How much power do 3D Printers use?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 เม.ย. 2024
- I've always wondered how much electricity 3D Printers use, and how much they cost to run... So I put it to the test!
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Thanks for the shout-out, Angus! Great insight into the power consumption of different printers and materials.
Hey boss can you do a preferences for .8 mm nozzles on the slicer software I’ve been to places where the wackos told me to put it to 140 mm speeds and a .4 mm height ect as a beginner this is very confusing and the test print at this setting came out in the shape but like a slinky so it split into bits and pieces after removing the raft and supports
how its possible that cetus printer printe it in half amount of time?
If you lower the heat to reduce energy consumption, I guess you could say you…
*TURN DOWN FOR WATTS!*
Ohgod haha
Stop. Get some help.
XD
Aint No budy got time 4 that
i hate you so much right now
If it helps anyone: I tested my ender3 with a 9h print.
The hot end was at 205°C and the heated bed was 60°C. The printer drew an average of 70.1W.
soup health Drawing an average of 70 W for 9 hours is only .07 kW x 9h = 0.63 kWh
@@boarder2k7 that's not much
so less than a gaming pc or xbox
@@flamestoyershadowkill6400 waaaaay less
@@munzlp I agree
I am falling in love with your channel, Angus! I love your design challenge enthusiasm, how you are dynamic with solving problems, and your big unending smile.
Many thanks Angus for this informative video, I bought one if these energy consumption meter few months ago but didn't bother to test. You are the best
Very informative video! I didn't think the differences would be that great (and for a shorter print time maybe it wouldn't be) but for a day long print it really shows the increase. Thanks for the video.
Your videos are educational, informative, and motivating. Thank you, Angus.
Hi Maker's Muse. Given that maintaining the temperature of the hotbed appears to be a large contributor to power usage, it would be really interesting to see how this compared if the Cocoon was put inside an enclosure (as you normally would for improved ABS printing).
I suspect you might find a good power saving, as the heat loss (and therefore energy required to maintain the hotbed temperature) would be greatly reduced by the increased ambient temperature inside the enclosure.
Thanks. I was wondering how much... I've been running mine, night and day, to make the parts for the lowrider2 cnc... Real eye opener. Thanks for your useful content!!!
Thanks for that Angus. Glad you're enjoying the new iteration. Mine are going very well too. See you on the 24th
Thanks, I'm new to 3D printers and looking for data on electric comsumption for my Ender 3, now I know what to do.
I love this channel. it's heaven having a quality high tech channel made in Australia, with stuff that Australians can relate to. like power costs.👍👍
Good review, I didn't actually realise you were in Australia. Just starting out with an Ender 3 and using your videos as a bible. thanks for the great content
I have one of the Aldi printers and ended up making an enclosure for it. It would be interesting to find out how much the enclosure reduces the cost of printing ABS??
The effects of one would stack nicely with bed insulation I would think.
I would believe an enclosure would be a necessity these days for print quality and cost savings
Zoë Baldwin I've lost my numbers since stupidly not writing them down with my other printer stuff, but was surprised at how little bed insulation did for my power consumption overall. It definitely helped, but wasn't as much as I'd hoped for.
I think an enclosure wouldn't help too much with power consumption, but mainly print quality as the ambient temperature around the print is higher, leading to less delamination
Yes I have wondered, thanks Angus!
This was a quite interesting breakdown of the power costs in different scenarios. I might have to invest in a couple power meters for my printers, it would be a great way to start calculating the cost per print.
Can you please include power consumption in future reviews. It seems crucial.
Crucial? Dude, it works out to be 2c per hour or so for most printers. If that is a 'crucial factor for you, then you probably can't afford 3d printing.
@@jessejuliano8056 Bro, really depends, pretty sure that electricity can be expensive in some parts of the world.
@@imnota Electricity is not really expensive anywhere in the world. Even in the most costly of places, it is still very cheap when you compare how much a 3d printer uses. You don't know what you are talking about.
Jesse Juliano could be helpful to know if you what to run a 3D printing business.
