What’s the cost of a 3D print?

Having dealt with two ways to work out your power usage, it’s time to put method 1 into action using the last of the PLA filament from my first project.

My Test Prints

Here’s a quick overview of what I used to do these prints, along with the various results:

Printer: Creality CR6-SE

Slicer software: Ultimaker Cura 4.9.1

Cura Profile: Cura4-8TerrainDungeon4mm_V1 – Standard Quality (courtesy of Tom Tullis/Fat Dragon Games)

All files are from the “Wasteland Inhabitants” [Punkapocalyptic Kickstarter] by Bad Roll Games and the painted models are from EM4 Miniatures (used to show 28mm scale).

File: Concrete Wall 1

Estimated print time: 43 minutes using 3g/0.90m of PLA for a cost of £0.05

Calculated power cost: £0.02 (0.0186p)

File: Concrete Wall 2

Estimated print time: 40 minutes using 3g/0.89m of PLA for a cost of £0.05

Calculated power cost: £0.01 (0.0144p)

File: Concrete Wall 3

Estimated print time: 43 minutes using 3g/0.88m of PLA for a cost of £0.04

Calculated power cost: £0.01 (0.0135p)

File: Concrete Wall 4

Estimated print time: 43 minutes using 3g/0.90m of PLA for a cost of £0.05

Calculated power cost: £0.02 (0.0155p)

File: Concrete Wall 5

Estimated print time: 2 hours & 51 minutes using 12g/3.98m of PLA for a cost of £0.20

Calculated power cost: £unknown (I’m a doofus and forgot to write the figures down)

* Estimation based on Print #2 above (0.0144p/40 minutes = 0.00036p per minute)

File: Concrete Wall 6

Estimated print time: 3 hours & 10 minutes using 12g/4.10m of PLA for a cost of £0.21

Calculated power cost: £unknown (Because I’m still a doofus!)

* Estimation based on Print #2 above (0.0144p/40 minutes = 0.00036p per minute)