Use this article when your shop runs a roll-to-roll wide-format printer (HP Latex roll, Mimaki JV, Roland TrueVIS, Epson SureColor S) for banners, vinyl, fabric, or signage and you need to understand how Estimator prices a roll-fed run. After this you will know which fields are particular to roll-fed work and how square-metre costing combines with roll width to drive the cost.
What a large-format roll-fed press is in Estimator
A large-format roll-fed press is a record under Estimate Setup → Print Machines → Large Format → Roll-Fed. Like the sheet-fed flatbed, roll-fed prints are priced by ink area in square metres: the cost fields particular to roll-fed include CMY cost per area, Black cost per area, White-ink cost per area, and Ink Type. What is different from the flatbed is the substrate geometry — the press consumes a continuous roll, so the routing engine uses Roll Width (the loaded roll width in millimetres) instead of a sheet-size range. Tile work that exceeds the roll width must be split across multiple panels.
The press also carries a maximum print height (no hard limit on length, since the roll is continuous), an ink coverage tier set (Very Light / Standard / Heavy), and the general fields shared with every print machine: machine rate, labour rate, run speed.
A worked example
A roll-fed configuration with roll width 1,600 mm, machine rate €120/hour, labour rate €60/hour, output 60 m²/hour, CMY area rate €0.50/m², white-ink area rate €1.00/m², and ink coverage tiers Very Light 0.70, Standard 1.0, Heavy 1.1 prints a banner job.
A quote for 20 banners (each 1.0 m × 3.0 m, 4/0) on roll-fed PVC produces:
Ink area — 20 × 3.0 m² = 60 m² of CMY ink at the Standard tier, costed at €0.50/m² = €30.
Run time — 60 m² ÷ 60 m²/hour = 1 hour × €120/hour machine rate = €120, plus €60 labour at the configured rate.
Substrate — 60 m² of PVC drawn from the roll, plus the configured trim allowance per panel.
The price breakdown shows separate lines for ink (per channel), labour, machine time, and substrate. A banner whose width exceeds the roll width (e.g., a 1.8 m banner on a 1.6 m roll) is split into two panels; Estimator surfaces this in the substrate quantity.
The numeric values above illustrate the shape; the exact figures on your quote come from your press's record. Large-format roll-fed is not present in the Northgate Press fixture, so back-test the math against your own commissioning data when you first stand up the configuration.
What this affects
Ink-cost line — driven by the printed area in square metres × the area rate × the coverage-tier multiplier. Split by channel (CMY, mono, white).
Roll width — drives the imposition. Quotes whose finished width exceeds the roll width must be split across panels; quotes that fit within the roll route through this press.
White-ink usage — when white ink is enabled and the artwork carries a white channel, the white-ink line fires at the white-ink area rate.
Tile / panel split behaviour — when a finished piece exceeds the roll width, the substrate quantity increases to cover the extra panels and any configured trim overlap.
What this does not affect
Plate cost / plate-making labour — offset-only fields, ignored on roll-fed records.
Sheet-size range — sheet-fed presses use a min/max sheet size; roll-fed uses Roll Width instead.
Cutoff length — that is a web-press field tied to the cylinder cycle. Roll-fed inkjet has no fixed cutoff — the cutter trims at the end of each piece based on the imposed length.
Finishing operations — contour cut, weld, hem, grommet, and laminate are configured under Finishing Machines, not on the press.
Related task articles
Configure a sheet-fed digital press — the digital cost shape (no plates, ink coverage tiers, labour-rate driven) is documented there and applies to roll-fed too.