Additive Manufacturing worked example

Additive Machine Hour Rate with depreciation and lease cost of 55 $ / hr: a worked example

What does the result look like when depreciation and lease cost reaches 55 $ / hr? The full calculation is worked below with real intermediate numbers. a service bureau estimator or finance lead needs a defensible hourly rate for additive machine time

The inputs for this scenario

  • Depreciation/lease cost: 55 $ / hr (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 22)
  • Service and maintenance: 8 $ / hr (unchanged)
  • Facility and utilities: 6 $ / hr (unchanged)
  • Operator and handling burden: 14 $ / hr (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Machine hour rate = ownership + service + facility + operating burden) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 83 $ / hr for machine hour rate, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 55 $ / hr for depreciation/lease cost.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 8 $ / hr for service and maintenance.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 20 $ / hr for facility plus operating burden.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where depreciation and lease cost sits at 22 $ / hr and the headline result is 50 $ / hr, this scenario comes in 66% above the baseline at 83 $ / hr.
  • A figure at this level is achievable when depreciation and lease cost is genuinely sustained, not just peaked for a shift. It assumes you already have a realistic estimate of productive machine hours; a rate built on optimistic utilization will under-recover when printers sit idle.

Results at a glance

  • Machine hour rate: 83 $ / hr (headline result)
  • Depreciation/lease cost: 55 $ / hr
  • Service and maintenance: 8 $ / hr
  • Facility plus operating burden: 20 $ / hr

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Additive Machine Hour Rate calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.