Python based 3-Axis CNC Plotter
Tekumatla Shivakumar Manne Sai Sravan, K Selvajyothi
Mechanical (Design & Manufacturing) Engineering
IIITDM Kancheepuram
Chennai, India
mdm13b032@iiitdm.ac.in
Abstract—This paper discusses on an open source python
based three-axis CNC system. Python being one of the easiest
languages to understand exempts the user from requiring
extreme programming skills to amend the code for personal use.
This paper features a novel way of directly importing the CAD
file into the system without the use of any G-code parser. This
system is economical as it utilizes Arduino UNO board as a signal
generator without compromising on the performance of the
system.
Keywords—Arduino; motion controller; CNC learning
equipment; open source CNC learning tool; open source CNC
software; Python; rapid prototyping.
I. INTRODUCTION
At present there is a rising demand for computer numerical
control (CNC) applications in small-scale industries,
educational institutions and among the hobbyists. There are
several commercial CNC machine manufacturers like M/s
Fanuc Ltd and M/s SINUMERIK which however meet this
need, but are not affordable by the above-mentioned user
community. The high cost of the machine can be associated to
the usage of custom designed embedded controllers and
machine components. In the past one decade, there have been a
few kinds of literature concerning the implementation of low-
cost CNC system. In [1] the authors use grbl (open-source G-
code interpreter for Arduino) to reduce the cost and an open
source computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software which
is machine specific. In [2] a real-time operating system reduces
the development period and the cost, and thereby greatly
decreasing the program complexity in the design. In [3] the
authors discuss about realizing STEP-NC controller using a
low cost microcontroller to control a CNC machine with two
degrees of freedom. In [4] the authors discusses on reducing
the cost by realizing the controller using Arduino based
embedded system and an offline G-code parser to convert the
code into National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST-SAI) canonical code.
There exists a few open source CNC software online [5][6],
but however, most of these are not easily customizable. The
source code of this software is very challenging to understand
as they are mainly developed in Java or Visual Basic. The
major disadvantage of the current existing open-source
software is their integration with hardware, which includes
978-1-5090-2547-3/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
Electronics (Design & Manufacturing) Engineering
IIITDM Kancheepuram
Chennai, India
edm13b018@iiitdm.ac.in, ksjyothi@iiitdm.ac.in
signal generators, driver circuitry and the machine setup. The
availability of certain components is restricted to only a few
countries, thus making it difficult to import. Also, abundant
software is designed only for specific machine dimensions
making it difficult to adopt them for personal usage.
After a thorough study on the above-mentioned limitations,
we propose the following:
1. A more standard method to directly obtain coordinate
data from computer-aided design (CAD) models by eliminating
the usage of G-code parser.
2. To develop a system, capable of governing at least
three-axis.
3. A hardware which is less expensive and a setup which is
less complex.
4. A development language which is open source, easy to
understand, requiring basic programming knowledge, thereby
making it easily amendable for the user.
5. A much more economical way of using the hardware
which is easily available in most countries.
In today’s times, the above requirements can be well met
by developing the CNC system using Python [7] and Arduino
electronics platform for signal generation.
As suggested by the stack overflow survey [8], Python is
emerging as a widely used programming language for
beginners and it is developed under an open source initiative
(OSI)-approved open source license. Python, a dynamic object-
oriented programming language can be used for developing
many kinds of software. As it offers strong support for
integrating with other languages and tools, Python comes with
extensive standard libraries and can be learned in a very short
time. Hence choosing Python in order to develop the CNC
system is well justified.
The various stages of the system design are shown in Fig.
1. The complete paper is organized as follows: section II
discusses proposed a methodology and elaborates the
individual system components and its functionality. Section III
discusses the results in each stage of the plotter. Then in
section IV, conclusion and future scope of the work has been
discussed.
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Fig. 1. Block diagram representation of the proposed plotter.
II. PROPOSED PLOTTER
The detailed schematic for the proposed plotter is shown in
Fig. 1. The geometric data of a CAD model is converted to
coordinate points and fed to a motion control unit coded in the
open source software. These signals are fed serially to the
control circuit for the 3-axis control. Each subsystem used for
this plotter are elaborated in the succeeding subsections.
A. DXF reader
A Python library called dxfgrabber [9] is being used to
obtain the geometric data from the .dxf file [10]. The .dxf file
of the CAD model is given as an input to DXF reader and the
output is given as an input to coordinate point generator.
B. Coordinate point generator
The output from the DXF reader is geometrical data, which
is not suitable for the motion control of the machine. Thus it is
required to convert that geometrical data into useful
coordinates.
Parametric forms of geometrical shapes is used to convert
the geometrical data into coordinates. For example let (x1, y1)
be the center of a circle with radius r. Any point on this circle
can be represented in coordinate form as (x1 + r cosș, y1 + r
sinș), where ș is varied between 0° and 360°. The number of
data points obtained depends on the discrete levels of ș. Thus
the geometrical data of the circle can be converted into its
coordinates.
C. Motion Control Unit
Once the discrete coordinate points are obtained from the
point generator, the steps required for the motion of individual
axis motors can be calculated. Here linear interpolation is used
to approximate the curve. Fig. 2 shows the interpolation of two
points in the curve and illustrates the same using the plotter.
Let step x and step y be the number of steps rotated by the
X and Y-axes stepper motors respectively where one step
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means resolution of the tool. ¨x and ¨y are the displacements
along x and y-axes respectively in between the two consecutive
points O and A as shown in Fig. 2.
In order to reduce the program complexity, the system is
designed in such a way that at any instant only one axis will be
in motion. Hence, in the case of a vertical or horizontal
movement, the number of steps required is proportional to the
displacement in that particular direction. But, for an inclined
line, the motion of X and Y-axes needs to be altered
individually as shown in Fig. 2.
To draw an inclined line, the movement in the x and y axes
is going to be in a serial manner. So the inclined line cannot be
obtained exactly but can be approximated to the accuracy of
the machine tool. For example, let OA be the line of required
pattern which is shown in Fig. 2. But the machine is going to
follow the green and red colored path where the movements of
X and Y-axes are represented with green and red respectively.
For the line OA inclined at an angle ș, the step x and the step y
are calculated as follows: for ¨x > ¨y, the serial data
transmitted will be in the sequential order of one step along y
axis and ¨x/¨y steps along X-axis. This process is repeated for
¨y iterations and vice versa.
Fig. 2. Representation of interpolation between two points in the curve and
the illustration of the same by the plotter.
In a similar way, any curve can be converted into a set of
lines and the data required to follow the given path information
regarding the motion of each axis can be calculated in python
and stored in an array. Every element in the array has the axis
name and a direction of rotation associated with it. Once the
data is stored in the array, it is sent to machine’s electronics
system to drive the motors. The following encoding scheme
shown in Table I is adopted to attribute this information along
with the number of steps. Arduino can handle a maximum data
size of 32-bits. i.e. 0 – 4294967295 integer values.
TABLE I. ENCODING SCHEME
Actual Data
X axis: clockwise direction + step count
X axis: anti-clockwise direction + step count
Y axis: clockwise direction + step count
Y axis: anti-clockwise direction + step count
Z axis: clockwise direction + step count
Z axis: anti-clockwise direction + step count
where *’s indicate the step count. e.g. 200000036 means X- axis should move 36 steps in the
coils. Full stepping scheme is used for plotting vertical and
horizontal lines whereas, for inclined lines or curved designs
1/8 micro-stepping scheme is used. Use of both the schemes
together results in a significant decrease in the total plotting
time. Depending on the current rating of the stepper motors and
the maximum switching frequency of the PWM input signal,
the MOSFET’S or BJT’s used in building the circuits have to
be chosen accordingly. Each stepper motor will be connected
Encoded Data to two H-Bridge circuits i.e. one H-Bridge circuit per coil and
1******** is built using power MOSFET-55NF06. Fig. 3 shows the
2********
hardware circuit for the motor control. The Z-axis servomotor
3********
4********
is controlled directly from the Arduino using PWM.
5********
6********
negative direction.

