The printer is the smaller part of the cost over its life; filament, failures and consumables make up the rest. The useful figure is cost per part, and for typical hobby prints in PLA that is remarkably low — most small models use well under 50g of filament.
Filament, the main running cost
Filament is sold by weight, usually in 1kg spools. Slicing software tells you the exact grams a print will use before you start, which makes per-part cost easy to calculate: divide spool price by 1000 and multiply by the grams.
Most desk models and functional parts land between 20g and 150g. A 1kg spool therefore produces a lot of parts.
Electricity
Smaller than people assume. A printer draws most power heating the bed and nozzle at the start, then far less to maintain temperature. Even a long overnight print is a modest addition to a monthly bill — considerably less than an air conditioner running the same hours.
Failed prints
This is the cost people forget to budget. Early on, failures are common and each one converts filament directly into waste.
Modern machines reduce this substantially — automatic bed levelling and calibration remove the most frequent causes — but a realistic first-year budget should assume some waste while you learn.
Consumables
- Nozzles — brass nozzles wear, and abrasive filaments (carbon fibre, glow-in-the-dark, glass filled) destroy them quickly. Hardened nozzles cost more and last far longer with those materials.
- Build plates — the surface wears with use and scraping.
- Desiccant — cheap, and necessary in humid conditions.
The AMS waste factor
Multi-colour printing purges filament at every colour change. On prints with frequent changes, purge waste can exceed the part weight. Set the slicer to purge into infill where possible, and order colours light to dark.
Where printing genuinely saves money
The economics are strongest for parts that are otherwise expensive or unavailable:
- Discontinued spare parts — a bracket or clip no longer sold.
- Custom fittings — made to measure rather than adapted.
- Small-run prototypes — where tooling would be absurd.
- Import substitution — printing locally rather than paying shipping and duty on a small plastic part.
It rarely competes with mass-produced items bought in quantity, and that is not what it is for.
See Bambu Lab 3D Printers for current EGP prices.
Frequently asked questions
How much does one print cost?
Take the spool price, divide by 1000, multiply by the grams the slicer reports. Most small prints are inexpensive.
Is it cheaper than buying the item?
For spares, custom parts and prototypes, usually. For mass-produced goods, usually not.
How long does a nozzle last?
A long time on PLA and PETG; far less on abrasive filaments unless hardened.