You Won't Believe What This Student Made from an Old CD-ROM Drive
Channel: ElectronX Lab
Date: 20/01/2015

...actually, you probably will, but it's still a pretty cool project.

In the Introduction to Electronic Engineering Technology class at Okanagan College students are required to complete an electronics project of some kind.  They are given a lot of flexibility in choosing their project and most build something with an Arduino.  The project does not have to be an original design, but students do need to understand and explain the design.

This project was designed and built by Nathaniel Nolt.  It is a 2-Axis CNC machine that generates a plot with a pencil and paper.  It uses a couple of old DVD-ROM drives, an Arduino Mega and a 5 axis stepper motor controller board.  The computer uses Universal GCode sender to send commands to the Arduino and the Arduino uses a customized version of Sprinter.  All of the other hardware was custom built for this project.  For more info, see: http://www.elen.ca/2d-plotter-student-project-fall-2014/ 

Music is by Chris Zabriskie (Air Hockey Saloon)