@@unkn0vvnmystery For companies it's even simpler, Makers Muse has actually referenced this several times in his own videos too. As a business you get much cheaper electricity (less in taxes mostly) so what a consumer might pay $0.25 for, a company typically pays around $0.05 for, meaning those ~$0.02 per hour per printer turns to ~$0.004 per hour per printer, so with 25 printers you'd be spending $0.10 per hour on electricity...
This is assuming the more expensive electricity prices in West Europe, some parts of the USA, Canada and some countries in Europe have far cheaper electricity, sometimes as low as $0.02 per kWh, so really not even worth considering.
This only becomes something to keep in mind if you are using hundreds and hundreds of printers 24/7 at which point electricity consumption might reach $1 per hour, the employees you will need to hire to remove finished prints, change filaments etc. will cost far more, this is a non-issue.
Now is when I love living in a state that produces so much power, we only pay $0.027 /kwh.
Very informative video, thank you!!
Wow. That's even cheaper than the average Albertan pay at 4 cents per kilowatt.
Thanks for this! Hoping for more info on electricity costs for running 3D printers.
Nice test Angus. I've done similar test on my printer. Power consumption from least to most: Motors, nozzle heater, bed heater, chamber heater. My printer sits at about 90w/h while printing PLA, but It can hit over 1200w/h while all the heaters are on.
Perfect just when I needed this
I'd be curious to hear a rundown on the differences they made between the latest iteration of the Cocoon Create and the I3 plus. Your review video was what sold me on the Plus to begin with (well, the Microcenter rebrand version) and I'd find it handy to know what sort of things might be retroactively applied as upgrades to the Plus.
Good video, and thanks! 👍
Some purely a technical issues with your wording:
1. kW-hr is a measure of _energy_ not a measure of power. (It can also be measured in Joules.)
2. The _rate at which energy used_ is known as the _power,_ and is measured in Watts.
Just so you know...
he didnt say it that way though
J=W*s
kW*h = 1000*W*3600*s = 3.6*10^6 J
Joules is such a small unit that it has little use outside of science class. I think kW*h should be the S.I. unit, just like kg.
Y. Z. what about just using megajoules
Y. Z. Its kWh not kW*h...
Great video, I as wondering about cost per kilowatt hour. You answered exactly what I wanted. And I thought it was so interesting, you ran a print on an unheated bed. When I first got my printer, the bed heated to 50. The next time it printed, it heated to 60 and has been 60 ever since. I never bothered to change it. Now I'll definitely experiment with lowering the bed heat.
Thank you so mutch! I gonna print onley the first layers pla from now with a hb!👍
Great as always Angus. I've had one of those power meters for months, brought it for exactly this purpose. Must take it out of the box one day :-)
Sadly I clogged the nozzle on my beloved MK2 yesterday, also got a tiny drill bit stuck in it trying to clear it (cold pull didn't work) Waiting for a new hardened nozzle.
Might try the power meter on the Sigma though.
I have that exact same wattmeter I think :-). If you want to compare the motor usage excluded from the nozzle AND the heatbed, you can run a print on “dry run” setting, which won’t get you exact due to the extruder, but the extruder will be the least used motor during a print anyway, when you take away the heated elements.
Just food for thought...
I alway enjoy your videos good information and nicely presented. Best regards Chris
That’s why you need a enclosed printer like the Da Vinci Pro when printing ABS. It’s also helpful in saving energy, it holds the heat evenly inside itself very well.
Where i live it's $0.10 CAD per KWh so compared to the cost of the printer, the filament and my time, the electricity is almost nothing :-) Power and energy seem to confuse a lot of people, recently i was doing some research for a solar/battery project and found that it's very common for people to misuse/confuse units of KW with KWh. The easiest way to understand a derived unit is to look at its base units.
Consider what it costs for heating and cooling... an electric space heater in north america is usually rated at 1500W so it sucks up energy pretty quickly. Central air conditioning is about 3500W and about 3000W for a clothes dryer.
Ikr, really couldn't care less
Nice video.
