Ports (COM & LPT) it should show the port to which Arduino Uno is connected (see Figure 5.2). In my case it is COM13 your's could be different .

Once you know on which COM port your Arduino is connected open the Xloader software, select the respective 'COM port', make initial settings as shown in Figure 5.3 and finally click 'Upload' button.

While the Grbl file is being uploaded to the Arduino the Tx & Rx LEDs appears to be continuously in 'on state' for few a seconds. During this period DO NOT DISCONNECT ARDUINO FROM THE COMPUTER.

After the completion of process a message at the bottom just below the 'Upload' , 'About' button appears saying '26486 bytes uploaded' (see Figure 5.4). This a confirmation that Grbl file has been successfully sent to Arduino and now it can be disconnected safely from the computer if you want.

Step 6: The G-code Streaming Software :

In the previous section we have uploaded Grbl to Arduino and gave it a unique ability to converse between computer and stepper motors. We now need our computer to tell arduino to move stepper motor shafts in various directions, speeds and do all sorts of other things in-order to get the desired job done. For this, some sort of language is needed which is G-code in this case. Don't worry you don't have to learn G-code programming. In-fact you won't be writing even a single piece of code for this project, I will make another software do this job for you.

There are several options available with which you can do that, I like Universal G-code sender personally as it is simple to use and easy to configure. You may like other software as well for more information click here

Download link:

• For Universal G-code sender click here

Please download the Stable build version, as they are always better than Nightly builds.

All further discussion will revolve around UniversalGcodeSender-v1.0.9.

Instructions on how to connect Arduino to computer & communicate with Grbl:

After downloading the software locate the download file and unzip it in to a new folder. This folder should show you a '.jar' file as shown in Figure 6.1.Connect Arduino to computer via USB. On the Arduino green LED glows and computer makes a typical sound indicating something has been connected. Now launch the UniversalGcodeSender.

In the application window select the port to which your Arduino is connected (method to find port shown in the previous step already). Set Baud rate as 9600 and Firmware as Grbl from the drop-down list as shown in Figure 6.2. If the button 'Open' is clicked it establishes connection between the computer and Arduino & on the Arduino Tx, Rx LEDs starts blinking rapidly. (Tx = transmitter, Rx = receiver).

As shown in Figure 6.3 the application console shows the following message ****Connected to COM13 @ 9600 baud****

This indicates that the computer is successfully able to communicate with the Arduino. The application window mainly is divided vertically into two parts in its upper-half. Upper right half shows four tabs viz., Commands, File Mode, Machine Control, Macros respectively.

Click the first one i.e., Command , type $$ and press enter key on your computer. Console should show all the current settings of Grbl software (Figure 6.4).

Step 7: Connecting the Hardware

Connect the hardware as follows:

Arduino.....................................EasyDriver

Pin # 2.......................................Step ( X-axis )

Pin # 3.......................................Step ( Y-axis )

Pin # 4.......................................Step ( Z-axis )

Pin # 5.......................................Direction ( X-axis )

Pin # 6.......................................Direction ( Y-axis )

Pin # 7.......................................Direction ( Z-axis )

GND...........................................GND ( X,Y,Z axes )

Arduino UNO gets power from the computer.

Stepper motors we will be using should have four wires which are to be connected as shown in Figure 7.3.

Input pins of all the three Easydriver boards are connected in parallel as shown in the Figure 7.5 and should receive power supply between 6v to 30 volts. I used 12v, 1 Amp DC power source for this project which I found to be adequate.

Step 8: Let Us Test

Before getting indulged in actually building the final form of project it will be a good idea to see if we can establish communication between our computer to Arduino and with the stepper motors eventually.

Please download the file 'test_0001.ngc' it's a small test file to see if motions can be noticed with all the stepper motors. I would highly recommend detaching all the stepper motors from the DVD/CD drive assembly before proceeding as we haven't yet configured Grbl. We can mount the stepper motors back to their original position after doing a few calculations which will be discussed in the next section.

Let us begin, turn on the power supply, open up the Universal G-code sender. Select the port (we know the port to which Arduino is connected, as we already discussed that in step 5) set Baud rate as 9600. Application console would be empty at first there should be nothing, but when the 'Open' button is clicked the Application console shows the following message '****Connected to COM13 @ 9600 baud****

If you get the above message you are good to go. While on the Arduino you will see Tx and Rx LEDs blinking rapidly.

Click on the 'File Mode' tab (see Figure 8.2) and click the 'Browse' button then select and open the test file that you have downloaded earlier and click 'Send'. You should see motions in all the three stepper motors which means we have succeeded in our primary goal of establishing the communication.

Step 9: Configuring Grbl

Communication with stepper motors was a big achievement with regards to this project. Arduino and a couple of software made that really easy. Still at this point if we assemble everything and let our machine draw something there are high chances of all the 3 carriages (mounted on X,Y & Z axes) crashing in either directions. This is because we haven't yet defined Grbl the respective sizes of the lead screws our stepper motors have.This is one of the important step as it will decide the accuracy of the machine.

