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CAD for beginners
The easiest way to start CAD for 3D printing
SpeakCAD is the easiest way to start CAD for 3D printing: no sketch, no workplane, no blank screen. You begin from a box, a plate, a cylinder or a tray that already has its sizes, tap the face where a hole, a cut or a tab goes and type the millimetres, on your phone or computer, with nothing to install. When you are stuck, tell the AI what to change. Your first part leaves as an STL, a 3MF or G-code sliced for your printer.
Your first part
From nothing to a printed part, in six steps
Every step is a tap or a number you type. The things a beginner gets wrong, such as a hole the exact size of its screw, are already the defaults.2
Tap a face, pick a tool
Hole, Cut, Add, Extrude, Text, Round and Measure. On a phone the rail sits above the chat; on a computer each tool has its key (H, C, A, E, T, R, M).3
Type the millimetres
A hole's size (M2 to M8 presets, so an M3 screw gets its 3.4 mm hole), its depth or Through, and its centre's distance from the face's edges. The part rebuilds in your browser in about a second.4
Read what each edit did
The chat writes every edit in plain words: "Added Hole 1: 4.5 mm diameter, 4 mm deep, centre 6 mm from the left edge and 6 mm from the front edge of the top face of Plate…". Every hand edit is a numbered version you can undo.5
Ask when you are stuck
For what the tools do not do, tell the AI what to change: in the chat, with AI, the last item in the rail (point at the spot on the model), or with Ask the AI on a tool's card, about the face you tapped. Each AI request spends 2 credits, and the AI keeps what you placed by hand.6
Print it
Download an STL or a 3MF, or G-code sliced for one of 380+ printers. For a part that has to fit something, Fit Check cuts a five-minute test slice to print before the long print.What you learn before your first printed part
| Before your first part | SpeakCAD | Tinkercad and Onshape |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | In the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer. Nothing to install. | Tinkercad: a computer browser at least 864 pixels wide; phones are not supported. Onshape: a browser, or its iOS and Android apps. |
| Where you start | A box, plate, cylinder or tray already sized in millimetres, your own STL or 3MF, or a sentence for the AI. | Tinkercad: an empty workplane and a panel of shapes. Onshape: an empty Part Studio and three planes to sketch on. |
| Ideas to learn first | Three: pick a tool, tap the face it goes on, type the millimetres. | Tinkercad: shapes and hole shapes, dragging, aligning and grouping. Onshape: sketches on a plane, constraints and dimensions, then features such as Extrude, Fillet and Shell. |
| A hole 6 mm from two edges | 4 taps and 2 typed numbers, measured on the editor. | Tinkercad: drag a hole shape, measure to each edge, group. Onshape: sketch a point, dimension it to both edges, then Hole. Their help pages give the steps, not a count. |
| A box with rounded corners | 2 taps and 1 typed number on a computer (3 taps on a phone), from the Open box starter. | Tinkercad: a box with its Radius slider, a smaller copy made a hole, aligned and grouped. Onshape: a sketch, Extrude, Fillet on four edges, then Shell. |
| When you are stuck | Tell the AI what to change, in the chat or from the face you tapped (2 credits). | Tutorials: Tinkercad's lessons, Onshape's Learning Center. |
| The print | STL or 3MF, or G-code sliced for one of 380+ printers, in the same tab. | An exported STL, sliced in a separate slicer. |
| Price | The hand tools and the files they make are free. The AI comes with a plan, from Maker at $7.99 a month. | Tinkercad: free in full. Onshape: a free plan for non-commercial use, with every document public. |
Where it runsSpeakCAD: In the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer. Nothing to install.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: a computer browser at least 864 pixels wide; phones are not supported. Onshape: a browser, or its iOS and Android apps.
Where you startSpeakCAD: A box, plate, cylinder or tray already sized in millimetres, your own STL or 3MF, or a sentence for the AI.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: an empty workplane and a panel of shapes. Onshape: an empty Part Studio and three planes to sketch on.
Ideas to learn firstSpeakCAD: Three: pick a tool, tap the face it goes on, type the millimetres.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: shapes and hole shapes, dragging, aligning and grouping. Onshape: sketches on a plane, constraints and dimensions, then features such as Extrude, Fillet and Shell.
A hole 6 mm from two edgesSpeakCAD: 4 taps and 2 typed numbers, measured on the editor.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: drag a hole shape, measure to each edge, group. Onshape: sketch a point, dimension it to both edges, then Hole. Their help pages give the steps, not a count.
A box with rounded cornersSpeakCAD: 2 taps and 1 typed number on a computer (3 taps on a phone), from the Open box starter.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: a box with its Radius slider, a smaller copy made a hole, aligned and grouped. Onshape: a sketch, Extrude, Fillet on four edges, then Shell.