I run several printers and use them as much as possible. For this year I am at almost 20000 hours of printing. Since I note how much electricity I use every week, I can tell you that I am using between 100 and 145 kWh per week on average. Before 3D printing that used to be about 30-35 kWh, so yes, the printers use a lot of energy.
I might add that I use a lot of TitanX, ASA and PETG so these use higher bed temps all the time.
I checked the power usage with a smart plug. At warmup ender 3V2 uses 270W, while printing PETG it varies around 100-130W. Isolating the heatbed helps to reduce power usage. The 3 stepper motors on my printer use about 24 watts
excellent comparisons, thanks
Great video as always. Here in the USA, most of us pay our electric bill every month, rather than quarterly. So while it may cost us a dollar or so to make each individual print, I don't think that the average hobbyist is going to go buck wild printing everything under the sun, and rack up $200 or $300 USD for electricity just in 3D printing alone. I personally am in the stage of wanting a printer and saving up to buy one, but without even having one, my summertime electric bill (which includes central A/C, all my appliances, TV's, computers, and whatever else) is about $250 a month. As a hobbyist, I could see doing a few prints a month on average. I do realize that once I do get my printer, I will be making more than that, in the early weeks and months, just to figure out how everything works, and to make any adjustments or upgrades, but once it is dialed in, like I said, just a few pieces a month. If someone IS using $200 to $300 a month in electricity just for 3D printing alone, on top of all the other electricity used in their homes, to me, it sounds like 3D printing is something far greater than just a hobby.........maybe a source of income (or out of control obsession) at that point.
Adding thermal insulation to the heated bed should help lower those values. My aluminium heated bed takes quite some time to cool down, around 5-10min to reach ambient from 50*C.
The rest is up to the power suply efficiency and the thermal efficiency of the system. A hotend block covered in several layers of kapton should consume quite less than one without (you can touch mine with your finger and you wont get burned).
I dont think steppers have much of a difference between nema 17 and 23. Maybe im wrong and nema23 have better efficiency. But having a fast printer sure will make a difference because you wont have as much heat lose from the bed as with a slow printer so high accelerations (2000+) are a must.
I was wondering about this for my SLA printer recently since my one 3" figure took 36 hours to print. That's something to keep in mind if you're selling prints.
I really have to print PLA with cold bed at last. I always turn it on because why not. As of now I'm printing some small adapters for the Pimax and using 60°C bed. I think this helps bonding the layers and perhaps even crystalizes them.
However the AnetA8 already draws a lot of power, but heating the heatbed of the CR-10 requires even more power. I think it is like 150W vs 250W for the heatbed alone. (not quite sure if I remember and compared them right but it's close)
thanks for the data. I have an amp/wattmeter on my PSU, it's interesting to see how much it's drawing as well as the accumulated kwh. Where I live, power is under 10 cents per kwh.
Great video, so informative.
Good advice, thanks man
Very interesting! I always wondered that.
Hey Angus, really liked this video!
It would be great to see the difference an enclosure makes
Cheers Kevin
Another awesome project! I need to retire soon so I can have time to work on everything I want to do!
Very useful information. Thnx a ton
Hey Angus, I can say I precede you by 3 days, bought the same wattmeter but I didn't do the long time prints like you did, I just tested what the power is with just hotend on and while printing, for my printer hotend on full is around 70W and while printing the printer stays at around 50W .
For the things that you create that is pretty eficient I would say !
It would be very interesting and go into detail with the power consumed while bed is on fully, of course bed at 100degC while consume much more than 60degC, actually the heated bed is the greatest consumer of power, I am little surprised that for the printer with the enclosed bed the consumption was so huge ... as the heat losses would be smaller, but it is a huge heavy machine so maybe the motion takes more power, also of course printing time will influence a lot so that's why comparing instantaneous power would be interesting .
Also the efficiency of the PSUs is important, I think the laptop type power bricks are much more efficient than the cheap PSU ?
Great video !
Very interesting. There is a significant hidden benefit from the power consumed by the bed if you live in a cold clime and have electric heat like me. The bed is a fairly efficient heat source and the heat is released into the house, thereby reducing the load on the electric furnace of the house.
