Custom Gummy Shapes That Fill and Dump

If you're tooling custom shapes for gummy products, you're designing cavities a depositor can fill and a dump station can empty, at a volume QC can weigh.

The mascot is marketing. The cavity is manufacturing. Brands that start in illustration end in starved ears and locked logos. Starch has limits; platinum RTV can hold undercuts a mogul can't print. Food-contact of the tray, if RTV, is still 21 CFR 177.2600 extractives / LFGB. The shape doesn't get a medical story because it looks like a fruit.

Mascot cavities that fill

A custom outline has channels. If the shot lands in the belly, gel has to flow into ears, tails, letter counters, and shoes before it skins. Ear roots thicker than a hairline, no fully enclosed loops unless dump is peel or designed flex, paths that don't drop below what the viscosity will fill, a belly that isn't an air trap on the show face. 3D charm files from jewelry and game assets are the usual bad intake — undercut sculptures. Retopologize for a gel. The brand can keep the look from two meters; the cavity has to survive two seconds of dump. Vitamin custom shapes still fill by volume. A "bottle" that's mostly neck will starve. Put the milliliters in the body.

Undercuts a starch mogul can't hold

Starch prints a drafted impression. Deep hooks, through-holes, and interlocking parts aren't starch shapes. If the SKU needs those, production moves to platinum RTV (flex dump) or a jacketed hybrid — that's the commercial reason custom mascots leave moguls, along with dust. If the custom shape is only a printed silhouette with draft, starch may still be the right factory. Custom isn't a synonym for silicone. Closed loops (a handle, a donut) trap on knock dump; design a split the gel can leave, or fund a peel/flex station. Don't discover the handle at FAT.

Common mix-up: "custom" means it has to be RTV

A lot of RFQs treat any new outline as an RTV job. In the shop that usually means you've left a working mogul or a PC cup for art that was still a drafted silhouette. Custom is "not the stock bear unless the stock bear is the art." A custom outline that's still a drafted cup can stay PC.

Logo relief must fill and leave — hairline serifs fail; radius; test in gel, not in a resin print of the cavity. Texture (gloss from polish, matte from a specified master texture) is part of the shape because it changes dump. Paint, sanding sugar, and printing on the gummy are post-dump. Show face is usually the cavity bottom.

Bears have a known belly. Custom dinosaurs don't. Freeze milliliters first, then sculpt to that volume. Scored "shareable" shapes are still one cavity unless you truly dump two pieces. A score line is a notch that must dump, not a dosing device — don't label the CAD with milligrams. Family of custom shapes at one mass (seasonal) keeps the shot and the pouch count still.

Process: volume + dump method → CAD with draft and ear roots → platinum RTV one-up → deposit real slurry, dump, weigh, photograph tears → revise → array at depositor pitch. Skipping to a 40-cavity custom tray is how you buy forty identical mistakes. Licensed characters add a legal hold — don't cut 40 cavities while legal is arguing ears. Hollow or shell-style custom gummies are usually the wrong ask for deposit; translate "hollow look" into a deep dimple, or refuse the shell. Dual-language logos: test both scripts; some are hairline by nature.

What to ask when you're buying a custom shape

• Target milliliters / grams before the outline?
• Dump motion, undercuts real?
• Nozzle pitch — will this mascot sit on the grid you already own?
• One-up in plant slurry before the array?
• Starch still in play, or is dust forbidden?
• Who owns the master if art is late or licensed?

Example

A dinosaur that looked larger than the house bear but had to hit the same pouch count: 20-cavity RTV face, 2.4 ml, 16 mm dump depth, Shore 22A, jacketed, sculpted inside the bear's volume envelope. Same nozzle pitch as the 40-cavity bear tray. Art changed; milliliters didn't.

When custom shape work is the wrong CAD job

Copying a competitor mascot isn't a legal plan or a CAD plan. Hollow chocolate-shell processes in gelatin usually aren't something we owe you. If legal hasn't cleared a licensed character, we can pour a non-infringing volume block (a drafted lump at the right milliliters) and face it later. A 3D-printed master is a pattern for a platinum RTV one-up if you finish it and avoid cure inhibition — it isn't a production tray.

Related reading: custom cavity DFM, vitamin cavity design, gummy trays.

Shape RFQ

• Volume envelope (ml / grams) locked before art
• Dump sketch, undercuts, logo stroke
• Nozzle pitch, tray size, family vs unique width
• One-up then array; starch vs RTV vs PC
• 177.2600 extractives / LFGB if the tray is RTV

Send grams, formula, nozzle pitch, tray envelope, and the outline (not a jewelry STL unless you accept a retopo). We'll freeze milliliters and dump before the mascot grows ears.

We would not recommend a jewelry STL as a production cavity

We would not recommend skipping to a 40-cavity custom tray, or treating "custom" as a synonym for RTV. A drafted silhouette can stay PC or starch. We would not label the CAD with milligrams. We would not cut licensed ears while legal is still arguing. Translate "hollow look" into a dimple, or refuse the shell.

flowchart TD
  V[Volume envelope locked] --> D[Dump + undercuts real?]
  D --> C[CAD: draft, ear roots, logo stroke]
  C --> O[Platinum RTV one-up]
  O --> P[Plant slurry, dump, weigh, photo tears]
  P -->|fail| C
  P -->|pass| A[Array at existing nozzle pitch]

Typical shop values: seasonal mascot inside a locked volume envelope

| Item | Typical shop value | | --- | --- | | Piece-weight target | 4.0 g (cavity volume × measured slurry density; fill-to-brim or fill-to-line stated) | | Outer-row vs center | 3–6% heavy if the loaded tray sags under the nozzles | | Loaded-tray edge sag | 0.5–1.5 mm without a flat jacket | | Cavity Shore | 10A–20A platinum RTV skin + rigid jacket | | Platinum linear shrink | 0.1–0.3% (cut the master so poured pitch lands) | | Mix | Platinum 1:1 or 10:1 on the one-up and the face set | | Family rule | Same milliliters / 4.0 g class so the shot and pouch count still |

Caption these as typical shop values, not a measurement on your PO.

FAQ

Can we copy a competitor's mascot as a custom shape? Not as a legal plan, and not as CAD. Even as a sketch you still need volume and dump. IP is your counsel's job. Geometry is ours. Bring original art.

Why did our custom fruit look sharp in CAD and round after dump? The gel smeared a sharp edge, or the relief was too shallow, or dump was warm. Radius less in the next one-up only after a cold dump trial. CAD sharpness isn't gel sharpness.

Do custom shapes force RTV instead of plastic? Only if dump needs flex or the undercut is real. A custom outline that's still a drafted cup can stay PC. The word custom doesn't pick the polymer.

How do we keep custom seasonal shapes at the same piece-weight? Same target milliliters, family faces, same shot. Sculpt inside a volume envelope. QC keeps one mass file. Art changes. Faces change.

Is a 3D-printed master a custom gummy shape? It's a master for a platinum RTV one-up if you finish it and avoid cure inhibition. It isn't a production tray. Production is a jacketed RTV array or a PC tool at depositor pitch.