What electricity costs a 3D print

Electricity is the cost people expect to be frightening. Put your own tariff and the printer in below, and it usually turns out to be cents.

That is worth knowing precisely, not vaguely: the fear of the power bill often hides the costs that actually hurt.

Filament usedgPart weight — supports and purge are added by the waste factorPrint timeh

Material

Printer

Sales channel

ElectricityUSDper kWhYour hour of workUSDZero means “I do not count my time”. A fair choice, but it is the most common reason a workshop runs at a loss without knowingConsumables per plateUSDAlcohol for washing, gloves, filters — spent per print, not per hour. Mostly a resin thing; on filament it is usually zero

Your selling priceUSDLeave empty to see the recommended one

Preparation, post-processing, hardware and packaging. Without them the cost treats your time as free

True cost

$2.38

everything included, per unit

Profit per unit

$1.61

Per machine-hour

$0.81/h

Your selling price

$3.99

Break-even

$2.38

Three price levels — tap to apply

Where the money goes

Filament$2.16

Wear & maintenance$0.16

Failed prints$0.04

Electricity$0.02

Why the bill is smaller than it feels

A desktop printer draws most of its power heating the bed, and only in bursts once it is up to temperature. Average consumption over a job is far below the nameplate figure, which is why the catalogue stores an average rather than a peak.

What does cost real money

Machine wear and failed prints. Every hour of printing brings the next repair closer, and a print that dies at the last layer burns everything it consumed. Both are in the breakdown above, and both are usually larger than the electricity line.