E-Waste CNC Machine

Inspiration

We felt that as technology grows faster and faster everyday, older technology is being overlooked for all of the amazing milestones they have set. Although the older gizmos begin to become obsolete with time, we believed they needed a proper send off before they reside to the history books. So that's exactly what we've done, we've created something new from something old, a reincarnation of the ghosts of technology's past if you will. Not only does this give the technology a good use, it can also be used as a tool for educating today's youth about how things used to be.

What it does

In simple terms, it is a drawing machine. It is able to create 2 dimensional drawings along the x-y plane.

How I built it

Using garbage we found in the e-waste bins across campus, we were able to collect enough trash to create a working machine. We stripped CD drives, floppy disk drives, wires, sensors, and even power supplies.

Challenges I ran into

Being garbage, a large amount of the parts we had weren't working, which as you can imagine, was one hell of an obstacle. Luckily we were able to get some aspects of the machine working, with motor failure being the leading issue.