International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)

ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-3, Issue-4, April 2015

Low Cost Thermocol Cutter

Tejal Jagdale, Monika Kirodiwal, Fatema Shaikh, Pranami Sharma
controlling actions are done by the micro controller so the cost is
Abstract As we know radium cutting through PC is readily reduced efficiently. If the metal used for cutting is changed and
available from that, we got the idea of our project i.e. "Low cost, the speed of the stepper motor are increased by changing the step
thermocol cutter". In this project the microcontroller is the angle of the stepper motor, this project can be used for PCB
backbone of the hardware circuitry. All the controlling actions drilling, diamond cutting and many other applications. This
are done by the micro controller. A hot rod basically the project consists of mostly digital IC's and a compact hardware
soldering gun is used for cutting purpose. Here, the thermocol is circuitry, so this project is smaller in size and user friendly as
not actually cut, but it is melted at a specified temperature with compared to that of the radium cutting through PC. In radium
the help of soldering gun. So this project is used for cutting cutting through PC a skilled labour is required as it is completed
different figures and shapes as per the program of the micro
software oriented whereas in our project consists of simple
controller. Opto couplers are used to provide isolation between
keypad and a LCD display so there's no need of skilled labour.
the micro controller and the hardware circuitry. Stepper motors
are used for controlling the different directions of different axis.
Thickness of the thermocol will depend upon the length of the III. PROPOSED SYSTEM
cutter and its heating capacity. Alphabets and numerical are
generally cut using this project but figures of all shapes and sizes In this microcontroller based thermocol cutter, here we have
can be cut up to the limit of the work platform. divided it into two sections, one is a hardware part and another
is a software part.
Index Terms Microcontroller AT89c51; Keil uvision4; A. Hardware Specification Details
Proteus; Stepper motor driver L298 IC.; Opto coupler as
isolator
1.1 Block Diagram
I. INTRODUCTION
This is a micro controller based device that uses a hot rod to cut
the three axis. The program is fed in the micro controller and is
delivered to the cutter. This device can be used for cutting
various figures and shapes as per the program. The program is
written in micro controller and is delivered to the hardware. The
program can be written for cutting shape in two dimensions. The
hardware consists of an isolation circuit made of opto couplers
and associated components. This is an electrical isolation to
protect the circuitry from any ill effects. Data from the isolation
circuit is given to the stepper motor drivers that control the
movements of the three axis. Each axis is controlled by a
separate motor, for the up and down movement and linear
moments of that axis. A relay driver drives a relay for the heater
for cutting the thermocol. Sensors are provided to indicate end
limits of the work platform. These signals are fed directly to the
micro controller through the Fig.1: Block Diagram of Thermocol Cutter
signal conditioner and the isolation circuit. The thickness of the
thermocol to be cut will depend on the length of the cutter and its The pattern to be cut is given to microcontroller through keypad
heating capacity. Alphabets and numerals are generally cut, and it is also displayed on LCD. Micro controller will process
using this device but figures of all shapes and sizes can be cut up the given command and operate the stepper motor as per
to limits of the work platform. As thermocol has become a preprogram of the given pattern. The stepper motor is driven by
popular medium for making cut outs and banners, this device stepper motor driver which is isolated with the microcontroller
comes in very handy as articles can be mass produced to exact through Isolator. The sensors are used to sense the position of
specifications and same size. stepper motor as X-axis, Y-axis and to sense the temperature of
the cutting tool. The sensors output is in the range of few mili
II. LITERATURE REVIEW volts hence the signal conditioner is used. Relay driver is used to
Our project is micro controller based thermocol cutter. Radium control the relay for the on-off of the heater.
cutting through PC is available in market. In radium cutting the
controlling actions are done by the PC and in our project the B. Components Used