If I recall correctly. My Delta, with a way overvolted heated bed running at 28.5v on a 24v bed. And a heated chamber and a hot end running at around 250 -260c. My printer uses around 275w/hour on average, although the first 30minutes the machine uses nearly 400w.
another helpful video just when I need it, thank you. Can you please tell me if I can use a regular safe extension cable for a 3d printer ? I am about to build an Ender 3 and it's not going to live very near a socket.
Nice! I was waiting for a video like this. That's not much power consumption, even for the Raise. But you are right, it will add up.
Also at 6:37 it should be laYer* height.
Would you be willing to do a review/update on the new cocoon create? I just recently purchased the US “Monoprice” version of this printer. It prints pretty well out of the box, but I would love your thoughts on tuning. Thanks!
might wanna try different slicers to compare for printing time .....
i.e. i done a print (side panel for a mini transmisssionline speaker) in both cura and slic3er where the cura version was done in just over 1/3rd of the time...
settings for infill, skin thickness bottom and top etc were all the same ....
so choosing the right slicer can really help
Printing PLA without heatbed is a nice option, you wouldn't have to worry about the PID heatbed controls which, if not tuned properly, will keep changing the heatbed height, giving you horrible prints...(took me months to realize this on the i3 MK2. I never thought a PCB heatbed could expand/contract that much...)
I don't see how heatbed control would change heatbed height. At least I never had that problem. Sometimes heatbed does change height, so I just need to check it before each printing, or every few printings. Once it prints the first layer OK, it has no more issue. Maybe you should buy a better printer?
Takeaway has to be that bed heating (temperature difference to ambient and bed size) x print time is by far the most significant factor. Comparing the Cetus and unheated Cocoon Create shows similar power consumption rates. So, if you could get a good quality print from the Cocoon Create at higher speeds, you could reduce the power consumption.
Adding a thermally insulating enclosure would make a difference, as it would significantly reduce the rate at which heat is lost by the system and so the cost of running the bed (it'll tick on for less time). Enclosure is essential for ABS of course; it would be interesting to do the ABS print with the same settings but a decent enclosure.
Makes sense that larger printers with larger heated beds use more power, my guess is that the large surface area needs more energy to stay warm because it has more surface area to transfer the heat away. Which makes me think if you build a thermal housing not only will you save on energy costs but also have better prints that won't "pull back" and delaminate like with the ABS print in the video. Awesome video, I really wish you tested the Raise N2+ without heat on the bed.
Then, i wonder if printing matt black would use more power as it will radiate heat away from the bed a little bit more. That one's for funzies, i wanna see how little of a difference it would make lol
Great video. When doing anything tall in ABS you can really help delamination by upping the extrusion temperature so the layers adhere better, but I understand that is not the point of this video, and abs is not a great choice for tall things for sure. The power increase for ABS would have been even hotter of course. I have been known to run it up to 250 extrusion if I want really good layer adhesion.
Love my enclosure for ABS printing
Angus, I'd be curious to see how much this would change with an enclosure. Any chance of a follow up video? Love the videos keep up the great work brother!
Great video
Thank you for power benchmarks! Don't suppose you could do the same print using any printer with TMC2130 drivers, just for shiggles?
Would having a double-walled enclosure to keep the heat in during the print make any noticeable difference?
I run off grid just using solar power so power consumption is a big deal. I'll often place paper towel strips or thin sheets of foam around the edges of my print bed when doing smaller prints to help insulate the bed and reduce power consumption.
if you put your printer inside a enclosure with moderate heat insulation (e.g. aluminum insulation all around the inner walls of the enclosure), you could save further more electrical power.
Most of the electricity consumed is to to keep the hot bed and hot end temperature at constant, but relatively speaking, the hot bed wastes more heat as the surface area is much greater than the hot end. Having an enclosure sure will helps conserve the heat much better, in turn reduces the duty cycle of hot bed heating element. .
Try >250 degrees on the extruder for ABS. The added adhesion from the extra heat prevents the cracking.
My Anet A8 uses about 90-120w from the wall. 60c bed, 215c nozzle. Basically nothing to worry about.
