Case study · Independent

Printing parts I never modelled

I design functional 3D-printed parts by describing them to Claude, which writes the geometry, then go straight to my printer. No CAD modelling by hand.

Role: Designer and maker, solo, with AI
Organization: Independent
Tools: Claude, AI-written CAD code, Bambu Studio, Bambu printer

Three of the parts in a row at true scale on a stone ground, each turned to show its side: the white downspout camera mount with its curved pipe saddle and camera socket, the black hex tee cover with its grooved post in the middle, and the white LITE cabinet jig with its corner walls and arm of three holes.

In short

01Building and fixing things around the house keeps needing small parts nobody sells: a mount, a jig, a cover.
02Instead of modelling them, I describe the part, its measurements and how it should fit. The AI writes the geometry and exports a file I can print.
03I print, test the fit and tell the AI what was off. The version numbers in the file names are that loop, written down.

problem framing
describing parts in words · measurements and fit
AI-written geometry · code, not hand modelling
fit testing
3D printing · Bambu Studio

01Problem

The model took longer than the print

A lot of what I need to print is for building work: cabinet jigs, mounts, covers. Each part fits one pipe or one panel, so there is nothing to buy.

Modelling each one by hand was the slow part. I know what the part needs to do and what it needs to fit. I wanted to say that and print the result.

02The loop

Describe it, print it, say what was off

I start with the job and the numbers: what the part holds, what it fits around, the measurements I took. The AI writes the part as code and exports an STL. I check it in a 3D viewer, slice it in Bambu Studio and print it.

Then I test the fit and describe what was wrong, in plain words. The AI changes the code and I print the next version. I never open a modelling timeline.

03Downspout mount

51 versions of one camera mount

I wanted a solar pan camera on a round downspout, held by a stainless hose clamp. The mount is one piece: a saddle that wraps the pipe, slots for the clamp band, a socket the camera snaps into, and a pass-through for the charging cable.

The 4-inch version reached v51, and a 3-inch variant followed. Each new version started as a sentence to the AI, not an evening in CAD. It printed, and the camera and solar panel went on it.

Side view of the downspout mount: the curved saddle on the left, two arched slots for the hose clamp in the middle, and the camera socket on the right. — Side view, v51. The two arched slots carry the hose clamp band.

The downspout mount from above and behind, showing the open end of the camera socket, the cable hole in its roof and the saddle that wraps the pipe. — From behind, v51. The camera slides into the open socket.

Photo of the printed white mount with a stainless hose clamp through its slots, a solar panel above it and the camera hanging below. — The printed mount with the clamp, solar panel and camera fitted.

04Cabinet jig

From a corner template to a lighter jig

For IKEA Besta and Sektion cabinets I needed holes in the same place on every panel. The first file was a small corner template: a plate with one hole and two walls that hook over the corner of a panel.

Later files grew the plate, added a row of three holes on the diagonal and a slot. The LITE version keeps the corner and the three holes and cuts the rest of the plate away. It uses a little over half the plastic of the version before it.

Three cabinet jigs seen from directly above, at the same scale and aligned on their corner: a small template with one hole; a larger square plate with three holes on a diagonal; and the LITE jig, a corner with a single diagonal arm holding three holes. — From above, same scale, aligned on the corner that hooks the panel: the first template, the 0.77-inch slot version, and LITE.

The same three cabinet jigs from above and to the front left, showing the corner walls on each and the plate shrinking to an arm of three holes in the LITE version. — The same three, from the front. The corner walls stay; the plate becomes an arm.

The first corner template from behind: a rounded plate with one hole and two walls meeting at a corner. — The first template, from behind.

05Tee cover

Starting over from an earlier version

A cover for a hex tee fitting has an earlier version and a later one, and they look like different parts. The earlier one is a hex body with a long grooved pin coming out of one face.

The later one, v13, is a hex base with a raised rim and a hollow post with two grooves. Same job, a new shape.

Render of the earlier tee cover, v3: a hex body with a round boss on one face and a long pin with two grooves. — The earlier version, v3.

Render of the later tee cover, v13, from above: a hex base with a raised rim and an upright hollow post with two grooves near the top. — The later version, v13.

Side view of the v13 tee cover: the post rising from the hex base, with two grooves near its top. — v13 from the side.

06What I learned

Fit is the design work

The AI gets the shape close on the first try. What takes versions is fit: clearance around a pipe, a slot a clamp band can start into, a corner that sits square on a panel. That knowledge comes from holding the print, so the loop has to be fast.

It also changes what I bother to fix. A small change I would never remodel by hand now costs one message and one print.