Use this article when your shop pads notepads, memo blocks, or NCR sets with a glued top edge and you need Estimator to price the pad-glue step on every padded quote. After this you will have a pad glue binder that prices correctly on quotes for padded products, with the glue cost and any backing-board cost appearing on the price breakdown.
Steps
1. Configure the pad glue binder
Open Estimate Setup → Binding Machines → Pad Glue, then add or open the binder you want to configure. Fill in the fields below.
Identification
Name — recommended format is brand and model, so the machine is easy to recognise on quotes (e.g., "Pad Glue 1").
Tags — link this binder to upstream presses and substrate groups it can run after. Estimator uses tags to pair the binder with compatible work.
Pads this binder accepts
Sheet sizes — the press sheet sizes the leaves can arrive on. Select from the drop-down (e.g., SRA1, SRA3). The options come from your configured substrates.
Pad limits — particular to pad glue
Max leaves — the maximum number of leaves per pad your line can clamp and glue in one cycle (e.g., 100 leaves). Estimator refuses to route a thicker pad to this binder.
Max notepad thickness — physical thickness limit in millimetres or inches (e.g., 12 mm or 0.5 in). This is the second guard alongside Max leaves for shops that switch paper weights often.
Glue — particular to pad glue
Glue cost per length — consumable glue cost per millimetre or inch of glued edge in tenant currency (e.g., €0.0005 per mm, or €0.012 per inch). Estimator multiplies this by the pad's glued edge length and pad count.
Backing board — particular to pad glue (optional)
Backing board cost per area — board cost in tenant currency per m² (metric) or per square inch (imperial). Use this only when your pads ship with a chipboard backer. If the pad design has no backer, leave blank.
Speed
Output per hour — pads produced per hour (e.g., 600 pads/hour). The output type is fixed at books in the editor, though the unit is pads for this binder.
Cost
Machine rate per hour — hourly running cost covering amortisation and electricity (e.g., €40/hour).
Labor rate per hour — operator cost per hour (e.g., €20/hour).
Make-ready minutes — minutes per pad-glue section to set up the clamp and glue head (e.g., 8 minutes).
Minimum charge — floor amount. If the calculated pad-glue cost is below this, Estimator applies the minimum instead.
Open the card view on the machine row to set additional details:
Volume markup tiers — tier the markup by quantity.
Run speeds — override Output per hour for specific paper weights or pad sizes.
Save the change. The Pending Changes count increments by one in the sidebar.
2. Connect the pad glue binder to the product category
Open Pad Glue Categories under Binding Machines and add the product categories that may use this binder (e.g., Notepads). On the part row of the padded part, open Production Steps and add the pad-glue operation so Estimator includes it on every quote that selects this category.
Save the change. Pending Changes increments again.
3. Apply the changes
Open the Pending Changes panel in the sidebar and review the staged edits to the pad glue binder and the product category. Select Apply Changes to publish them to live setup.
The Pending Changes count returns to zero and the pad glue binder is now part of the active configuration.
Things to know
The Max leaves, Glue cost per length, and Backing board cost per area fields are specific to pad glue. Saddle stitch, perfect bind, wire-o, and case making do not have these — leave them blank on other binders. Pad glue also has no Stations, no Multi-pass controls, and no Labor assistant required field; those are particular to multi-section bookwork.
If a notepad quote misses the glue cost, the most common cause is leaving Glue cost per length blank. Pad-glue costing is driven by the glued edge length, not by a per-hour rate, so this field must be populated even when Machine rate per hour is set.
A pad with a chipboard backer carries an extra material line on the price breakdown. If the backer surprises you on the quote, check whether Backing board cost per area is populated on the binder.