Use this article when your shop runs an HP PageWide, Canon ProStream, Indigo web, or similar continuous-feed inkjet line and you need to understand how Estimator prices a web digital run. After this you will know how click rates, paper waste, and the cutoff length interact, and where the controls live.
What a web digital press is in Estimator
A web digital press is a record under Estimate Setup → Print Machines → Web Digital. The press combines the click-based pricing of digital with the web-format imposition rules of a continuous-feed line. The fields particular to web digital are Web Width (the paper-roll width that feeds through the print bar), Cutoff Length (the signature length the cutter produces at each cycle), and the digital click rates (CMY, mono, white ink).
A single web digital press is often configured as multiple records in Estimator, one per imposition size — for example, one record for full-frame work, one for A4 4-up, one for A3 2-up, one for journal-size work. Each record carries the same machine rate and click rates but a different finished-size range so the routing engine can pick the right imposition for the quote.
A worked example
Northgate Press configures the Indigo 7250 — Frame as the full-format web digital record: web width 330.2 mm, cutoff length 965.2 mm, machine rate €101.20/hour, labour rate €350/hour, output 6,800 impressions/hour, CMY click rate €0.40, mono click rate €0.0126, paper waste 720 mm of web per make-ready. Make-ready hours is 8.9 (this is the line's threading and registration window across all the imposition records).
A quote for 1,000 signatures on the Frame record produces:
CMY clicks — 1,000 impressions × €0.40 = €400 at the Standard ink-coverage tier.
Mono clicks — only fire when the artwork is set to mono-only; otherwise zero.
Run time — 1,000 impressions ÷ 6,800 impressions/hour ≈ 9 minutes × €101.20/hour ≈ €15. Make-ready is the bigger cost on short runs.
Make-ready paper waste — 720 mm of web added to the substrate quantity.
For an A4 quote, the routing engine picks the Indigo 7250 — A4 record instead because its finished-size range covers A4 and its Pages per impression field counts 8 pages per impression (4-up per side).
These values come from the Indigo 7250 — Frame and — A4 records in the Northgate Press seed (cited in the evidence packet). The same math runs on every web digital quote.
What this affects
Click lines — every web digital quote shows separate lines for CMY, mono, and white-ink clicks (when used).
Paper waste / make-ready material — added to the substrate quantity. The make-ready hours value covers the threading and registration time across the whole line's imposition records.
Pages per impression — drives the routing engine's choice of imposition record. A 4-up A4 quote routes to the A4 record (8 pages/impression), not the Frame record (2 pages/impression).
Finished-size constraints — each imposition record carries its own min/max finished width and height. A quote whose finished size falls outside the range is excluded from that record.
What this does not affect
Plate cost / plate-making labour — those fields belong to offset records and have no effect on a web digital quote.
Wash-up time / spot-colour make-ready — offset-only.
Sheet-size range — sheet-fed presses use a min/max sheet size; web digital uses finished-size range plus web width and cutoff length.
Finishing operations — cut, fold, bind, laminate are configured under Finishing Machines and Binding Machines, not on the press.
Related task articles
Configure a sheet-fed digital press — the digital-specific cost fields (click rates, ink coverage tiers) are documented there and apply to web digital too.