Why Custom RTV Dump Prices Drop From 100 to 10,000

If you're scaling a custom RTV silicone mold, divide the 100-dump unit price by 100 and you still don't have the 10,000-dump price. Most of the drop is four costs that barely care how many pours you ship: mix and vacuum setup, first-off fill-weight, jacket check, and the mold sitting on the invoice.

Pectin or chocolate per gram does not get cheaper because you ordered more, unless you crossed a drum break. Cycle time does not magically halve. What changes is how much of the shop’s *fixed motion* each dump has to carry.

This is dump economics on an RTV cavity. LSR piece-price curves on steel are a different quote.

What a 100-dump job is actually paying for

A 100-dump custom RTV run is a setup with a short burst of pouring.

Walk the bench in order:

1. RTV already exists (or you are still paying the master). Mix leftover is not the same as an LSR pail, but a food-contact platinum kit still has a pack size.
2. Setup. Assemble jacket, keys, vacuum if you degas the *dump*, warm the table if chocolate. This block of time is almost the same at 100 and at 10,000.
3. First offs and fill-weight. Outer-row sag of 0.5–1.5 mm will show as 3–6% heavy edges. At 100 dumps those thrown pours are a visible fraction of the batch.
4. Run. 100 dumps on a 12-cavity tray is a short shift. Operator attention is high because the run is over before anyone trusts the peel.
5. Secondary. Trim flash at the split, inspect, pack. Labor per dump is ugly because there is no rhythm.
6. Pack and freight. A carton of 100 still needs documents and cushioning.

So the 100-dump unit price is setup + scrap + nervous labor + a huge slice of the mold, divided by 100. The food is the small print.

Common mix-up: 10,000 as 100-dump weekly releases

You bought the annual volume on paper and the 100-dump factory physics in practice. Setup fees return. First-offs happen again. Ask for the *batch* price at 10,000 *and* the price at your real release qty.

ISO 3302-1 does not make 10,000 dumps cheaper. It is a drawing class if the article is rubber.

What a 10,000-dump job can drop, and what it cannot

At 10,000, if the mold is already paid or is being amortized across a real annual volume, the same walk looks different.

Setup is still one jacket assembly (or a few, if you split lots). Spread over 10,000 it becomes noise unless you drip-feed.

Scrap rate should fall once the dump window is known. It will not fall if the jacket sags, if the grade is wrong, or if you keep revising the master. Scale does not fix a missing mother mold. It multiplies it.

Labor per dump drops where you can stop treating every pour as a prototype: consistent peel, a trim fixture instead of a knife, sampling instead of 100% weigh, a packing cell that bags to a count. It does *not* drop if every split still needs a skilled hand-trim. That is a keying and jacket problem wearing a labor costume.

Mold amortization is the headline drop people expect. A platinum skin billed across 10,000 is a tenth of the same skin billed across 1,000. An 8-cavity only helps if 10,000 is enough to keep that depositor fed and if the extra rubber did not eat the savings.

Recast. At 10,000 dumps you may already need a new skin. Put it in the 10,000 column. Pretending the first glove lasts forever is how the cheap number lies.

What does not drop 100×:

• Dump compound list price per kilogram, unless you moved a price break
• Cure or set time of chocolate/gummy/resin, unless you changed cavitation or process
• Cosmetic reject rate on a tray that was never capable
• Platinum RTV shrink (~0.1–0.3%) — it was never the cost driver

A worked stack (drivers, not a quote)

Pretend one 12-cavity RTV tray, same platinum 10A–20A skin, mix 1:1, vacuum degas, same jacket. Ignore currency. Watch the *weights*.

| Cost element | Behavior at ~100 dumps | Behavior at ~10,000 dumps | | --- | --- | --- | | Mold amortization | Dominates. Master + jacket can dwarf the food. | Recedes if the tray was sized for this volume. Recast may reappear. | | Jacket / mix setup | Large share of the invoice | Near-rounding error on a single lot; painful again if you release 100-dump drops | | Dump material | Small, unless a specialty pectin | Tracks mass | | Pour / depositor time | Real, but short run | The actual conversion cost. Cavitation is how you cut this. | | Trim / inspect labor | High per dump | Falls only if the split is controlled and sampling is allowed | | Scrap | A few shorts can be 5–10% of the lot | A 2% scrap rate is now a pile *and* a process signal | | Pack / freight | Almost a per-shipment fee | Per-dump if you ship once; per-release if you drip-feed |

If someone sends you a 10,000-dump unit price that is 1/100 of the 100-dump price, they either gave away the mold at 100, or they are not quoting the same process.

