# What is the best way to create information of a custom 3D printed part

Would a direct export from a cad software provided all the necessary information such as cost and material used, if set in the program. Or would all that information need to be put in manually on Open BOM?

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: about 6 years ago
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

OpenBOM Output includes Volume for the part (mm3) and material.  One exported to excel it can be easily added a column to find the cost of the specific material per mm3 and calculate the material cost.  With time and energy cost directly related to printing time and that time related on how much PLA is used (volume again), using standard costs for those two a total cost can also be calculated.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: over 4 years ago
- Author title: Self employed



### Comment 2

OpenBOM allows you to import information from different sources - CAD systems (using add-ins), excel/google spreadsheets, or enter it manually. In your case, I'd recommend importing geometry and basic data from CAD, then create (or import) catalog information with costs from Excel and OpenBOM will merge it all together, create formulas to calculate cost rollup and share it with 3D printing shop. 

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: about 6 years ago
- Author title: CEO @OpenBOM, Blog about engineering & manufacturing @BeyondPLM, TEDx Speaker Catalyst, Mentor & Judge at MassChallenge




## Related Product
[OpenBOM](https://www.g2.com/products/openbom/reviews)

## Related Category
[Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)](https://www.g2.com/categories/product-lifecycle-management-plm)

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