D. Serial Communication
The data (step count) corresponding to the motion of
individual axis X, Y and Z is encoded and stored in an array.
PySerial library is utilized to establish the serial
communication. The time of execution of a drawing is greatly
dependent on the data transfer rate and also on the decoding
and encoding scheme complexity.
The clock frequency of a computer is around 2.2 to 3.6
GHz, whereas the Arduino UNO maximum clock frequency is
16 MHz. This variation in the clock frequencies can lead to
significant data loss or data misinterpretation thereby distorting
the workpiece. Therefore a proper synchronization needs to be
maintained in order to prevent any data loss. This can be
achieved by using a widely known technique called Fig. 3. Experimental electronic controller for the motors.
Handshaking protocol. By implementing this protocol the
entire unit will be functioning at a maximum clock frequency G. Mechanical system
of 16 MHz.
The three-axis CNC pen plotter draws the objects in the
E. Decoding Scheme: CAD file. The rotary motions of the motors have to be
converted to linear motion, which can be done in many ways.
Once the data is available in the serial register of Arduino it Ball screw mechanism and Rack and pinion mechanism are
reads in and compares the first digit to determine the encoding two methods among them. Rack and pinion mechanism, in
type and then executes the corresponding functionality. The which the table rails are glued with a belt drive as racks and the
next data will be available in Arduino serial register but will small plastic gears as pinions is built as shown in Fig. 4. The
not be read until the current function is executed completely. In pitch of the pinion is equal to the belt pitch. With this setup, an
order to establish a proper serial connection the designer must accuracy of 0.08mm is obtained.
make sure that the serial port parameters are set with the same
values in both the Python terminal and Arduino. These include
Port number, Baud rate, Data bits, Stop bits, Parity type and
Flow control.

