Implementation of low cost three axis CNC machine with network control

Abstract

Increase in the rapid growth of Technology significantly increased the usage and utilization of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) systems in industries but at considerable expensive. The idea on fabrication of low cost CNC came forward to reduce the cost and complexity in CNC systems. This work discusses the design and implementation of low cost three dimensional CNC machine using off-the-shelf components. We built the mechanical system which contains three axis X, Y and Z where three stepper motors and their drivers were used to move it. A microcontroller was used to control the stepper motors after interpreting the streamed g-code received from USB/Serial port of the Raspberry Pi where it offers two ways of controlling the machine. The first one is local control (machine location) where a GUI application was developed using Python programming language. The second is a control via network where Raspberry Pi hosts the web application that was developed using Node.js and bootstrap framework. The prototype CNC works well and some designs and models were successfully and accurately produced.