Adding Machine Costs to a Product

Machine costs capture the cost of running equipment: depreciation on the purchase price, electricity, consumables specific to the machine (e.g., laser tube replacement, 3D printer filament accounted for separately), and maintenance. These are set up per machine in the Machines section, and you reference them here when adding machine time to a product.

Prerequisites

Before you can add a machine to a product, it must exist in your machines library with a configured cost per hour. See the Machines & Equipment section for setup instructions.

Steps

1. Open the product.
2. Go to the Machines tab.
3. Click Add Machine.
4. Select the machine from the dropdown.
5. Enter the Time Used. You can enter this in hours or minutes — CrafterBy converts automatically.
6. CrafterBy calculates: Machine cost = Hours Used × Cost per Hour.
7. Click Add.

Worked example: CO2 laser engraver

Your CO2 laser engraver has a calculated cost of €3.20/hour (based on purchase price depreciation, electricity draw, and average maintenance). Engraving a leather key fob takes 12 minutes.

• Machine: CO2 Laser Engraver
• Cost per hour: €3.20
• Time used: 12 minutes = 0.2 hours
• Machine cost: 0.2 × €3.20 = €0.64

Worked example: 3D printer

Your FDM 3D printer has a cost of €1.80/hour. Printing a custom resin mould base takes 4.5 hours.

• Machine cost: 4.5 × €1.80 = €8.10

Multiple machines per product

You can add as many machine entries as the product requires. For example, a laser-cut acrylic jewellery piece might use:

• CO2 laser cutter (cutting and engraving) — 8 minutes
• Tumbler/polisher (finishing) — 20 minutes

Each is added as a separate entry. The cost breakdown panel totals them under Machine Cost.