How to Maximize Profit Per Print Hour with 3D Prints
Reading Time: 12 minutes When it comes to making money with a 3D printing business, an important metric is your profit per print hour (PPH).
I found this term originally from Hybee3D and have seen it from 3DDB, both on YouTube.
It focuses on how much profit you are making for every hour that your 3D printer is running.
I decided to make an article on how to maximize your profit per print hour to help your 3D printing business thrive!
In this article, I’ll walk you through PPH, how it’s calculated, and the strategies you can use to increase it. If that sounds good, stick around to learn more.
What is Profit per Print Hour (PPH)?
PPH tells you how much profit you make per hour your printer is running. The formula looks like this:
PPH = (Sell price − Cost) / Time to print (in hours)
In other words, it’s profit divided by number of print hours.
The cost includes material cost, labor cost and various costs like electricity and machine depreciation.
Let me break it down with an example.
You’re selling a fidget spinner for $10. The filament costs you $1, and you’ve calculated that electricity, wear on the printer, and your labor adds up to $3. The spinner takes 2 hours to print.
PPH = (10 – 4) / 2 hours
6 / 2 hours = $3 Profit Per Hour
This means you made $3 profit for every hour your 3D printer ran.
How to Maximize Profit per Print Hour with 3D Prints
Now that you know how PPH is calculated, here are some tips to maximize it.
- Bump up the prices a little
- Print large volumes of smaller items
- Do print-in-place 3D prints
- Focus on functional items
- Use faster, more reliable 3D printers
- Use a higher estimate for your costs
- Tweak your print settings to save time and boost profit
- Customize your prints
- Pick 3D models with fewer filament changes
- 3D print with multi-color filaments vs multiple filaments
- Add a few more printers
- Print more models at the same time
1. Bump Up the Prices A Little
The first way to maximize your profit per print hour is to raise your prices slightly. Small price increases, especially on custom keychains or phone stands, won’t scare away buyers but will improve your profits significantly. However, the items still need to be high-quality.
HyBee3D from YouTube recommends raising your price to test the waters and see if people are willing to pay more for your product.
For example, he initially sold a dragon model that cost him $3 to print for $20 at fairs, which he thought was an okay price. However, he had not accounted for the 12 hours it took him to print it. This meant that his profit per print hour was only $1.40.
Upon realizing this, he increased his price to $30, which brought his PPH to about $2.25, and the models still sold. From YouTube comments.
3_quarterling_rogue, who prints D&D miniatures, said that if he spent 6 hours working on something and sold it for $20, they’d be making $3.33/hour. However, if he wanted to make the minimum wage rate, he’d have to bump the price to $43.50.
2. Print Large Volumes of Smaller Items
People are more willing to buy smaller 3D prints at higher prices compared to how much filament it takes.
Items like cookie cutters, articulating & flexible animals, or small dragons can work really well.
If you sell 3D prints in person, I’d still recommend having larger items since they’re great for drawing in crowds.
HyBee3D realized that his small and medium ticket items made him more profit per hour than his big ones. For example, he printed three small Gecko models on his Bambu Lab A1 Mini at the same time, and it took him about 40 minutes each to print them.
He sold each Gecko at $5 and it cost less than 50 cents per Gecko. This gave him a PPH of $6.75 ($15-$1.50 / 2 hours), which was way above the $1.40 PPH he was making selling large dragon models.
@collect3d, who commented on the 3DDB YouTube video below, said that he focused on items that take no longer than 3 hours to print because they’re generally cheaper for the consumer and can sell more of them.
He argued that it was easier to sell a $10 item vs a $30 item, and if it took him 1-2 hours at $3 PPH, it would be better than 7+ hours at $3 PPH.
K_Prints3D asked on the Reddit BambuLab group if $30-$35 was a fair selling price for a 33” dragon with an approximate 48-hour print time. First_layer_3DP commented that he sold much smaller dragons that take 7 hours and $1.86 of material for $20 (Canadian). This gave him a 975% markup.
Mozzz wanted to know how to price resin prints. Bruaben, who designs and prints scale models for model railroading, said that one of his best sellers was a stack of pallets. He could print 18 on one build plate.