What to ask when you're buying

• Same process family at 100 and 10,000 — both RTV dumps, not RTV then LSR?
• Setup once per lot, split from dump price?
• Recast of the skin in the 10,000 column?
• Real release qty, not only the annual number?
• Fill-weight map so sag scrap is visible?

Worked example: 12-cavity bear, 100 vs 10,000 dumps

A 12-cavity 18 mm bear, 4.0 g target, food-contact. At 100 dumps the master+jacket dominate. At 10,000 dumps, if CAD is frozen and the jacket stays flat, setup becomes noise and you may already owe a recast. Releasing 10,000 as 100-dump calls erases the drop. A parallel LSR 10,000-piece curve is a process change, not a scale curve.

When this article is the wrong quote

If the 100-dump quote is RTV and the 10,000-dump quote is LSR *parts*, you are not looking at a scale curve. Label it. Vacuum-cast RTV *parts* at 10,000 is a labor trap; that is the parts conversation. A tiny artisan chocolate can stay at 100 forever. Geometry can override quantity: one deep core still needs a split at 10,000 dumps.

Related reading: custom RTV molds, 1 vs 8 cavity, hidden costs, gummy trays.

The quote to demand

Ask for one sheet with two columns, 100 and 10,000 dumps, same RTV family, with these lines split:

• Mold (if not already paid), jacket, recast
• Setup / jacket assembly, once per lot
• Dump material, with min-buy called out
• Pour time (cycle × cavities)
• Secondary labor (trim, inspect)
• Assumed scrap %
• Pack and freight for *one* shipment vs your planned releases

Send monthly dumps and real release qty. We will mark whether extra cavities or a recast belong in the 10,000 column.

We would not recommend dividing the 100-dump price by 100

We would not recommend releasing 10,000 as 100-dump calls and expecting the cheap number. We would not skip the jacket and then scale sag scrap. We would not treat an RTV-to-LSR switch as a scale curve. Raising Shore A first is the wrong fix for high trim labor; fix the split.

RUUIPON Mold Structure Decision: scale dumps on a frozen tray. Flat back? open-back. Soft 10A–20A or wet dump? mother mold before you add volume. Need molded *parts* at 10,000? different RFQ.

flowchart TD
  A[Want the 10k dump price?] --> B{Same RTV process?}
  B -->|no, LSR parts| C[Stop: process change, not scale]
  B -->|yes| D{Real release qty?}
  D -->|100-dump drops| E[Quote the drop size, not the annual]
  D -->|true batches| F[Split setup, scrap, recast]
  F --> G{Jacket flat?}
  G -->|no| H[Fix sag before you scale]

Typical shop values

Caption these as typical shop values, not a named lot.

| Item | Typical shop value | | --- | --- | | Mix | Platinum 1:1 or 10:1; vacuum degas | | Cavity Shore | 10A–20A skin with jacket | | Platinum shrink | About 0.1–0.3% | | Loaded-tray edge sag | About 0.5–1.5 mm without a jacket | | Outer-row vs center if tray sags | Edge often 3–6% heavy | | 12-cavity 18 mm bear | ~2,000 dumps/month is a common first production band |

FAQ

Why isn't the 10,000-dump price the 100-dump price divided by 100? Most of the drop is costs that barely care how many you pour: jacket setup, first-off fill-weight, and mold amortization. Dump compound per gram does not get cheaper unless you crossed a pack break. Cycle time does not magically halve.

What does not drop when RTV dump volume scales? Compound list price unless you hit a break, set time of the dump unless cavitation changed, cosmetic reject rate on a tray that was never capable, and sag scrap if the jacket is still missing. Scale multiplies a floppy sheet; it does not fix it.

Why do 100-dump weekly releases erase a 10,000-dump quote? You bought annual volume on paper and 100-dump factory physics in practice. Setup, restaged mix, and first-offs return. Quote the batch price at 10,000 and the price at your real release quantity.

Is RTV at 100 and LSR at 10,000 the same scale curve? No. That is a process change, which can be legitimate, but label it. An RTV cavity at 10,000 dumps is still a cavity; LSR on steel is molded *parts*.

Which lines should appear in both volume columns? Mold and recast, setup once per lot, dump material with min-buy, pour time, trim and inspect labor, assumed scrap, and pack/freight for one shipment versus planned releases. If a 10,000-dump unit price is 1/100 of the 100-dump price, the mold was given away at 100 or the process is not the same.