Manuscript received April 15, 2015. [a] AT89c51uc-8051 based Fully Static 24MHz CMOS
Tejal Jagdale, UG student, SITRC, SPPU, Pune controller with 32 I/O Lines, 2Timers/Counters, 6
Monika Kirodiwal, UG student, SITRC, SPPU, Pune Interrupts/2 Priority Levels, UART, Three-Level Program
Fatema Shaikh, UG student, SITRC, SPPU, Pune Memory Lock, 4K Bytes Flash Memory,128 Bytes On-chip
Pranami Sharma, UG student, SITRC, SPPU, Pune
RAM. Microcontroller is used for controlling the stepper

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 Low Cost Thermocol Cutter

motor in the required direction. Direction means, it will Enable line is also required. The RS line is used to select
decide the steps to be taken for the particular alphabets or whether the data or instruction is being transferred between
numbers. the controller and the LCD. The RW line is used to indicate
[b] Dual Phototransister optocupler IC MCT6- Features Two if data is being read from the LCD or written into the LCD.
isolated channels per package Two packages fit into a 16 The RW pin is pulled low when data is being sent to the
lead DIP socket Choice of three current transfer ratios. LCD. The Enable pin is basically a latch pin which tells the
[c] L298 H-bridge Dual Bidirectional Motor Driver- This LCD that the data is available on the data lines. The resistor
Dual Bidirectional Motor Driver is based on Very popular R7 is used to set the intensity of the backlight.
L298 H-bridge Dual Motor Driver Integrated circuit the
circuit will allow you to easily and independently control
two motors upto 2A each in both directions.
[d] CD40106BC Hex Schmitt Trigger Features Wide supply
voltage range: 3V to 15V High noise immunity: 0.7 VDD
(typ.). Low power TTL compatibility:

Fig.4: LCD Display 16*2

[g] Sensors - Here we are using infrared sensor (IR) to determine

the platform limitations. The output of the sensors is given to
the micro controller through the signal conditioner. As per
the sensor indications the micro controller determines the
platform limitations. Using the sensors we defines the zero
Fig.2: Schmitt Trigger IC CD40106BC position of all the axis. An IR sensor is a device which
detects IR radiation falling on it. There are numerous types
[e] Keypad - In this project we use 6x6 matrix keypad. In this of IR sensors that are built and can be built depending on the
keypad that consists of all numerical and alphabets. The application. Proximity sensors (Used in Touch Screen phones
keypad is used for entering the characters and numerical to and Edge Avoiding Robots), contrast sensor (Used in Line
the microcontroller. Also it is use for Following Robots) and obstruction
counters/sensors (Used for counting goods and in Burglar
changing the fontsize. Keyboards and LCDs are the most Alarms) are some examples, which use IR sensors.
widely used input/output devices of the 8051, and a basic
understanding of them is essential. [h] Isolation - The isolation consists of opto couplers. It is used
for sharpening the signal and also used to protect any ill
effect from the hardware circuit. The output of the isolation
is given to the stepper motor drivers. In electronics, an
opto-isolator, also called an optocoupler, photocoupler, or
optical isolator, is a component that transfers electrical
signals between two isolated circuits by using light.[1]
Opto-isolators prevent high voltages from affecting the
system receiving the signal. [2]

Commercially available opto-isolators withstand input To

output voltages up to 10 kV. [3] and voltage
transients with speeds up to 10 kV/s. [4] A common type
of opto isolator consists of an LED and a
phototransistor in the same opaque package. Other
types of source - sensor ombinations include
LED-photodiode , LED - LASER, and lamp-
photoresistor pairs. Usually opto -isolators transfer digital
(on-off) signals, but some techniques allow them to be
Fig.3: Keypad Interfacing with 8051 used with analog signals.
[f] LCD Display - Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) which we have
used is 2x16 LCD i.e. two lines each with 16 characters. We
have used the LCD in 8 bit mode i.e. 8 data lines are
required. Other than 8 data line one RS, one RW and one