The total time for printing and post-processing them was about 30 minutes. The material cost was about 10 cents, and he sold a pack of six for $6. That resulted in a profit of 90 cents on each (900% markup).
3. Do Print-in-Place 3D Prints
Go for print-in-place models because they finish as soon as they come off the print bed, which means no extra labor costs. Additionally, they don’t need any assembly after printing, saving you time while delivering customers an eye-catching product.
A lot of the filament changing models and 3D prints that sell I see are usually print-in-place.
@MysticMesh3D on YouTube printed out an entire tray of rainbow-colored mini crates, which he sold for $4.99 each. Each unit gave him a profit of $3.85. The print took 20 hours to complete, making him $77 in profit. This gave him a profit per print hour of $3.85 which is nice.
4. Focus on Functional Items
While things like decorative figurines or desk ornaments look nice, they tend to have lower PPH because customers won’t pay as much.
Functional items like phone stands, replacement parts, or organizers, have a higher value and can be sold at higher prices, thus improving your PPH.
DustinWheat from the 3Dprinting Subreddit said you need to focus on sales rather than décor. He made hollow grounding stakes for his HOA (house owners association) because mini flags kept falling.
Each cost about 9 cents to produce at 3g, and they bought them for a dollar apiece. 91 cents/unit would bring in about $300 for 1KG of filament.
@collect3d from 3DDB’s YouTube video comment section says that cosmetic trinkets tend to have a lower PPH than an item with a functional purpose, so he focuses on functional items that add value as they bring you much higher PPH.
5. Use Faster, More Reliable 3D Printers
Using better 3D printers will allow you to produce more prints in less time, improving your PPH. Additionally, higher-end printers have fewer printing fails, allowing you to maximize your profits.
They are very fast 3D printers so models don’t take as many hours, plus the chances of fails are lower since they are very reliable.
@collect3d commented on 3DDB’s YouTube video that Bambu Labs have a higher PPH and a higher machine cost. However, they are still the best money-making machines for the price, especially entry-level printers like the A1 or P1P.
I have the X1C myself and it’s an amazing machine that produces great quality quickly.
6. Use a Higher Estimate for Your Costs
When calculating your expenses for a print like keychains for example, it’s wise to price your costs a bit higher than the actual estimate.
Overestimating things like filament, electricity, and machine wear gives you a safety margin in case things cost more than expected or issues arise. It also helps you make more profit per print hour (PPH) when actual costs come out lower.
Tony from the 3D Printing Side Hustle FB group says he charges 2x filament + 1.75x print time + x electricity cost to get his pricing. This method accounted for all his overhead (website, insurance, printer maintenance, etc.) while maintaining a good profit margin.
Another calculation I came across is the following:
- custom design time if applicable. ($10+/hr)
- A couple bucks an hour for print time. ($2-$10)
- Material required / Material price X 1.25 NO free material! (100g of $20 material is $2.5)
- $10+ an hour for post processing and finish assembly. + any hardware needed X 1.25
7. Adjust Print Settings to Reduce Filament & Print Time
Optimizing your print settings is a simple way to increase your profit per print hour (PPH). For instance, you can reduce material costs by lowering the infill density, especially for non-functional items.
If your 3D printer can handle it, you can also ramp up the print speeds to produce more items per hour. This will increase your PPH while minimizing filament usage and electricity costs.
In the interview I did with Weston, he mentions how he manages to 3D print dragons with 0% infill and they still come out strong.
The trick is to pick a specific dragon model that can print easier without infill. I think he mentioned the Cinderwing3D woodland dragon model.
You can check out the interview below.
8. Customize Your Prints
Dive into niche markets and offer customization to increase your profit per print. Adding options like custom text, colors, or minor design tweaks differentiates your product from mass-produced items or those of your competitors.
For example, a standard phone stand might sell for $10, but a customized one with a customer’s name could fetch $15 or more, boosting your PPH.
Checkout this custom desk name plate that has received 16 five-star reviews on Etsy.
One user said that they loved the quality because it was exactly as expected.
You can also view this personal combination lockbox on Thingiverse.
Or this custom light saber.
