Contact zone
Identify top and sidewall decoration, soft finishes, ribs, edges and any area that must not be touched. Provide production-finished caps; undecorated development samples may not answer the same contact question.
Grip versus marking
If the tool slips or leaves a mark, compare contact material, cleanliness, alignment and bottle restraint before increasing grip or torque. A stronger grip is not automatically a better solution.
Cosmetic evidence
Agree lighting, viewing method and accepted reference samples for scuffs, gloss change, indentation or printed-surface damage. Keep these checks distinct from opening torque and leakage acceptance.
Should cosmetic checks be limited to the first caps after setup?
No. Assess identified samples across the agreed trial, including the intended run and restart conditions. Record when a mark appears and which contact surface produced it; one attractive first-off sample does not establish repeatability.
Use chuck and change-part selection for tooling records and the torque-control comparison to separate contact behaviour from the closing setting. Lancing needs the actual cap finish, bottle support requirement and accepted appearance standard to assess the route.
