Additive · Live
Binder jetting quote software: metal, sand and colour pricing
Price binder jetting from job-box share, binder, curing and depowdering, with sintering for metal. Metal parts go to your review by default.
- Process
- Binder jet
- Family
- Additive
- Input
- Mesh, STEP
- Status
- Live
The price follows the physics.
Binder jetting bonds a powder bed with liquid binder, so printing is fast and the cost moves elsewhere. A part pays its share of the build, plus binder per cubic centimetre, curing and depowdering. Metal parts then go through debinding and sintering, a furnace cycle shared by everything in the load, and shrink by around a fifth as they densify, which the design must allow for. Sand moulds and cores are priced by the job-box volume they take, full-colour parts by the infiltration that makes them strong. One process, three quite different prices.
- 01
Build share
As in the other powder-bed processes, a part pays for the share of the job box its cell takes.
- 02
Binder and curing
Binder is used per cubic centimetre, and green parts are cured before they can be handled.
- 03
Sintering furnace
Metal parts share a debind and sinter cycle, priced by the furnace space they take.
- 04
Shrinkage and setters
Parts shrink as they sinter, and awkward shapes need setters to support them, which is engineering work.
- 05
Depowdering green parts
Unsintered parts are fragile, so depowdering is careful hand work.
- 06
Infiltration
Full-colour and some metal parts are infiltrated for strength, adding material and labour.
Measured from the file. Priced on your machines.
Measured from the geometry
- Volume, surface area and bounding box. Give the part’s cell in the job box, its binder use, and depowdering and infiltration by area.
- Wall thickness, gaps and small features. Checked against the powder’s minimum wall, gap and detail, because green parts are fragile and loose powder bridges narrow gaps.
- Closed cavities. A cavity that would trap powder goes to review.
- Long, open metal parts. A metal part longer than the setter limit whose hull is mostly air goes to review, as a sign it may need setters in the furnace.
Configured by you
- Gap between parts and the nesting efficiency curve. How tightly parts nest in the box, from a single part to many; the efficiency figures are calibratable.
- Time per layer, layer thickness and start-up per build. Per machine: the print time of a box, shared by the parts in it.
- Binder per cm³ and cured in an oven. Per powder: binder use, and whether a curing cycle is charged.
- Linear sinter shrink, furnace load volume and furnace fill. Metal parts are printed larger to allow for shrink, and pay their share of a furnace load.
- Setter loading, infiltration and de-powdering. Per part and per area, at your labour rates.
- Kind. Metal, sand or colour on each machine and powder, so metal and sand never share a box.
What your buyer sees
- The powders you offer for metal, sand or colour, and options such as bead blasting, tumble polishing and H900 heat treatment in the shipped configuration.
- For metal, an estimate that goes to your review: the shipped configuration reviews every metal line, a rule you can change.
- Warnings for thin walls, narrow gaps and small details; trapped powder and parts that may need setters go to review.
Print time and furnace cycles are shared by everything in the job box and the furnace load, so a full build costs far less per part than a part on its own. Depowdering and finishing stay per part.
Typical materials
- 316L stainless steel
- 17-4 PH stainless steel
- Silica sand for moulds and cores
- Ceramic sand for moulds and cores
- Gypsum-based full-colour powder
Typical parts
- Sand moulds and cores for metal casting
- Small metal production parts
- Gypsum architectural and presentation models
- Complex metal parts in volume
- Prototype castings
Estimate: the shop confirms this price before the order is final, as its template asks.
Estimate: the shop confirms this price before the order is final, as its template asks.
Both priced by the real engine for the sample bracket against the Binder jetting bureau template that ships with Quotometry.
Pricing binder jet, in depth
How to calculate 3D printing cost, for any process
A 3D printing cost is six lines: material, machine time, labour, post-processing, failures and overhead. How to work out each one, with FDM and SLS examples.
Knowledge baseDesign for 3D printing: walls, overhangs, holes, clearances and orientation
The design rules that decide whether a 3D printed part works and what it costs, with typical limits for FDM, SLA, SLS and MJF in one table.
Knowledge baseWhat drives the cost of metal 3D printing (DMLS and LPBF)
Metal 3D printing cost explained: laser hours, powder, supports, stress relief, plate removal and finishing, with a worked example for a plate of steel parts.
Binder jet quoting, answered
Can I quote binder jetting with Quotometry today?
Yes. Binder jetting prices end to end in the widget for metal, sand and colour powders: job-box share, binder, curing, depowdering and, for metal, sintering and infiltration. Sand parts can price instantly. The shipped configuration sends every metal line to your review, because sinter distortion is not simulated.
Why do metal binder-jet parts go to review?
Parts shrink as they sinter, and heavy or unsupported sections can sag or distort. Quotometry applies one linear shrink per material and flags long, open parts that may need setters, but it does not simulate distortion or check the furnace size. So the shipped configuration reviews metal lines, with the estimate already computed, and you start from a number instead of a blank sheet.
How is sand printing priced?
By the share of the job box a mould or core takes, plus binder and handling. A foundry buying cores cares about the space they take in the box and the time to clean them, not the mass of sand, so that is what the price follows. Gating, core prints and draft are taken as the buyer designed them.
Is binder jetting cheaper than laser metal printing?
It can be per part at volume, because printing is fast and there are no laser hours or welded supports, but sintering, shrinkage and setters add cost and risk. The honest answer depends on the part, which is why each process is priced from its own model rather than from a rule of thumb.
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