What to charge per hour of printing

Ask what an hour of printing is worth and you get two answers mixed into one. The machine spends an hour by itself; you spend minutes on it by hand. These are different costs and they behave differently.

Both are below: the printer earns its keep through wear and electricity, your time is a rate you set.

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

PreparationminMinutes per PLATE: clear the last print, set up, start. Split across every part on the plateParts per platepcsPreparation is divided by thisPost-processingminMinutes per ONE part: remove supports, sand, assembleHardwareUSDMagnets, screws, inserts — per partPackagingUSDBatch sizepcsHow many you make in one goI want netUSDPer unit, after fees and cost

True cost

$5.13

everything included, per unit

Profit per unit

$2.86

Per machine-hour

$1.43/h

Your selling price

$7.99

Break-even

$5.13

Three price levels — tap to apply

Where the money goes

Your time$2.75

Filament$2.16

Wear & maintenance$0.16

Failed prints$0.04

Electricity$0.02

The machine hour

An hour of printing consumes electricity and a slice of the printer itself — its lifetime is finite, and every hour brings the next repair closer. That is what the wear line in the breakdown means, and it does not depend on whether you were in the room.

Your hour

Preparation and post-processing are paid at the rate you decide your time is worth. Leaving it at zero is a legal choice for a hobby, and a trap for a workshop: it silently declares your labour free.

One rule saves a lot of confusion later: preparation is paid per plate, post-processing per part. Eight identical stands take one setup of the bed and eight rounds of support removal.

Is 3D printing profitable?Whether printing for sale pays off depends less on the part than on what your printer earns per hour of work.
What electricity costs a 3D printHow much electricity a 3D print actually uses, and why it is almost never the reason a workshop loses money.
How to price a 3D printSet a price for a 3D printed item without guessing: cost first, then the margin you actually want to keep.
The costs you cannot see on the spoolPlastic and electricity are the visible part. Setup, post-processing and hardware routinely cost more than both together.