We tried sample pads for an FR10 handling anodised sleeves. The hard contact left lines; the softer sample left a dull patch that one inspector accepted and another rejected.
I'm meant to train the operators eventually. Can't teach 'hold it like this until it looks okay to whoever is passing'. What can we settle on the bench before ordering more tooling?
Settle the inspection method first. Agreed lighting, viewing and physical examples. Otherwise each pad trial gets judged by a different test and the comparison means very little.
Quality reviewed the samples together. The dull patch fails their agreed appearance check, so softer hasn't solved this one. We've kept the parts labelled by pad trial instead of mixing them into the scrap box.
Now ask for options that change the contact arrangement, not merely another softer material. Holding reliability and release still need their own evidence beside the appearance result.
Check the pads under magnification before the next trial; embedded grit can make the softest bits in the drawer surprisingly good at marking aluminium.