Use this article when your shop runs press sheets through a guillotine and you need Estimator to price the cut step on every quote that needs trimming. After this you will know what a cutting machine is in Estimator, how the cut count is built, where to find the controls, and how pretrim differs from custom per-cut pricing.
What a cutting machine is
A cutting machine in Estimator is a guillotine row in Estimate Setup → Finishing Machines → Cut. The row tells Estimator that a guillotine exists on your floor, how fast it cuts in cuts per hour, how much labour and machine cost it carries per hour, how much make-ready it consumes, and which press sheets it can accept.
Every quote that needs a separation cut between the press and downstream steps consults the configured Cut rows. Estimator pairs a press sheet with a guillotine whose tag, sheet-size, and thickness envelope match the job, then prices the cut step against that guillotine's per-hour rates and the number of cuts the layout requires.
The Cut tab is one entry in the Finishing Machines library. Folding, creasing, laminating, and spot finishing each have their own tabs alongside it — see How finishing machines work. Binding is a separate library entirely — see How binding machines work.
A worked example
Northgate Press runs an SRA1 press sheet that imposes 4-up business cards. The guillotine row tagged Litho has Cuts per hour set to 800 and Perimeter pretrim strategy set to Trim 3 edges.
Estimator counts the cuts in two parts. The separation cuts split the imposed sheet into 4 finished pieces — three guillotine cuts on the layout. The pretrim strategy adds the perimeter cuts before separation — three additional cuts because the sheet has bleed only on three edges of the layout. The total is six cuts on this press sheet.
At 800 cuts per hour, those six cuts take 27 seconds of running time. The guillotine's hourly machine and labour rates multiply against that running time to produce the cut step's price on the price breakdown, plus the make-ready cost added once for the run.
The price breakdown shows a Cut line with the guillotine name, the number of cuts, the running time, and the cost the line contributes to the quote total.
What this affects
Cut step on the price breakdown — when a quote routes through a guillotine, the Cut line uses the guillotine's per-hour rates and the cut count computed from the press sheet, the imposition, and the pretrim strategy.
Route selection between guillotines — when two guillotines could run the same job, Estimator picks the cheaper one given each row's rates and capacity. Tagging filters which guillotines are eligible for a press's output.
Whether the Cut step appears at all — a quote that fits one finished piece on the press sheet with no bleed (the no-bleed economy path on the category) may skip the Cut step entirely.
What this does not affect
Custom per-cut add-ons — operations such as counted holes, hemming, or grommets are priced as Custom (Price Model) entries with the Perimeter + Unit model, not as guillotine cuts. The cut step on the guillotine row prices the built-in separation and pretrim only. See How price models work.
Folding, creasing, and laminating — those are separate Finishing Machine rows and price independently from the Cut row, even when the same physical line includes a fold head. Use Included steps when the fold genuinely shares a make-ready with the cut.
Parent-sheet purchasing decisions — the parent-sheet cut on substrates with Available as parent sheet turned on is handled inside the substrate library, not on the guillotine row.