🗑️ Print Failure Material Waste Cost Calculator
Track the material cost lost to failed prints over time — useful for calibration decisions or per-project cost accounting.
A running total of scrapped plastic
Each row is one failed attempt and one dollar figure; the tool adds them and prints the total in the card header. Add a row per failure and the log grows.
row cost = grams scrapped × (spool cost / spool weight)
total lost = sum of every rowWork out the row figure by weighing the failed part rather than guessing. A spaghetti-fail that comes off the bed at 35 g, printed from a $20 kilo spool at $0.0200 a gram, is $0.70. Log four of those in a month next to the $2.50 default and the card reads $5.30.
Making the log worth keeping
- Name the cause, not the file. "Bed adhesion, layer 3" and "detached support, layer 190" tell you where the money goes; "Benchy v2" does not.
- Weigh the whole plate. Include the skirt, brim, purge blob and any support that came away with the part - they were all extruded.
- Count the wasted hours separately. A print that fails at hour six costs six hours of machine availability on top of the plastic, and on a commission that is usually the larger loss.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a failed 3D print cost?
Multiply the grams you scrapped by your cost per gram. At $0.02 a gram, a 35 g failure is $0.70 and a 250 g failure that ran overnight is $5. Early failures are cheap; the expensive ones are the ones that get most of the way through.
What is a normal 3D print failure rate?
Around 5-10% of prints on a tuned machine, higher with new filament or an uncalibrated first layer. At 8% of 40 prints a month averaging 60 g, that is 192 g, or roughly $3.84 of PLA.
Can I do anything with failed prints?
PLA and PETG scrap can be ground and re-extruded with a filament maker, though the equipment costs far more than the plastic it saves for most hobbyists. Sorting by material and dropping it at a plastics recycler is more practical; do not put it in kerbside recycling, as PLA contaminates PET streams.