How I built the Simplest CNC Machine with minimum parts possible | DIY Laser Engraver

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Code, 3D model, parts list and more details ► howtomechatron...
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Parts list (check website article for full list, affiliate links):
Amazon.com:
MGN15H Linear Rail: amzn.to/3tMPXC8
Stepper NEMA 17: amzn.to/2M3aJK2
Laser Module: amzn.to/3kdtv1L
Banggood.com:
MGN15H Linear Rail: bit.ly/3lrupah
Stepper NEMA 17: bit.ly/2YT8ZWu
Laser Module: bit.ly/3sw1GUG
AliExpress:
MGN15H Linear Rail: alii.pub/604h2l
Stepper NEMA 17: alii.pub/604klr
Laser Module: alii.pub/5ydb1l
In this video I will show you how I built the simplest CNC machine with minimum parts possible and without using a 3D printer. That’s right. I’ve been using 3D printers for most of my recent projects because, of course, they are great for prototyping as we can easily make any shape we want with them. However, not everyone has a 3D printer, so therefore I wanted to show you that we can also make stuff even without the help of 3D printers or other CNC machines.
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[@HowToMechatronics]

Install Raid for Free ✅ IOS/ANDROID/PC: clcr.me/nsSoGZ and get a special starter pack 💥 Available only for the next 30 days

[@彪张-q6x]

Hello, can you make the first issue of arduino rc remote control?

[@VijayaLakshmi19807]

Sir please make a simplest 3d printer... cause comeon... its 2021! 3d printer is a must nowadays. Love from India❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@mh1066]

Can I use it for fabric as well?

[@starglass6780]

Contact number

[@murshidchishti]

yes you can use for fabric also.

[@TheBudLab]

Followed this guide & built my very own engraver today! I was able to convert the drawings into stls & 3d print all. I had to change a few things to get it to fit / work. But overall Happy! I'll make a video

[@VictorHeineken-ug1kv]

I have a question: Do all the materials/parts come with the code included, or do I need to add it myself?

[@skykalaicreations]

What I loved your part is, you can easily make those drills and cutting in CNC. But did it in handy. you give a hope to everyone who haven't accessable a CNC router. You made a confidence like you can do it.

[@JamesBallUSA]

What a great project to get started with Arduino and CNC.

[@psionicxxx]

What a great project to stop doing electronics altogether and kill myself...

[@greyship1341]

@@psionicxxx yo wtf

[@AmrTamer217]

Bluetooth controlled car

[@PiefacePete46]

Thanks Dejan, that one is a "keeper". I already have everything except the rails, and it will be a perfect project to share with my grandson who is just starting to show an interest in these types of project. I think a pen plotter would be a good place to start.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Glad to hear it! Yep, pen plotter would fit more. Lasers are a bit messy and actually dangerous. Cheers!

[@MrExNavy]

Thanks for this. I have looked at many, many, many CNC machines and this is by far the easiest and least expensive to build. I'm not a fan of the slider blocks used here because they get dirty so easy but since this is a laser CNC and not cutting wood like other CNC's, I think they will work just fine. Great job!

[@bj0rn2re]

Just orderet from amazon link 👌 this was cool

[@whiskeysquiker]

good point. Thanks for mentioning this. Recalculating my design.

[@IainHendry]

Nice build! Keep in mind you need to have your belts parallel to the axis. Yours are angled slightly which means the belt gets tighter/looser as it gets closer or further away from the end points.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Yeah, that's a good point, thanks for the input!

[@whiskeysquiker]

Wow, thank you for this. I appreciate the frugal take on this. I'm in design and part purchase phase. But I also want to create a machine with upgrade ability if i want to eventually get a CO2 tube. So I am going with a fairly sizable extrusion frame. But I was debating on a tslot/vslot combo, a tslot/linear rail combo, or tslot/linear rail (x)/linear rod(y&z) combo. But the ingenuity of using wood has me reconsidering because I can get more laser for my buck if I cut costs and use what I have in lumber and just buy rails. I so appreciate you taking the time to do this.

[@adamderbent6986]

Izvrsno. Bravo majstore. Imam prijedlog, kako povećat preciznost. Kod kalkulacije step/mm, koristiti maksimalnu raspoloživu dužinu raila. Ako je raspoloživo 400 mm, mjeriti i kalkulitati na cijeloj dužini. Naime, ako je greška očitavanja 1%, na 10mm to je jako puno. Na 400 mm, greška je prihvatljiva.

