3D Printer Energy Use

Here are some data points:

• https://3dprintingmentor.com/how-much-power-do-3d-printers-use-and-what-does-that-cost/
  • Summary: 200W for Prusoids, 60W for monoprice mini delta with only 35W heatbed (4" circle bed)

Steppers

• Nema 17 - about 5W - [1]

D3D Universal

• 20W for 4 steppers
• 40W for extruder heater at full power (max printing)
• LCD - .1A at 5v - 0.5W - [2]
• Fan - 2.4W [3]
• Blower - 3.6W - [4]
• Seems like arduino can draw max .2A from 5v pins - or 1W max. Since LCD is powered by Arduino, total for Arduino, RAMPS, + LCD is probably 1W max. [5]

TOTAL: 67W, about 1/3 of the industry standards.

Power Costs

• 7c - 30 cents usa - with 13 cent average - [6]
• Germany - 33 cents - [7]
• Belgium - 28

Example of Savings

• It costs $202 per year per printer in electricity costs for D3D Universal running in Germany, 24/7.
• That's about $400 saved per printer per year!
• In America, you'd be saving about $160 per printer per year compared to running a printer with a heated bed.
• If you are running a personal cluster of 12 printers - that is $5k that stays in your pocket.
• In America, the average savings would be about $2000 per year.
• For a cluster of 100 printers in Germany, you are saving $40,000 per year if you are using the D3D Universal printer for production.

Insulated Heatbed

Data:

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Insulated heatbed savings: saves 30% from heat bed usage.

• 36 watts saved at 100C on average. One printer - saves 0.864 kWhr per day. In Germany, that is 29 cents per day. That is $104 per year!
• Overall energy cost savings from a 100 printer print farm - $10,000 per year.
• In extreme case of high temperature materials printed with 178C heated bed - savings is $300 per printer.