A Design That Passed CAD Review But Struggled in Production

The design itself was straightforward—a small sheet metal enclosure with multiple bends, standard material, and no unusual features.

On CAD review, everything checked out. Dimensions were consistent, tolerances were defined, and the geometry looked clean.

But during the first production run, small issues started showing up.

Some bends didn’t return exactly as expected, which slightly shifted alignment at the assembly stage. Nothing was completely out of tolerance, but the accumulated effect made the fit feel less smooth than intended.

What stood out most was that there wasn’t a single “error” to fix. It was more about how several small variations interacted together.

After reviewing it again, the focus shifted away from individual dimensions and more toward how the part behaves as a system.

💬 Has anyone experienced a design that passed review but behaved differently once manufactured?

#sheet metal# #design guide# #enclosure#