Leo Nelson

THE VIBE MANUFACTURING PLAYBOOK 1. Measure everything. Digital calipers for small parts, a phone LiDAR app like Polycam to scan a space or an object. Bad measurements are the #1 reason first builds fail 2. Have a frontier model write the design as code. Describe the part to a model like Claude Opus 5.5 or Astra, and have it write the design in a codebased CAD tool like OpenSCAD or CadQuery. Zoo's Text to CAD does it in one step! 3. Use real CAD files. The text to 3D models on Hugging Face make shapes that look right, but factories need precise files: STEP for machined parts, DXF for lasercut metal, STL for 3D printing 4. Make sure it can be made. Ask the AI to check the design against how factories actually work: how tight metal can bend, how small a hole can be, how much wiggle room parts need etc... 5. Prototype in plastic first. A $300 to $600 home 3D printer like a Bambu Lab lets you test the fit overnight before paying for metal (really fun to play with too!) 6. Pay an engineer for 1 hour. Before your first real order, have a mechanical engineer on Upwork etc review the files. It's the cheapest insurance you'll ever buy. 7. Send it out. SendCutSend cuts and bends metal, Xometry and Protolabs handle machining and plastic, JLCPCB builds circuit boards. Instant quotes, and parts usually ship in days. 8. Add the brains. Most smart features run on a cheap wifi chip like the ESP32. Design the board in KiCad, and use ESPHome to control it straight from your phone. 9. Make one, then fix it. Your first version will be off somewhere! Order a single unit, test it, and adjust. 10. Do the math. Add up parts, finishing, assembly, packaging, and shipping. Custom products are hard to resell, so price for healthy margins. 11. Sell the design and make to order. Let customers adjust the measurements, and only manufacture after they pay. Zero warehouse, zero unsold stock. 12. Handle the boring part. If it plugs into a wall or touches kids, you'll need safety certification. It's slow and annoying, which is exactly why it's a moat. 13. Scale when it works. Once orders are steady, switch to batch runs and your cost per unit drops fast. Vibe coding changed who can build software! Vibe manufacturing is about to change who can build things!! Even if you just want to make things for yourself (and not make things for others) WELCOME TO THE VIBE MANUFACTURING ERA