How do I calculate the cost of a 3D printed part?

Add material, machine time and labour per part, then divide by one minus the failure rate. In the example's lamp shade job, 20 shades at 2 per build need 10 builds of 12 hours, so 120 hours at 1.80 per hour is 10.80 per part; 95 g with 8% waste at 0.022 per g is 2.26; setup and finishing labour is 6.33. That is 19.39 per part printed, and at 6% failures 20.63 per good part, more than the 18.00 quoted.

Why charge machine time per build and not per part?

A printer is busy for the whole build whether the plate is full or not. The workbook rounds builds up (quantity / parts per build) and charges every build hour, so nesting more parts per build lowers the cost per part directly. In the example, the SLS snap-fit housings nest 150 per build, so 32 hours on a 28 per hour printer is only 2.99 per part.

How do I use a resin priced per litre or a filament priced per pound?

Choose the price unit on the Materials list. A price per kg is divided by 1000, a price per lb by 453.59237 (grams in a pound, exact), and a price per litre by 1000 x the density in g/cm3. The example's general resin at 140 per litre with a density of 1.15 costs 140 / 1150 = 0.1217 per gram; ASA filament at 14 per lb costs 0.0309 per gram.

What should the machine rate include?

Everything it costs to own and run the printer for one print hour, without the technician: depreciation, interest, the service contract, power, gas and space, plus wear parts such as resin tanks, nozzles or recoater blades. Divide the yearly total by the print hours you expect to sell. The Machine Hour Rate template builds one. The example rates (1.80 for a desktop printer to 95 for metal) are invented.

Why is the metal job below target when its price is high?

Machine time dominates metal printing. The example manifold demonstrator takes one 30-hour build at 95 per hour for four parts, which is 712.50 per part before material and labour; with supports removed by wire EDM and a 10% failure rate it costs 904.23 per good part, so the 950 price leaves only 4.8% margin. The chart of where each part's cost goes shows the machine share at 79%.

Is the weighted margin an average of the job margins?

No. It is the sum of job margin divided by the sum of job value over the priced jobs, so a 3,600 metal job counts for more than a 230 resin job, exactly as it does in your accounts. In the example it is 29.5% against a 35% target, pulled down by the metal demonstrator even though most jobs are on target.

Industry Cost Kits

3D Printing Cost Excel Template

Cost every 3D print job from the slicer's grams and build hours: material, printer time, setup and post-processing labour and failed prints, then check each quoted price against your target margin.

Overview

This 3D printing cost template is for service bureaus, in-house additive manufacturing labs and print farm owners who quote FDM, SLA, SLS or metal powder bed fusion jobs. It ships with twelve example jobs for a fictional service bureau on five printers, from cable clips on a desktop printer to a metal manifold demonstrator, so every number moves before you type your own.

Each job is a row on Print Jobs. Builds are the quantity divided by the parts per build, rounded up, because a part-full plate still costs a whole build. Machine cost is the builds times the build hours times the printer's machine rate from Setup; material is the slicer's grams times your waste and refresh allowance times the cost per gram, converted exactly from a price per kg, per lb or per litre; labour is setup minutes per build plus post-processing minutes per part at your technician rate. The failure rate then spreads the reprints over the good parts.

Margin on price is judged against your target margin, with job cost, value and margin for each job. The Dashboard shows the weighted margin, the jobs below target, the machine hours booked on each printer and the failure allowance, with a stacked chart of where each part's cost goes. For a single job with no failures, the live 3D Printed Part Cost calculator uses the same total, and the Verify sheet checks the workbook against its worked example.

What this template includes

Print Jobs table: printer, material, quantity, parts per build, grams per part, waste and refresh allowance, build hours, setup and post-processing minutes, failure rate and price for each job
Setup sheet with your technician labour rate, target margin, a printer list with machine rates per print hour and a material list priced per kg, per lb or per litre
Exact conversion of every material price to a cost per gram (1 lb = 453.59237 g; litres through the resin's density)
Per job: builds from your nesting, machine hours, material, machine, labour and failure allowance per part, cost per good part, margin with On target, Near target or Below target, and job cost, value and margin
Check column that names an unknown printer, a material without a price, a duplicate job or a missing slicer input in words
Dashboard: weighted margin, jobs below target, machine hours booked, failure allowance, a chart of where each job's cost goes, margin by job and load by printer
Method sheet with every formula, and a Verify sheet that rechecks the model, including the live 3D Printed Part Cost calculator's example
CSV with live formulas of the Print Jobs table; the dashboard, charts, dropdowns and self-check are in the .xlsx

Suggested use case

Use it to quote print jobs from slicer estimates, to see which technology and which jobs carry your margin, and to find quotes priced by weight that do not pay for the printer hours.

How to use it

On Setup, type your currency, technician labour rate and target margin, list your printers with their machine rate per print hour, and list your materials with price per kg, per lb or per litre.
On Print Jobs, add one row per job from the slicer: printer, material, quantity, parts per build, grams per part and build hours.
Add setup minutes per build, post-processing minutes per part, a failure rate from your records and the quoted price.
Read cost per part, margin and status for each job, and fix anything the Check column reports.
Open the Dashboard to see weighted margin, the jobs below target, where each job's cost goes and the hours each printer is booked.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I calculate the cost of a 3D printed part?: Add material, machine time and labour per part, then divide by one minus the failure rate. In the example's lamp shade job, 20 shades at 2 per build need 10 builds of 12 hours, so 120 hours at 1.80 per hour is 10.80 per part; 95 g with 8% waste at 0.022 per g is 2.26; setup and finishing labour is 6.33. That is 19.39 per part printed, and at 6% failures 20.63 per good part, more than the 18.00 quoted.
Why charge machine time per build and not per part?: A printer is busy for the whole build whether the plate is full or not. The workbook rounds builds up (quantity / parts per build) and charges every build hour, so nesting more parts per build lowers the cost per part directly. In the example, the SLS snap-fit housings nest 150 per build, so 32 hours on a 28 per hour printer is only 2.99 per part.
How do I use a resin priced per litre or a filament priced per pound?: Choose the price unit on the Materials list. A price per kg is divided by 1000, a price per lb by 453.59237 (grams in a pound, exact), and a price per litre by 1000 x the density in g/cm3. The example's general resin at 140 per litre with a density of 1.15 costs 140 / 1150 = 0.1217 per gram; ASA filament at 14 per lb costs 0.0309 per gram.
What should the machine rate include?: Everything it costs to own and run the printer for one print hour, without the technician: depreciation, interest, the service contract, power, gas and space, plus wear parts such as resin tanks, nozzles or recoater blades. Divide the yearly total by the print hours you expect to sell. The Machine Hour Rate template builds one. The example rates (1.80 for a desktop printer to 95 for metal) are invented.
Why is the metal job below target when its price is high?: Machine time dominates metal printing. The example manifold demonstrator takes one 30-hour build at 95 per hour for four parts, which is 712.50 per part before material and labour; with supports removed by wire EDM and a 10% failure rate it costs 904.23 per good part, so the 950 price leaves only 4.8% margin. The chart of where each part's cost goes shows the machine share at 79%.
Is the weighted margin an average of the job margins?: No. It is the sum of job margin divided by the sum of job value over the priced jobs, so a 3,600 metal job counts for more than a 230 resin job, exactly as it does in your accounts. In the example it is 29.5% against a 35% target, pulled down by the metal demonstrator even though most jobs are on target.