[@lucas_kreeft1309]

Awesome video, you are actually one of the reasons I study mechatronics now. Thank you for your content and your exelent way of showing how interesting mechatronics is !

[@HowToMechatronics]

Great to hear!

[@BlueyMcPhluey]

truly the highest quality content, you never fail to deliver. I've been wanting to make something like this myself for a while

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you! Go for it! 😀

[@KevOXO]

I like the way you show how to build this, no 'this is what I prepared earlier' or pretending every hole was precisely on target.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks, glad to hear it! I always try to be as transparent as possible in the videos. Cheers!

[@mubarak9793]

I made thisss finallllyyy. Thank you so much..it workssss..this is my first timeeeee doing something awesome. I can't thank you enough for this

[@shoumikahmed6373]

Can you provide the mdf cutting tepmlates???

[@mubarak9793]

@@shoumikahmed6373 its already in his website, if not u can actually download the 3d model of this (also in his), and from his 3d model, u can get the template of the mdf

[@pir869]

This is a nice project to learn cnc control as this could be upgraded slightly to use a small engraver motor,however,the use of MDF,the dust from MDF contains FORMALDAHIDE which is very toxic,so dust mask and good extraction,ANY wood material will absorb moisture from the air ,so ,you could either use same thickness large plastic (nylon)chopping board which will not warp with heat or moisture or water down PVA white glue to make an emulsion to paint all surfaces of the MDF after cutting to size,this will make it waterproof,make all screw holes self tap or drill holes and add emulssion,removing excess with a cocktail stick from screw holes. Nylon chopping boards can be found quite cheap,and are very strong and stiff when used in the proper dimentional axis to force,it can bend but will not compress easy so proper use is a must,along with PVA emulssion treated MDF,a very strong stiff frame can be made,though this project is very nice and the use of good linear rails is very commendable.

[@AugustineAriola]

The finishing is really impressive. You just need two stepper motor for x and y direction with no moving part along z- axis. It is really compact and cleverly built.

[@spaceengineersmods]

You can even reduce xy to CoreXY-like principle and have no moving Motor at all

[@theofficialczex1708]

@@spaceengineersmods I've built a similarly-sized core-XY plotter, but I utilized many 3D printed components.

[@TinyMaths]

This is was the kind of tutorial I was looking for. I currently don't have a 3D printer and wanted to know how I could go about starting a prototype 'pen-plotter', with something like MDF board. I'm hoping to use aluminium profiles along with the MDF, but I'm just starting to design so I'll have to work out if that is even feasible. Anyway, I'm glad I found your video, hearing your throught process was helpful.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Glad to hear it! Have fun building one.

[@HariniPada]

Super excited to give this DIY laser engraver a try! Looks like a fun project to tackle 🔥💪🏼

[@snapman218]

Please list the parts in addition to the links to buy them, as the current amazon links you posted are out of date.

[@NikonCrayzee]

A bit late to the party, but I've started researching on CNC laser engravers so that I can start building panels for my XPlane simulator. This video is sensational and I am so thankful that I came across it. I am planing on using your design to build one, the only change I might do is to use (as you already suggested) metal brackets. The other change I was thinking off is using HGR15 rail blocks for the main axis instead of MGN15 (HGR is stronger and supposedly built to tighter tolerances). For the axis that holds the laser, I would use MGN12, to try and reduce the bending moment that the laser axis applies on the primary/main axis. Perhaps I could use the two Nema17 motors to provide a bit of counter balance. Your design is really fantastic mate - congrats, well done.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Hey, I hope you will have fun building one. I would also consider what I mentioned in the video, add another rail on the other side. The point of this video was to make the machine with minimum parts possible, but for more stable work, you can add another rail. Cheers!

[@hassanateeq9676]

​@@HowToMechatronicscan you make a latest version doing all the modifications required?

[@lawrencetate145]

Wow. I hope these talents become part of grade-school curriculum.

[@dvuemedia]

I need to make this!

[@creativecomposites6193]

Great design! Another great video thanks! i could see this being mounted vertically for on site applications.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks! Yeah, absolutely!

[@OGMann]

Don't forget focal point. Should be in the laser specs. As pointed out, the belt positioning is also important. Curious as to resolution with this setup? I see these steppers are 1.8 degrees. Without additional hw, I'm assuming no half or finer stepping.

