# 3DPrintBoardPro > 3D Services Available / Needed >  How to calculate printing costs

## Kalle Bowo

Hey folks,
		I have the most stupid basic question ... how do I actually calculate the price if I print something for somebody else? 	


  	 		First of all, I am just a stupid graphic designer, so please forgive me if you have to explain this step by step  Here  comes my example: This dude approached me and he wants a 15cm tall  object printed. The object itself is already ready for printing, but the modeling back then took roughly 1,5 days. I am using the Ultimaker 2+ and a filament that costs  40€/750g. Cura tells me if I use the "normal print" settings, it takes  8h 34min to print, uses 6,19m of filament, weighing 49g. But I could  also use the "fast print" settings (which are totally fine in my eyes  for the project), which would result in 4h 38min, 5,46m and 43g. 	


  	 		I know that in theory you need to calculate something like a "printing  price per hour", using the electricity costs, filament costs and such.  But you also need to take the costs for the maintenance of the printer  itself into consideration. And I haven't got the slightest idea how to  do that. I mean the machine can run smoothly for months and then, bam,  the nozzle gets clogged, you need to buy a heatgun to get the molten  plastic out of the print head, the whole stuff takes you 3 hours, you  accidentially melt one of the printer's fans, you need to buy a new fan  and the whole thing ends up costing you nearly 100€ ... happened to me  last month. It was a pleasure. But how on earth do you calculate for  these kind of things in advance?! 	

  	 		As I said, please forgive me for having to explain this whole thing  step by step. But I thought talking to actual human beings, telling me  from their experiences, might be far more insightful than looking up  that kind of knowledge on Google. I actually did already a while ago but  it didn't help me  

  	 		I am looking forward to your feedback, thank you very much!

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## Roberts_Clif

In Cura 15.04.6 which is OLD!!

Under Preferences You can enter the Filament
Density
Cont (price/kg)
Cost (price/m)

On the Screen after the Model is sliced the Price is displayed.

In Cura 3
Click Settings
Click Material
Click Manage Material

Click Material to change Add Information to Calculate Price

Slic3r
Click Filament Tab Add information  to Calculate Price




> Ultimaker uses 221 watts get your electric bill enter Price per K/w and use  https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/electricity-cost
> Electric price will be about 1 cents where I live maybe 4-8 cents where you live. for the 1.5 day print.
> 
> Add that to the sum (Price for the "Single-phase Meter base" (per month charge / 30 * 1.5) then Multiply that sum by the current Tax rate and Total.)
> The My total is about 55 cents -


Keep it simple 
Have a base charge minimum $?.00 setup fee for a single item.
Have a base charge minimum ($?.00 * number of items) setup fee for a multiple items.

    PLA (10 cents per gram)
    ABS (10 cents per gram)
    TPE and TPU flexible filament (35 cents per gram) Silicon and polyurethane casting and mold making

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## curious aardvark

it might be an old version of cura - but I much prefer it to the current version. Better layout and way easeir to use. 

This is a tricky question. Particularly if you also do the modelling then you need to charge for that as well. 
People often say: 'how much ? for a little bit of plastic.'
You then have to explain that it's also for your time and expertise and for the fact that it is a custom made object that usually can't be bought in a shop. 

Whatever number you initially thought of charging - double it.

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## Ciceniss

Thanks for teaching us how to calculate costs, I thought that it is easier.

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## Max Funkner

Here is a resin and filament 3D print cost calculator. Good for 3D print e-shop owners or casual 3D printer users.

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