Home made CNC drilling machine

CNC drilling machine is a tool which is required for drilling of holes

in PCB, thaw it can be used for many other purposes too. The
software communicates with machine via serial port (COM1...COM4)
of PC. The software works only with machine which has the right
micro controller built in.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
WHAT IS CNC DRILLING MACHINE?
HOW DOES IT WORK?
CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION
MICRO CONTROLLER OPERATION AND ROUTINE EXAMPLES
ASSEMBLING THE PCB
HOW TO CONNECT A STEPPER MOTOR?
FIRST STARTUP AND CALIBRATION
SOFTWARE
HOW TO MAKE MECHANICAL PART OF MACHINE?
COMPONENTS LIST
DOWNLOADS
WHAT IS CNC DRILLING MACHINE?
The name itself (CNC = Computer Numerical Control) says pretty much. The
machine is intended to be used to help hobbyists with their prototyping. Also
if you draw something else with your software, you can easily do other jobs
as well. The machine described below functions like many others. That
means that the computer transmits positions and commands to machine.
The machine then executes desired operation and replies to the computer
when done. In our case one part of job is done when one hole is drilled. This
machine can't mill PCBs yet, but I'm working on it.
HOW DOES THE MACHINE WORK?
The machine I made works similar like other machines of this type. It is
connected to serial port of IBM compatible personal computer and controlled
by program written for MS Windows operating system. The program

transmits data from PC to machine and checks if it's responding. The

machine replies every time when operation is done or when computer asks it
if it is powered on. The program first sends coordinate for X axes, then for Y
and finally for Z. After sending last coordinate also the command is sent
which tells the machine what to do with drilling head. That command can
send head towards PCB, it can drill a hole of certain depth, which means that
the head will go down for certain distance and then move back up. It can
also move head up or initialize it.
The core of machine is simple micro controller AT89C2051, which is fully
filled with program, written with Bascom-8051. (By the way, thanks to mr.
Mark Alberts for his wonderful program) The mcu has a lot to do. It takes
care of receiving and sending data, motor direction and pulses needed by
motor controller, current through motors and driller power. It also calculates
it's relative coordinates from absolute ones, sent by computer. In fact it's
really busy.
CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION
The core of our circuit is well known micro controller AT89C2951. It works at
12MHz, which isn't ideal for baud rate generator, but it works fine. Most of
I/O pins have external pull-ups except P1.1 which is used to control current
flow through motor windings. Reason for this are interference's generated by
motor current control. The capacitors C13, 18 and 23 are therefor the same
reason. P3.1 and P3.2 are used for PC communication.
C24 (470n) is used as reset capacitor who's pull down resistor is in already
in micro controller. I thought it makes no sense to put external electrolytic
capacitor and pull down resistor in such cases. The MAX232 is also well
known RS232 level converter. These two circuits are powered from +36V line
via 15V zener diode and 78L05 voltage regulator. I decided for this because
translators L297 generate much noise in their power line. +5V power supply
for L297 must be connected externally.
I also included drilling machine's power supply in my circuit. It is configured
for 12V motor. If you use other motor voltages you should adjust
components in this circuit, specially RE1, C1 and power transformer.
At the end there are motor controllers which are well described in ST's data
sheets. I should mention that JP1, JP3 and JP4 are used to set step mode of
motors; half step or full step. With half step we double motor's resolution
and exclude spurious resonance, but we also loose some torque. There are
also two points marked with SP1 and SP2. These are spare connections and
are not used yet.

Micro controller also takes care of motor current. The voltage divider is made
with resistor 2k2, and trimmer 470R. When P1.1 is low the divider is
additionally pulled low via 180R resistor. This way we reduce standby current
to 1/3 of full current. This way motors stay cool when the machine isn't in
use. The current through each motor is controlled with 470R trimmer
potentiometers TP1, TP2 and TP3. The power loss on output chips depends
on motor currents and chopper frequency. Probably you will need a smaller
cooler and maybe a little fan on top of it.
The power of power supply required by our circuit depends on motors we
use. In most cases the 36V/2A and 5V/0.3A PS will do fine. The cable
between PC and driller is usual with two DB9 connectors, male and female.
The initialization switches are normal mechanical. I decided so, because they
aren't sensible to light or dust like IR.

Note: if the schematics doesn't load, hold SHIFT and click on picture to
save it to disk and then open it with your favorite image viewer.
The same goes for other High resolution images too.