[@danielricardoaugustowood5840]

Great work, thank you very much for sharing your work and teaching how to do it!

[@wsseibert]

Love this video, has given me some options on getting started with laser engraving. Thank you!

[@HowToMechatronics]

Glad to hear it, thanks!

[@tirthvora5061]

This man is Da Vinci

[@mattack12]

Great project and as always well explained. On your website, I am missing the links to the rails, the pulleys, the idlers, the belts. Would you happen to have some links for those as well?

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you! I've just updated the article.

[@obaidkhan5058]

Is there any other option for pulley rails??

[@007vampiro007]

how long last the laser?, I did have bad luck with some lasers didn't last long

[@scottjoyce85]

This is awesome. Could be beefed up easily to be a plasma CNC thats pretty portable.

[@sufaraba]

Can you tell us more about stepper and driver spec.?

[@neirodrigues4159]

Very good my brother, I am assembling my cnc based on your drawing !!

[@jamesbrown99991]

That's very impressive, especially considering the materials used. I was surprised that the unsupported axis was so stable. Awesome design.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you! I probably should have mentioned in the video but as I was saving on time I didn't do it. When the laser module was fully extended there was a leaning of about 1mm. Though, the play was not coming from the rail, but the MDF base, or because of the method I glued an screwed the pieces where the X-axis was mounted.

[@jamesbrown99991]

@@HowToMechatronics Presumably a bracket would fix that. 1mm doesn't sound like much; if it doesn't mess with the laser focus, then all's good.

[@MrJesus4194]

How about adding a roller blade wheel on the end of the y axis to support it kind of like what they do to a large gate so it doesn't sag?

[@omsingharjit]

Hello sir, Why my stepper motor is not continuously and moving in perticular axis while pressing the arrow keys and even movement is not content sometime it moves to Relatively large distance some times very little, sometimes not at all no matter how long I press the moving command keys or at any Step Level and sometimes the software misbehave ( not only this but other cnc software giving same problem), 1st i thought its Smps causing the noise I changed I even rapped stepper wires around choking ferrite but same issue so far it moves somewhat constantly but very tiny amount why? I am using clone uno with ch3 type installed driver?

[@martinmajewski]

Best video on this topic, and it matches my one-day project design close enough to be a very comprehensive source of helpful information! Thank you very much! 👍

[@cinarsinan]

my friend you are the best I was always thinking to do this, now I will make it

[@infinitech8]

Amazing project I am getting interested in 3D printing now Keep making content on it Thanks for sharing

[@HowToMechatronics]

Cool, thanks!

[@drdronist]

I always preferred HTM videos. Because of Simplicity and makes thoughts for everyone "we can do it". Lovely

[@HowToMechatronics]

Glad to hear it, thanks! Of course, we can always do anything! 😃

[@goodgoat3096]

This is just excellent, thanks so much for sharing.

[@mohixx117]

You are back!!!!!!

[@nfaaszcompany1159]

dear, In my Project One of the motor it's working only one side what can i do for 2 side work?

[@물라나스루딘]

Wow! Amazing! Great. In fact cnc is too expensive. You do great job! Thank you so much

[@kurtismutisya5439]

Great Job, great project. I always learn a lot from your videos.

[@electronic7979]

Excellent product

[@roykirich]

I finally get to see the man behind the camera👌👌

[@HowToMechatronics]

Yeah, thanks to the sponsor. 🤣

[@alexandruscinteie7449]

Congratulations on this super simple and fantastic project! I have started ordering and buying the needed parts for this project because i will most definitely will build it, but... I believe everyone would greatly benefit if we also had the print-on-paper hole jigs you used in the video (i couldn't find them on your website, unfortunately). Keep up the good work!

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you! Yes, I will include on the website soon, the article will be updated soon.

[@mubarak9793]

heyy , can you help me , i am doing the same project like u

[@cdyoutoob]

The distance nuts mentioned are commonly known as standoffs and commonly used in mounting PCBs/motherboard into cases. Commonly made in brass and nylon.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks for the input!

[@mibrahim4245]

Great man, you keep the Mechatronics engineers heads up high :D

[@wdelly]

Awesome video ... however what about making a video of a cnc router, laser engraver/cutter and plasma cutter exchange head machine... this sounds like a complete next level project but nothing too hard for you 😊

[@microponics2695]

I've built my own CNC. The problem with this type of design is that is that the shape makes it wobble if you want to go faster. It's like the end of a fishing rod and the faster you go the worse it gets. So a square frame is a huge upgrade.

