Pricing
Price Per Gram in 3D Printing: When It Backfires
Charging by the gram is fast, but it hides a dangerous assumption about print time. When the shortcut works, and when it costs you.
By OrcaCostPrint Team · Published
Why the shortcut is tempting
Weight is easy to measure and easy to explain to a customer. If all your pieces were similar, charging by the gram would be perfectly reasonable.
The hidden assumption
Price per gram assumes a fixed relationship between weight and time. It doesn't exist. A hollow, highly detailed 40 g piece can take 12 hours; a solid 40 g block takes 4. By weight, they cost the same. In your electricity bill and machine occupancy, one costs three times as much. Weight can't see machine time, energy, wear or your own labor — the layers it ignores are in how to calculate the cost of a 3D print.
The practical result is well known: you undercharge on fast pieces and overcharge on slow ones — and the market only sends you the slow ones.
When to use it anyway
For a quick estimate over the phone, it's fine. To finalize a price, calculate by time + material. If you want to keep a "per gram" figure for communication, derive it from that piece's full calculation instead of using it as your pricing method. To turn cost into the final price of a concrete job, the whole math is in how much to charge for 3D printing.