Open Source Flat Embroidery Machine

For Electronic Circuit Production

The hope is to build a machine that has bare-bones embroidery functionality.

Embroidery machines are basically just CAD machines, and embroidery files are just CAD files

but for some reason, professional (large) embroidery machines normally suitable for large scale projects are tens of thousands of dollars and have proprietary software.

For my final project, I would like to build an open source embroidery machine that has the Fab Lab and Maker in mind. There are several consumer level embroidery machines available for a few hundred dollars, however the accompanying software is usually expensive and the learning curve is high.

Embroidery files are essentially just CAD files. I have successfully converted embroidery digital files into DXF and also, CSV plottable points. This made me hope that mapping basic stitches (called running stithes) should be very similar to the process used for 3D printers or Shop Bots. There is essentially an X,Y,Z plot for each place the needle needs to enter the cloth. There is then another X,Y plot to get to the other side of the stitch. This pattern invariably creates any embroidery design.