中文
Back to Blog

3D printing cost breakdown: material, electricity, machine and labor

by SKY-001 Independent Guide / Studio

A useful 3D printing cost estimate separates material, electricity, machine allowance and active labor. It starts with a sliced job, not just the outside dimensions of a CAD model. The 3D printing cost calculator uses these four components so you can see which assumption changes the result.

The example below matches the calculator's starting values. Dollar amounts are illustrative currency inputs, not local market quotes, measured printer consumption or a promised selling price. Use one currency consistently; the arithmetic works the same way with your own prices.

The worked example: a 120 g, six-hour job

Assume the slicer estimates 120 g of filament and six hours of printing. Filament costs $20 per kilogram. Average electrical power is entered as 120 W, and electricity costs $0.20 per kWh. Allocate $0.50 per machine-hour. Allow 15 minutes of active work at $20 per hour.

  • Material: 120 ÷ 1,000 × $20 = $2.40.
  • Electricity: 6 × 120 ÷ 1,000 × $0.20 = $0.144.
  • Machine allowance: 6 × $0.50 = $3.00.
  • Labor: 15 ÷ 60 × $20 = $5.00.

The unrounded total is $10.544, displayed as $10.54. The energy input is 0.72 kWh. Keep full precision until the final display rather than rounding each intermediate number. This is a planning cost for the entered assumptions, not a quotation or a complete business accounting model.

Use sliced consumption, including the disposable parts

Enter the material consumed by the whole job, including support, brim, raft and purge material when applicable. Do not substitute the final part's weight if the printer also extrudes plastic you will throw away. For multi-material jobs, calculate each material at its own price and combine those costs; a single-price calculator cannot represent different spool prices accurately without a separately computed blended rate.

Infill affects consumption and print behavior, but 20% infill does not mean the job uses 20% of a solid model's material. Walls, top and bottom layers, solid regions and supports also consume filament. Prusa's infill documentation explains its roles in supporting upper layers and affecting material use, speed and strength. The support documentation explains why unsupported regions can require extra printed structure.

Reslice after changing orientation, layer height, walls, infill or supports. Those choices can alter both grams and hours. Model volume alone does not determine exact print time: toolpaths, acceleration, speed limits and the printer profile also matter. The calculator accepts time as an input; it does not derive a verified runtime from volume.

Choose rates you can explain

A power supply's rated maximum is not the same as average power drawn throughout a print. Heating, bed temperature and operating conditions affect consumption. Use a suitable energy meter or your own recorded consumption when available. Otherwise label the entered wattage as an assumption and consider a higher and lower scenario.

Machine allowance can cover depreciation and routine maintenance. For example, spread your chosen ownership and maintenance budget across expected productive hours, then document the resulting hourly rate. That allocation is a management choice, not a universal industry price. Avoid counting the same electricity or operator time twice if your existing machine rate already includes them.

Count active labor: preparation, setup, removal, support cleanup and inspection. Six hours of unattended printing does not automatically mean six hours of paid hands-on work. Conversely, a difficult cleanup step may cost more than the plastic. Record the work you actually expect rather than hiding it inside a material markup.

Turn an estimate into a decision

For a second scenario, change only filament consumption from 120 g to 150 g. Material rises from $2.40 to $3.00, so the estimate becomes $11.144, or $11.14, if every other input stays fixed. An additional ten minutes of labor at $20 per hour adds about $3.33. This comparison shows which improvements deserve attention in this example.

Real failures, packaging, shipping, tax and profit are outside these four components. Add them separately where relevant and explain them to the recipient. Do not assume a zero failure rate or present a cost subtotal as a guaranteed retail price.

Before slicing, read STEP vs STL to check units and the exported mesh. If the shape is still being defined, use the design-brief example. For a building-layout calculation rather than a print job, use the separate floor area calculator; floor area is not a proxy for filament consumption.

When sharing the job behind an estimate, use 3MF vs STL to distinguish model geometry from saved slicer settings; a smaller file does not mean a cheaper print.

References: Prusa Knowledge Base: infill and support material.