Introduction to Machines

What is a Machine?

In CrafterBy, a machine is any piece of equipment you use in your production process — a sewing machine, kiln, laser cutter, wax melter, or 3D printer. By adding machines to CrafterBy and setting their hourly running cost, you can include that cost in each product you make.

Machine Fields

Each machine in CrafterBy has:

• Name — what you call it (e.g. Brother SE700, Skutt Kiln, Glowforge Pro)
• Status — Active, Inactive, Under Maintenance, or Retired
• Hourly Rate — the cost per hour to run this machine (electricity, depreciation, consumables)
• Capacity — optional note on maximum throughput
• Description — any additional notes

How Machine Costs Flow into Products

When you add a machine to a product's cost breakdown, you specify how many hours that machine runs per unit produced. CrafterBy multiplies those hours by the machine's hourly rate to get the machine cost for that product. Only Active machines are included in cost calculations — setting a machine to Inactive effectively removes it from all product costs without deleting it.