Using Arduino as a Medium to Learn Computer Aided Manufacturing for Students

Abstract: This project consists of the fabrication and development of an CNC plotting system which is able to move in all three axes (x, y and z). Arduino Uno R3 has been used with an Adafruit motor shield V1 for L293D stepper motor drivers, and microcontroller software to plot/draw any image and/or text in this project. The program we use converts the drawing data into G-Codes and M-Codes, which the microcontroller then executes. This project aims to learn about CNC machines and the G-Codes and M-Codes that are used to operate them. This low-cost project can also be used to build skills and provide students from diverse academic backgrounds with hands-on CNC machine experience.

Keywords: CNC plotter, G-code, M-code, Arduino Uno R3, Adafruit motor shield V1.