Advice on sliced volumes price for my hub.

[wirlybird]

Hi all, I see it defaults to .5 cm3 but how does this correlate to cost by weight? What do you guys recommend? I want to keep it competitive but also make sure I am not giving it away!!

Thanks for any thoughts on how to price the filament! Just stating out with the hub part!

[Enza3D]

You can figure out how much it correlates to cost/weight by using the density of the specific material you are referring to. F

For example, standard ABS has an average density of around 1.03 g/cm^3. If you are charging 0.50 per cm^3 of the material, that’s the same as 0.48 per g of filament. You figure this out by dividing the cost per unit by the density (i.e (1 cm^3/1.03 g)*(0.50/1 cm^3); this cancels out the volume unit and leaves you with a cost per wight unit.

My preferred method of figuring out an appropriate cost for the volume is to use the density of the material to figure out how many cm^3 of material I get per roll of filament (usually a kilogram). The cost for a roll of filament is pretty consistent, so if I know how many cm^3 I get per roll, I can figure out exactly how much each of those cm^3 costs me in terms of material. Figuring out the raw material cost is the easy part, the hard part is figuring out what multiplier you need to apply to that material cost to make a profit and stay competitive. I factor in energy costs, printer wear, future printer purchases and potential failures into this cost multiplier, so I know I have my bases covered and will at worst break even on each order. There is no set rule for figuring out how to best determine this multiplier, you really just have feel out costs in your area and do your pricing from there.

[wirlybird]

Thank you, great info. So if I am seeing this right and I am doing .48 per g then a 1Kg spool should gross 480? In a perfect world of course!

Really helpful info.

[Enza3D]

Yes, if you set the price per gram at 0.48 then a spool should yield you 480 in order revenue (assuming the spool is perfect, but most manufacturers are very close in terms of accuracy). Glad I could be of help!

[wirlybird]

Thanks.

I am wondering how or if the layer height plays into the pricing that the hub generates? i.e. if I have it set at 100 micros will the cost of the print be different than if I have it set at 200 microns?

[Enza3D]

Hubs does not include different layer types by default; you have to go into the settings of your printer and add them accordingly. If you don’t add the layer heights, your Hub will show up as only able to print whatever the default height is (I believe Hub sets it at 200 microns). Once you add as many layer heights as you want (100, 200 and 300 are most common for FDM), then you can set different prices for each layer height.

[wirlybird]

Ok, I found that part and that was my question since I saw it set to 100 microns but I wanted the default at 200 micros. Does this setting affect the pricing in anyway? I may not be explaining myself well!

If I don’t set different pricing for different layer heights will they all result in the same costs?

I appreciate the explanations as I try to get a handle on this stuff.

[Enza3D]

If you set the default to 200 microns, and that’s what you have cost/cm^3 in there for, then no it should not effect pricing. Changing the layer height will not affect your costs unless you tell it to, in other words, 3D Hubs does not by default change price according to the chosen layer height. You manually have to tell it, I want XXX layer height to cost XX/cm^3.

So if you only have 200 microns as a layer height, then potential customers will see that you only offer 200 microns and it costs this much. If you don’t set different pricing for different layer heights, then yes, it will cost the same to print something at any layer height.

[wirlybird]

Thanks, this is what I was thinking it would be. I guess for now if I am not worried about different cost for different layer thicknesses I could just let people know I can do .1, .2 and .3 if I want and keep it simple to get started.

I guess once I get some orders in the books and a grasp on the bigger picture of the hub then I can start to fine tune some costs by layer thickness etc.

[wirlybird]

Quick question and I’ll stop bugging!

Does $5 first print and .5cm3 seem an ok starting point? It seems to be what the hub defaulted to. Just looking for a starting point that is not to low but not to high - something that is fair (I know that is subjective). I haven’t yet been able to see what others are charging to get a feel for it.

I haven’t worked up a detailed cost structure yet.

Thanks again.

[Enza3D]

No problem!

It depends on what material that .5/cm3 is for. That’s definitely on the higher end of what I charge, and more than I charge for the finest resolution using standard material (PLA & ABS). What is that cost for, in terms of material?

[wirlybird]

Thanks, I am using basic PLA and ABS right now and probably nothing outside of .1, .2 or .3 resolution. I was thinking that might be high also. I am going to offer other materials but not until I get some orders and understand the process better.

I am just looking to set a fair starting cost, I am not worried about electricity etc. at the moment but just getting a starting point. I can tune it as I go and learn.

[Enza3D]

Since you’re just looking at a fair starting cost, I’d suggest you take your raw material cost (figured out from kilogram price) and just multiply it by 3-5. This allows a nice cushion for failed prints, and should keep you in a competitive range. You won’t make a ton of profit, but it’s definitely a good starting point.

[wirlybird]

Ok, so here goes!

ABS.

1000g / 1.04g/cm3 = 961.5cm3 per 1K of ABS extruded material.
If 1K of ABS cost about $30 then I’ll have -
cost per cm3 = $30 / 961.5 = $0.031 / cm3

PLA

1000g / 1.25/cm3 = 800cm3 per 1K of PLA extruded material.
If 1K of PLA cost about US$30 then I’ll have -
cost per cm3 = $30 / 800 = $0.038 / cm3

So multiple by 5 and I should get .16 for ABS

and .19 for PLA.

Seem ok?!

[wirlybird]

Ok so I went to your hub and loaded the marvin and picked PLA and a color. It came back at 5.65 I think. I did it on mine and got 6.20 so not to far off. I check the two closest hubs to me and one is 8.00 setup but it didn’t add for the marvin, don’t know why and the other is 10.00 setup and total was 11.40.

I think I am not to bad right now. Am I missing something?!!