When you are stuckSpeakCAD: Tell the AI what to change, in the chat or from the face you tapped (2 credits).Tinkercad and Onshape: Tutorials: Tinkercad's lessons, Onshape's Learning Center.
The printSpeakCAD: STL or 3MF, or G-code sliced for one of 380+ printers, in the same tab.Tinkercad and Onshape: An exported STL, sliced in a separate slicer.
PriceSpeakCAD: The hand tools and the files they make are free. The AI comes with a plan, from Maker at $7.99 a month.Tinkercad and Onshape: Tinkercad: free in full. Onshape: a free plan for non-commercial use, with every document public.
First parts to try with the AI
Each one opens the editor with the description typed; sending it is one AI request (2 credits). Change any number before you send it: these are your sizes now.“A 100 x 60 mm plate, 3 mm thick, with an M4 hole 6 mm from each corner”
Open this prompt in the editor“An open box 60 x 40 x 25 mm with 2 mm walls and 4 mm rounded corners, for screws on my desk”
Open this prompt in the editor“A wall hook 15 mm wide that sticks out 40 mm, with two countersunk holes for 4 mm screws, 30 mm apart”
Open this prompt in the editor“A clip that holds a 6 mm cable under a desk, fixed with one 3.5 mm wood screw”
Open this prompt in the editor“A spacer 20 mm across and 10 mm tall with a 5.5 mm hole through the middle”
Open this prompt in the editor“A phone stand for a phone 9 mm thick, leaning back at 65 degrees, with a slot for the charging cable”
Open this prompt in the editorIs SpeakCAD the easiest way to start CAD for 3D printing?
For 3D printing, yes, and the reason is what you do not have to learn first. A professional CAD starts you on an empty sketch: a plane to choose, lines to draw, constraints and dimensions to add before there is anything to print. SpeakCAD starts you on a part that already exists, a box or a plate with its sizes, and every change after that is a tool, a face and a number. Counted on the editor:
- An M4 hole 6 mm from two edges of a plate: 4 taps and 2 typed numbers. Hole, tap the top face near that corner, M4, type 6 and 6, Apply hole. Through is already on, and the two Position rows already measure from the nearest edges.
- An open box with 8 mm rounded corners: 2 taps and 1 typed number on a computer (3 taps on a phone). Open box in a new model's empty editor (its corners are already rounded, 4 mm), tap the box, type 8 in Corner radius.
A tap is one press on a button or on the model, a typed number one value typed into a field. Tinkercad's and Onshape's columns above follow their own help pages (sources at the bottom); where those pages do not make a step countable, the table gives the steps and no number.
It is not the easiest way to learn CAD in general. Tinkercad is the gentler first lesson about shapes on a computer, for a child or a classroom, and Onshape or Fusion is where you learn professional CAD. SpeakCAD is for the person who owns a printer and wants their own parts: a bracket, a holder, a case, a spacer, with the holes where the millimetres say.
The six ideas your first parts teach you
Every CAD program is built on the same few ideas. You meet them on your first parts in SpeakCAD, by name, and they carry over the day you move to a bigger CAD.
- Sizes are numbers, not drags. Every size and every position is typed in millimetres, so the part matches the drawing or the calipers. In Onshape or Fusion this is a dimension on a sketch; the habit is the same.
- Features live on a face. A hole, a pocket or a tab belongs to the face you tap, and the card knows that face's size and the wall behind it. In a professional CAD you sketch on that face first.
- Add and cut. A part is a shape, plus what you add (Add, Extrude out, raised Text), minus what you cut (Hole, Cut, Extrude in, engraved Text). CAD calls these joins and cuts, or boolean operations.
- Positions are measured from edges. "Centre 6 mm from the left edge and 6 mm from the front edge" is how a drawing places a hole, and how you will dimension it in any CAD.
- A hole is bigger than its screw. An M3 screw passes through a 3.4 mm hole, and parts that slide into each other need 0.2 to 0.4 mm of clearance. The presets do the first; Fit Check tests the second on your printer before the long print. More in tolerances and clearances.
- The printer has rules too. Walls of at least 1.2 mm (three lines of a 0.4 mm nozzle), a flat face on the bed, overhangs under 45°. See wall thickness and print-ready design rules.
Your first week: five parts, in order
Each one adds one idea to the last. All five work on a phone.
- A plate with a screw hole. The Plate starter, then Hole: M4, Through, 6 mm from two edges. The hand tools, step by step.
- An open box with rounded corners. The Open box starter comes with 4 mm corners: tap the box and type 8 in Corner radius. On other parts, the Round tool rounds the corners. Rounding for printing.
- A thicker plate, a taller wall. Extrude pulls a whole flat face out, or pushes it in, by the distance you type.
- Change a model you downloaded. Open an STL from Printables or Thingiverse and add the hole it was missing. Edit an STL, add a hole to an STL.
- A part that fits something you own. Measure it with calipers, describe it to the AI with every size, then print a Fit Check before the whole part. Describing a part well.
