Why equipment costs matter

If you own a heat press, laser engraver, vinyl cutter, or UV printer, it costs something to run it — electricity, wear and tear, depreciation. Most makers ignore this and wonder why their margins look thin. Equipment cost is often $0.50–$3.00 per piece depending on how long the machine runs. At volume, that adds up.

Sunday Maker makes this easy: add your equipment with an hourly rate, and every time you use it in a job, the cost is calculated automatically based on run time.

Adding equipment

Go to Settings → Equipment and click + Add equipment. You'll need:

• Name — what you call it ("20" Heat Press", "xTool D1 Pro", "Epson F170")
• Method — which maker method it belongs to (helps filter equipment in the job builder)
• Hourly rate — what it costs to run per hour (see below)
• Include in pricing — toggle on to include this rate in cost calculations, off to track the equipment without charging for it

Setting your hourly rate

There's no perfect formula — pick an approach that makes sense for you:

• Simple depreciation: purchase price ÷ expected usage hours. A $600 heat press used 300 hours over its life = $2.00/hr.
• Cost-plus: add electricity cost to depreciation. A press drawing 1500W for $0.12/kWh costs $0.18/hr in electricity plus depreciation.
• Market rate: what would you pay to rent this machine per hour? That's a reasonable proxy for its cost to operate.

Most makers start with simple depreciation and refine it over time. Even a rough rate is better than $0.

How equipment time flows into jobs

When you add a production step in the job builder, you can select a piece of equipment and enter how many minutes it runs for that step. Sunday Maker multiplies the minutes by the hourly rate to get the equipment cost for that step.

For example: a heat press at $2.00/hr running for 4 minutes per tumbler = $0.13 per tumbler in equipment cost. Multiply by 50 tumblers and your equipment cost for the run is $6.67.

Sublimation ink presets

If you have a sublimation printer, you can set up ink presets on the equipment record — ink cost per ml for each color channel. When you add a sublimation step in a job, Sunday Maker can estimate ink usage based on coverage and factor it into the step cost.

Multiple machines

Add as many machines as you use. Each job step can reference a different piece of equipment, so if you use a Cricut to cut vinyl, a heat press to apply it, and a laser to add an engraving, all three can be costed in the same job.