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-3, Issue-4, April 2015
devices which allow low power circuits to switch a relatively
high Current/Voltage ON/OFF. For a relay to operate a
suitable pull-in and holding current should be passed
through its coil. Generally relay coils are designed to operate
from a particular voltage often its 5V or 12V. Over here we
have used a 12v relay with which we can switch 5A load
current. This relay is also commonly known as CUBE Relay.
The relay basically consists of five terminals, two of them are
used for the coil and the remaining three consists of a
common pole and one Normally Closed (NC) and Normally
Open Pole. A type of relay that can handle the high power
required to directly control an electric motor or other loads is
called a contractor. Solid-state relays control power circuits
with no moving parts, instead using a semiconductor device
to perform switching. Relays with calibrated operating
characteristics and sometimes multiple operating coils are
Fig.5: Optocoupler used to protect electrical circuits from overload or faults; in
modern electric power systems these functions are
performed by digital instruments still called "protective
[i] Stepper Motors - There are three axis namely X, Y and
relays".
Z-axis. Separate stepper motor is used for the different axis.
As per the programming the stepper motor moves. The
X-axis and Y-axis stepper motor is used for the forward and
backward movements and the Z-axis stepper motor is used
for the up and down movement of the cutter. A stepper motor
is an electromechanical device which converts electrical
pulses into discrete mechanical movements. The shaft or
spindle of a stepper motor rotates in discrete step increments
when electrical command pulses are applied to it in the
proper

sequence. The motors rotation has several direct relationships to

these applied input pulses. The sequence of the applied
pulses is directly related to the direction of motor shafts
rotation. The speed of the motor shafts
rotation is directly related to the frequency of the input pulses
and the length of rotation is directly related to the number of
input pulses applied.

Fig.7: Relay Driver

IV. SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION DETAILS

Keil development tools for the 8051 microcontroller

Family support every level of developer from the
Professional applications engineer to the student just
Fig.6: Stepper Motor learning about embedded software development.The
industry-standard Keil C Compilers, Macro Assemblers,
Debuggers, Real-time Kernels, and Single-board Computers
[j] Relay - The main purpose of relay is to ON-OFF the support ALL 8051- compatible derivatives and help you get
heater.The relay driver is used for controlling the relay.A your projects completed on schedule.
relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use an
electromagnet to operate a switching mechanism
mechanically, but other operating principles are also used. A51 Macro assembler
Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a BL51 linker/ locator
low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between OH51 object-HEX converter
control and controlled circuits), or where several circuits C51,ANSI C compiler
must be controlled by one signal. The first relays were used LX51 extended linker
in long distance telegraph circuits, repeating the signal OHX51 extended object-HEX converter
coming in from one circuit and re-transmitting it to another. uVision debugger
Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and FlashMON51 target monitor
early computers to perform logical operations. Relays are

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 Low Cost Thermocol Cutter

A. System flowchart VI. REFERENCES

[1]Xianquan Zhang ; Fangyuan Qin ; Guoxiang Li Information Engineering

and Computer Science, 2009. ICIECS 2009. International Conference
on Paper Cut-Out Patterns
[2]Meng Cheng Lau ; Baltes, J. ; Anderson, J. ; Durocher,S.Advanced
Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 2012
IEEE/ASME International Conference on Drawing Robot
[3]Muhammad Ali Mazidi,Janice Gillispie Mazidi,Rolin D.Mckinlay"The
8051 microcontroller and Embedded System",PearsoN
Publication,2008
[4]http://www.8051projects.info/resources/keypadinterfacing.
45/
[5]http://maxembedded.com/2013/08/04/how-to-build-an-irsensor/
[6]http://www.ustudy.in/node/7519
[7]http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Robotics/L298HBrid.pdf

Fig.8: Flow Chart Of Thermocol Cutter

V. CONCLUSION
This project is designed for the cutting of the thermocol with the
help of micro controller. This project can be used for preparation
of banners, wordings, for decoration purpose, to create sign and
symbols, and for making of road indicators. The project is micro
controller based so all the controlling actions are done by the
micro controller. By the use of micro controller the cost of the
project is reduced effciently. And the project is environmental
and user friendly.

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