Circuit schematics
MICRO CONTROLLER OPERATION AND ROUTINE EXAMPLES

On power on the micro controller first initializes all three motors. First it lifts
Z motor on top, to avoid drill breaking. If the motors are in initial position,
they are moved a little and initialized back again. The motors run until they
hit their end switch. The mcu then stops that motor and initializes next one.
The initialization routine looks like this.
'Z axis initialization
If P3.5 = 0 Then
P1.3 = 1
For N = 0 To 100
P1.2 = 0
Delay
P1.2 = 1
For J = 0 To M
Delay
Next J
Next N
End If

'if the end switch is pressed

'set motor direction to CW
'reset CLOCK line
'wait a moment
'set CLOCK back
'with this loop we set the
'speed of motor by changing
'the pause between CLOCK pulses
'repeat this 100 times

P1.3 = 0

'set motor direction to CCW

Do

'repeat following routine

P1.2 = 0
Delay
Delay
P1.2 = 1
For J = 0 To M
Delay
Next J
Loop Until P3.5 = 0

'until the switch is pressed

The same happens for X and Y axes too. When initialization is done, the MCU
sends message to PC that it's ready.
Print "Ready";
After that it waits for computer commands. It's interested in coordinates and
command which tells it what to do. The computer asks MCU if it's ready
before starting the job. If he doesn't get any reply from machine he warns
as with error dialog. If the MCU is ready, then computer sends him the first
coordinate with a command what to do when it gets there. When the driller
is in position, it can do the following:

decrease the driller on position marked with "a" in settings and switch
it on,

make a hole, that means go down for "b" and then go up for "b" too,

lift it up to the certain coordinate or

initialize it (send it to top) and switch it off

Every time when operation is successfully done, MCU sends computer a

message.
Print "Done";
When PC receives the reply from MCU it sends him next coordinate, if
necessary. MCU receives coordinate with following routine:
Pom1
Pom2
Pom3
Pom4
Pom5

=
=
=
=
=

Waitkey
Waitkey
Waitkey
Waitkey
Waitkey

'reads 5 variables
'from serial port

Num = Chr(pom1)
Pom1 = Val(num)
Temp = Pom1 * 10000

'converts from character to ASCII

'converts from ASCII to integer
'multiply with 10000

Num = Chr(pom2)
Pom2 = Val(num)
Pom2 = Pom2 * 1000
Temp = Temp + Pom2

'again convert char

'to integer
'and multiply it with 1000 and
'add it to previous temp variable

Num = Chr(pom3)
Pom3 = Val(num)
Pom3 = Pom3 * 100
Temp = Temp + Pom3

'do the same for

'hundreds

Num = Chr(pom4)
Pom4 = Val(num)
Pom4 = Pom4 * 10
Temp = Temp + Pom4

'tens

Num = Chr(pom5)
Pom5 = Val(num)
Temp = Temp + Pom5

'and ones

X = Temp

'at the end assign this variable to X

The computer sends absolute coordinates to computer. The MCU then

calculates relative coordinates (number of motor steps).
Clkx = X Xs
value
Xs = X
If Clkx > 0 Then
Dirx = 1
End If
If Clkx < 0 Then
Dirx = 0
End If
Clkx = Abs(clkx)

'he calculates nr. of steps from old

'and saves value of new coordinate
'assign motor direction

'calculate absolute number of steps

Then it moves on desired position.

Do
If Clkx > 0 Then
P1.6 = 0
Decr Clkx
End If

'if number of steps is greater then 0

'generate clock
'and subtract one

If Clky > 0 Then

P1.4 = 0
Decr Clky
End If

'repeat the same

'for Y axes

Delay

'wait a moment

P1.6 = 1
P1.4 = 1

'end clock pulses

For N = 0 To M
Delay
Next N

'generate a delay
'which determines
'motor speed

If Clkx = 0 Then
to 0
If Clky = 0 Then
to 0
Exit Do
End If
End If

'when nr. of steps on X axes is equal

'and nr. of steps on Y axes also equal
'end loop

loop
Print "Done";
That's all about main routines. Some of them are repeated several times,
but I explained only the main examples.
ASSEMBLING THE PCB
If you are going to make the PCB at home, you will encounter a problem,
because it's double sided with lots of vias. I suppose that best way to make
a professional PCB is to have it done by PCB manufacturer. The plans for pcb
and all other stuff you can get at the end of this document.
When you have your PCB done, you can start soldering SMD components. All
100n capacitors are filter capacitors for power supply. If you don't have 100n
you can use greater values as well. They should be dimensioned for 50VDC
and preferred size is 1206.

