Shrink, Cavity OD, and Gram Bands: What We Can Lock vs What Your Pour Owns
Buyers ask for CNC-style tolerances on a flexible tray and a sticky fill. We can lock millimetres in CAD. Grams still live in your process. This page is that split, written long enough that a purchasing email can quote it.
2018
Shenzhen shop
MOQ 20
Per design
3-7 days
After CAD lock
~24h
Complete RFQ
On this page
CAD owns millimetres. Your pour owns grams.
A steel CNC page can talk 0.001 inch because metal and a mill hold it. A platinum tray flexes. Chocolate temper, pectin solids, and resin layering move weight. If we print a fake gram guarantee, you will use it against us on a process you control.
We lock cavity OD and depth after CAD lock, with shrink compensation when we have a solid. We ask for a gram target and a band you can live with if a label or FBA pack depends on it.
Shrink compensation - about 0.1% when we have a solid
Typical platinum note is about 0.1%. It is not a license to skip units. An inch STL that is 25.4x large is not shrink. It is a units bug.
If you change chemistry after lock - hotter epoxy, different cocoa mass - tell us. We may nudge Shore. We do not silently remodel.
| Change after lock | What happens |
|---|---|
| Shore nudge from your pour | May stay in same CAD |
| New undercut | CAD reopen |
| Units miss | CAD reopen |
| Colorway only | Same cavity |
Listing inch vs cavity millimetres
Etsy titles in inches and CAD in mm is how returns start. Lock one OD for title, PDP, and tray. We tool millimetres even if your listing stays in inches.
| Surface | Must match |
|---|---|
| Title | Converted OD you will stand behind |
| PDP graphic | Same OD |
| Tray | Same OD after shrink note |
| Buyer caliper on the pour | Close if chemistry matches the quote |
Gram bands when a label exists
Send target grams and a band. We will not invent +/- 0.05 g on a 40 g chocolate if your temper cannot hold it. Sample-size tasting kits are a different URL if drift wrecks the flight.
Cavity 11 vs cavity 1 on a 12-up
One-cavity samples hide this. Production sheets show it. Weigh the sample sheet before you approve. Layout spacing is a blog. Production yield is a service page.
Approve with a scale in the room
Yes on a hero photo is how flash ships.
- 01
Pour your fill
Not a guess resin on a chocolate tool.
- 02
Caliper OD
Against the locked millimetres.
- 03
Weigh five cavities
If the SKU needs grams.
- 04
Shoot flash and islands
Reject checklist, not a lifestyle crop.
Amazon unit-count and nutrition are listing problems first
If you claim 24 pieces and the tray yields 10, that is not a shrink bug. Fix the listing or the tray. Do not ship both lies.
Caliper the tray. Scale the pour. Do not mix the two numbers.
Cavity OD is a millimetre conversation. Grams are a fill conversation. If you send us a screenshot of a kitchen scale on one cavity and ask us to 'match Amazon', we still need the locked OD and the listed pack count.
We will not average three random Instagram pours into a CAD change. Send five cavities from the sample sheet, same fill, same day.
How to write a gram band we can quote against
Write target grams and a band you can live with on the label. Example: 12 g target, +/- 1 g if the listing can take it. Do not write 'as accurate as possible'. That is not a spec.
If three flavor fills share one sheet, name all three. Cocoa mass and pectin solids are not the same density. One cavity CAD cannot magically hold three nutrition panels.
| You write | We can use it |
|---|---|
| 12 g +/- 1 g, compound chocolate | Yes, as a buyer band |
| Perfect grams | No |
| Same as competitor SKU | No. We will not copy |
| +/- 0.05 g on 40 g temper-sensitive bar | We will push back |
What we will not promise
Metal-mill tolerances on a floppy tray. Universal oz charts for bath bombs. FDA-approved factory. Identical grams across three flavor fills on one sheet without three processes.
RFQ
Intended OD in mm. Gram target and band if any. Pour. Pack count. Whether ads are already live.
FAQ
Can you hold CNC-style +/- 0.02 mm on silicone?
No. We lock practical millimetres for a flexible tool. Ask for the band you need in mm, not a mill fantasy.
Who owns gram variance?
Your pour and our cavity. We will not take all of it if chemistry was not on the RFQ.
MOQ?
20 trays per design.
Same as DFM page?
DFM is undercuts and islands. This page is OD, shrink, and grams.
Bath bomb ounces?
See the size-chart blog. Ounces are density, not OD.
Second colorway change grams?
Pigment can. Name both chemistries.
Prototype clock?
3-7 days after CAD lock.
In the top menu?
No. Process catalog only.
Related process pages
- ServiceDFM reviewRUUIPON DFM review for custom silicone molds: draft 1-3 deg, island meat, undercut budget, Shore after chemistry. MOQ 20. Not a WYD plant depositor brief.
- ServiceVacuum platinum traysPlatinum-cure production sheets with vacuum degassing for brand restock. MOQ 20, Shenzhen since 2018. Not a tin kit and not a plant mogul tool.
- ServiceMulti-cavity productionProduction multi-cavity silicone trays for brand yield. Spacing, web mm, pack math. MOQ 20. Not a one-cavity hobby tool.
- ServiceFood-contact quotingQuote food-contact silicone molds with FDA 21 CFR 177.2600 and LFGB sections 30/31 on request. No FDA-approved factory language. MOQ 20. Brand lane, not plant mogul.
Send the files for this process
Send your design, target material, and quantity. We confirm silicone grade, hardness, and certification needs - usually within 24 hours.