Thesis Title: MCU-based Brass Plate Cutting Machine

Project Description
This project design is capable of cutting brass plates into a desired word and/or letter. The
researchers come up in designing this device to make an accurate and consistent cutting of words
and/or letters into a brass plate. In manual process, technicians do the manual cutting of brass
plates with the use of wire saw or the actual saw by hand. With this machine, cutting the brass
plates would be much easier and faster than the manual cutting for the users. This device is also
made to prevent such future hazards which may be experienced in cutting manually.
This device has its developed system that can run unattended during the entire machine
cycle. This project design is intended for the electronic technicians and jewelry makers to have a
better option than cutting manually.
Statement of the Problem
The main purpose of the project is to develop and implement a MCU-based Brass Plate
Cutting Machine, some of these problems are need to be considered while making the design of
the project like:
General Problem

 How to design, develop and implement a MCU-based Brass Plate Cutting Machine?
Specific Problem

 How to design, develop and implement software that is used in connecting the computer
and machine?
 How to design, develop and implement a device that automatically cut words and/or
letters in a brass plate?
 How to design, develop and implement a device that controls the mechanical movement
of the machine?
 How to design, develop and implement a device that detects whether the string saw in the
machine broke during the operation?
 How to design, develop and implement a device that serves as a safety button incase of
unexpected situations during the operations?
Objectives
In implementing this project, these are the objectives for this study:
General Objectives

 To design, develop and implement a MCU-based Brass Plate Cutting Machine.

Specific Objectives

 To design, develop and implement software that is used in connecting the computer and
machine.
 To design, develop and implement a device that automatically cut words and letters in a
brass plate.
 To design, develop and implement a device that drives and controls the mechanical
movement of the machine.
 To design, develop and implement a device that detects whether the string saw in the
machine broke during the operation.
 To design, develop and implement a device that serves as a safety button in case of
unexpected situations during the operations.

Scope and Limitations

In implementing MCU-based Brass Plate Cutting Machine, the following are the scopes
for this study:

 The machine is capable of cutting the brass plate in desired letters or word.
 Cutting module.
 Broken wire/string saw detection module.
 Safety emergency stop button.
 The project only focused with the use of brass plate as the main material that is used in
the machine.
For the limitations:

 The brass plate thickness range starts from 0.315mm up to 0.5mm.

 The maximum brass plate size ranges from 255cm x 375cm.
 The changing of cutting tools, locking and mounting of brass plate in board is not done
automatically.
 Other materials such as copper, wax, steel, and zinc can’t be used as a substitute for the
brass plate.
 Applicable fonts for cutting would be Brush Script ML, Edwardian Script ITC, Kunstler
Script, Mistral and Vladimir Script only.
Hardware/Software Requirement
Hardware

 Wire saw cutter

 Laser Photoelectric Sensor
 Piezoelectric Alarm Siren
 Microcontroller
 Buzzer
 Brass Plate Holder
Software

 Sketchup 2017
 C#
 Circuit Wizard
 Diptrace
 Mach 3
Project Prototype
Estimated Cost
The researchers estimated cost in developing this project would be 40,000pesos.
Duration
The researchers estimated duration in implementing this project would be four (4) to five
(5) months.
Marketability
The researchers estimated marketability in this project would be around 30,000pesos.
Target users for this project would be, jewelries store and other name plate maker.

Group Members
Alto, Eugine T.
Angara, Mary Rose A.
Bumanglag, Samuel Dalton N.
Casagda, Christian R.