Cutting Collar: One Model, Prototype and Production Wall Thickness
A moulded collar drawn at 1 mm for mass production and reissued at 2 mm for the prototype run — parametric wall thickness so both versions stay one design.
A moulded collar for a consumer product, where a small manufacturing reality turned into a useful lesson in how to build the model.
The problem
The manufacturing team asked for something that sounds trivial and is not:
- Mass production would run at 1 mm wall. That was the design intent and what the tooling would be cut for.
- The prototype team wanted 2 mm — thicker, so they could check function, fit and size before committing to the tool.
- Both versions had to stay the same design. If the prototype is a different model, testing it proves nothing about the part that will be produced.
There was also the ordinary friction of a live project: the client needed specific STEP files reissued and clearly named, at moments when it was not obvious which version was which.
The approach
- Wall thickness as a driven parameter, so producing the 2 mm prototype version was a parameter change and a re-export, not a remodelling job with a chance of divergence.
- Explicit file naming per version, because a wrongly named STEP sent to a manufacturer is an expensive mistake and a cheap thing to prevent.
- Drawings reissued alongside each model, so the prototype team measured against the version they actually had.
- Rib revision carried through both. When ribs were removed in a later revision, the change propagated to both wall thicknesses from one source.
The result
Eight iterations including revisions, with the design delivered at both prototype and production wall thickness from a single parametric source.
Where this applies
Any moulded part that gets prototyped before tooling. Build the model so thickness is a parameter, and the prototype-versus-production question costs minutes instead of a second modelling job.
I build parametric models that survive revisions — and manage the file versions that go to manufacturers. Request a quote or see all services.