Using the 3D Printing Job Cost Calculator
Include supports and waste in material per attempt. Keep machine depreciation separate from electricity to avoid double counting, and enter labour and overhead on the same per-attempt basis used by the failure model.
Worked example
Use the example inputs below to reproduce this result. These are the form's starting values, not recommended targets. Changing your inputs updates your result above; this worked example stays fixed for comparison. Results are rounded for display.
Example inputs
- Material per attempt (g), incl. supports
- 100
- Material price per kg
- 1200
- Print hours per attempt
- 5
- Machine cost per hour (excludes power)
- 20
- Average printer power (W)
- 150
- Electricity price per kWh
- 10
- Labor minutes per attempt
- 20
- Labor price per hour
- 300
- Other overhead per attempt
- 25
- Probability of full-attempt failure (%)
- 5
- Profit calculation
- Profit margin
- Target margin / markup (%)
- 25
Example result
- Cost per attempt
- 352.5
- Expected cost per successful job
- 371.05263
- Suggested quote before tax
- 494.73684
- Profit on successful job
- 123.68421
- Gross margin (%)
- 25
- Markup (%)
- 33.333333
Method and assumptions
Material = grams/1000 × kg price; power = hours × watts/1000 × tariff; add machine, labor and overhead per attempt. Expected cost per success = attempt cost / (1 − failure probability), assuming independent failures consume an entire attempt and unlimited retries. Margin price = cost/(1−margin); markup price = cost×(1+markup). Excludes tax/shipping and design fees unless included in overhead; margin is not markup.
Reference: blog.prusa3d.com — method and further reading
Keep accounting and cash timing separate
Business calculations can describe profitability, asset values or the timing of cash flows. These are related but different questions. Check which one the tool answers before using the result in a decision. A cash payment, an accounting expense and an investment return may occur in different periods, even when they relate to the same transaction.
Common question
Why is a twenty-five percent margin different from a twenty-five percent markup?
Markup adds a percentage of cost to the cost. Margin measures profit as a percentage of the selling price, so it requires dividing cost by one minus the margin. For the same positive cost and percentage, a margin-based price is higher than a markup-based price.