It'd be interesting to see how much of an impact speed has on power usage (for the same machine.) I think you'd see very little increase over a smaller print that's printed slower since the heatbed is such a large factor.
thnikk luquerm I think faster prints would decrease the amount of energy, simply because the motors wouldn't consume that much more and the bed would be on for less time.
Assuming that we are talking only about printers using stepper motors - stepper motors consume more-or-less the same amount of energy when in-motion as when they are just holding still. That's one of the main disadvantages of steppers.
In that case, the total energy used will be mostly determined by the total time and thus, on the same printer, _longer prints will almost always use more energy in total._
might be a few years old for a vid, but did you ever re-try this with a HotBox enclosure? The bed is going to be the biggest consumer of power because it, not only has to heat it, but keep it hot during that time. Hotends are much smaller, while yes hotter, you don't need as much power to make them hot and upkeep the temp. With an enclosure the ambient temperature is higher meaning the plate doesn't cool down as quickly making for shorter cycles of the hotbed needing to "run" to upkeep the temp. Also you need that hotbox for ABS or it will self destruct like that.
Bigger equals to no better. Great job Angus
That makes sense 1kw/40c per 23h on the bed assuming the ambient temp is around 20c
I wondered about this since I wanted to figure out what size battery backup (UPS) would be the best to hook my printer up to. I would like to figure out size that's reasonable and give me 15-30 minutes of print time
I have an I3 clone that pull from 300-400 watts peak(when starting to heat up the bed and nozzle) but after that its only a around 80-100 watt to keep it going so a Smaller computer UPS could definitely do the trick if you are only looking for 30 mins.
Naomi built one to run off a li-po battery for a back pack. th-cam.com/video/i-ksb-gzfyE/w-d-xo.html battery install somewhere around 15:30
The CR-10S Pro uses about 500 watts of power at 60 degrees bed and 150 degrees nozzle (not quite printing temperatures, but it is what I was using to troubleshoot a power supply issue I was having. Someone else was kind enough to measure how much their working printer used. Mine was maxing out at under 400 watts and their working one was using just a hair over 500 watts making it clear that my power supply was faulty.)
Hey mate. Hopefully this is a decent place to reach you. I use a CR10-S5 and I believe if I printed that wheel in PLA it would've being a larger build time than you experienced. I slice with the latest cura software and my estimates are always about half of what I actually experience. Any off the top of the head ideas as to what might be going on? I constantly vary infill and layer height depending on the job but I am still very new to 3D printing.
Aldi on central coast still has the Cocoon Create going for $400
My FlashForge Finder doesn't have a heated bed, but does have an LED strip for continual illumination, wouldn't add much I believe. Can be turned off.
Can any of these be configured to switch off the heated-base after a given time to ensure the print adheres at the start but heater is switched off once it isn't needed?
Also, would operating the printer in an insulated cabinet to maintain a higher ambient temperature be worthwhile in reducing cost & failure-rates with ABS, etc., or would that cause problems with stepping-motors overheating?
It would be interesting to see how the results differ if you were to build an insulating cover for your Aldi printer. I'd expect the power consumption to reduce significantly with much improved results too.
Sold. I’m going to test no heat to the bed. 5 years has brought around better beds for lots of hobby level printers.
Im starting a new small business and now I calculate we will only require $9 per month! Thanks for the research mate.
Very good!
That Cetus 3d printer looks intetesting. How highly do you recommended compared to something like the monoprice mini?
Thank you for impaling my electricity bill 💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟
Turning off the heat with ultrabase makes it redundant. I love the way ultrabase unsticks when it cools.
Could you compare in an enclosure vs in the open air? I’d wager the heatbed in an enclosure uses quite a lot less energy to keep warm due to a higher ambient temperature
A thing to consider, using thicker layers significantly reduces print time and electricity expenses (and also printer mechanics wear).
By the way, in Novosibirsk, Russia the current price of electricity is 0.039€ per kW*h. My Flsun QQ-S consumes about 100-110 Wt while printing with heated bed at 70C so for 10 hour print it is less than 0.5€. At the same time it can spend about 2.5€ worth of plastic. However, I think I'd try printing PLA without heated bed and see how much it can save.
