3D Print Farm Profit Calculator
More printers only help when profitable demand can keep them busy. Model how many complete jobs each printer can finish, then see monthly revenue, contribution profit, and profit per machine.
Result
- Productive printer-hours per month—
- Complete units per printer—
- Monthly production capacity—
- Estimated units sold—
- Contribution profit per unit—
- Monthly revenue—
- Contribution profit per printer—
- Contribution profit per occupied printer-hour—
Worked example: three printers at 75% utilization
Three printers scheduled 16 hours a day for 30 days have 1,440 theoretical machine-hours. At 75% productive utilization, 1,080 hours remain. With a six-hour average job, each printer can complete 60 units, or 180 units per month. The default demand forecast is 200 units, so capacity limits estimated sales to 180.
| Metric | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Profit per unit | $20 − $8 − $2.35 | $9.65 |
| Monthly revenue | 180 × $20 | $3,600 |
| Monthly profit | 180 × $9.65 | $1,737 |
| Profit per printer | $1,737 ÷ 3 | $579 |
Why utilization matters more than printer count
A fourth printer does not create demand, reduce hands-on finishing, or fill idle gaps. Productive utilization is the share of scheduled machine time that produces saleable units after maintenance, setup gaps, failures, and an empty queue. Use your own job history rather than assuming 100%. At the same price and cost, improving three printers from 50% to 75% utilization adds as much theoretical capacity as adding another 1.5 fully equivalent printers.
Know profit per occupied printer-hour
Monthly profit can hide a poor product mix. Divide unit profit by print time: the example product earns $9.65 ÷ 6 = $1.61 per occupied printer-hour. A cheaper two-hour product earning $4 per unit produces $2/hour and may be the better farm product. Use the hourly cost calculator to verify the cost side before comparing products.
How it's calculated
Productive hours per printer = scheduled hours/day × operating days × utilization. Capacity per printer = productive hours ÷ average print time, rounded down. Estimated units sold are the lower of production capacity and expected demand. Monthly contribution profit = units sold × (selling price − production cost − selling fees).
- All printers and jobs are treated as identical for capacity planning.
- Only complete jobs count; leftover hours on one printer cannot be combined with another printer.
- Production cost should already include labour, failures, packaging, and machine wear.
- This is contribution profit before business-level taxes and fixed overhead not included in unit cost.
- Expected demand is a user forecast, not a guarantee of sales.
FAQ
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