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Automatic metal sheet cutting machine

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Applications, Vol.1, Iss.4, pp.1-2

Automatic metal sheet cutting machine

Rahul Ranjan1, SS Solanki2, Vivek Keshri3
1
Electronics and Communication Engineering,
Birla Institute of Technology Mesra,
Ranchi, India.
2
Computer Science, Birla Institute of Technology Mesra,
Ranchi, India.

Abstract - The recent advancements in digital technology especially embedded systems, have now enabled us to make low-cost machines
for Real time applications. This paper presents a simple way of designing and implementing an automatic metal sheet cutting machine
using easily available low-cost micro-controllers. This machine takes shapes to be cut on the sheet in, as input a high resolution raster
image via laptop and cuts the sheet accordingly. Results have shown that the performance of this machine meets well the industry
requirements at a much lower development cost.
Keywords - component; Image Controlled Automatic Machine, Sheet Cutting, Raster Image, Digital Plotter, 8vector Algorithm, CNC
machine, Stepper control, Real time.

1 INTRODUCTION
Sheet Metal Cutting is a very important process in many Industry segments. Fast growing industry segments like
automotive have fuelled the growth opportunities of sheet metalworking. Sheet metal can be cut and bend into a variety of
shapes finding numerous applications in car bodies, airplane wings, medical tables, roofs for buildings and many other things
(Dominic Tighe.,1987). Almost all machine manufacturing houses- textile, plastic processing machines, printing machines,
packaging machines, pharmaceutical machines, chemical plants, distilleries, breweries project etc are building main frame
and majority parts from the sheet metal. In India, traditionally, the task of metal sheet cutting is accomplished using manual
or semi-automatic machines like gas cutting machines, pug machines, circle cutting machines etc. pug machines being the
most common. These pug machines are guided manually by hand on a track and require very skilled workers. Quality of cut
is usually poor, depending highly on worker’s expertise and mood. Also, tracks come only in certain standard shapes and
sizes, so random shapes cannot be cut. CNC machines (Chiang.,1994) can do this job effectively and have got widespread
use in advanced countries like China, Japan, Korea etc. for cutting of the metal sheet for applications ranging from airplane
parts to domestic household products. But these machines are locally unavailable in India and hence are imported. The high
price tags of these imported machines get reflected in the prices of the final product as well. In cost-conscious India, this is
sure to bring down the sales of the product marginally.
Keeping these things in mind, one can say that a locally developed, completely automatic and cost-effective machine for
the cutting of metal sheets is the need of the hour. Such a machine would enable medium and small scale firms to increase
their production capacity and produce high quality products at much cheaper rates, helping them to survive in today’s
competitive global market.
This paper discusses in detail the design and implementation of such a low cost automatic metal sheet cutting machine.

2 MACHINE COMPARISON
This machine competes well with all the available CNCs in the market. Starting with, CNC machines require a dedicated
PC for their operation (Dominic Tighe.,1987). Also, memory requirements are usually in tens of Gigabytes. While this
machine requires no dedicated PC and even for the most complex shapes, mcu unit memory requirement is in megabytes
only. Next, In current implementation, the CNC programming has been avoided altogether (compare earlier
implementations), thereby enabling semi-skilled persons with the basic knowledge of working on computers to operate the
machine. A java based graphical user interface processes the image, takes input from user like sheet width, metal type etc and
simulates machine movement on the monitor before sending final information to the mcu unit. Some safety features are
incorporated as well, like automatic pause on sensing close proximity of someone to the machine using proximity sensors and
warning buzzers if motors get heated too much.

3 THE MACHINE ARCHITECTURE

A high resolution raster image is created using AutoCAD software. This image is then processed and black pixels
identified. These black pixels serve as co-ordinate values of the shapes to be cut. A sorting algorithm sorts the co-ordinates to
make machine movement smooth. After this, modified co-ordinate values are encoded so that they consume lesser memory.
Once the co-ordinates are saved on mcu unit, the laptop can be detached and used for other purposes.
The mcu unit decodes the co-ordinate values in real time and controls the stepper movements in 2-dimensions as per 8-
vector algorithm of digital plotting proposed by Bresenham (1965) and Athani and Kurbet (1970). The mcu unit is also able

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 International Journal of Advanced Engineering Applications, Vol.1, Iss.4, pp.1-2

to distinguish separate curves (using information from encoded data) and switch off the plasma supply during transition from
one cut to another.

