Brian Ratliff

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Rayane@FlippedRay·21h

Pitch me your company in 1 word

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·5h

Here's an example: Marginalia result for "claude cad", first result was: kerrickstaley.com/2026/02/22/can… which actually had some interesting techniques I might use in my "Claude CAD" experiments. Google's results came up with a bunch of SEO optimized commercial sites, all explaining the same thing about Claude and MCPs to commercial CAD, all of which I'm ahead of in my own work. (and one actual claudecad.com, which would definitely be sued if it weren't still on Sonnet 3.7 and require the user to send an API key into the wild--I would recommend rotating the key directly after using the site, if you are curious)

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·6h

Ever wonder what happened to Google? People my generation remember a much wilder and more interesting internet. I asked Claude. It came back with marginalia-search . com Interesting stuff so far. If you're over the age of 30, the results look a lot like the old internet.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·5h

@burkov Grok is better at current event search than any other AI out there. Claude or ChatGPT for heavy stuff + Grok is the perfect combo I think of Gemini as the Bing of chatbots, actually. Grok has attitude. ChatGPT is the autist. Claude is the artist. Gemini, just... is.

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BURKOV@burkov·5h

Unfortunately, Grok has become the Bing of chatbots. It does everything, and not necessarily worse than others, sometimes even better, but no regular person thinks, "Let me ask Grok about that," just like they didn't think, "Let me Bing this" in the past.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·5h

@BrianMRey do you need it? You are not as unique as all that, so if you need it, likely others do too.

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𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘆@BrianMRey·14h

how do you know if you’re building something people actually need?

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·5h

Marginalia is definitely my new favorite search engine. It's already surfaced a ton of stuff about generative design I wouldn't have found with google. Now with AI, I use Claude for heavy stuff and Grok for more current stuff, there is no need for Google at all. Discovery: marginalia-search Research: Claude ai Current: Grok

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·6h

My problem with generative design is it works almost entirely backwards from structural growth in nature. When a tree, for instance, grows, it starts small and grows out, adapting to the stresses continuously in the moment Generative design, you start big and reduce. Makes it vulnerable to the accuracy of your modeled stress conditions

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Mustafa@oprydai·1d

generative design, simply explained: instead of designing the final shape yourself, you define the problem and let the computer explore solutions. you give it: • the goal → make it strong, light, cheap, efficient • the constraints → load, material, size, weight, manufacturing method • the fixed points → where it attaches, where force enters, what cannot move then the system generates design options. not one design. many designs. • some look weird. • some look organic. • some look like bones, trees, wings, or alien parts. that’s because the software is not trying to make it look “normal.” it is trying to make it work. why it matters: • less wasted material • lighter parts • stronger structures • faster design exploration • better use of 3d printing and advanced manufacturing old design asks: “what should this part look like?” generative design asks: “what shape does the function demand?” that is the shift.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·10h

@SkinnyfatTony This is the best use of digital twin I've seen. Looks like you are simulating a robotic painting line and predicting things like potential collisions and paint over-spray on the fixtures.

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SkinnyFat Tony@SkinnyfatTony·11h

Demo cell set up in RobotMaster with thermal spray passes. Its one of my SP3000 3 axis servo positioners, inverted Yaskawa GP50 robot. Offline programming and digital twin simulation is a huge advantage before actually building a system. Match the 2 worlds up afterwards and you can post processes code right out of the OLP into the machine with minimal or no tweaks.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·10h

@faraz_r_khan @mayukh_panja This is exactly how I use FSD on my tesla. I drive the fun parts. FSD drives when I'm just driving behind people in traffic.

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Faraz Khan@faraz_r_khan·17h

@mayukh_panja Do you like driving in endless traffic? That’s usually what driving means. On fun roads I take over. Fsd does the boring stuff

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Mayukh@mayukh_panja·20h

I would feel pretty useless sitting in front of a steering wheel and not being in control. As much as I love the technology and understand the benefits of self-driving cars: statistically they are much safer and they allow people who can’t drive to travel, I really, really enjoy driving. A big reason I love road trips so much is because I get to master a difficult terrain and a new car. You land in a foreign country, rent a new car, and it takes a few hours before you have complete control of it. Every gas pedal, every brake, every clutch feels different. It takes some calibration before the machine responds exactly the way you want it to. After a certain point, the car starts to feel like an extension of your arm as you guide it through narrow often meandering roads cutting through mountains. In a world where cars drive themselves, what am I supposed to do? Just sit and stare? It would feel pointless. How it it any different than sitting on a bus? There is not a lot left to do in this world that gives you a real sense of adventure. Driving through certain terrains still gives you that feeling, at least to some extent. I’m guessing driving will become something like horse riding, affordable to those who have money and time. I am yet to drive across the mountains of Patagonia, the deserts of Mongolia and the dunes of Arabia. I hope I still get to do all that before the technolpgy becomes all encompassing.

