Prompt to Print: Designing 3D-Printable Parts with AI and Code-CAD

₹1,300

You can print anyone else’s model. The moment you need a bracket that fits your shelf, an enclosure for your circuit board or a spacer exactly 7.3 mm tall, you are stuck. This 43-page guide teaches a different path: describe the part in words, let an AI write parametric code, run it, check it, fix it and print it. The code is code-CAD, short Python scripts in CadQuery or build123d that turn into precise, printable 3D geometry. You don’t need to be a programmer. You need to read a recipe, measure with calipers and tell the AI when it got something wrong. The book is honest about the limits. AI is good at boxes, brackets, holders and enclosures. It is weak at guessing dimensions you didn’t give it and at complex curved shapes. So the workflow is a tight loop, with your verification as the step that can’t be skipped. What’s inside - Why code-CAD plus AI works, and where it doesn’t - Setup in 30 minutes: VS Code, a live 3D viewer, and cloud or local AI - The eight code-CAD ideas a non-programmer needs - Writing a good part brief, with a copy-paste prompt template - The design loop: generate, run, view, measure, fix - Designing for printability: tolerances, hole sizes, walls, overhangs, heat-set inserts and captive nuts - Verification before printing: measure in code, coupons and slicer checks - Parametric families and sharing your designs - Enclosures and mounts for the boards you own - A full walkthrough: an ESP32 sensor enclosure with a snap-fit lid - A pre-print checklist, a six-week learning path, a glossary and resources Every chapter ends with Key Points and, where useful, a Practical Example with code or a prompt you can adapt. Who it’s for: makers and 3D-printer owners who want to design their own functional parts, with or without programming experience. The book names tools and versions current in 2025 and 2026. Every printed-fit number is a starting point to calibrate on your own printer, not a guarantee.