Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

So, after having this amazing machine for about 6 months and now that I am making consistent good quality prints, I am getting quite a few enquiries to print for other people.

What would a reasonable charge out rate be?

I am thinking of 8 - 10$ per hour plus material used? Does that sound excessive?

I would love to get some consensus on this topic.

The Machine shop that i work for charges $55 per hour for CNC/Conventional machining and $85 for inspection/troubleshooting and we have way more work that we can handle.

When i owned my own shop i charged $35 per hour for everything but couldn't find enough work.

Just charge what you can and still make money. I know that for the most part the machines operate by themselves, but remember customers are not gonna pay for "bad prints" and material loss because of those prints. Your Knowledge of the machine and how well you can operate it is what they are paying for, so in the end the real question is "What is your time worth?"

I would charge a base rate and then an hourly rate, so something like $8 base + $6 an hour or some combination like thus. if you want to get your printer out in the open, you can put your services on MakeXYZ.

CJGerard wrote:The Machine shop that i work for charges $55 per hour for CNC/Conventional machining and $85 for inspection/troubleshooting and we have way more work that we can handle.

When i owned my own shop i charged $35 per hour for everything but couldn't find enough work.

Just charge what you can and still make money. I know that for the most part the machines operate by themselves, but remember customers are not gonna pay for "bad prints" and material loss because of those prints. Your Knowledge of the machine and how well you can operate it is what they are paying for, so in the end the real question is "What is your time worth?"

This is none of my business but I was wondering why you couldn't find enough work even with lower charges. Would you say that location played the biggest role?

Eaglezsoar wrote:

CJGerard wrote:The Machine shop that i work for charges $55 per hour for CNC/Conventional machining and $85 for inspection/troubleshooting and we have way more work that we can handle.

When i owned my own shop i charged $35 per hour for everything but couldn't find enough work.

Just charge what you can and still make money. I know that for the most part the machines operate by themselves, but remember customers are not gonna pay for "bad prints" and material loss because of those prints. Your Knowledge of the machine and how well you can operate it is what they are paying for, so in the end the real question is "What is your time worth?"

This is none of my business but I was wondering why you couldn't find enough work even with lower charges. Would you say that location played the biggest role?

In most cases, besides when the service/product just isn't very good, it's advertising. If people don't know you are selling the product, you don't sell it.

I've done this a couple times through Makexyz. A good percentage of people who contact you will not have CAD/.stl files. You can offer design services for an hourly fee. (No takers yet) Make sure you charge for your time! Most of the job is setup, re-do, package, etc. Materials, for me are cheap, I extrude my own filament, cuts the cost waaay down. I charge around $20/hr and I will tack on a service fee for close tolerance work. It can be fun if you get someone who understands 3d printing

Eaglezsoar wrote: This is none of my business but I was wondering why you couldn't find enough work even with lower charges. Would you say that location played the biggest role?

Location was a factor, at the time that i started my shop the local economy had just lost the last of its major manufactures. The area became so cut-throat that shops were actually taking a loss on jobs in order to stay in business long enough to sell. Those that didn't sell ended just closing their doors after the owners decided it wasn't worth it anymore. (on the plus side, this also allowed me to get some pretty wicked equipment dirt cheap) The shops that did have work, had it because they "knew someone" that could give it to them. But they were paying highly skilled machinist and toolmakers so low that alot of them just left the trade entirely.

Lochemage wrote: In most cases, besides when the service/product just isn't very good, it's advertising. If people don't know you are selling the product, you don't sell it.

As far as advertising goes, I have a lot of respect for the guy that is willing to walk into 100 doors just to get told no 100 times. I am not that type of person. I did as much as i could as far as indirect advertising goes, but i really needed someone to go door to door and make sales.

I began to question staying in business when i had to let my partner go (would prefer not to discuss why) and finally came to a decision to close when the (state and feds) showed up at my doorstep because my payroll company hadn't been filing or paying taxes/WC on my employees. If those two things didn't happen I would probably still be in business today, toughing it out and working on whatever jobs i could get.

I'm sorry you were forced into closing your shop. Perhaps better days are ahead. Under this economy they certainly can't get much worse.
I see you are from Ohio also which makes it easier to understand what happened. The manufacturing base has been decimated by the export
of everything to China which has occurred everywhere but the MidWest seems to have been hit the hardest.