Deciding what hot melt formula isn't the only important factor when buying hot melt. We understand how tricky it can be to estimate cost and coverage of hot melt. Hotmelt.com is about to make your life easier by showing you some simple math for finding your hot melt coverage and cost.

Dot Reference

• 1/4" Dot Size will give you approximately 9,500 dots per pound or approximately .10 pounds per 1,000 dots
• 1/2" Dot Size will give you approximately 2,300 dots per pound or approximately .42 pounds per 1,000 dots

Linear Reference

• 1/16" linear bead will give you approximately 1,600 feet per pound or approximately .6 pounds per 1,000 linear feet
• 1/8" linear bead will give you approximately 425 feet per pound or approximately 2.3 pounds per 1,000 linear feet
• 1/4" linear bead will give you approximately 180 feet per pound or approximately 5.4 pounds per 1,000 linear feet

  Now, to estimate all you need to do is determine what dot size or linear bead size your application will use. After that the math is simple!
Dots: (Dots per piece x pieces per hour) = dots per hour / dots per pound = glue pounds per hour
Linear: (Feet per applications x applications per hour) = total feet per hour / feet per lb. = glue pounds per hour needed

Extracted from: http://www.hotmelt.com/blog