Consider that ambient temperature will be around 20°C and it accounts for the difference in power consumption; 20 to 60 is half of 20 to 100 and the temperature gradient is less, so the loss by convection would be slower.
I wonder how things would change with 12v vs 24v printers and also if you insulate the bed underneath with corksheet to help hold in the heat so it is easier to maintain heat. Also if the silicone sock is on the heater block to also help hold in the heat.
Buckaroo San likely very similar. 24V maybe slightly more efficient as there is less loss in the wires to the bed. Effect will be very small.
I believe the cocoon is a 24 volt as my i3 plus is.
@@scienteer3562 Depends on the wire. If the wire is too thin, it will generate heat, which will be less efficient.
Most of the heart loss is upward, insulating the underneath will not save much at all
here in the states, Aldi is a food store!
Aldi's a food store everywhere, but they have really random offers in store every now and then, like 3D printers haha It's a strange place
@@8BitJesus Germans have crazy ideas
Please do a video wattage usage of the Elegoo Jupiter or large resin printers. This topic is very useful for people that live off grid and want to get into 3D printing
Do you have a video like this for SLA or MSLA printers? I am interested in what the energy cost would be for that
I assume there are now firware settings to ramp down heated bed temp based on layer height (distance away from source) especially on enclosed units?
It costs CAD$0.08/KWh here in Ottawa, Canada. It might not sound much, but it adds up quick.
This is the main reason I print only if I need it bad. I bought some white PLA and will be switching to it from ABS.
It should smell less nasty too. I am not sure if ABS is necessary anymore with today's PLAs.
It was a shitty choice a few years ago, but now I think they've got in dialed-in, and the final prints will be just as strong and durable as ABS.
Good video that makes one think about pissing one's hard-earned money, down a socket!
Angus, could you take a look at the Cocoon Create Model Maker (Wanhao Duplicator Mini i3)? I think it's a really good budget printer (I have the American version, PowerSpec mini i3) that could use more attention.
+Makers Muse, could you try if it would be any change adding a simple enclosure to the printer?
Hi, I have a Cetus and was wondering that just this week. Can you please tell me the amp reading you got work the Cetus please?
It's also crazy to think that Australian Aldi's sells 3D printers. Here in the US in the midwest they're just a discount grocery store. Sell stuff off of pallets instead of shelves. Has to be the same company; same exact logo!
I just bought one of these, love it. Try ringing the 1300 support number though..."the number you have called is not connected" so if that's an example of CocoonCreate support in the future we will have a problem.
Look, every single one of these resellers of Chinese printers hasn't been the most knowledgeable and forthcoming with support, they just ship things around and take your money, they really don't know much about what they're selling, and any local/small manufacturer or reseller is prone to go out of business at any moment anyway. You lot just have to help each other troubleshoot via online communities and you can order original bits directly from Jinhua Wanhao Spare Parts Co. Ltd or find one of the many equivalent replacements.
Yeah fully aware of that, I was more making an observation regarding the likely fly-by-night operation that is CocoonCreate, set everything up in a rush to get them into Aldi and then likely disappear. Cheers.
7¢ / kWh where I live. A 24hr print probably only costs me a quarter.
Can you make a guide/tutorial about how to use stepper motors in 3D printed projects? I have trouble finding good information on how to mechanically connect stepper motors to anything.
you do not need to print to get the numbers. measure amps and print something for some minutes and then you calculate the kwh = volt*amps*h/1000 of print. the heated measure needs only preheat to measure. you can add now the amps of print and headed.
Would it be out of the question to run the heat bed, for say the first 5 or 6 Z-axis layers and then modify the G-Code at some arbitrary height to switch the heat bed off?
be neat to see the wanhao ABS test again, with an enclosure, not for the better print quality it would provide, but power reduction. as the bed wouldn't have to work as hard to stay at temp.
Hi. Do you know the details about the new Aldi printer? (cost and when they will be selling it)