DXF Cut Cost Estimator: Laser, Plasma & Waterjet Quotes

Open a DXF to measure the cut length, pierces, holes and part area. Then set the process, material and your shop rates to price the job. Everything runs in your browser.

1. Drawing

Drop a DXF here or tap to open

ASCII DXF, any version (R12 to current)

2. Units and clean-up

Drawing units

Join tolerance (mm)

Ends closer than this are joined.

Leave out exact duplicates (they are still listed as a warning)

3. Layers to cut

Centre lines, construction, dimension and text layers start unticked.

Open a drawing to see its layers.

Part Preview and Measurements

Outer Hole Open Duplicate Not cut

Drop a DXF here, or press Try an example.

White dots mark the pierce points.

Cut length

Pierces

Size (W × H)

Part area

Holes

Smallest hole

Job and Shop Rates

4. Process and material

Process

Material

Thickness

Quantity

Cut speed (mm/min)

Pierce time (s each)

Lead-in per pierce (mm)

Show results in

5. Shop rates (remembered)

Currency

Machine rate /h

Gas, consumables /h

Setup, program (min/job)

Handling (min/part)

Scrap / nesting (%)

Material from

Material price

Density (g/cm³)

Markup (%)

Minimum charge

Default prices and rates are examples only. Enter your own; they are saved in this browser.

Cutting estimate

Estimate

Open a DXF or press Try an example to see the price.

Price per part

Batch total (0 off)

What drives the cost (batch)

Item	Per part	Batch

An estimate from typical or entered speeds. Real times depend on the machine, the nest, lead-ins and rapid moves.

How the DXF Cut Cost Estimator Works

The estimator reads the lines, arcs and circles in your DXF and measures what the machine has to cut. It counts the pierces, finds the outer profile and the holes, and works out the part area. From your cutting speed and shop rates it then builds a price per part and per batch.

The file is read by your browser and never leaves your computer.

The Method

1. Read the DXF

LINE, ARC, CIRCLE, LWPOLYLINE and POLYLINE (with bulge arcs) are read exactly. ELLIPSE and SPLINE are measured along fine straight steps. Simple blocks (INSERT) are expanded with their position, scale, rotation and mirror. TEXT, DIMENSION, HATCH and similar items are not cut paths, so they are skipped and listed. Units come from $INSUNITS; you can override them. Layers named like CENTER, CONSTRUCTION, DIM or TEXT start unticked.

2. Cut length and pierces

line = √(Δx² + Δy²)

arc = r × sweep (radians), circle = 2πr

Entities whose ends meet (within the join tolerance) are joined into chains. Every closed loop needs one pierce. Every open chain also gets a pierce, with a warning, because an open outline will not drop the part out. Exact duplicates are found and left out (a machine would cut them twice), and partly overlapping lines are reported.

3. Outer profile, holes and area

area = Σ outer loops − Σ holes

A loop inside another loop is a hole; a loop inside a hole is a separate part again. Areas use the shoelace formula plus the exact circular segment for every arc, so a radiused corner is not reduced to a chord. Round holes give a diameter; other holes give their narrowest bounding width.

4. Machine time

cut time = (cut length + pierces × lead-in) ÷ speed

pierce time = pierces × seconds per pierce

machine time = cut + pierce + handling

Rapid moves between features are not added. They are short on most parts, and handling time covers loading and unloading.

5. Material

kg = area (mm²) × t (mm) × density (g/cm³) ÷ 10⁶

material cost = kg × (1 + scrap %) × price per kg

Choose the part area (the true net shape) or the bounding rectangle. The scrap allowance covers the skeleton and the gaps between parts in the nest. You can also price per m² or ft² of sheet.

6. Price build-up

machine = (cut + pierce) × (rate + gas) + handling × rate

setup per part = setup minutes × rate ÷ quantity

price = (machine + setup + material) × (1 + markup %)

If the batch total is below the minimum charge, the minimum charge is used and shared across the parts.

Worked Example

The built-in example part, 50 off in 3 mm mild steel on a fibre laser

The part is a 120 × 80 mm plate with R10 corners, four Ø10 holes and a 40 × 10 mm slot. Press Try an example to load it; the default settings match this example.
Cut length: outline 320 + 20π = 382.83 mm, holes 4 × 10π = 125.66 mm, slot 60 + 10π = 91.42 mm, so 599.91 mm. There are 6 pierces. The centre lines and the part number are on CENTER and TEXT layers, so they are not counted.
Part area: 9,600 − 85.84 (corners) − 314.16 (holes) − 378.54 (slot) = 8,821.46 mm².
Time at 3,600 mm/min and 0.3 s per pierce: cut 599.91 ÷ 3,600 = 0.1666 min (10.0 s), pierce 6 × 0.3 = 1.8 s, handling 0.25 min (15 s), so 26.8 s per part.
Machine cost at 120/h plus 10/h gas: 0.1966 min ÷ 60 × 130 = 0.426, plus handling 0.25 ÷ 60 × 120 = 0.500, so 0.926 per part.
Setup: 15 min × 120/h = 30.00 for the job, or 0.600 per part over 50.
Material: 8,821.46 × 3 × 7.85 ÷ 10⁶ = 0.2077 kg, plus 25% scrap = 0.2597 kg, at 1.20/kg = 0.312.
Subtotal 0.926 + 0.600 + 0.312 = 1.838. Markup 20% = 0.368. Price 2.21 per part, 110.26 for 50. One part alone would come to 37.49, so the 50.00 minimum charge would apply.

