How Many Parts Can You Print From 1kg of Filament?

You buy a 1kg spool of filament and wonder: how many parts can you actually get out of it? It depends on part size, but there's a pretty concrete way to estimate it.

How much filament is in a 1kg spool

A standard 1kg spool of 1.75mm PLA holds roughly 330 meters of filament — PLA's density is about 1.24g/cm³. PETG and ABS yield slightly fewer meters for the same weight, since they're a bit denser.

How many parts you can actually make

Here are real consumption references (at 15% infill, standard for decorative parts):

• Small figurine (a desk capybara, ~6cm): 15–30g → 33 to 65 of them per kilo
• Phone stand or small organizer: 40–80g → 12 to 25 parts
• Medium decorative vase (15cm): 80–150g → 6 to 12 parts
• Large functional part (case, drawer organizer): 150–300g → 3 to 6 parts

Curious about the viral capybara trend? We already worked out its material use in our capybara printing guide.

What changes the yield

• Infill: going from 15% to 50% can nearly double the material used for the same part.
• Supports: parts with heavy overhangs burn extra filament just to hold the print up — and it's thrown away afterward.
• Wall thickness: more walls means more strength, but also more grams.

What this costs in practice

With filament running roughly $15–20 per kilo, each gram costs a few cents — that 20g figurine costs well under a dollar in material. To calculate the exact cost of any part (including power and machine wear, not just filament), use our FDM cost calculator.

Recommended filaments

• Bambu Lab PLA Lite — reusable spool, great color consistency
• Creality PETG (4kg pack) — bulk pack, cheaper per gram if you print a lot

We participate in the Amazon and AliExpress affiliate programs and earn from qualifying purchases made through the links above.