We need to tell Grbl the number of steps that will be required to move the pen 1 mm. There is a formula to find this:

steps per mm = (steps per revolution * microsteps) / mm per revolution.

So it's obvious we need to know few things before we can actually begin calculation. Let's find out steps per revolution first. I searched a lot for the part number but wasn't lucky enough to find out the exact datasheets of the stepper motors I have. But in the process learnt that these are generally bipolar stepper motors with 20 steps per revolution meaning that they have a stepping angle of 18 degrees ( 360/20 = 18).

Next, we need to find out the microsteps which is pretty straightforward in this case. By default the EasyDriver is set to 1/8th microstepping mode, that means it breaks one full step into 8 microsteps. As our motor would take 20 steps to complete one revolution normally, when connected to an EasyDriver module it will now take 20 * 8 = 160 steps to complete one revolution. This should increase positional accuracy but at the expense of torque.

Lastly we need mm per revolution. It could be done by determining the length of a lead screw then dividing it with the total number of threads on it or by counting the number of threads per inch and dividing 1 inch with number of threads counted. I used a vernier caliper for this purpose. If you practically want to find out accurately how much the carriage advances in one revolution a dial indicator may be used. But this could be done in future also when you want to build more accurate, more precise and a specialized machine.

Figure 9.1 shows the measurement of the lead screw by TPI (Thread per inch) method. Lets us say number of threads within 1 inchon the lead screw = 5.7. Then mm per revolution = 1 / 5.7 = 0.175 inch or 4.44mm.

Now that we have all the three values let us consider an example,

Formula:

steps per mm = (steps per revolution * microsteps) / mm per revolution.

steps per mm = (20 * 8) / 4.44

steps per mm = 36.036

In this way calculate steps per mm for all the axes and update these values to the Grbl.

Steps on how to update new values to grbl:

(Please refer step number 6 for instructions on how to connect Arduino to computer and communicate with Grbl).

Type $$ and you should be able see the current settings of Grbl like the one shown in Figure 9.2.

Type $0 = steps per mm (you have calculated for the X- axis stepper motor and press enter).

Type $1 = steps per mm (you have calculated for the Y- axis stepper motor and press enter).

Type $2 = steps per mm (you have calculated for the Z- axis stepper motor and press enter).

For example if steps per mm for X axis stepper motor = 36.036 then type,

$0 = 36.036 (Then press enter)

Again type $$ and now the Grbl should show your newly updated values for X, Y & Z axes. These values are saved in EEPROM of the Arduino. It is a type of memory that won't be erased even if the device is disconnected from power source, the data in it would be retained until you change it manually.

Besides $$ there are other useful commands. For more information please click here

Step 10: Let Us Build

This section should give a general idea as how we can build the machine and should be followed as a general guide as the DVD/CD drives may show a lot of variations in design with respect to make, model and manufacturer.

Figure 10.1 shows four outer and four inner holes, outer holes for nuts and bolts to serve as stand whereas the inner ones for mounting Y-axis.

Figure 10.2 shows two L- shaped aluminum angle which will be used to support the perpendicular board for mounting X-axis & Z-axis respectively. Talking about axes, some of the books and articles refer X-axis as Y-axis and vice versa. In this case I considered naming them according to the Gcode sending software we will be using.

A square piece of rigid plastic (let me call it work bed/ area) is pasted onto the top of laser assembly as shown in Figure 10.3. I pasted two washers from below to either ends of the plastic. when I want my machine to draw something on a piece of paper I simply place two small neodymium magnets on either ends of work bed/ area. The force of attraction between washers from below and magnets on top keeps the paper in place. These magnets can be easily obtained from the laser units of the scrap DVDs.

Figure 10.4 shows a vertical board which has four 3cm long fasteners for mounting X-axis.

U-shaped strip of aluminum is pasted to the back of Z-axis( see Figure 10.5) with a strong epoxy adhesive, araldite in this case.

Figure 10.6 shows Z-axis mounted on X-axis.

An important point worth mentioning here is the modification of pen. The refill of the pen is shortened by 5mm and spring obtained from another pen is inserted backwards onto it as shown in Figure 10.8. Hot glue is added to prevent the spring from slipping towards the direction of the tip. This modification allows the tip of the refill to move back & forth and finely adjust itself according to the level of the work area on the Y-axis. Thus even if the workspace/ work area on the Y-axis is not perfectly horizontal the pen would still be able to draw on the piece of paper.

In step 7, I described how to connect Arduino UNO, stepper motor drivers and stepper motors together. Initially I did that on a breadboard as I was experimenting and exploring things. Breadboard is a good prototyping option and I would suggest beginners to first try this option (just make sure everything is properly connected before powering on the circuit). Perfboard is another easier, cheaper option. In the later stage to make things neat and long lasting PCB etching could to be considered. Figure 10.10 and 10.11 showing etched PCB for the project.

PCB etching is a bit advanced technique and there are few different methods with which we can achieve that.

I used Toner Transfer method to etch PCB for this project, other methods include use of Photoresistive laminates, Screen printing, PCB milling to name a few. There are so many ways and a number of good instructables already on the topic hence I won't be describing it here.

