Methodology / Version 1.0
Useful numbers start with clear assumptions.
These tools answer two small planning questions: what your chosen cost inputs add up to, and whether a rectangular part envelope fits inside a rectangular printer volume.
They do not calculate a supplier's selling price or decide whether a design will print successfully. Every rate in the calculator is editable. The starting figures below are invented teaching examples, not published prices from 3D Printing Biz.
1. The printing job estimate
Use material and time from a slicer profile that matches your intended printer, layer height, infill and support choices. Material is entered in grams per part, while its purchase price is entered per kilogram. The calculator converts grams to kilograms before multiplying by that rate.
Material = grams per part ÷ 1,000 × price per kg × quantity × (1 + waste % ÷ 100)
Machine = hours per part × hourly machine rate × quantity
Finishing = finishing allowance per part × quantity
Job total = material + machine + finishing + one setup allowance
Per-part estimate = job total ÷ quantityThe machine rate is whatever hourly allowance you choose to enter. If that rate already covers electricity, maintenance and operator time, do not charge those items twice elsewhere in your estimate. Setup is added once, so increasing the quantity spreads that fixed allowance across more parts.
A worked example
Suppose you plan five identical parts. Each uses 80 g and takes 3.5 hours. Your illustrative material price is ₹1,200/kg, machine allowance is ₹60/hour, job setup is ₹150 and finishing is ₹25 per part. You add 10% for material waste.
| Component | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Material | 0.08 × 1,200 × 5 × 1.10 | ₹528 |
| Machine | 3.5 × 60 × 5 | ₹1,050 |
| Finishing | 25 × 5 | ₹125 |
| Setup | Once for the job | ₹150 |
| Total | 528 + 1,050 + 125 + 150 | ₹1,853 |
| Per part | 1,853 ÷ 5 | ₹370.60 |
The material allowance is 440 g in total. Estimated machine time is 17.5 hours. Those are useful cross-checks: confusing grams with kilograms or minutes with hours can otherwise produce a plausible-looking total that is very wrong.
Where the estimate stops
- Waste affects material only. A 10% material allowance does not add reprint time, labour or a 10% failure risk. Account for those separately when planning a real job.
- Batch time is simplified. This tool multiplies one part's time by quantity. Multiple parts on a plate may have shared setup, extra travel or different cooling behaviour. Resin build time in particular does not necessarily scale linearly with part count.
- Supports need one consistent treatment. If the slicer figure includes supports and brim, do not automatically add their full mass again as waste.
- Taxes, freight, design labour and margin are absent. The output is a cost planning subtotal based on your inputs, not a delivered price or a binding quote.
2. The rectangular build-volume check
The part input is a bounding box: the smallest axis-aligned rectangle that encloses your model in each of X, Y and Z. Read those dimensions from CAD or your slicer. Enter the usable printer build volume for the exact machine and setup you intend to use.
Usable dimension = printer dimension − 2 × clearance
A candidate fits when:
part X ≤ usable X, part Y ≤ usable Y, and part Z ≤ usable ZClearance is reserved on every face, including above and below the part. It is a conservative geometric margin, not a machine-specific setting. With a 220 × 220 × 250 mm volume and 5 mm clearance, the tested volume is 210 × 210 × 240 mm.
A 180 × 120 × 40 mm part fits in that example. In its original orientation, the space left after reserving clearance is 30 mm in X, 90 mm in Y and 200 mm in Z. These are total remaining distances along the axes, not extra clearance on each side.
What “try all orientations” means
When enabled, the tool tests the six permutations of the three part dimensions: XYZ, XZY, YXZ, YZX, ZXY and ZYX. It removes duplicates when dimensions are equal. These represent 90-degree turns of a rectangular envelope. Flipping a part without changing its envelope does not create another distinct fit result.
For example, a 230 × 180 × 40 mm part cannot fit in its original orientation within a 210 × 210 × 240 mm usable space. Turning its 230 mm side upright gives a 180 × 40 × 230 mm envelope that does fit geometrically. That may still be a poor printing orientation because of supports, surface finish or layer strength.
Arbitrary angles and diagonal placement are not tested. The calculator also cannot see cut-outs, curved beds, bed clips, purge towers, toolhead keep-outs or supports extending beyond the supplied envelope. A “does not fit” result means no tested rectangular orientation fits; it does not prove the real model is impossible to print.
Turn the result into a useful brief
Keep the calculation with the model revision it describes. Include the part's intended use, actual dimensions and units, quantity, material preference if known, finish expectations and any surfaces or holes that must mate with another part. Tell the recipient whether support mass is included and which slicer settings produced the time estimate.
Downloadable results record your inputs as well as the output. This makes them more useful than a screenshot of the total alone. No input or calculation is saved by PrintBench after you leave or reload the page.