How to calculate a 3D print cost

Separate material, energy, machine use, labour and risk instead of using one arbitrary rate.

Core principle

Separate material, energy, machine use, labour and risk instead of using one arbitrary rate. Druk3DTo exposes assumptions and lets you edit them instead of hiding everything in one rate.

Practical process

1. Collect data from your slicer, G-code, scale and power meter.
2. Separate material, machine time and manual labour.
3. Record the actual result after printing to improve the next estimate.
4. Include waste, supports, trials and failed prints.

Do not assume

A power-supply rating is not average consumption, a spool may not contain exactly 1000 g net, and slicers do not use one universal metadata format.

Next step

Open Druk3DTo tools and calculate with your own data.