For those who would like to etch a PCB I uploaded artwork and silkscreen in PDF format, after downloading make sure everything matches perfectly before proceeding.

Figure 10.11 shows four 6cm long fasteners for mounting CPU fan but the use of such fan is totally optional.

It would be a good idea to spend some time searching for a suitable enclosure for the PCB board (in case you make one) which I am yet to do.

Step 11: Converting Image / Text to G-code:

Inkscape is a free and open source

Gcode generation from an image:

For this you need a suitable image so let's search one. Open your browser and type 'google images'.

Click 'Tools' then 'Color' and select 'Transparent' as shown in Figure 11.1

Select and download an image.

1) Saving the document : Open inkscape, click 'File' then 'Save As' or 'Shift+Ctrl+S' to save the inkscape document. Give it a suitable name and click 'Save' button.

2) Setting up the Document Property : (This is the area or the workspace which your pen will cover).

Click on 'Files' then 'Document Properties' or press 'Shift+Ctrl+D' keys. A window should appear, set custom width & height (see Figure 11.2) but it should not be more that the length of lead screws measured. I kept it to 30mm x 30mm and also kept the default units as 'mm'. Save your work after completion of each step.

3) Importing the image:

Go to 'File' then click 'Import', alternatively press 'Ctrl+I' keys.

Browse and open the downloaded image from the respective folder. A dialogue box appears as shown in Figure 11.3, just click 'OK '. Click the 'lock' icon as shown Figure 11.4, this will maintain its aspect ratio. Resize image to fit within the workspace. Click 'Zoom to fit page in window' button (just below the Extensions tab) or alternatively press numerical key '5' on your keyboard.

4)Tracing the image:

Click on the image to select it, then click 'Path' and after that click 'Trace Bitmap' or press 'Shift+Alt+B', a window appears, select 'Brightness cutoff' mode, and ' Live Preview' as shown in Figure 11.5. I experimented with other modes as well but found that this one won't always generate double lines. Click 'Ok' and close this window. Move the trace aside.

But you might wonder where are the double lines, and what difference would they make?

Let me show you what I mean by that, but let's first trace the image again. Follow the same procedure as mentioned above for tracing the image but this time with 'Edge detection' mode. Move the trace aside. You can now delete the original image.

Now click on the 'View' tab then 'Display mode' then 'Outline'. You should now be able to see the double lines of the image traced with 'Edge detection' mode (see Figure 11.6). These double lines might be suitable for a routine CNC job but for our project we just need single lines. If we choose the trace with double lines the pen would move more or less over the same path again.

I observed that 'Brightness cutoff' mode won't always help you get rid of the double lines, there are certain other ways to solve this problem. But I think that would be a topic for another instructable. So if your trace also shows double lines with this mode you can try the other modes as well to see what works best for you.

Let us select the 'Normal' viewing mode again and continue with our first trace. Move the trace within the workspace.

5) Generating the Gcode: Select the trace, click 'Extensions' then 'Gcodetools' then 'Orientation points'. Select 'Orientation type' to 2-points mode as shown in Figure 11.7 and set Z depth as per your machine setup, click enter.

Again click the image to select it, click the 'Extensions' tab then 'Gcodetools' then 'Path to gcode...'. A window should appear and in that click 'Preferences' tab. Give a meaningful name to the file (don't forget to add the extension '.ngc' after the file name). Enter the directory you want your gcode file to be saved. Enter the Z safe height. I kept it to 4, you can play with different numbers. Click 'Path to gcode' tab again and lastly click 'Apply'.

A dialogue box should appear like the one shown in Figure 11.8, simply click 'Ok' to continue and in the end you should see many arrows on the trace representing the directions(Figure 11.9).

This also indicates that we have successfully made the gcode and that it has been saved to the folder we have specified earlier. In Order to test and see how this code will behave in real world we can actually simulate everything with the help of CAMotics, an Open-source software. Open the file in CAMotics and click 'Hide Surface', then click 'Start or stop tool path animation' button as shown in Figures 11.10 & 11.11 respectively.

G-code generation from a text :

1) Save the document and setup the document property as shown above.

2) Select 'Create and edit text box objects' from Toolbox arranged vertically on the left or simply press F8 button on the keyboard. Click on the document and start typing with your keyboard. You can change the font style and size from the Tool control bar.

After typing click 'Select and transform objects' from Toolbox or press F1 key on your keyboard. The text will be selected automatically, if it doesn't first select the text, then go to 'Path' tab and click 'Object to path' as shown in Figure 11.12.

3) Generating the G-code: The procedure is same as mentioned above in point number 5.

Step 12: Videos

Embedded a few videos of the machine in action, alternatively click the following links:

1)Arduino based CNC plotter: How to build

2)Arduino based CNC plotter from DVD/CD drives

3) Arduino based CNC plotter drawing an image

4) Arduino based CNC plotter writing a text

Step 13: Last Word

Hope you have enjoyed reading this instructable. I have taken every care to keep it simple to understand and follow. I sincerely wish and hope that you also feel the same when you replicate this project. Wish you good luck in making this DIY project. Looking forward to receive your valuable and candid feedback.