Determining Cost with Print Studio or MakerBot Print

Before you start printing, we'll need to determine how much your print will cost to print. As an
educator you have a great opportunity to generate some money for your classroom 3d printer
needs and pay for much needed filament, blue painters tape or anything related to the your
makerspace environment. When I discovered that my students can invent products for the
school that filled a student or faculty need we were off and running making anything that would
generate a profit. From Trumpet mouthpieces for the music department to Fidget spinners for
students we raised nearly $1000 of profit by determining our cost for printing an object and
tripling the price for retail sales. What better way to show entrepreneurship then by turning your
classroom into a 3d printing service company.

Finding Cost with MakerBot Print

Now let's find out the total cost of your prototype. Once you have imported your STL file into the
MakerBot Print software, click on the ​gear​ on the right side of the screen. A Print Settings
screen will now pop up. It's important to make sure the following settings are selected:
○ Print Mode​: Balanced
○ Raft:​ ​✓
○ Support​: ​Depends on your project. 
Click the ​gear​ again when finished. Now that you've changed these settings, you can click on
the ​Estimates and Print Preview​ button towards the top-right of the screen to get more info
about the printing of your project. From this screen you can see a few really import things about
the printing process. You'll be able to see a preview of your model in 3D. The slider on the left of
the window shows how many layers of printing are needed. In addition, you can move the slider
to see the individual layers of your prototype.

The other important information is the Time Estimate and Material Estimate (in grams). The
material estimate is the amount of filament that is expected to be used when printing. Your
material estimate will be used to find out the total cost to print out your prototype. To calculate
this information, do the following on a calculator (hint: there is a calculator application on the
computer):
You can easily solve this on a calculator by multiplying your material estimate (in grams) by $48
and then dividing by 900 grams. Your total will be in dollars.

Finding Cost with Autodesk Print Studio

Now let's find out the total cost of your prototype. Once you have imported your STL file into the
Autodesk Print Studio software, click on the ​preview​ button on the top of the screen
to get more info about the printing of your project. From this popup window you can see
a few really import things about the printing process. You'll be able to see a preview of
your model in 3D. The slider on the left of the window shows how many layers of
printing are needed. In addition, you can move the slider to see the individual layers of
your prototype.

The other important information is the Estimated Time and Estimated Volume (in centimeters
cubed). The estimated volume is the amount of filament that is expected to be used when
printing. Your estimate will be used to find out the total cost to print out your prototype. To
calculate this information, do the following on a calculator (hint: there is a calculator application
on the computer):

You can easily solve this on a calculator by multiplying your estimated volume (in centimeters
cubed) by $48 and then dividing by 800 centimeters cubed. Your total will be in dollars.