Machine cost per hour Hello all, I would like to offer in my city the 3d printing service but I need help from the experts on how to calculate the machining cost in an hourly basis. I'm using skeinforge to get statistics about the printing and I have calibrated the material consumption but from your experience, what is the ideal cost/hour of the machine? Does this cost include energy and direct labor time? Thank you https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144829#msg-144829 Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:31:24 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146999#msg-146999 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146999#msg-146999 C. Cecil General Wed, 08 Aug 2012 14:37:43 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146441#msg-146441 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146441#msg-146441
When I try to increase the build speed I reduce the first layer % to keep the first layer slow but for some reason I seem to get too little plastic on the first layer outline, which is 50% of the infill speed.]]> nophead General Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:49:15 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146427#msg-146427 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146427#msg-146427
I have started using 115% layer height for the first layer to make it easier to stick as well as not having as much of an issue with z home postion being a problem. I also use 50% speed for the first layer typically...sometimes 30%.]]> C. Cecil General Sun, 05 Aug 2012 16:27:53 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146383#msg-146383 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146383#msg-146383
I am having problems getting the first layer right with Marlin. It seems the slower I have it, the less plastic I get. Could this be why?]]> nophead General Sun, 05 Aug 2012 13:09:01 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146257#msg-146257 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146257#msg-146257
M204 - Set default acceleration: S normal moves T filament only moves (M204 S3000 T7000) im mm/sec^2 also sets minimum segment time in ms (B20000) to prevent buffer underruns and M20 minimum feedrate]]> C. Cecil General Sat, 04 Aug 2012 12:29:37 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146071#msg-146071 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,146071#msg-146071 -------------------------------------------------------
> I play with my accels during prints via M204 Sxxx
> (for normal moves) M204 Txxx (for filament moves).
> It is an easy way to tell if you are having
> issues related to accel.
>

Thello Cecil,

As far as I understand M204 modifies the hotend temperature. I tryied yesterday to modify the accel in my Marlin Hardware to 1500.

Thank you all!]]> epareja General Fri, 03 Aug 2012 09:04:10 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145959#msg-145959 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145959#msg-145959
I don't seem to see the same problems with the holes you are seeing at low jerk rate also. If you have a pic for comparison I would be interested to see the difference.]]> C. Cecil General Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:18:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145910#msg-145910 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145910#msg-145910 -------------------------------------------------------
> The default accel in yours seems to be set to
> 300...default is 3000. I use 1500 as a starting
> point...2000 is probably good also. I leave the
> max acceleration where they are. Then on my
> machines I set the default xyjerk to 10.

I found that setting xyjerk that low causes the printer to start stuttering while printing circles. At 20 they get cleanly printed at constant speed (at least for 50mm/s).

Also, since the extruder has very little mass to accelerate (basically just the motor's rotor, the gears and the geared-down bolt are probably insignificant), it's safe to use a very large acceleration parameter and get fast retractions.]]> ttsalo General Thu, 02 Aug 2012 08:07:04 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145788#msg-145788 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145788#msg-145788
I personally prefer slower prints to skipped steps or other issues related to accel ("ringing" around holes in the prints for example).

I play with my accels during prints via M204 Sxxx (for normal moves) M204 Txxx (for filament moves). It is an easy way to tell if you are having issues related to accel.

There have been times (printed gt2 pulleys, concentric/concentric fill) where I lowered the accel down to 500.]]> C. Cecil General Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:22:09 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145784#msg-145784 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145784#msg-145784 I had them in the default 3000.

#define DEFAULT_MAX_ACCELERATION {9000,9000,100,10000} // X, Y, Z, E maximum start speed for accelerated moves. E default values are good for skeinforge 40+, for older versions raise them a lot.

#define DEFAULT_ACCELERATION 300 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for printing moves
#define DEFAULT_RETRACT_ACCELERATION 3000 // X, Y, Z and E max acceleration in mm/s^2 for r retracts

/
#define DEFAULT_XYJERK 20.0 // (mm/sec)
#define DEFAULT_ZJERK 0.4 // (mm/sec)

Does this could have an impact on qualtiy?]]> epareja General Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:15:06 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145782#msg-145782 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145782#msg-145782 C. Cecil General Wed, 01 Aug 2012 13:01:47 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145119#msg-145119 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145119#msg-145119 Andrew Diehl General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 18:35:30 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145110#msg-145110 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145110#msg-145110 NelsonRap General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 17:28:05 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145092#msg-145092 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145092#msg-145092 nophead General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 14:40:07 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145072#msg-145072 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145072#msg-145072 epareja General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:57:27 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145046#msg-145046 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145046#msg-145046 Andrew Diehl General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 03:40:54 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145044#msg-145044 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145044#msg-145044
Quote

Machine time cost is 11.81$.
Material cost is 1.47$.
Total cost is 13.27$.

