Sheet and 2D · Live
Laser cutting quote software: instant laser cutting pricing
Price laser cutting and engraving from a DXF or SVG: cut length, pierces, material and thickness, and the sheet. Instant quotes with a breakdown.
- Process
- Laser
- Family
- Sheet and 2D
- Input
- DXF, SVG
- Status
- Live
The price follows the physics.
A laser cutting price is cut time plus the sheet. Cut time is the length of every contour divided by the speed for that material and thickness, slowed at corners, plus a pierce for every contour that starts inside the sheet. Thick material cuts and pierces slowly, so a thick plate with many small holes can take far longer than its outline suggests. The sheet is charged by area, by net area with waste, or by how well parts nest. Add engraving, handling and a minimum charge, and you have a price.
- 01
Cut length
The total length of every contour, at the cut speed for that material and thickness.
- 02
Pierces
Every closed contour needs a pierce, and piercing thick plate takes time, so many small holes cost more than one long outline.
- 03
Material and thickness
They set the cut speed, the assist gas, the sheet price and the smallest hole and web you can cut.
- 04
Sheet utilisation
How well parts nest on a sheet decides how much of the sheet each part pays for.
- 05
Engraving and marking
Vector and raster engraving add time by length or by area.
- 06
Handling and minimum charge
Loading, unloading, deburring and programming per file, which is why small orders need a minimum.
Measured from the file. Priced on your machines.
Measured from the geometry
- Cut length by layer and colour. Read from the DXF or SVG and mapped to cut, vector engrave, raster engrave or ignore by your layer map.
- Pierce count. One pierce per closed contour.
- Part outline and area. Feed the sheet charge: bounding box, net area, a typical nest utilisation, or the sheet.
- Corners and rapid travel. Dense corners slow the cut, and the head’s travel between contours is added.
- Open contours, unconverted text, small holes and thin webs. Open contours and text not converted to outlines go to review; holes and webs below the thickness’s minimum warn; duplicate lines and tiny entities are reported.
Configured by you
- Thicknesses per material. Each row has a cut speed, pierce time, kerf, smallest hole, narrowest web, assist gas, a buyer note and whether it is offered.
- Sheet charging. Bounding box with a margin, net area with waste, a typical nest utilisation, or the sheet.
- Layer map. Which layers and colours are cut, vector engraved, raster engraved or ignored.
- Cut speed factor and corner slowdown. Per machine, calibratable against jobs you have cut.
- Vector engraving speed and raster engraving rate. Per machine; a material that can be engraved is engraved only on a machine with these rates.
- CAM and nesting per drawing, sheet handling and part removal per piece. The labour around the cut, at your rates.
What your buyer sees
- Their flat part drawn from the file, with cut and engrave lines.
- A material, then a thickness from the rows you offer, each with your buyer note.
- Warnings for holes and webs smaller than the thickness allows; open contours and unconverted text go to review.
- Quantity breaks as programming and handling spread over more parts.
Cut time per part is fixed by its geometry, but programming, handling and the sheet waste around the parts are shared across the copies of a line. The price per part falls quickly over the first few parts and then levels out at cut time plus material.
Typical materials
- Mild steel
- Stainless steel
- Aluminium
- Acrylic
- Plywood and MDF
Typical parts
- Brackets and flat parts for fabrication
- Signs and lettering
- Enclosure panels
- Gaskets and shims
- Architectural models
- Engraved nameplates
Both priced by the real engine for the sample plate drawing against the Laser sheet shop template that ships with Quotometry.
Pricing laser, in depth
Design for sheet metal: bend radii, reliefs, hole distances and flanges
Sheet metal design rules that stop parts cracking or distorting: bend radii, reliefs, hole-to-edge and hole-to-bend distances, flanges, and a worked flat pattern.
Knowledge baseHow to price laser cutting: cut length, pierces, material and sheet use
Laser cutting is priced from cut length, pierce count, material and how much of the sheet a part uses. The method, with a worked example for a steel flange.
Knowledge baseNesting and material utilisation: how much of the sheet you really sell
Nesting decides how many parts fit on a sheet, and the skeleton left over is material you paid for. Three ways to charge for it, compared with a worked example.
Laser quoting, answered
Can I quote laser cutting with Quotometry today?
Yes. Laser cutting and engraving price end to end in the widget from a DXF or SVG drawing: cut length and pierces at the speed for the material and thickness, engraving, assist gas, the sheet and the handling. A 3D model uploaded to a cutting configuration goes to your review, because the cut is read from a drawing.
Why do small holes cost so much?
Each hole is a pierce, and piercing takes time that grows with thickness. A part with many small holes can cost more than a larger part with a single outline, because it spends more time piercing than cutting. Pricing from area alone misses this; pricing from cut length and pierce count does not.
Does Quotometry nest parts on a sheet?
Not with a true nester. The sheet is charged by the drawing’s bounding box with a margin, by net area with waste, by a typical nest utilisation you set, or by the sheet. The copies of one line share sheets; parts from different lines are not nested together, and customer-supplied material is not offered yet.
What files does it take?
DXF and SVG. Your layer map turns layers and colours into cut, vector engrave, raster engrave or ignore; buyers cannot remap layers themselves yet. A DXF without units is read as millimetres with lower confidence. Open contours and text not converted to outlines go to review, and duplicate lines are reported.
Other sheet and 2d processes
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