How Much Does One 3D Print Cost?

Filament is the obvious cost. Electricity, failed prints, packaging and the machine itself are the ones that quietly eat the profit.

Written by Maker #02 & Dad

We used to think a print cost 'the plastic'. A one-kilogram spool of PLA costs about 320.000đ, so a 40 gram print costs about 12.800đ. Easy. Also wrong.

The costs we forgot

Electricity — the printer draws around 120W. A four-hour job is roughly 1.500đ.
Failed prints — about 1 in 12 jobs fails. That failure rate has to be spread across the ones that succeed.
Packaging — box, tissue, sticker and card come to about 10.000đ per order.
Machine fund — the printer will wear out. We put 20.000đ per sale aside to replace it.
Time — we do not pay ourselves yet, but Dad makes us write the hours down anyway.

The honest number

On a 150.000đ product, real costs are about 60.000đ once everything is counted. That leaves 90.000đ. It is a good margin, but it is not 137.000đ, which is what we thought at the start.

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