SMD components layout (bottom side)

Then follows soldering of "normal" wired components. First solder the lowest
components and then proceed to higher ones. Please, use sockets for DIL
chips. The diodes must be 2A/100V fast recovery. FE2B can be used from
Diotec.
ICs L298N must be cooled properly. they should be attached on heat sink
WITH INSULATION BETWEEN HEAT SINK AND ICS. THE THERMO
CONDUCTIVE PASTE MUST BE USED!
Power supply connections are made with screw type connectors assembled
from three pieces (3+3+2 pins). As motor connectors I used Speedy 10 pins
connectors with flat cables and two wires for one connection. That means
that 8 pins are used for 4 wires. The last two are used for end switch. (pin 9

= hot, pin 10 = GND) Be sure not to short circuit the motor cables. The
current regulator cannot limit current fast enough, since short circuit means
only a little inductance.

Components layout (top side of PCB)

HOW TO CONNECT A STEPPER MOTOR?

As we know, there are two basic groups of stepper motors, looking from
point of coil connections. Unipolar motor has four coils (or two coils with
center connection, if you wish) and 6 wires on outside. Some of them have
center of coils connected together and have only 5 wires on the outside.
Bipolar stepper motors have only two coils and four wires on outside.
Considering that our circuit is intended for driving bipolar motors we will
have no problem connecting bipolar motor to our circuit. If we want to
connect a unipolar motor then things get a little different.
Since unipolar motor has center connection on each coil, we can leave this
connection free (NC) and, as you se on schematics of motor, by doing so, we
transformed this motor to bipolar. Only problem is coil resistance, so we
should choose this option when coil resistance is low and motor is made for
low voltages (3 to 5V). If it is too high, the current won't reach it's nominal
level and the torque will be lost (Variant 1). In this case we can disassemble
motor and brake connection on middle terminal and then connect coils
parallel, as it's visible on picture, variant 3. If you don't need motor's full
torque, you can connect it on one of the side wires and on center wire, as
you can see on variant 2. Maybe someone will ask why don't we just connect
the side wires together and we would get lower resistance for variant 3
without disassembling the motor. But this won't work, since the coils are
winded bifilar and magnetic flux would be compensated.
IMPORTANT!

When disassembling motor NEVER pull the rotor out of stator! This
way you will partially demagnetize the permanent magnet in rotor and
motor will no longer have specified torque.

Increasing current over specified point, when the magnetic core is

saturated, no longer increases torque but only thermal losses in motor,
resulting in motor's overheating and damage.

Variants of motor connection

We'll achieve best results with motors designed for 4 to 10V and for currents
between 0.2 and 1.5A.

FIRST STARTUP AND CALIBRATION

Don't try to power on the machine without a cooler on output stage IC-s
since they cam be burned very quickly (I should know, unfortunately). The
trimmer potentiometers must be in final CCW position. You can connect
motors for testing right on your desktop. The end switches you can simulate
with some keys or switches. Be sure you assembled all as described and as
seen on component layout pictures. If you checked it all twice, you can
power on your circuit and slowly turn the TP3 (Z axis trim pot) in CW
direction. The motor will start turning. Maybe at certain current, specially
when full step is selected, the motor will start behaving strange. This is due
to motor's resonance, because it is not loaded. This phenomena will

disappear when motor will have a load to carry around. When you press on
that mtor's end switch then the X motor will start turning (after current
adjusting procedure). Press on it's end switch as well and then repeat all this
for Y axis motor. When all of this is done and if PCB is connected with your
computer, you can start Easy NC drill program, described below, open file for
drilling and press Start. The motors will start turning as they will later, when
they will be fastened in their position. If any of motors has wrong direction,
just swap the two wires of one of the coils. If the motors get hot, reduce the
current.
If all of this works for you, you are really on a good way to make the final
product working. Congratulations.

Assembled PCB prototype

SOFTWARE
The software for controlling of our machine is written for MS Windows
operating system. I tried to implement as many functions as possible, tow I
know that many things can be done better. Any ideas and suggestions are
welcome.

The recommended hardware configuration is:

P100

16MB of RAM

1MB of hard disk space

SVGA color monitor (800*600)

1 free serial (RS232) port

Windows 95

The program easy to use and I hope very intuitive too, but I'll explain some
details any way.

The program Easy NC Drill reads standard drilling files (*.NCD) generated by
various PCB designing programs, but there are some settings to be carefully
set in order to make file readable by Easy NC Drill. These settings are:
Units: Inches
Code: ASCII None
Zero Suppression: Trailing
The CAD program will this way generate a file that will be understandable by
Easy NC Drill. I made an example of file which has only one tool and three

holes. On the beginning of file there must be line with text M48 or M72,
otherwise the file will be considered of wrong format.
M48
INCH,LZ
T04F00S00C0.030
%
T04
X+002Y+004
Y+002
X+003Y+003
T00
M30
Easy NC Drill supports up to eight different tools and 1000 holes of each
one. When you open the file, the coordinates are visible in table on the left
side of screen.