9. Pick 3D Models with Fewer Filament Changes
For 3D prints that are multi-color and require filament changes, try choosing models that don’t require as many filament changes.
Frequent filament swaps can waste material and make the production process slower.
Here is a video that shows how you can estimate the material wasted and some great ways you can save 3D printing filament with multi-color prints by adjusting the printing settings and more.
dkev001 commented on HyBee3D’s video that you’d never make a large profit on multi-color prints. He initially printed super colorful unicorns, and it took 30 hours to print a plate of 4. However, they made no money after selling them for $10.
He then decided to print many of them in one color-shift silk filament and sold them for the same price. Since they were cheap to print, he was able to make something.
If you are going to 3D print multi-filament models, make sure you fill the build plate up because it has the same number of filament swamps and waste material.
BibbleSnap says you need to eliminate alternating filaments because filament switches cost so much while adding minimal value.
Also consider the following:
1. Print bigger models
2. Increase layer height
3. Print small multi-color models in bulk
4. Separate the model in pieces if possible
5. Use ideal flush volumes for filaments
6. Group models that need the same colors together
7. Use sequential printing (one object at a time)
Standard cube = 93% filament wasted
470% scale large cube = 53% filament wasted
0.2mm layer height = 53% filament wasted
0.28mm layer height = 45% filament wasted
Using a larger variable layer height for where the model changes color means you’ll have less layers and less color changes.
1 model printed – 87% filament wasted
15 models printed – 32% filament wasted
Whole model = 86% filament wasted
Model pieces = 6% filament wasted
10. 3D Print With Multi-Color Filaments Vs Multiple Filaments
Multi-filament prints from the AMS or filament changer are appealing but often take a lot more time to print.
This slows down the production and can lower your PPH unless you bump up the price accordingly. They do work in many cases and plenty of 3D print businesses sell multi-filament models successfully.
However, the best solution is to use a multi-color filament. These filaments naturally change color throughout the print, creating a blended eye-catching look. Plus, you don’t have to manually swap filaments saving you time and effort thus increasing your PPH.
A good example is this Cinderwing3D Rose dragon that I printed using a multi-color filament.
You can check out the Multicolor PLA Filament that is available on Amazon.
Vinnie1169 from a Reddit comment recommends buying tricolor filament and printing your dragon with the one filament. This would drastically reduce your overall cost instead of having hundreds of filament swaps that waste filament and time.
11. Add a Few More Printers
Instead of relying on one machine to crank out products, have multiple printers running in parallel to print more items at the same time. This will significantly increase your overall PPH.
Say you have a setup of three printers working on different projects: one prints fidget toys, another prints keychains, and the third does custom phone holders. By doing this, you’re tripling your output and profits.
Christopher from the 3D Printing Side Hustle FB group says that the good thing is if you sell an in-demand item, you can add more printers. He had 1 Mk3s running 24/7 during Covid, making a $4/hour profit. However, after adding three more to bring the total to 4, he makes $16/hour.
12. Print More Models at the Same Time
Fill your print bed with as many models as you can. Print things like keychains or fidget toys all at once, instead of one by one.
This way, you get more done in the same amount of time, boosting your profits without wasting any downtime between prints.
GrowCanadian from Reddit says that to make your printing more efficient, print more models at the same time. It would take the same amount of filament swaps as a single print, reducing overall wastage per model.
USSHammond from the Reddit comments also recommends printing more of the same object, whether you make 1 or 100 of them. It’s still only 1 color change per color. It’ll just use that single color on all 100 objects first before moving to the next one. Additionally modify the flushing multiplier to 0.4.
Boromirin from the comments wanted to know how to reduce time and waste when printing multi-color models. Mgithens1 replied that printing a 4 color item would be 3 color changes per layer.
A one inch print at 0.2mm would be 125 layers, so 375 changes per inch of vertical model. Multiplied by ¼ penny and a 4 color model would cost less than a dollar to print.
However, to cut that amount, you need to print as many items as would fit the bed. For example, printing 10 items would produce the same poop, so 10 cents of waste would be easier to digest.
This article is really good at explaining the breakdown of the prices. Thanks
I appreciate that, thanks for reading!