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Machine Hourly Rate — What Your Laser, CNC or Grinder Really Costs per Hour

Three things make up an hour of machine time: the machine paying for itself over its working life, the electricity it draws, and the parts it wears out. Pick your machine, correct the numbers to match your shop, and get a cost per hour you can defend.

What this number is — and isn't

It is the cost of an hour of machine time, whether or not you are standing at the machine. That makes it one line of a job's cost, the same way a sheet of plywood or a pair of Corby bolts is a line.

It is not your labor. Your hour is a separate line at your own rate. The most common pricing mistake in a small shop is folding the two together, which charges for your time twice on some jobs and not at all on the ones where the machine runs unattended.

It is not your rent. Rent, insurance and the business software cost the same in a month the laser never ran. They belong spread across every billable hour of labor, not hidden in one machine's rate — KraftyQuote's overhead helper does that part.

Presets are typical starting points for a small shop, not quotes for your machine. The one number nobody else can guess for you is hours per week — count the hours the machine actually runs, not the hours you are in the shop. It moves the result more than anything else on the form.

Where each dollar goes right now

Line	Per hour	Share
Machine paying for itself	—	—
Electricity	—	—
Wear items	—	—

Machine Hourly Rate

Live

What kind of machine?

Picking one fills in typical numbers. Change any of them to match your shop.

Machine name (for your quote)

Replacement cost ($)

Years it will last

What it would cost to replace today, not what you paid — the depreciation line is saving for the next one.

Hours it actually runs per week

Running hours, not shop hours. This is the number that moves the result the most.

Power draw (watts)

Electric rate ($/kWh)

Watts are on the nameplate or the power brick — include the chiller, exhaust or dust collector if it runs with the machine. The rate is on your power bill.

Wear items ($ per hour)

Tubes, lenses, bearings, spindle rebuilds — parts that wear a little on every job. Easier as a yearly figure? Enter $ per year instead

Working life—

Machine paying for itself—

Electricity—

Wear items—

Cost to run, per hour—

Per minute—

If you sell machine time by the hour, at what margin?

% of the price

Rate to charge—

Per minute—

Use this rate in a quote →

Free — no account needed. The cost per hour lands on a machine line in KraftyQuote, where your materials, labor and margin build the rest of the price. The same helper lives inside the app on every machine line.

The Formula

How the cost per hour is built

The same math the calculator runs — with your current numbers, worked out longhand. It is also exactly what KraftyQuote's in-app rate helper does, so the figure you get here is the figure you will see there.

Working life—
Machine paying for itself—
Electricity—
Wear items—
Cost to run, per hour—
Rate to charge at — margin—

Depreciation is straight-line. The replacement cost is divided evenly over every hour the machine will run in its life. No salvage value, because by the time a small-shop laser or router is retired it is rarely worth much, and any resale is a small bonus rather than a number to plan on.

Electricity is watts, not guesses. Kilowatts drawn times your rate per kilowatt-hour is the cost of an hour, no assumptions needed. Most machines draw well under their nameplate at idle, so on a laser that idles between jobs the true figure is a little lower than shown; on a grinder under load it is close to exact.

The margin line is a price, not a cost. Cost ÷ (1 − margin) — the same way KraftyQuote's target margin works backward from cost to a sell price. If you charge hourly for machine time, this is the number; if you quote whole jobs, the cost per hour is what goes on the quote and the margin is applied to the job as a whole.

Usage

Why hours per week is the number that matters

Your machine, your numbers, at different amounts of use. The purchase price is fixed; the hours are what it gets spread over. This is why a hobby machine that runs two hours a week costs more per hour than a production machine costing five times as much.

Running hours / week	Hours over its life	Paying for itself	Cost to run, per hour

Electricity and wear items are per running hour and do not change with usage — only the depreciation line does. The highlighted row is your current setting.

Reference

Typical starting points by machine

The presets behind the dropdown, and the cost per hour each works out to at your current electric rate. Every one of these is a small-shop starting point to correct, not a benchmark to hit — your replacement cost and your real running hours are what make the number yours.

Machine	Replacement	Years	Hrs / week	Watts	Wear $/hr	Cost / hr

The propane forge's fuel is entered as a wear item per hour rather than watts, since it draws almost no electricity. A gas kiln works the same way.

Common Questions

What makers ask before they set a rate

Should my machine rate include my own time?

No. This is what the machine costs to run for an hour whether or not you are standing at it. Your time is a separate labor line at your own hourly rate. Folding labor into the machine rate is the most common way makers end up charging for their time twice on some jobs and not at all on others.

What about rent, insurance and software?

Those are shop overhead — they cost the same whether the laser ran this month or not — so they belong spread over your billable labor hours, not buried in one machine's rate. KraftyQuote has a separate overhead helper that does exactly that. Machine-specific software subscriptions are the exception: if a subscription exists only to run this machine, count it here as a wear item.

Do consumables like belts, bits and filament go in the wear-items line?

Only the ones you cannot pin to a single job. A laser tube, lenses, mirrors, bearings, a spindle rebuild — those wear a little on every job, so they go here as a per-hour figure. A grinding belt used up on one knife, a bit broken on one sign, the filament in one print — those are that job's consumables and belong on the quote itself, where KraftyQuote tracks them as hardware and materials.

My machine is paid off. Is its time free now?

No. The depreciation line is not paying off the old machine, it is saving up for the next one. Every hour of use brings the day you replace it closer, and the money for that has to come from the jobs that wore it out. Use today's replacement price, not what you paid.

Why does hours per week change the rate so much?

Because the purchase price is a fixed cost and the hours are what it gets spread over. A $3,500 laser run 2 hours a week costs several times more per hour than the same laser run 10 hours a week, before a single watt of electricity. This is the number to be honest about: count the hours it actually runs, not the hours you are in the shop.

Is this what I should charge per hour?

It is the floor, not the price. The cost per hour is what an hour of machine time takes out of your pocket. What you charge for that hour is the cost plus your margin, which the calculator shows below the main figure. Charging exactly the cost means the machine pays for itself and earns you nothing.

Related calculators

The rate is one line. The quote is the rest.

KraftyQuote puts machine time, materials, consumables, your labor and your margin into one price — and this same rate helper sits on every machine line inside it. Free to build, no card required.

See how pricing works Start a free quote →