Use this article when your shop runs a guillotine or other sheet cutter and you need Estimator to price the cut step on quotes that include trimming. After this you will have a cut machine on the Cut table that prices correctly on quotes, with the cut step appearing on the price breakdown.
Steps
1. Add the cut machine
Open Estimate Setup → Finishing Machines → Cut, then select + Add New. Fill in the fields below.
Identification
Name — recommended format is brand and model, so the machine is easy to recognise on quotes (e.g., "Guillotine 1").
Tags — link this cutter to the substrates and upstream presses it can run after. Estimator uses tags to pair the cutter with compatible work.
Sheets this cutter accepts
Sheet sizes — the press sheet sizes the cutter can take. Select from the drop-down (e.g., SRA1, B1, RA1). The options come from your configured substrates, so to add a new sheet size you must first create a substrate with that size — it will then appear here.
Width (min/max) and height (min/max) — sheet dimensions in millimetres (metric) or inches (imperial). For example, 200–1100 mm, or 8–43 in. Only set these if you are not already restricting via Sheet sizes, to avoid double-constraining the same dimension.
Weight (min/max) — paper weight in gsm (metric) or lb (imperial). For example, 80–400 gsm, or 20–110 lb.
Thickness (min/max) — physical sheet thickness range in millimetres or inches. For example, 0.1–0.4 mm, or 0.01–0.04 in.
Max sheet stack — the maximum number of sheets the operator clamps in one cut (e.g., 500 sheets). Estimator uses this to compute how many clamp cycles the run takes.
Max stack height — physical clamp limit in millimetres or inches (e.g., 100 mm, or 4 in).
Speed
Cuts per hour — cutting speed expressed as the number of clamp cycles per hour (e.g., 170 cuts/hour for a typical guillotine). The output type is fixed at cuts for this machine class.
Perimeter Pretrim Strategy — controls whether Estimator counts an extra pretrim pass around the multi-up sheet before separation cuts. Set this per the rules in Configure guillotine pretrim.
Cost
Machine rate per hour — all hourly running costs in tenant currency (amortisation, electricity, blades, etc.). For example, €60/hour for a typical guillotine.
Labor rate per hour — operator cost per hour. If the operator can do other work while the machine runs, enter a fraction of their full rate (e.g., 50%).
Minimum charge — floor amount. If the calculated cut cost is below this, Estimator applies the minimum instead.
Make-ready and spoilage
Make-ready minutes — setup time per section in minutes (e.g., 6 minutes for a job-changeover-heavy guillotine, 0.3 minutes for a flow-line cutter).
Running spoils % — extra sheets consumed as a percentage of the necessary run quantity (e.g., 0%).
Overs per section — extra sheets produced per section on top of the ordered quantity (e.g., 0–10 sheets).
Open the card view on the machine row to set additional details:
Run speeds — override Cuts per hour for specific substrate types or job conditions.
Volume markup tiers — tier the markup by quantity (e.g., 50% on small runs, lower on large runs).
Save the change. The Pending Changes count increments by one in the sidebar.
2. Connect the cutter to the workflow
The Cut step is typically included on every print job. Confirm the product categories you quote on have a cut operation in their Production Steps, and that the tags on this cutter overlap with the tags on those product categories — otherwise Estimator will not pick this cutter for the quote.
If you cut to size before printing on parent sheets, see Configure guillotine pretrim for how the perimeter-pretrim count is calculated.
Save any category-side changes. Pending Changes increments again.
3. Apply the changes
Open the Pending Changes panel in the sidebar and review the staged edits to the cut machine. Select Apply Changes to publish them to live setup.
The Pending Changes count returns to zero and the cut machine is now part of the active configuration.
Things to know
The Cuts per hour field counts clamp cycles, not finished pieces. A multi-up sheet trimmed and separated in 4 cuts consumes 4 from the hourly budget, regardless of how many finished pieces drop out.
If you have a CNC cutter (Zünd, Esko, Kongsberg) instead of a guillotine, the same Cut family is used but speeds are typically configured under Run speeds by substrate — the Cuts per hour field on the main row is treated as a fall-back.
If a cut step prices at zero on a quote, the most common cause is missing tag overlap between this cutter and the product category. Open the category and confirm at least one tag matches.