How a digital tape measure gets designed

Choosing a Tool
Durability

A tool you hold all day is decided by how it sits in a glove, which is not something you can settle in CAD. The T1M Utility went from carved foam for the grip, to a printed shell for proportion, to clay for the surfaces, to urethane close enough to judge in the hand. That sequence is why the production tool balances the way it does.

The stages, in order

Carved foam block for the grip
Printed shell to test proportions
Clay model for the surfaces
Urethane part you can hold and judge
Grip in a glove is not settled in CAD

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It starts as a carved foam block that only has to feel right in a hand, becomes a printed shell to test proportions, then a clay model for the surfaces, then a urethane part close enough to the real thing to hold and judge. Only after all of that does it look like the tool that ships.