Elon Musk@elonmusk

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·10h

This is like a cue in weight lifting. Absolutely wrong, but focusing on it puts you on the right track. You want your people to resolve disagreements by agreeing to a mechanism for resolution. You don't necessarily want compromise (though that word is extremely vague). You want resolutions to resolve via business mechanisms. "We disagree to a path, let's agree to a test to determine which path might be best". A company where every disagreement funnels upwards is dysfunctional. Full stop. It means the executives act as parents to squabbling children. The risk the cue guards against is resorting to *underhanded* means of resolution. Outshouting is underhanded. Sabotage is underhanded. Splitting the difference is underhanded.

Jaynit@jaynitx

Jeff Bezos reveals why compromise is one of the worst ways to resolve a disagreement "An example of a really bad way of coming to agreement is compromise. If I say the ceiling is 11 feet and you say 12 feet, we say let's call it 11 and a half. That's compromise" "The advantage of compromise is it's low energy. But it doesn't lead to truth" "Another really bad resolution mechanism is who's more stubborn. Two executives disagree, they have a war of attrition, and whichever one gets exhausted first capitulates. You haven't arrived at truth, and this is very demoralizing" "Escalation is better than a war of attrition. Escalate to your boss and say, we can't agree, we like each other, we're respectful, but we strongly disagree, we need you to make a decision" "Exhausting the other person is not truth seeking. Compromise is not truth seeking"

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

Did you guys know STEP supports colors? 20 years, I’ve never seen a STEP export in color from any CAD system. Or a STEP import, for that matter.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

It is so cool being able to just sit with Claude and make the software into exactly what I want

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

Claude CAD, now in color!

Brian Ratliff@BrierRat

What do you guys think, should I add colors to my homebrewed CAD viewer? I feel like my profile might be looking a bit monochrome. On one hand, basically every CAD design I've done in my career has been in this particular shade of gray. At some point it's tradition. I've built literally thousands of CAD parts--I've just never really cared about colors unless it's interfering with viewing the part. And sometimes, I'll admit, lots of colors seems a bit gaudy and not very useful except for presentation. On the other hand, it seems all the new AI-CAD floating around has been splashed with color. Is this the trend now? Cool thing about building your own AI-native viewer is you get to add the exact features you want. And only those features you need.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

@optomachina Did it. Glad I did. Good advice

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Blaine Wilson@optomachina·2d

@BrierRat Make a script to randomly assign a selection of colors to all parts. You’ll be glad you did.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

What do you guys think, should I add colors to my homebrewed CAD viewer? I feel like my profile might be looking a bit monochrome. On one hand, basically every CAD design I've done in my career has been in this particular shade of gray. At some point it's tradition. I've built literally thousands of CAD parts--I've just never really cared about colors unless it's interfering with viewing the part. And sometimes, I'll admit, lots of colors seems a bit gaudy and not very useful except for presentation. On the other hand, it seems all the new AI-CAD floating around has been splashed with color. Is this the trend now? Cool thing about building your own AI-native viewer is you get to add the exact features you want. And only those features you need.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

I had a similar moment with Claude. I had a simple part, a block with an arced top which I put a slotted cut diagonally across the arced top. Asked Claude Code to read and manipulate the STEP code directly. It did that a few times, changing the slot angle and width by modifying vertex points, etc usi my greps. But at a point, I got bored and gave it a mod which I knew would break topology. Claude examined the request, saw it would break topology, went and coded the part up in Cadquery and made the change, regenerated the STEP, on its own, without my intervention. Color me impressed. That’s when I started leaning hard to my Claude CAD system.

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Ben Magelsen 🇺🇸@benmagelsen·2d

@BrierRat It seems that way. I was surprised! I had to make a couple quick drawings to get it to make the Zeiss dovetail, but putting together parts from other models was impressive.

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Ben Magelsen 🇺🇸@benmagelsen·2d

A Claude to OpenSCAD workflow for 3D printing seems promising. I made an Canon EF to Zeiss microscope dovetail adapter without touching CAD. 🤨

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

@faraz_r_khan I would give build123d a try. I think the problem with python freecad is it might be one abstraction removed. You are using a python script to operate freecad operating on the OCCT kernel. Using build123d or cadquery and you have a script operating directly on the OCCT kernel

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Faraz Khan@faraz_r_khan·2d

@BrierRat Interesting! Share it when you get a chance. I tried it 4 months ago so maybe it’s better now or the integration with 123 is better than python freecad?

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·3d

So, Claude CAD built me a 15.6:1, 3-stage gearbox. I "sketched" a rough outline of what I wanted in Shapr3D with the general gear arrangement. Bearings and fasteners from McMaster. Claude did everything else. 139 part assembly. Involute teeth. Retaining rings. All of it.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

This is a challenge in the AI-augmented CAD space. How do you get past dancing bear demos? Get to the point where people say, aha, this makes my life as a design engineer easier? That’s why all the demos of Claude CAD I post here are buildable.

Dancing Bear is a good analogy I found for AI outputs. Suppose there's a circus and people go there to see The Dancing Bear. People don't go because the dance is good. It isn't. It may actually be kind of terrible. What matters is that the bear dances at all.

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Brian Ratliff@BrierRat·2d

@BuildingDeeply My main problem is squaring cosmetic colors with the functional colors of labeling faces, since the face labeling is a big part of how the user communicates with Claude over the MCP

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