PolyJet / material jetting pricing explained
How a PolyJet / material jetting price is assembled, setting by setting, with a worked example priced by the engine itself.
These are the settings that decide how the work is priced, as opposed to the machine that does it or the material it is made from. They are stored with the configuration.
Every one of them shows up in the breakdown when it affects a price, so if a number surprises you, the answer is on the screen.
A worked example
These numbers were computed by the pricing engine against the shipped PolyJet studio configuration - the one you get if you start from the template. They are regenerated whenever the engine changes, so they cannot drift away from what your own console would show for the same part.
| Line | One part | Ten parts |
|---|---|---|
| Material | €67.49 | €603.41 |
| Production | €223.51 | €393.53 |
| Discounts | - | −€8.44 |
| Total, incl. shipping and VAT | €349.86 | €1179.89 |
| Machine time per part | 0 min | 0 min |
Note how the price per part falls with quantity: a batch shares what is done once - a set-up, a program, a whole build on a powder process, the tool in moulding. That is where the quantity break comes from. It is not a discount you are giving away; it is your cost structure, passed on.
Every setting on this page
These are in the same order as the editor, with the same help text. Each one has an anchor, and the ? beside a field in your console links straight to it - so if you are reading this because you clicked one, the setting you were looking at is highlighted.
Support & surface
Overhang thresholdsupport_threshold_deg
Faces overhanging further than this from vertical get support underneath.
Price: A lower threshold supports more of the part: more support material jetted and more to wash off.
Typical: 45°.
Support fill under overhangssupport_fill_pctcalibratable
How much of the space under an overhang, down to the tray, is filled with support.
Price: Support material is bought by the kilogram like model material, so this scales a real material line.
Typical: 100 % (jetted support is solid gel).
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Glossy: support skinglossy_skin_mm
The thin layer of support jetted under every supported face and under the faces sitting on the tray.
Price: Adds support material in proportion to the supported area.
Typical: 0.1-0.3 mm.
Matte: support coatmatte_coat_mm
The coat of support jetted over every face when the part is printed matte.
Price: Matte encases the whole part, so this adds support material over the whole surface and makes the wash-off longer.
Typical: 0.2-0.5 mm.
Offer glossy or mattesurface_offeredbasic
Whether the buyer chooses between a glossy and a matte surface.
Price: Matte uses more support and more removal time, so it costs more; glossy is cheaper but its supported faces still come out matte.
Typical: On.
Default surfacedefault_surface
The surface printed when the buyer is not asked, and the one selected first when they are.
Price: Matte prices more support material and more waterjet time than glossy.
Typical: Matte.
Labour
Support removal per partsupport_removal_base_min
Fixed time to take one part through the waterjet station, whatever its size.
Price: Charged for every part, so it is most of the removal cost of a small one.
Typical: 1-3 min.
Waterjet per cm²waterjet_min_per_cm2basiccalibratable
Waterjet time per square centimetre of supported surface (glossy) or of the whole surface (matte).
Price: The labour that grows with the part: a matte part pays it over every face.
Typical: 0.03-0.08 min/cm².
This is one of the numbers the calibration tool can fit from jobs you have already run, so you do not have to guess it.
Soak or melt-out per traysoak_min_per_tray
Handling a tray of parts through the caustic soak or the melt-out oven, when the support material is removed that way.
Price: Charged once per tray and shared by the parts on it; only when the support material is marked as removed in a bath.
Typical: 5-15 min.
Tray preparationtray_prep_min
Cleaning the tray, checking the heads and loading the job.
Price: Once per tray, shared by everything on it.
Typical: 3-8 min.
Tray unloadingtray_removal_min
Scraping the finished parts off the tray.
Price: Once per tray.
Typical: 3-8 min.
File preparation per modelfile_prep_min
Opening the file, placing it on the tray and assigning the material.
Price: Charged once per model, whatever the quantity.
Typical: 2-5 min.