Use this article when your shop folds, creases, laminates, or spot-finishes press sheets and you need Estimator to price each post-press operation on the quote. After this you will know which machine tabs cover which operations, how sheet-finishing rates are built, and how combined-step machines avoid double-charging make-ready.
What a finishing machine is
A finishing machine in Estimator is any sheet-finishing row under Estimate Setup → Finishing Machines other than guillotine cutting. The Finishing Machines library is split into tabs by operation: Fold, Crease, Laminate, Spot Finishing, Folder Gluer, and Custom (Price Model) for operations that do not fit a built-in tab.
Each row tells Estimator that a specific machine exists, how fast it runs in sheets per hour, how much it costs to run per hour, what make-ready it consumes, what spoilage it produces, and which press sheets it can accept. Tagging filters which finishing rows pair with which presses so a litho-stream fold runs on a guillotine-tagged folder and a digital-stream fold runs on the digital folder.
Cutting is documented in its own concept article because the cut count, the pretrim strategy, and the perimeter-trim logic are particular to guillotines — see How cutting machines work. Binding has a separate library entirely — see How binding machines work.
A worked example
Northgate Press folds a B2 press sheet into a 6-page tri-fold leaflet. The folder row tagged Litho has Output per hour set to 4000 press sheets per hour, Speed unit set to press sheet, and Make-ready sheets per section set to 50.
Estimator picks the folder when the press sheet's substrate tag and weight envelope match the row. The run time is the necessary press-sheet count divided by 4000 per hour, plus the per-section make-ready in both time and labour. Spoilage adds extra sheets — the Running spoilage % is multiplied into the necessary sheet count to produce the total fed sheets.
When the same physical machine also creases inline before folding, the crease step is configured on the folder row as an Included step. Estimator then uses one make-ready for the combined pass rather than charging the folder make-ready and a separate crease make-ready.
The price breakdown shows a Fold line with the folder name, the press sheet count, and the cost — and no separate Crease line when crease is included on the folder.
What this affects
Fold, Crease, Laminate, Spot Finishing, and Folder Gluer lines on the price breakdown — when a quote routes through a finishing machine, the corresponding price-breakdown line uses that row's per-hour rates and the sheet count from the quote.
Route selection between similar machines — when two folders could run the same job, Estimator picks the cheaper one given each row's rates and capacity. Tags decide which rows are eligible at all.
Make-ready double-count avoidance — when a single physical machine performs multiple inline steps, Included steps on the row collapse them into one make-ready. See How included steps work.
What this does not affect
Cutting on a guillotine — the cut step lives on the Cut tab in Finishing Machines but its rate structure and pretrim logic are particular to guillotines and are documented separately. See How cutting machines work.
Binding and stitching — binding lives in the Binding Machines library. A book that needs both a fold (signature fold) and a bind (saddle stitch) has both a Finishing Machine row for the fold and a Binding Machine row for the stitch. See How binding machines work.
Custom add-ons that do not fit a built-in tab — operations such as grommets, hemming, or counted holes are priced through Custom (Price Model) entries with the right price model, not through the Fold/Crease/Laminate tabs. See How price models work.
Related task articles
Add a finishing machine