This project started based on my desire to create my own original remote control airplane from drawing, to cutting the parts on a cnc machine that I built from a kit, assembling the parts, and then flying the finished product.  There were so many normal type airplanes out there, that I decided that I would do something different.  I decided on a saucer shaped plane.  The project was such a great challenge from the beginning.  First, I had to learn to use a CAD program.  I started with a program from Google called SketchUp.  It was a painful experience, but it’s a great program to learn CAD drawing on, and, it’s free.  After some time, I had a drawing created that included over 50 pieces.  The next step was to build the router based cnc machine called a PhlatPrinter.  Not as painful as CAD, but still very challenging.  The group that created the PhlatPrinter also included the script that would create the gcode file that the cnc machine need to actually cut the parts. Continue reading “Build a Flying Saucer”