F. Signal generation
The three stepper motors being used are having a resolution
of (1.8°) 200 steps per revolution. In order to reduce the cost of
the equipment and to keep it simple, rack and pinion
mechanism is used. Therefore the tool resolution is completely
dependent on the resolution of the stepper motors and pitch of
the gear. In order to increase the number of steps 1/8 micro-
stepping scheme is used. The cost of the equipment is reduced
by designing and building a micro stepping driver circuit based
on the rating of the motors. For this study, micro stepping
driver IC A3967 is used to generate the PWM signals and H- Fig. 4. Rack with belt arrangement.
Bridge circuit to switch the 5 V power supply to the motor

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 One servo motor and three stepper motors are being used to
provide the motion along the X, Y and Z-axes. The servo
motor attached to a slider crank mechanism shown in Fig. 5
gives the motion along Z-axis which allows the pen to move
upside down. Two stepper motors on the near end of Fig. 6
which are connected to rack and pinion give the motion along
the Y-axis and one stepper motor with rack and pinion placed
on the farther end gives the motion along X-axis. Here servo
motor is used along with slider crank mechanism to decrease
the load on both X-axis and Y-axis.
drawn by the pen plotter is shown in Fig. 10. The total time
taken by the plotter to plot this CAD model specified as per
Fig. 7 is about 16.2 s by the proposed scheme. Consider
another CAD model of alphabet “D” as input to the plotter as
shown in Fig. 11. The output of point generator and the plotter
output are shown in Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 respectively. Here the
time taken by the plotter is about 69.4 s with the proposed
methodology. This is to demonstrate the smooth plotting of
curves.
A study has been made on the errors in plotting a line,
inclined line and a curve. The error in final plotting is due to
approximation of curves and nonlinearities present in the
mechanical equipment. But these errors are not the same in
every case. Table III represents the approximate errors in the
plotter for various plots.

TABLE II. SPECIFICATION OF THE PLOTTER

Component Specification
Max. material size and layout 500mm×600mm×170mm(19.685”
area ×23.622”×5.905”)
Resolution 80ȝm
Repeatability ± 0.080 mm
Travel speed Varies
X-drive 1-Bipolar stepper motor
Y-drive 2-Bipolar stepper motors
Fig. 5. Slider crank arrangement for Z-axis movement of the pen. Z-drive 1 servo motor
Machine baseplate Plywood
Power Supply 5V 4A Power Adaptor

Fig. 6. Proposed CNC pen plotter having two stepper motors for Y-axis
control, one stepper motor for X-axis control and a servomotor for Z-axis
control.
Fig. 7. CAD model of alphabet T fed as input to the plotter.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table II represents the specification of the pen plotter
developed. The outputs of the various stages of the plotter are
detailed in this section. Consider the CAD model of alphabet
“T” as input to the system. First, the CAD model is converted
into DXF format and given as input to the dxf reader. CAD
model of input is shown in Fig. 7. The data shown in Fig. 8 is
the output from the dxf reader and this file is given as input to
coordinate point generator. From the above data, the Fig. 8. The output from the dxf reader goes as input to coordinate point
coordinates are generated and output of the coordinate generator.
generator is shown in Fig. 9. Based on the coordinate data the
axis motion is controlled by the motion control unit. The output

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Fig. 9. Output T from the coordinate point generator plotted in Python.
Fig. 10. The output drawn by the pen plotter.
Fig. 11. CAD model of alphabet D fed as input to the plotter.
Fig. 12. Output coordinate points generated in Python for D.
Fig. 13. The output drawn by the plotter.
TABLE III. THEORETICAL VS EXPERIMENTAL ERROR FOR THE PLOTTER
Geometry Theoretical error Experimental error
1.Vertical line 0mm ±0.5mm
2.Horizontal line 0mm ±0.5mm
3.Inclined line ±0.04mm ±0.54mm
4.Every other Curve ±0.08mm ±0.84mm
IV. CONCLUSION
The indigenous CNC plotter can be interfaced with any
mechanical setup by varying the resolution parameter in the
Python code depending on the resolution available with the
hardware. The accuracy in printing obtained using the
proposed plotter is 0.8mm. This accuracy can be increased
further by installing a proper mechanical system. As this
system is completely coded in Python, it is very easy to
understand the working of a machine and amend it for personal
use. The whole CNC system can be used as a learning tool for
university students which can be of a help in understanding the
automation involved in manufacturing. This system doesn’t
have any G-code parser. Hence, the understanding of CAD
methods in CAM is easy. The system is made using open
source hardware and software, thus making it available at low
cost, which can improve the profits of small scale industries.
This system can be directly implemented on Raspberry pi,
Beagle bone or other high-end embedded platforms. Thereby
completely eliminating the Arduino Board and PC from system
design and making it highly portable. This can significantly
reduce the system cost with a slight increase in setup
complexity.
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