The hand tools page lists all seven with what each is for on a print, the hand tools guide shows every tool on one part, and online CAD for 3D printing compares them with Tinkercad and Onshape.
When to start somewhere else
- [Tinkercad](/tinkercad-alternative) for a child, a classroom or a first lesson about shapes on a computer: free in full, you build by dragging blocks. It does not run on a phone.
- [Onshape](/vs/onshape) or [Fusion](/vs/fusion-360) if CAD is going to be your job, or you need sketches with constraints, assemblies or STEP files. The six ideas above are where those programs start too.
- A sculpting tool or a mesh generator for figurines, faces and organic shapes: SpeakCAD builds dimensioned parts, not sculptures. See SpeakCAD vs Meshy.
What it costs
Shaping a part by hand (a hole and its screw head, a cut, an added tab, raised or engraved text, an extruded face, rounded corners, and copies in a row, a grid or a circle) and downloading what you shaped are free. Each AI request spends 2 credits, a download of AI work 4 credits, and G-code 5 more. The AI comes with a plan, from Maker at $7.99 a month for 60 credits. The live demo is the real editor with a ready part, no account needed. See pricing.
Sources
Read on 5 October 2026:
- Tinkercad: Technical requirements (864 px minimum, phones unsupported)
- Tinkercad: Basic hole shapes
- Tinkercad: Measure between points
- Tinkercad: Union group
- Tinkercad: Manipulation sliders (the Box radius)
- Onshape: Hole
- Onshape: Dimension (sketch)
- Onshape: Extrude
- Onshape: Fillet
- Onshape: Shell
- Onshape: Plans and pricing (Free plan: public documents, non-commercial)
Questions
For 3D printing, start with a real part rather than a lesson: SpeakCAD is the easiest way to start CAD for 3D printing. You begin from a box, a plate, a cylinder or a tray that already has its sizes, tap the face where a hole, a cut or a tab goes and type the millimetres, on your phone or computer, with nothing to install; the AI is there when you are stuck. Measured on the editor: an M4 hole 6 mm from two edges of a plate, 4 taps and 2 typed numbers. Tinkercad is the gentler first lesson about shapes on a computer, for a child or a classroom; Onshape or Fusion is where to learn professional CAD with sketches and constraints.
It depends on what you want to make. To print your own functional parts (brackets, holders, cases, spacers) with real dimensions, SpeakCAD: you start from a shape, tap a face and type the millimetres, on a phone or a computer, and the AI helps when you are stuck. For a first lesson about shapes on a computer, a child or a classroom, Tinkercad: free in full and built for teaching. To learn professional CAD for a job, with sketches, constraints, assemblies and STEP files, Onshape or Fusion, with a real learning curve.
Yes. SpeakCAD runs in Safari on iPhone and iPad and in Chrome on Android, nothing to install: the hand tools (Hole, Cut, Add, Extrude, Text, Round and Measure) sit in a rail above the chat, every size is typed with the keyboard, and the STL, 3MF or G-code lands in Files or Downloads. The live demo works without an account. Tinkercad does not support phones.
No. You can describe the part to SpeakCAD's AI with its sizes and get a print-ready file. But the basics come quickly once you try the hand tools: a size is a number, a hole goes on a face, its position is measured from the edges, and a hole is a little bigger than its screw. Those four ideas cover most printed parts.
Your first part takes minutes: an M4 hole 6 mm from two edges of a plate is 4 taps and 2 typed numbers in SpeakCAD. The ideas that make parts fit (clearances, wall thickness, positions from edges) come with your first few parts. Sketches with constraints, the core of Onshape or Fusion, are a skill of their own and take longer.
Yes for the hand tools and the files they make. AI requests, downloads of AI work and G-code use credits. A part you shape by hand from a starter shape downloads free as an STL or 3MF with a free account, and the live demo needs no account. The AI comes with a plan, from Maker at $7.99 a month for 60 credits.
Nothing, if your parts are brackets, holders, cases and spacers: that is what SpeakCAD is for. Move to Onshape or Fusion when you need sketches with constraints, fillets on the edges you pick, assemblies of several parts or STEP files for a machinist. Sizes as numbers, features on a face, add and cut, positions from edges: you will meet the same ideas there.
Read more
Every hand toolHole, Cut, Add, Extrude, Text, Round and Measure: what each one does and what it is for on a print.The hand tools, step by stepHole, Cut, Add, Extrude, Text, Round and Measure on one part.Online CAD for 3D printingFree hand tools in the browser, the AI when you would rather describe it.Parts that fit the first timeFit Check: a five-minute test slice before the long print.Tolerances and clearancesWhy a hole is bigger than its screw, and by how much.A Tinkercad alternativeRounded corners, typed millimetres and a phone editor; where Tinkercad still wins.Learn CAD or describe the part?When each one is worth your time.