Control electronics design for XY plotter

Abstract

X-Y Plotters offer a creative alternative to traditional printing methods, whereby images are created with the use of connecting lines, as opposed to matrices of very fine dots. This therefore places the plotter in the area of vector graphics printers. Plotters have nowadays become virtually obsolete, as Laser and Inkjet printers became readily available whilst providing better image quality. This being said, plotters still provide an insight into the methodology required to operate Stepper Motors, which are a necessity and thus widely used in various other consumer products. Therefore, although X-Y Plotters themselves might be phased out, they will surely remain as interesting projects for one to design and investigate. This dissertation focuses on the design and testing of an X-Y Plotter, for image creating purposes. In addition to this, it will provide a comparison between the Stepper Motor control methods commonly in use by comparing the resulting image quality produced from the two chosen methods. In addition to the hardware design, the required programming will be done on both a micro-controller and a Host PC used to control the plotter itself. The relevant points include: 1. Design, test and implement a working Stepper Motor Driver 2. Program the necessary functions on a micro-controller to operate this driver 3. Design a Graphical User Interface to draw basic images 4. Integrate all the subsystems into a working X-Y Plotter 5. Compare the design with an off the shelf product The equations necessary to correctly drive the Stepper Motor were simulated in Matlab, and then implemented on the micro-controller. This was then used as a reference to ensure that the micro-controller‟s calculation match the required parameters. The results obtained from the tests performed throughout both the design stage and the final implementation proved to be a satisfactory implementation for basic imaging, with all the subsystems operating as intended.