$38.01, for ABS bought at $24 a kilogram and run through an enclosed machine drawing 130 W at the US average electricity rate, allowing 15% for warping scrap and 30 cents an hour for machine wear.
| Term | Amount |
|---|---|
| Filament | $24.00 |
| Electricity | $0.59 |
| Machine time | $7.72 |
| Warping and scrap allowance | $5.70 |
| Total | $38.01 |
A kilogram of ABS goes further than a kilogram of PLA
ABS is a light polymer — 1.02 to 1.08 g/cm³ against PLA's 1.24. At the midpoint of 1.05, a kilogram occupies 952.38 cm³ and gives 395.95 m of 1.75 mm filament, where the same kilogram of PLA gives 335.28 m.
That is sixty metres more filament in the box, and it means a given part comes out about fifteen percent lighter in ABS than in PLA. On a per-part basis, ABS is closer to PLA in cost than the spool prices suggest.
The 15% failure allowance is the honest part of this figure
ABS contracts 0.4 to 0.8% as it cools, which is two to four times PLA's contraction, and it does it while the bottom of the part is pinned to a hot plate. That is warping, and it is why the material requires an enclosure rather than merely benefiting from one.
At 15% scrap the allowance is $5.70 — comfortably more than the electricity and approaching the machine-time term. Bring the failure rate down and this figure falls faster than any other input on the page. Run ABS on an open-frame printer and 15% is optimistic.
Where the extra electricity goes
$0.59 against $0.38 for a kilogram of PLA, and there are two reasons: the enclosed machine draws more (130 W against 100 W, mostly bed and chamber), and the 90 to 110 °C bed has to hold that temperature for 25.7 hours rather than sit at 60 °C.
Even so, it remains the smallest number on the page by a wide margin.
Put your own spool price, machine wattage and honest failure rate into the print cost calculator, or read what else changes on the ABS material page.