3D Printing Costs
Cost Factor Material
The material price in 3D printing is based on the performance of the material. The cheapest 3D printing materials include the standard plastics acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polylactides (PLA) and polyamides (PA). Components made of these materials have good flexibility with average stability and accuracy. In a direct comparison, for example, the high-performance plastic PEEK HP3 is significantly more expensive than the standard thermoplastics, as it is exceptionally dimensionally-resistant to chemicals, wear and heat. The general rule: The higher the requirements that a material can and must withstand, the more expensive it is.
The price of the 3D object also increases with the amount of material required. Consequently, it can be cheaper to produce a functionless display model with a partial filling or hollow instead of producing a solid object.
Cost Factor Production Time
The costs of a 3D object are directly related to the production time. The longer it takes to produce a 3D model, the higher the unit price. The time factor can be reduced, for example, by producing several objects simultaneously in the same building chamber.
Cost Factor Post-Processing/Finishing
Many 3D printing service providers offer surface finishing of the finished object. The customer has the possibility to choose between different finishing processes, e.g. grinding, polishing, varnishing or dipping. The cost of the 3D object increases accordingly depending on the effort involved.
Cost Factor Data Preparation
3D CAD models must meet specific conditions to be printed: Generally, all surfaces in the data set must form a closed volume. Otherwise, a file formatting is required before production, which can result in additional work for the provider. A common error in STL files is the inverted normal vector. This indicates whether a triangle represents the outer or inner side. With inverted normal vectors, this designation is distorted so that it is not clear at which points the material is to be printed. Up to a certain extent, the repair of the CAD file is included in the price of some 3D service providers (e.g. PROTIQ) and is carried out automatically. Other suppliers include the additional processing time in the total price of the component.
