The scenario
A customer wants one PLA part. The slicer estimates 180 grams and 11 hours. The shop uses a $22.00 kilogram spool, a 110-watt average draw, $0.17 per kWh electricity, and a $600 printer expected to provide 5,000 useful production hours. Maintenance is budgeted at $0.08 per printer hour.
The job needs 30 minutes of hands-on work at $22 per hour and $1.25 of packaging. The shop models an 8% failure rate, a hypothetical 6.5% percentage selling fee plus $0.20 fixed fee, and a 35% target margin. Those fee values are examples only; enter the current charges for your actual selling channel.
| Cost layer | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Material | 180 ÷ 1,000 × $22 | $3.96 |
| Electricity | 0.110 kW × 11 h × $0.17 | $0.21 |
| Machine wear | $600 ÷ 5,000 h × 11 h | $1.32 |
| Maintenance | $0.08 × 11 h | $0.88 |
| Hands-on labor | 0.5 h × $22 | $11.00 |
| Packaging | 1 × $1.25 | $1.25 |
| Base production cost | Sum before risk | $18.62 |
Add expected failure cost
At an 8% modeled failure rate, the reserve is base cost multiplied by 0.08 divided by 0.92. That adds about $1.62 and produces a risk-adjusted production cost of about $20.23.
$18.6157 × 0.08 ÷ 0.92 = $1.62Solve for fees and margin
The fixed $0.20 charge is added to production cost. The percentage fee and desired margin are subtracted from one to form the price denominator. The exact required revenue is about $34.93, which LayerMargin rounds upward to a practical $35.00 selling price.
($20.2345 + $0.20) ÷ (1 − 0.065 − 0.35) = $34.93What changed the answer?
Filament was only $3.96, about one fifth of risk-adjusted production cost. Labor was the largest cost in this scenario. Printer wear, power, maintenance, packaging, and expected retries added another $5.27 beyond material and labor. Finally, the selling fee and target margin required revenue above the production total.
If the market will only pay $25, deleting real costs from the estimate does not make the job profitable. The shop could reduce hands-on work, sell directly at lower fees, batch compatible orders, redesign the part, accept a consciously lower margin, or decline the work. The worked estimate makes those choices explicit.
Reproduce it in LayerMargin
Open the free calculator and enter quantity 1; 180 material grams; $22 spool cost; 1,000-gram spool; 11 hours; 110 watts; $0.17/kWh; $600 printer cost; 5,000 lifetime hours; $0.08 maintenance per hour; 30 labor minutes at $22/hour; $1.25 packaging; 8% failure; the example fees; and 35% target margin. Replace every example value with your own shop’s evidence before using the result in a real quote.