The Hot-Glue Batch Kit

Map one piece's glue, buy the batch's sticks from a marked stick, set the heat for each pairing, clock the whole batch and price your hours in

GlueGunGuild's free calculators each answer one question about a hot-glue project. The Glue Stick Quantity Estimator wants a bead length and counts every bead as thick as the stick. The Craft Project Time Calculator times glue points and nothing else. The Glue Project Cost Calculator opens with your time at $0 an hour. On a batch of 24 pieces each gap grows 24 times. Writing this kit, we also found the Coverage Calculator counting dots from the whole stick, stub included (510 dots from five sticks where 460 can leave the gun), and the stick estimator rounding before it divided. Both are fixed. The Hot-Glue Batch Kit puts the tools in order. It maps one piece's dots and runs to a volume of glue, turns that into inches of your stick, checks it against a marked stick on three prototypes, and buys the batch rounded up from the largest reading. It groups the joints by gun temperature, clocks the whole batch with prep and preheats in, and prices your hours in. On the worked example, 24 silk-flower hair clips: counting dabs said 23 sticks and the batch needs 5; the time calculator read 9.8 minutes and the batch takes 4 h 19 min; the cost calculator said $1.17 a clip, and with the hours in the clip costs $3.92 and sells at $8. Every figure is computed from GlueGunGuild's own calculators, and the worked figures are examples; the markup, overhead and rework allowance are labeled rules of thumb, and nozzle temperatures are typical, with your gun's manual ruling. It includes the burn and station safety the free tools lack. Inside: seven steps, a piece map, a batch plan, a price sheet, a glue card and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the numbers you enter in the calculators.

Look inside

Two full pages from the kit, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Count the Glue, Not the Parts: every dot and run on one piece mapped to a volume of glue
• Volume, Not Length: inches of bead per inch of stick for six bead sizes, mini and full-size
• The Marked Stick Wins: three prototypes from a marked stick, and why you plan on the largest reading
• Short Is the Costly Side: the batch's sticks three ways, and the count for 12 to 100 pieces
• The Touchier Material Sets the Heat: the gun for each pairing, open and set time, a rotation, and the station safety checks
• Clock the Prep, Not Just the Glue: the whole batch on the clock, split into sessions by gun temperature
• The Price Covers the Hour: full cost with your hours in, the price, and the sales that pay for the booth
• The piece map, printable
• The batch plan and the price sheet, printable
• A glue card for six dot sizes and six bead sizes, and a one-page quickstart

The kit picks up where the free Craft Project Time Calculator leaves off. The calculator times glue points; the kit clocks the whole batch, prep and preheats included, and splits it into sessions by gun temperature. It maps one piece's dots and runs to a volume of glue, checks it against a marked stick, and buys the batch's sticks with the Glue Stick Quantity Estimator, rounded up. It sets the heat for each pairing with the Glue Gun Temperature Guide and prices your hours in with the Glue Project Cost Calculator. Hot glue burns: keep a bowl of cold water within reach, use a stand, unplug the gun when you stop, and give children a low-temp gun with an adult watching. The worked figures are examples.