3D Miniature Printing Profit Calculator
Resin 3D Printing Cost Calculator for Miniature Businesses
This calculator gives you the full cost and suggests a selling price for an average miniature your business produces. It covers every cost layer: resin, equipment depreciation, labor, 3D model preparation, post-processing, order fulfillment, shipping, admin overhead, platform fees, and defect losses.
Enter averages across your catalog. Fixed costs like equipment and admin are automatically spread across your monthly output.
Fill out every field with correct information
MAIN INFO
To calculate the price and full cost of the miniature we have to factor in both variable costs (like resin, labor) and fixed costs (like accounting, printer cost). For that, we need some information about your labor hourly rate and sales volume. All costs are distributed for each miniature sold.
Number of miniatures you sell to customers each month. Drives all per-unit cost and revenue calculations.
Your fully-loaded labor cost per hour including employer taxes and social contributions. This typically runs between 15–25 €/hour in Eastern Europe, 25–50 €/h in Western Europe and the US.
TARGET PROFIT
Fixed profit target in euros per miniature sold.
EQUIPMENT COST & CAPACITY
Combined purchase price of your printer(s), computers and post-processing stations (wash & cure units, UV lamps, etc.).
How long before you expect to replace your equipment? Used to calculate monthly depreciation. Typical range: 1–3 years.
Total time spent maintaining your 3D printers and other equipment. This includes cleaning, replacing LCD screens, replacing FEP films on resin trays, and replacing IPA in your cleaning stations.
Time spent on equipment maintenance multiplied by labor hourly rate.
Calculated: equipment depreciation and maintenance cost spread across its lifespan and the total models sold. This is your depreciation cost per unit produced.
The number of printers that you have in your workshop. Used to calculate production capacity.
How many miniatures can you print at once on one of your printers? This depends on the miniature's size and the printer's build volume. If you have printers with different build plate sizes, enter the average.
Total hours one printer runs per week across all batches.
How long does it take to print the average miniature in hours?
Calculated number of miniatures that you can produce in a week based on your batch size and weekly print hours.
Calculated number of miniatures that you can produce in a month. This is your production ceiling before needing to add additional equipment.
RESIN COST
Purchase price per kilogram of resin including shipping and taxes. Quality photopolymer resin: €45–€90/kg. Higher-quality resin reduces failure rates and can lower the total cost per good miniature.
Average resin volume consumed per miniature incl. supports. Used to calculate per-unit resin cost. Typical 28mm infantry: 5–15 ml; larger models can reach 30+ ml.
Density of a cured resin model. Used to calculate resin consumption by weight. Usually between 1 and 1.3 g/ml for most resins.
Calculated total resin consumed based on your monthly output and miniature volume, not including failures, reprints, and other waste.
Calculated material cost per miniature based on volume, resin density, and resin price.
3D MODEL PREPARATION
Total time to take a model from an idea to a production-ready file: 3D sculpting, support placement, slicing, test prints, and fixing issues. One-time cost spread across all units printed from that design. If you are using pre-supported miniatures, only include slicing and test-printing time.
Calculated: preparation time multiplied by your hourly rate. This is the full labor investment per unique design before amortization.
Number of times that specific model will be printed over the lifetime. A higher number lowers the per-unit prep cost significantly.
Calculated: Total model preparation cost divided by expected lifetime units. Producing more of each design reduces this cost.
POST-PROCESSING COST
A batch here is one print job on one build plate of one printer.
Time spent on the full post-processing workflow for one print job batch (one build plate of miniatures): support removal, IPA wash, UV cure, and quality inspection.
Calculated: batch post-processing time multiplied by your hourly rate divided by batch size.
Liters of isopropyl alcohol consumed monthly for washing prints. Depends on batch frequency and wash method.
Purchase price per liter of IPA. Bulk purchasing typically brings this to 3–5 €/L.
Calculated: monthly IPA spend divided by monthly output.
Pairs of nitrile gloves consumed per print batch. Resin is a skin sensitizer; gloves should be changed when visibly contaminated.
Price per pair of nitrile gloves. Typically cost €0.05–€0.10 per pair.
Calculated: total glove cost per miniature. The total cost of gloves used per batch divided by batch size.
Calculated: sum of post-processing labor, IPA, and glove costs per miniature.
SALES ORDER PICK & PACK COST
Typical number of miniatures per customer order. Larger average orders reduce per-unit fulfillment cost.
Time to pick, pack, label, and hand off one order.
Calculated: order pick & pack time multiplied by hourly rate, divided by average order size.
Cost of protective wrap material per sales order.
Cost of envelope or box per sales order.
Calculated: total packaging material cost per sales order divided by average order size.
Total per-unit cost combining labor and packaging materials.
ORDER SHIPPING COST
What you pay the carrier per order on average. Include duties, surcharges, and tariffs for international shipments. Typical range: €4–€15 depending on carrier and destination.
Calculated: order shipping cost divided by average order size.
FIXED ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS
Fixed monthly overhead: accounting, software subscriptions, business registration fees, workspace costs, electricity, internet. Does not include design licenses.
Monthly spend on merchant-tier Patreon/creator licenses that permit commercial printing of third-party designs.
Calculated: total fixed monthly costs divided by monthly units sold. Higher sales volume lowers this per-unit figure.
PLATFORM & PAYMENT FEES
Combined marketplace and payment processor fees per unit sold. Etsy charges ~6.5% transaction plus listing fees; PayPal/Stripe typically add 2–3%. Enter the flat per-miniature amount after calculating your average selling price.
COST OF DEFECTS
Average number of defective miniatures rejected after printing, before post-processing begins. Add misprints and broken miniatures here. These cost you resin and printer time.
Calculated: material and equipment depreciation cost for one miniature at the print stage.
Miniatures that pass printing but are rejected during or after post-processing. Cost includes resin, machine time, and post-processing labor.
Calculated: full production cost up to and including post-processing for one miniature.
Orders refunded or replaced after delivery due to damage or defects. This is the most expensive defect category as it includes all production costs plus return shipping.
Calculated: complete cost of a replacement, including production, packaging, and outbound shipping.
Additional time spent per month apart from the time spent reproducing the miniature. That is time spent communicating with customers about their defects and refunds, as well as any other internal time wasted due to defects.
Calculated labor cost spent on communicating with customers about defects and refunds. Does not include labor to reproduce the miniature.
Calculated: sum of all defect costs across all three stages.
Calculated: monthly defect cost divided by all units sold in a month. Even a small reduction in defect rates has a measurable impact here.
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Your Results
Miniature price & cost
Miniature price:— €
Profit margin target per miniature:— €
Total cost per miniature:— €
- Equipment cost— €
- Resin cost— €
- 3D model preparation cost— €
- Post-processing cost— €
- Pick & Pack cost— €
- Order shipping cost— €
- Administrative costs— €
- Platform fees— €
- Cost of defects— €
Monthly financials
Monthly sales:— miniatures
Monthly revenue:— €
Monthly profit:— €
Monthly costs:— €
- Equipment cost— €
- Resin cost— €
- 3D model preparation cost— €
- Post-processing cost— €
- Pick & Pack cost— €
- Order shipping cost— €
- Administrative costs— €
- Platform fees— €
- Cost of defects— €
Manufacturing capacity
Monthly sales:— miniatures
Monthly production capacity:— miniatures
Equipment utilization:
—%
AmeraLabs Insights
Your miniature
price
— €
TOTAL CALCULATIONS
(Hover slices)