Costs of prints?

[rene1981]

Hello,

i just tried my 3d printer (up! plus 2) for the first time today.
Wenn i have only the material costs, it is:
price of filament / weight of filament rol * used weight of filament:
€35,- / 700 * 6 = €0,30

How is it possible that people can ask a lot of money for 1 print then?
Of course, I know you have also the hardware, energy costs etc. But, its still a low price...

Gr. René

[DrLuigi]

well depending on the weight the value changes of course, also shipping and the time they putted into making the print.

Also well they need some sort of profit for the effort, wich is easly already 4-6 euros wich is 10/20 times the value of example your product and well else they just don't see any profit to do it :P

[rene1981]

Sending costs are awfull. The lowest costs here in the Netherlands is about €6,00.
Unless someone else know a cheaper price? .

So, as you say for the model only (without shippings costs I mean), I can ask around €4,00?

[DrLuigi]

well your the seller, you choose.
but as retailing goes thats a normal price i guess depending on size,

I normaly give it for alot cheaper, but thats also since i only sold to friends so far :P

[bshadown]

An small question, how long a typical roll is? I know most people simply measure the weight but every time i use slic3r it tells me the total cúbic mm the desing has, and i want a faster way to measure the total filament used with out the need of Actually print the desing ( had some troubles with some customers already, they want cheaper on bigger prints)
And according to my math theres 2'405 cúbic mm per meter in a1.75mm filament. Any idea?

[GOC]

...
How is it possible that people can ask a lot of money for 1 print then?
Of course, I know you have also the hardware, energy costs etc. But, its still a low price...

- For me the answer is simple, 'time'. I consider my time pretty valuable, and since starting a print is not a quick process I tend to keep my prices between $10-$100 per print. For some my costs are not practical, but that keeps me from getting overwhelmed with print orders. (I do however offer heavy education discounts and discounts for any other organization designed to help our local youngsters)

An small question, how long a typical roll is?...

- A typical 1kg roll of 1.75mm PLA filament is 330m. A typical 1kg roll of 1.75mm ABS filament is 400m.
Resource: http://www.toybuilderlabs.com/blogs/...ume-and-length

...i want a faster way to measure the total filament used with out the need of Actually print the desing...

- Utilize the volume formula of:
V = (π*r²) * h
[Cubic Volume] = [ (PI) * Filament Radius(squared) ] * [filament length]

- So if your slicer gives you cm³(centimeters cubed) then you will want to use the following:
cm³ / (π*r²) = h

Example of 2cm³ @ 1.75mm filament:
2 / (π * 0.0875²) = 83.15cm of length

[Wolfie]

An small question, how long a typical roll is? I know most people simply measure the weight but every time i use slic3r it tells me the total cúbic mm the desing has, and i want a faster way to measure the total filament used with out the need of Actually print the desing ( had some troubles with some customers already, they want cheaper on bigger prints)
And according to my math theres 2'405 cúbic mm per meter in a1.75mm filament. Any idea?

According to MakerGeeks:

Big question of the day is... how long is a spool of 3D Printing Filament!? Hummmmm, I think even Blinky the wise old MakerGeeks.com owl might have a hard time with that question but never fear... we have the answer!!

1/kg Spool	PLA 1.75mm	PLA 3mm	ABS 1.75mm	ABS 3mm
	302,000.00mm	120,192.30mm	245,000.00mm	147,732.30mm

... and what does that mean to me and you!! Well, check this out... if you are printing with 3.00mm filament for a iPhone case you need about 2,700mm of filament; for a EPIC Starship Enterprize Model you'll need about 12,000mm of 3D Filament and for a full Kossel 3D Printer Kit we normally use about 50,000mm of filament. Another way to look at it according to MakerBot is that 1 spool of 3D Filament produces about 392 full sized chess pieces. Whoa... that's a lot of chess!!

[ram3d]

How is it possible that people can ask a lot of money for 1 print then?
Of course, I know you have also the hardware, energy costs etc. But, its still a low price...

Gr. René

Well for me, I'm a 3d modeler and anything I print is usually something I also 3d modeled. I take into consideration R&D time, how long it took me to 3d model an object. If I end up making molds and casting copies all that time is added into cost. You can't just base everything on material cost alone. Plus take into account how much you invested in paying for the 3d printer. You want to make the money back and all the time and effort, blood, sweat, tears.

I could go on and on. I guess it depends on if you are trying to make this a business or it's just a hobby. If it's just a hobby and you are printing for friends and family then just charge them material cost. If you have a dream of being an entrepreneaur then I'd advise against it.

[bshadown]

Well for me, I'm a 3d modeler and anything I print is usually something I also 3d modeled. I take into consideration R&D time, how long it took me to 3d model an object. ..... You can't just base everything on material cost alone. Plus take into account how much you invested in paying for the 3d printer. You want to make the money back and all the time and effort, blood, sweat, tears. ........

well, according to my mat, an small base of 7.5 cubic cm cost at least USD $0.58 for material only, if you add the use of the printer (USD $0.7) + the desing + my time = i get at least USD $1.98 per print, and if i charge at least 3 times that price ( once for the production cost, once for another print in future and once for my own income ) people barely accept the job and they want me to reduce the price at least half or even less, in other words they want me to give them a gift not a job.

[MercedesStolp]

It was just a common mentality of people that do bargaining for most of the thing. The cost of prints will depend on the work done, but people can't understand it becasue they don't the process of printing of 3-d printer. Many printers are there who are providing the low quality print outs which is not possible for all printers.