Estimate how many saleable parts a print farm can produce, how many buyers you can serve, the monthly cash contribution, and the expected payback on printer investment. Demand and machine capacity are modeled separately, so idle inventory is not treated as revenue.
Calculation results
| Modeled monthly cash expenses | $1869.24 |
|---|---|
| Used share of available print hours | 77.2% |
| Expected material attempts | $711.11 |
| Machine electricity | $18.13 |
| Hands-on finishing and handling labor | $640.00 |
| Sales channel fees | $240.00 |
| Monthly upkeep and overhead | $260.00 |
| Monthly return vs initial investment | 66.6% |
All monetary inputs must use the same denomination. Selecting a currency changes the symbol only, not your values, fee rules, or exchange rates. Results exclude tax and any cost not entered.
Available monthly printer hours = printer count × hours per day × operating days. Expected successful-unit capacity = floor(available hours × (1 − failure probability) ÷ machine hours per attempt). Actual unit sales are limited by both capacity and the demand forecast. Expected attempted prints for sold units = sold units ÷ (1 − failure probability). Monthly cash surplus = sales revenue − materials − electricity − active labor − selling fees − upkeep − other monthly overhead. When cash surplus is positive, simple payback = upfront investment ÷ monthly cash surplus. This cash-flow approach does not also deduct equipment depreciation, which would double-count the upfront capital for a payback calculation.
Worked example
Four printers available 12 hours a day for 24 days yield 1,152 machine hours per month. With a five-hour attempt time and a 10% failure probability, theoretical capacity is 207 completed units. If demand is only 160 units, this model earns revenue on 160, not 207, units.
What the result does and does not include
These outputs are production and selling estimates built from the editable fields. They are not market-rate predictions, professional quotations, or guarantees of profitable sales. Measure actual machine usage, use your own supplier prices, and confirm selling fees and taxes before accepting an order.
Frequently asked questions
Why is capacity different from monthly sales?
Not every potential print has a buyer. The model caps sales at the smaller of estimated good-unit capacity and customer demand.
Why is depreciation excluded from the monthly cash surplus?
The full upfront equipment cost is already treated as the investment to recover. Adding depreciation to the same payback cash flow would count the equipment twice.
What happens if profit is zero or negative?
A positive investment has no finite payback under those assumptions. Adjust utilization, selling prices, costs or demand rather than treating a negative cash flow as a payback schedule.
Does this predict printer uptime perfectly?
No. Maintenance stops, queue gaps, material changes, staffing, different print durations and capacity lost to setup require a lower available-hours assumption or a more detailed scheduling model.
Further reading
For production-cost methodology, see Prusa Research. The scenario model here separates throughput, sales demand, operating cash flow, and upfront investment.
See our calculation methodology and disclaimer for more information about assumptions.