[@almosh3271]

From what I've watched on you tube if you don't have a stepper motor to the driver, the shield will fry and become useless. There are four slots on the shield and only two stepper motors are connected to the drivers. If that's the case how can you overcome the idea of two unused driver's slots so the shield won't fry. As usual you are very good at this, my hat is off to you.

[@Warpig0321]

Just to verify; Will this machine CUT modestly thin airplane ply (balsa, birch, etc.) & XPS foam with reasonable accuracy or resolution? These materials aren't thick or very firm. I can use a foam cutter for general shapes, but I'd like to use .stl files for gcodes to cut pre-designed shapes from folks that have already 3D designed said parts such as wing ribs, formers & similar. I'm just a home hobbyist that dabbles in electric prop & EDF homemade/DIY model RC planes in XPS foam (Depron brand), 3D print & light ply. You're designs & builds are killer nice! Thanks so much for making these vids for us!

[@undefinedman2843]

I must say you are a genius man awesome video

[@franek4045]

Hello can you make a video of remaking it to a laser cutting machine. I really enjoy your videos.

[@harmfpv]

Very nice, did you also try to cut wood with this setup? And how do you account for optimal focal distance of your workpiece?

[@geminiman2831]

What about light burn software?

[@AndyChristianLoyola]

amazing man. really simple and parts are easy to acquire.

[@boku5192]

QUESTION: If i decide to use other stepper driver like DM542 (less overheating bigger max current) Is it going to work? ( if i connect the cnc shield with stepper driver inputs correctly) Thanks in advance :-)

[@goodluckcnctotalsolution1222]

Congratulations on this super simple and fantastic project!

[@debashishdas4865]

Please make a balsa rc plane using this

[@SrikarMaddula]

I want to do this as a side project next semester in college while doing my final year project. Hopefully if I can figure out a way to upgrade this I can use the basic idea for final year project.

[@brightsides6581]

Hi which software are you using for laser engraving

[@shrimpinpat]

Going to do this project once i finish my Dremel CNC and then i can use the cnc to cut the wood to make this.

[@dgo42]

Thank you very nice tool! But I want to make small correction for steps per mm calculation. You can calculated exact steps per mm. You use well known timing belt. Usually it has exactly 2 or 2,5mm per tooth. (there is also other timing belts, but this two are normally used for 3D printers) The stepper motor pulley has usually 16 or 20 teeth, so one revolution is 2mm * 16 teeth = 32mm. We also know, that usual stepper motors has 1,8° rotation per step or 200 step for 360°. Then 200 steps / 32mm = 6,25 step/mm. But usual stepper motor driver used by 3D printers has microsteps, some of them up to 16 microsteps per full step and some up to 32 (there is also much expensive with 256 microsteps). So if you've configured 16 microsteps you've got 16 microsteps * 200 steps / 32mm = 100 microsteps/mm I think you've 32 microsteps driver, 2,5mm/tooth timing belt and 16 teeth timing pulley, so your exact configuration is 160 microsteps/mm. Using 161.29 - you makes your engraving ~0,8% smaller as drawn.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks for the input! That's indeed a good way to do the math. After few some tests, I actually ended up using 160 steps/mm which is exactly the same with your suggested calculation. Cheers!

[@DeezVlogz]

Hey man. I have a question for you. I'm planning on building a 600x500 engraver using this method.. I've never programmed one before, how do I set to size the the software.. do I plug it everything in an the board automatically know the size??? Help needed.

[@almosh3271]

That sounds great. But what Lazer moduale can I use to CUT wood with? Thanks for your time :)

[@mojaviex6470]

thx for this video, I'm purchasing parts and building

[@AVA_Arts.1555]

Great! And thank you so much.

[@khaledalhalabi9028]

Thank you for this video ❤️

[@rezavahedi80]

Thank you. I made it

[@azelbane87]

Absolutely AWSOME ✌️👌🏽👍🏽👌🏽

[@sharppixpencilart]

What a great project

[@3DLL.]

Beautiful prints ❤

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks!

[@yamlcase230]

Can this scale up to 4 ft x 8 ft? It would be awesome to engrave my cut lines for woodworking projects

[@mojtabamohebbi2418]

I want to, did you try this or found that it is possible?

