What drives the price
- Material. Copper alloys such as CuCrZr or NASA’s GRCop-42 conduct heat best but are harder to print than nickel alloys such as Inconel 718 or stainless steel.
- Build height and time. Laser powder bed fusion builds layer by layer; machine hours dominate the cost.
- Post-processing. Powder must be removed from every cooling channel, the part heat-treated, sealing faces machined.
- Inspection. Only a CT scan shows whether internal channels came out as designed.
Our estimate for a 100 N engine
| Version | Material | |
|---|---|---|
| Display model | resin or plastic | 20–100 € |
| Cold-flow prototype | stainless steel 316L | 400–1,000 € |
| Hot-fire capable | Inconel 718 | 800–2,000 € |
| Hot-fire, best cooling | CuCrZr or GRCop-42 | 1,500–4,000 € |
These are market estimates for a single part from service bureaus, not quotes. Several parts in one build are much cheaper per piece.
Why it is worth it
A conventionally built chamber with a separate injector, liner, jacket and manifolds can take dozens of parts and months of machining and brazing. Printing it in one piece cuts parts and lead time, and makes channel shapes possible that cannot be machined. NASA has demonstrated this with GRCop-42 chambers that were printed and hot-fired.