Depreciation calculator, the hourly cost a printer actually carries
A 3D printer is not free to run even when the print comes out perfect: every hour on the plate uses up part of what you paid for the machine, plus the nozzles, belts, bed and servicing it needs to keep working. Enter the purchase price, an expected lifetime in hours or years, and ongoing maintenance, and the calculator spreads the whole cost across the machine's working hours into a single hourly figure you can drop straight into a quote.
Open the depreciation calculator A free account opens this tool. The interface is in English and nothing you enter leaves your browser.How it works
Three fields in, one hourly cost out, ready for a quote.
Enter the machine's numbers
Type in what the printer cost to buy, how long you expect it to keep working expressed in hours or years, and what you expect to spend keeping it running: nozzles, belts, the bed and any service calls. A manufacturer's own motor-hour rating is a better starting point than a guess, when one is published.
Read the hourly cost
The calculator spreads the purchase price and the maintenance total across the machine's expected working hours together, producing one hourly figure. That figure represents the part of the machine's value each printing hour uses up, independent of the material used or the size of the part.
Add it to a quote or compare machines
Add the hourly cost to the material cost of a job for the real cost of printing it, the number the Cost Calculator is built to combine. Change the price, lifetime or maintenance for a second machine and compare the two hourly figures directly before you decide which one is actually cheaper to run.
Reference
Payback analysis parameters
| Parameter | Value | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Annual discount rate | 10 | % |
| Analysis horizon | 60 | months |
Default values of the payback analysis
Three numbers, one hourly rate
Price and maintenance are spread across the same working hours, not treated as separate line items.
Built around the number a quote is missing without it
Material cost alone is not the real cost of a print. The machine wearing out while it runs is a cost too, and it is easy to forget precisely because no invoice arrives for it.
One hourly figure from three real inputs
Purchase price, expected lifetime and maintenance are not left as three numbers to reconcile by hand. The calculator combines all three into a single hourly cost, so a quote has one figure to add for the machine rather than a purchase price sitting unused in a spreadsheet somewhere.
A conservative lifetime protects the quote
Entering an optimistic lifetime understates the hourly cost and quietly erodes margin on every job priced with it. A conservative estimate, 3 to 5 years or the manufacturer's own motor-hour rating when one is published, keeps the hourly figure honest even if the machine turns out to last longer than expected.
Maintenance is not a separate afterthought
Nozzles wear, belts stretch, beds warp and printers need service calls over their working life, and all of that cost is spread across the same hours as the purchase price rather than treated as a surprise expense that shows up outside the pricing model.
Built to feed a real quote, not sit on its own
The hourly cost this tool produces is designed to be added to material cost in the Cost Calculator, and to be recalculated with different numbers when you are comparing two printers before a purchase, not filed away as a one off calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a 3D printer need to be depreciated at all?
Because without it, a job that looks profitable on paper is quietly eating the printer. Material and labour are obvious costs with an invoice attached; the machine wearing out while it runs has no invoice, but when it eventually needs replacing, the money for a new one has to have come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the prints it made along the way.
Should I enter the printer's lifetime in hours or in years?
Whichever you actually track. Hours are the more precise input if your slicer or printer logs runtime, since two machines bought the same year can rack up very different total hours. If you only know roughly how long you expect to keep a machine in service, years work too; a conservative figure, 3 to 5 years or the manufacturer's own motor-hour rating when one is published, is a safer starting point than an optimistic one.
Is maintenance included in the hourly cost, or is that separate?
It is included. Nozzles, belts, the bed and any service the printer needs are spread across the same working hours as the purchase price, so the hourly figure already reflects the real cost of keeping the machine running, beyond what it cost to buy on day one.
How do I actually use the hourly cost in a quote?
Add it to the material cost of the job. Material tells you what the part is made of; the hourly cost tells you what the machine itself used up while making it, multiplied by the printing time. Together they are the real cost of the print, which is exactly what the Cost Calculator is built to combine.
Can I use this to decide between two printers before I buy one?
Yes. Enter the price, expected lifetime and maintenance for one machine, note the hourly cost, then change the same three numbers for a second machine and compare. A cheaper printer with a shorter working life or higher maintenance can end up costing more per hour than a pricier one that lasts longer.
What happens if the printer lasts longer, or dies sooner, than the lifetime I entered?
Either way the hourly figure you charged does not change retroactively. If the machine dies sooner than assumed, the hours it actually ran did not fully recover its cost, which is exactly why a conservative lifetime matters. If it outlasts the estimate, every hour beyond that point was already paid for, and the machine is effectively printing for free until it is finally replaced.
Other tools
Part of the EduFacturing tool set for pricing and running a 3D print business.
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