DIY CNC Pen Plotter

Plan

I've wanted a pen plotter for a long time, but I've never had luck finding a cheap one on ebay or anything, so I decided I was going to build one.

Having said that, I've never built a CNC before, nor directly worked with stepper motors at all, so it's all going to be new and I'm probably going to fuck up a lot. For whatever reason, I'm much more intimidated by the idea of using a belt to drive the CNC so I'm opting to use lead screw for both axies. This doesn't seem like a common approach, so it might mess me up somewhere along the line, but that's a problem for future me to stumble over.

I have a 3D printer and basic Blender knowledge so I'm going to model the parts I need alongside using pre-made models for working with steppers and aluminium extrusions.

What It Needs to Do

A toolhead, which would move a pen (or other writing device) in and out of a working position.

Parts I Have

- These are mostly or all from Aliexpress.

Arduino Nano + CNC Shield + A4988 Stepper Drivers

Nema17 Stepper Motors

2x Lead Screws + Couplers + Pillow Block

2x Steel Rods

4x V-Slot Aluminium Extrusions