How it is calculated
- Material
- Amount used × (spool or bottle price ÷ weight or volume). For FDM, enter the filament weight (g) shown in your slicer; for resin, enter the volume (ml). Some resins are sold by weight, such as 1 kg, so make sure the units match.
- Electricity
- Power draw (W) ÷ 1000 × print time (hours) × electricity rate (USD/kWh). The default of $0.17/kWh is a round figure close to the recent average residential electricity price in the United States (U.S. Energy Information Administration). Your actual rate depends on your plan and region, so check your bill or your utility’s rate table.
- Depreciation
- Printer price ÷ expected lifetime (hours of use) × print time. This spreads the cost of the printer over the hours it can be used. Lifetime varies greatly with how you use the printer, so leave it empty if you do not want to include it.
- Failed print allowance
- (Material + electricity + depreciation) × failure rate ÷ (1 − failure rate). With a failure rate of 20%, one successful print takes 1.25 prints on average, so the cost of the reprints is added. This assumes failed prints use all of the material and time, so the result is higher than reality if you stop failed prints early.
Each item is rounded to the nearest cent, and the total is their sum. The cost per hour is the total divided by the print time. The formulas are the same as on the Japanese page, which works in yen.
Typical power draw
Power draw varies greatly with the printer, material, settings and room temperature. The table below gives rough figures. The rated output of the power supply (for example 350 W) is a maximum, and the average while printing is almost always lower. To measure it, you can use a plug-in power meter to record the energy used by one print.
| Method | Average power draw (rough) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FDM (home use, with heated bed) | About 50–150 W | Can briefly exceed 200 W while heating up |
| FDM (enclosed or large) | About 100–300 W | Higher with chamber heating or high-temperature materials |
| Resin (home LCD) | About 30–100 W | Higher on printers with a resin heater |
| Resin (professional SLA, DLP) | Varies widely by printer | Check the maker’s specifications |
Costs not included
- Consumables and spare parts such as nozzles, build plates, FEP film and resin vats
- Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) for washing resin prints, gloves, and post-curing
- The work of removing supports, sanding and other post-processing
To compare printers by method, see FDM printers and stereolithography printers, or search printers by their specs.