What does a typical print cost?

A 60 g PLA print: $1.20 filament + $0.15 power + $0.15 failure ≈ $1.50 true cost. The "it costs pennies" feeling is real but incomplete.

How do I price a print to sell?

True cost × 3 minimum, plus post-processing hours × your rate. The failure margin is not pessimism — it is your actual monthly experience divided by successful prints.

Does infill change cost?

Directly — weight is the cost driver. Halving infill halves the filament line; strength follows the same curve, which is the design trade.

Electricity: printer at 100 W?

Typical FDM: 50–80 W steady (nozzle+bed cycling), spiking at bed warm-up. 0.1 kWh/hour is the honest planning average for a mid-size printer.

3D Print Cost Calculator

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How the print cost calculator works

The three layers of cost

Filament is grams × price-per-gram (a $20 spool at 1 kg is 2¢/g — a 60 g print costs $1.20). Power is modest: a bed-heated printer averages ~100 W, so hours × 0.1 kWh × your rate. Failure margin is the honest layer: at 10% failure, every successful print carries 1/9 of its cost again. Together they are the true cost — typically 30–50% above the filament number alone.

For sellers

True cost × 3 is the craft-fair floor: materials, time, and the failed prints are all real costs.
Post-processing is the hidden labor: support removal, sanding, and painting often outcost the print itself — price it.
The electricity line matters at scale: a farm of printers running 24/7 pays real power bills; the hobbyist printing evenings barely notices.

Material economics

PLA at $20/kg anchors the hobby; PETG runs similar; ABS/ASA similar-plus-ventilation; nylon and carbon-fiber blends run 2–5×. Resin inverts the model: higher material cost per volume, near-zero electricity, and post-processing (wash, cure) that dominates labor. Same calculator logic, different constants.