What about the time for aquiring, data preparation, postprocessing, shipping?

Quote

I have quoted this part in several 3d printing services over the web and the average cost is 110 US dollars.

You should reduce that difference, even if you manage to be that cheap. Customers won't believe it.]]> Traumflug General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 03:27:02 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145038#msg-145038 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145038#msg-145038
Thank you Traumflug for the recommendation about quality. I will sure keep it in mind!

Thank you akhlut for your costs explanation.

I have configured in skeinforge the hourly cost for the machine in US$5 and the ABS filament per KG about US$45. With those two values I get this values for this file Greg's Accessible extruder
Cost
Machine time cost is 11.81$.
Material cost is 1.47$.
Total cost is 13.27$.

I have quoted this part in several 3d printing services over the web and the average cost is 110 US dollars.

There is a big difference!!!!]]> epareja General Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:47:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145032#msg-145032 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145032#msg-145032 NelsonRap General Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:14:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145002#msg-145002 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,145002#msg-145002
I charge a flat hourly rate, which I calculated based on average material usage, power consumption, machine wear, etc. I go straight off the time predicted by the slicer +20% for loading filament, removing any little bits of support, boxing parts, etc.

We have a very high (95%) successful print rate, so there is very little waste built into the cost. If you end up having a bunch of bad parts, you should account for that as well.

Keeping the quote straightforward makes my life easier and makes quotes more uniform.]]> Andrew Diehl General Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:21:48 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144948#msg-144948 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144948#msg-144948
Quote

I would like to offer in my city the 3d printing service but I need help from the experts on how to calculate the machining cost in an hourly basis.

Likely, your customers won't want to rent a machine on an hourly basis, but get printed parts done. So, the real question is, which measures of the part are approximately proportional to the costs manufacturing it. Most services I've seen use part weight/volume and choosen material. Perhaps surface finish, too, if you can offer options here.

Putting emphasis on the part instead of on the time to create it has another advantage: in the beginnings, you have only few experience, but much time. So, it doesn't hurt too much if you have to make a part twice to get a good one.

BTW., never ever ship low quality parts. Customers will remember that and strongly prefer a service which does good quality on the first try.

My experience is, for customer satisfaction parts have to be pretty. Much more important than accurate measurements, as disappointing as this is. So, think twice before you start sanding them to improve measurements. In my Stereolithography days I had a sandblaster, just to make an evenly looking surface after sanding.]]> Traumflug General Fri, 27 Jul 2012 06:13:17 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144884#msg-144884 Re: Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144884#msg-144884
Your sunk costs consist of all the investment you've made in building your machine and the ancillary support devices that are required to run it. Since you own these outright (I assume) they are costs that occurred in the past and cannot be recovered, hence they are "sunk". While sunken costs are necessary, the tax code may allow for recovery of depreciation costs of your equipment. So there is a remedy for sunken costs, but only as an offset to income generated by the asset.

Your fixed costs are things that can easily be traced that support production. An example would be heating and cooling the work space - you would heat or cool regardless of where the machine is. Another fixed cost would be the electricity consumption of the powered-on state of the machine while it is out of production. You can extend this cost to the PC driving the reprap as well. Plug-in power meters are available relatively cheaply now, so that should make measuring the base load a trivial matter.

Variable costs are the running costs of the machine. Electricity draw while running, plastic, PC running time, etc. These can be easily traced to the production of a single item.

Then you have the ugly bit - overhead. Overhead costs are not easily traceable the production of a part. So they must be allocated. Welcome to managerial accounting! Maintenance costs can be either a variable cost, a variable overhead cost or a fixed overhead cost, depending upon how you perform maintenance. So there is no hard and fast rule for allocating overhead costs. But you must estimate overhead costs and allocate them to every job. For reprap, there are several things that come to mind. Maintenance costs (planned), downtime costs(unplanned), calibration costs, consumables (a kapton bed may last for several parts from different orders). Just because your machine isn't active doesn't mean it isn't costing you money - every moment of downtime is a lost opportunity. Overhead attempts to quantify this cost.

So I hope I've given you something to think about! If you don't fully account for the costs involved with starting a business, or discount the costs too much you run the risk of failure, so be conservative in your estimates.

Good luck!]]> akhlut General Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:21:40 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144829#msg-144829 Machine cost per hour https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?1,144829,144829#msg-144829
I would like to offer in my city the 3d printing service but I need help from the experts on how to calculate the machining cost in an hourly basis.

I'm using skeinforge to get statistics about the printing and I have calibrated the material consumption but from your experience, what is the ideal cost/hour of the machine? Does this cost include energy and direct labor time?

Thank you]]> epareja General Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:47:48 -0400