4 THE MACHINE OPERATION

The X-Y horizontal table is made up of 3 LM guides with LM guide blocks sliding smoothly over them. Back-lash free
Ball screw arrangement has been used to enable error free higher speeds of operations. Attached to the LM guide (one
moving in x-direction) is a metal bar to which plasma torch is attached. The On-Off switch of this plasma is electronically
controlled using relays.
This machine runs directly from the 230V AC domestic power supply. This 230V power supply is first converted to 24V
5A dc power using SMPS (Switched Mode Power Supply) [6]. This DC voltage is fed to the stepper motors using Stepper
Driver circuitry which is under the control of microcontroller unit. MOSFETS (IRFZ44N) have been used to provide the
stepper drive circuitry. The choice of stepper motors saves us from the complexities of using the servo motor for our
operation (Hace.,1998).The same power supply is used to charge a battery that powers the mcu unit also.
The mcu unit consists of a microcontroller, a voltage regulator, stepper drive circuitry, relays for plasma torch ON-OFF
control and some switches and display for enhanced user interface during run-time. The micro-controller is pre-programmed
for its own operations but needs image information from the user. This information is burned into the external memory via a
USB interface between the PC and the mcu unit. PC allows the user to draw the shapes to be cut with proper dimensioning
using any standard drawing software, like AutoCAD.
There is a user interface that allows the user to simulate the machine movement and to amend its path if required, to
reduce the material wastage. After the user is satisfied with the cuts which the machine is going to make, he/she transfers the
curve information to the mcu unit. PC can now be detached for independent machine operation.

5 RESULTS
Various shapes of different sizes were cut from different types of metal sheets (as shown in table).
The input image had a resolution of 2000pixels*2000pixels and the required accuracy was 0.5mm for a table size of
1000mm*1000mm. Results have shown that that the shapes cut out were so accurate that the inaccuracy was determined only
by the flame width.

Shape Material Input Dimensions (in Output Dimensions (in

mm) mm)
Triangle Aluminium 30*30*30 30*30*30
Rectangle Aluminium 20*50 20*50
Circle Aluminium 10 (radius) 10 (radius)

With all samples (around 50 in number), the repeatability and the precision of the cuts performed were acceptable.

6 CONCLUSION
For applications on the low end side of CNC technology that do not require very high precisions, low cost automation
can be provided using this scheme. These machines are simpler to design and have good accuracy. Many more similar
products (like drilling machine, ramming machine, punching machine etc) can be developed at much lower development
costs and thereby, making them within the reach of medium and small scale industries.

References

Modern machine tools magazine. September2008. Special Feature-“Sheet Metal working, shaping up the future”.
Chiang, L.E. ;,Ramos, J. ,” CNC Control of a Laser Cutting Machine”, Industrial Electronics, 1994. Symposium Proceedings, ISIE '94.,
1994 IEEE International Symposium on May 1994, pp. 236
Dominic Tighe , “Computer-controlledxy-plotter” Article in Electronic Systems News Summer 1987 pp. 16,17
Bresenham JE, "Algorithm for computer control of a digital plotter," IBM Syst. J., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 25-30, 1965
Athani VV and Kurbet SB, "Digital X-Y plotter," in Proc. AICA, Birla Inst. of Tech., Ranchi, India, 1970
Jerrold Foutz “Switching-Mode Power Supply Design Tutorial” http://www.smpstech.com/tutorial/t01int.htm#SMPSDEF
Hace, A., Jezernik, K. ,Curk, B.,Terbuc, M. “Robust motion control of XY table for laser cutting machine” Industrial Electronics Society,
1998. IECON '98. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the IEEE ,vol. 2, pp. 109

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