When you have a file opened and all settings set you can start drilling. Many
of settings are those, which are set only once for your machine and others
may be set several times. The settings are available by clicking on button,
via menu or shortcut keys. So, lets take a look of these settings:
Warning! Some names of settings may be changed in the future.
Communication

Under Communication tab you can choose a port that your machine is
connected to. If you don't know which one is it, you can click on the Find
button and machine will be detected automatically. There are no other
communication settings necessary since they are controlled internally.
Steps Per Inch (SPI)

In these fields you can type how many steps does your machine have to do
to "travel" 1 inch (25,4mm). You can come to that numbers by trying. You
can draw a PCB with four holes and then drill it with machine and adjust
parameters. The numbers are usually around 200 and 400 when stepper
motor with belt directly on it's axes is used. If you use same motors for X
and Y axes, the numbers should be the same.

Range

In these fields you should enter the full range of your machine. This depends
on it's construction and is defined in mils. These numbers you get by
measuring of machine range with ruler and subtracting about 2 mm of it. If
you enter too big numbers, the machine can crash into the end mechanism.
Offset

Offset tells us where the 0,0 coordinate should be. Increasing offset means
decreasing our active area of work, so consider setting offset to minimum.
Also offset can not be bigger then range anyway. The offset coordinate is
ignored when tool change coordinate is sent.
Trapezoid

The trapezoid distortion occurs, when machine mechanics is not mad enough
precisely (90angle between X and Y axes) or when you use laser printer
it's output can be distorted too. Usually you don't notice that. I didn't too
until I had to drill PCBs made with laser printed film. We can test machine
and printer the same way. Draw a rectangle and print (drill corners of) it.
Then measure opposite points. Maybe you'll be stunned with results. I
measured difference on one Epson laser. It was almost Num! The value can
be positive or negative.
Tool change

In these fields we enter coordinate for tool change. This is a position where
the tool is most easily exchanged. If enabled, the machine will go to this
coordinate every time the tool has to be changed.
Head

Under mark "a" we enter offset from initial position on top to the PCB's
copper layer. We should leave 1 to 2 mm for safety reasons, otherwise the
drill can break if it hits something.
Under "b" we enter drilling depth. This depends on thickness of our board.
Speed

The speed can be set for X and Y axes together and for Z axes. The number
we enter tells the micro controller how many delays he should make
between motor's clock pulses. Higher value faster transport. Speed must be
set in reasonable limits. If it's too slow, drilling will take a while, if too fast,
the motors can loose their position on startup and board will be ruined.
Speed of motors depends on machine design, motor torque and motor
current. You can get your value with testing.
When you're done with setting parameters click the OK button and settings
will be saved to program and to hard disk in file cnc.ini. Settings are also
saved when you exit the program.

Offset (again? nooop)

In latest version of Easy NC Drill I implemented setting of offset when
machine is running. By clicking the buttons you move it to certain point and
then hit OK when you are done. By default the machine is turned off. If you
want to turn it on, click the button Machine ON and it will go to offset
position.

I should mention some other settings, which are not available from settings
window. They are available only in program's main window.
Warn for tool change
If this box is checked, the program will warn you every time the tool should
be changed. The drill head will go to coordinates set in Tool change settings
window. The dialog will also tell you which drill diameter is next. If
unchecked, the machine will not ask anything while drilling and all holes will
be done with the same diameter.
Mirror X

If this option is checked, the image and drilling path will be mirrored. This
option is very usable, since we design PCBs in "top view" mode, but when
we want to drill, we do it from copper side of board, if PCB is single sided.
Go to 0,0 when done
If this option is checked, the machine will go to 0,0 when the job is done,
otherwise it will go to Tool change position.
O.K. So now the tool bar is next. The commands on toolbar are the basic
ones.

Open NCD
Opens file with extension NCD in last used directory if possible. If file format
isn't supported or if the coordinates are out of range the error message
appears. In case that coordinate is out of range it's possible that we made
our project far from bottom left corner. Usually the easiest solution is to
move our PCB in bottom left corner or to put origin point closer to our
project.
Drill
Well, I guess we'll need this one. It starts the machine and executes selected
job. If the machine is powered off or if it's COM port isn't properly selected
the message will warn us, that the machine isn't responding. Also it will warn
if no job is selected.
Stop
Press stop when you want to end drilling prematurely. A dialog for
confirmation will appear ae .
Settings
Opens dialog with settings mentioned before.