[@Nasir.alDeen]

You've done a great job, man! 👌

[@azukni]

Great project and succesfully

[@corveen52]

Dear sir, one question. Can you make pcb's with this laser engraver?

[@temu_rb7147]

Thank you so much its so helpful.all respect for you bro

[@ozbejbalantic1543]

Hello, where can I get the drawings of all wooden parts of the laser? Thank you for the tutorial.

[@f0xvibes]

What's the pwm or ttl output voltage from the cnc shield?

[@danielesilvaggi]

Awesome bro I love it much bigger work area. Thank you

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you!

[@georgekot6377]

Great video. Precise and well explained. Thank you for sharing.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thank you!

[@DETUDOUMPOUCO-ne6js]

Nice job !

[@dennynayam9069]

with this same design and putting two linear rail for upward movement we should we able to make 3d printer

[@abdelrahmaneldrageny8298]

great work. May I know the total cost of this project?

[@vincentbarkley9121]

Incredible video. Thank you.

[@librarymark]

Nice, but - Mounting both motors on the moving axis will slow it down. The X axis should have the motor mounted on the end and use a pulley on the other end.

[@puffinjuice]

Nice and simple! Do you have any problems with the arm that carries the laser head? I was thinking that it would be cool to extend the cross arm out the other side to counter balance the laser head. You could use the same belt to move a counter balance opposite to the laser head.

[@PiefacePete46]

yes pineapple pizza: That sounds like a good idea. It would probably pay to keep some weight on the laser side to preload the bearing. However... this works so well as it is that you might just be adding complication for no benefit?

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks! Well as I said in the video, the machine is not that rigid, but works quite well. I probably should have mentioned that in the video, when the laser head goes to end of the arm, it leans down about 1mm, but it don't make much difference for the laser engraving. Actually, I notice that the play was coming from the MDF construction itself, not the linear rail. I mentioned that in the video, that the way I glued and screwed the MDF pieces that hold the X-axis was not that good. A more stable way, for example a metal bracket, would make a difference for sure and it would reduce that play of the Y-axis.

[@mdsharook894]

You have any idea about mach3 breakout board ? Laser wiring diagram with mach3

[@iolsen94]

Could you make it more ridged by adding another rail to the x-axis arm and a free slider. That way the stepper motor would still slide both sides?

[@HowToMechatronics]

Sure, that would improve the rigidity.

[@charimuvilla8693]

We absolutely need more videos like this, this is great!! Hoping for a 3d printer design too.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Glad to hear it, thanks! I always give my best.

[@charimuvilla8693]

@@HowToMechatronics I randomly got back at this video again. Wouldn't it be relatively straight forward to retrofit this into a 3D printer? Make it taller, scrap the laser and in its position add a structure that sits higher than the linear rails and lowers the hotend with a 28byj-48 powered threaded rod kind of thing with two rods guiding it. How doable would that be? A minimal part dual Nema 17 3d printer does sound appealing.

[@engina1572]

Awesome thanks for the video and work you put in.

[@HowToMechatronics]

Thanks for watching!

[@VictorHeineken-ug1kv]

I have a question: Do all the materials/parts come with the code included, or do I need to add it myself?

[@greenhowto]

Nice.What settings for paper engraving (writing)?

[@christopherxbush]

Great information! thanks a lot!

[@HowToMechatronics]

My pleasure!

[@ComgrowOfficial]

Awesome video,,,, Keep them coming! Great job!!!

[@tareqtechnical546]

Great Work

[@CESAR_H_ARIAS]

awesome tutorial. is it posible to build a single machine for engraving wood/Acrylics and cutter? what laser should be used

[@Creation-mv2mv]

Great work but please add some kind of robotic arm or something else in Mars rover

[@giovanemuniz]

Congratulations, the video is excellent, but I have a doubt. Stepper motor colors are: BLUE GREEN RED BLACK from left to right. and in the shild BLUE RED GREEN BLACK from top to bottom. Does this have a problem? Are the pairs correct?

[@skurniyantomappadang]

many thanks for kindly share the video.🎉🎉

[@HowToMechatronics]

My pleasure!

[@skurniyantomappadang]

please make a video for dual head laser diode on one machine? is it possibel?

[@skurniyantomappadang]

hello.. sorry, asking you. could you tell me is it possibel using cnc shield with arduino uno for laser 12v 80watt or 24v 80watt or higher watt? tq

[@UzunKamis]

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