Formula Bench

Free, no account needed, sized for a phone at the bench

The maths, done.

Calculators for people making things in small batches. Every one shows its working, so you can check the number instead of trusting it.

A candle jar filled to ninety percent, the calculator's default example Brim
8 fl ozVessel 90%Fill 8%Load 177 gWax

Why the working is shown

Most calculators hand you a number and nothing else. That's fine until the number looks wrong, at which point you have no way to tell whether the tool is mistaken or your assumption is - so you do the arithmetic by hand anyway, and the tool has saved you nothing.

Every bench here prints the formula it used, the densities and constants behind it, and a worked example with real figures. Check it once, trust it after.

Who makes this

Formula Bench is built by Lavender Ink, which is a candle company first. The calculations come out of pouring actual batches and getting them wrong in the usual ways: jars overfilled by exactly the fragrance percentage, wholesale orders priced without counting labour, diffusers that went cloudy overnight.

Where a figure is a starting default rather than a law of physics, the page says so.

The apps

Chandler covers the candle calculations and Waft covers diffusers, both on iOS. Epoxio, for resin and casting, is next, and more will follow as the benches here grow. Everything on this site is free and stays free - the apps are for when you want your vessels, waxes and batches saved rather than re-entered each time.

Something missing?

If there's a calculation you keep doing on paper, it's worth saying so. The queue is short and reader requests move up it.