Offset
Opens dialog with offset settings mentioned before.
About
Opens dialog with some program info and links to this page.
Exit
Closes program and saves it's settings.
There are four speed buttons in right upper corner for sending machine to
some often used coordinates:

TC means tool change position, Offset means offset position, 0,0 means
position 0,0 and MAX means maximum range position.
Some of options are not visible until a file is loaded. In upper left corner of
"drawing surface" the painted circles with check boxes, drill diameter and
number of holes are shown when the file loads. The circle paint corresponds
to paint of holes on drawing surface. You can select type of holes to be
drilled by checking the appropriate check box.

During the drilling process you can monitor it on screen. Finished holes are
marked with red cross and driller path is colored green. We can also trace
progress on two progress bars in status line.

Job in progress

HOW TO MAKE A MECHANICAL PART OF MACHINE

I personally think, that making machine's hardware is the hardest thing to
do. The prototype I made isn't very neat, but it works quite well. The main
issue from my point of view was product's price. I wanted to make a
machine that would be very cheap. I guess in your country, which ever it is,
there is a lot of junk computer equipment and that's very nice, since we
don't have to buy the expensive stepper motors.
I will explain how I made my machine and where I got my parts. The motor
which drives machine in X axes and all mechanics around it was taken out
from an old scanner. The motor should be one with 200 steps per revolution
(1,8 step angle) and strong enough to move other mechanical parts

around. You can see the motor and "home switch" on the picture below.

The mechanism of Y axes is fastened on the arm, which is driven by X axis

motor.

The smaller motor is driving Y axis on which the driller is fastened. The third
motor, which drives driller on Z axis can be connected directly to spiral axis if
it has high enough resolution, otherwise it should have a gear transmission
like in my case, where the motor is 7,5. As you can see the mechanism
which holds the Z axis is made from PCB material. It isn't very neat, but it
works. The only problem is it's stability which is quite gentle due to weaker
construction. But it's prototype anyway.

The swirly axis i took out of an older, double speed Mitsumi CD-ROM, the
"guides" (I don't know the right word for it but I mean that metal stick on
which everything slides.) are ones from old floppy disk units. The motor and
mechanism of X axes is from old scanner and of Y axes from Epson Stylus
400 printer. The power supply is also from this printer.

The motor of Z axes is from Canon's typewriter, the flat cables are from
steering wheel of Fiat's Bravo (Air bag connection). You can also use cables
from old dot matrix printers which lead to printing head. All together is
mounted on 16 mm wooden board and it is quite fine. The driller is a little
motor with drilling head.

COMPONENTS LIST

Label

Value

Pcs

Comment

R1

22k SMD

Size 1206

R2, R3, R5, R6, R8,

R9

0,47R/2W

Vertical mounting

R4, R7, R10

2k2 SMD

Size 1206

R11, R12, R13

180R SMD

Size 1206

R14 - R25

5k6 SMD

12

Size 1206

C1

2200u/25V

C2, C3, C5, C6, C8,

C10, C12, C14, C15,
C17, C19, C20, C22,
100n SMD
C27, C28,
C33 - C35, C37- C39,
C41

22

Size 1206, can be replaced

with greater values, 220n for
example. Not critical.

C4

47u/25V

C7

4u7/25V

C9

2,2n SMD

C11, C16, C21

470u/40V

C13, C18, C23

1n SMD

Size 1206 or 0805

C24

470n SMD

Size 1206

C25, C26

33p SMD

Size 0805

C29 - C32

1u/25V

C36

100u/63V

C40

47u/6,3V

D1

1N4148 SMD

D2 - D25

FE2B

24

IC1

LM78L05

IC2, IC4, IC6

L297

IC3, IC5, IC7

L298N

Size 1206 or 0805

2A fast recovery

must be programmed with

propper software. Get DEMO
VERSION

IC8

AT89C2051

IC9

MAX232

ZD1

BZX85,
15V/800mW

RE1

JSM1-12V-4

or similar with same footprint

T1

BC239C

can be any other NPN with

hFE > 200, Icmax 200mA
and Ucemax 40V

TP1, TP2, TP3

470R

trimmerpotentiometer,
horizontal

GR1

B20C23001500

rectifier for 2A/40V

X1

12MHz

JP1

2 pin

WITHOUT JUMPER!
Close only for reset.

JP2

3 pin

Select half or full step

CN1

In line
screwdriver
connector, 7

Can be assembled with

3+2+2 pin

pin
CN2, CN10

DB9FA

Female adapter

CN3, CN4, CN5

Speedy 10 M

Male

CN6, CN7, CN8

Speedy 10 F

Female, for flat cable

CN9

DB9MA

Male