Handling is the biggest single cost on a small part like this. On thick plate the cutting and piercing time takes over.

Typical Cutting Speeds Used

These are the starting values the tool fills in. They are rounded, mid-range figures for good-quality cuts, of the kind given in machine and source makers' published cut charts. Your machine's own chart, or a timed test cut, is always better. Type your speed into the tool and it overrides the table.

Fibre laser

Thickness	Mild steel	Stainless steel	Aluminium	Brass	Copper
1 mm	20,000	25,000	20,000	15,000	10,000
1.5 mm	14,000	18,000	14,000	10,000	7,000
2 mm	9,000	11,000	8,500	6,000	5,000
3 mm	3,600	5,000	4,500	3,000	2,500
4 mm	3,000	3,200	2,800	1,600	1,200
5 mm	2,600	2,200	1,700	1,000	800
6 mm	2,200	1,400	1,000	600	500
8 mm	1,500	700	550	-	-
10 mm	1,100	400	350	-	-
12 mm	900	300	-	-	-
15 mm	700	-	-	-	-
20 mm	500	-	-	-	-

Speeds in mm/min (divide by 25.4 for in/min). Typical ~3 kW fibre laser. Mild steel up to 2 mm with nitrogen or air, 3 mm and over with oxygen; stainless, aluminium and brass with nitrogen; copper with oxygen. Rounded from the range of published 3 kW fibre source and machine cut charts.

CO2 laser

Thickness	Mild steel	Stainless steel	Aluminium	Plywood	Acrylic
1 mm	9,000	10,000	9,000	-	-
1.5 mm	7,000	7,500	7,000	-	-
2 mm	5,500	5,500	5,000	-	2,400
3 mm	4,000	3,500	3,000	1,500	1,500
4 mm	3,400	2,400	2,000	1,200	-
5 mm	3,000	1,700	1,300	-	800
6 mm	2,600	1,300	900	600	600
8 mm	2,000	800	500	-	400
9 mm	-	-	-	300	-
10 mm	1,600	500	-	-	300
12 mm	1,200	350	-	180	200
15 mm	900	-	-	-	-
20 mm	700	-	-	-	-

Speeds in mm/min (divide by 25.4 for in/min). Metals: typical ~4 kW CO2 laser (mild steel with oxygen, stainless and aluminium with nitrogen). Plywood and acrylic: a ~150 W sealed CO2 tube with air assist. Rounded from typical published charts.

Plasma (air, 45–105 A)

Thickness	Amps	Mild steel	Stainless steel	Aluminium
1 mm	45 A	8,500	6,800	8,100
1.5 mm	45 A	8,000	6,400	7,600
2 mm	45 A	6,900	5,500	6,600
3 mm	45 A	4,400	3,500	4,200
4 mm	65 A	4,800	3,800	4,600
5 mm	65 A	3,800	3,000	3,600
6 mm	65 A	2,900	2,300	2,800
8 mm	85 A	2,600	2,100	2,500
10 mm	105 A	2,600	2,100	2,500
12 mm	105 A	2,000	1,600	1,900
15 mm	105 A	1,400	1,100	1,300
20 mm	105 A	900	720	860
25 mm	105 A	560	450	530

Speeds in mm/min (divide by 25.4 for in/min). Air plasma, 45 to 105 A hand-held/mechanised systems of the Hypertherm Powermax class, at the amperage shown. Mild steel values are rounded from the range in published cut charts; stainless (× 0.8) and aluminium (× 0.95) are scaled from mild steel, so treat them as rougher.

Abrasive waterjet

Thickness	Mild steel	Stainless steel	Aluminium	Brass	Copper
1 mm	1,200	1,000	2,900	1,600	1,500
1.5 mm	720	650	1,800	1,000	940
2 mm	520	470	1,300	730	670
3 mm	330	290	810	460	420
4 mm	230	210	580	330	300
5 mm	180	160	450	250	230
6 mm	150	130	370	210	190
8 mm	110	95	260	150	140
10 mm	81	73	200	110	110
12 mm	66	59	170	92	86
15 mm	51	46	130	72	66
20 mm	37	33	92	51	48
25 mm	28	26	71	40	37
30 mm	23	21	58	32	30
40 mm	17	15	41	23	21
50 mm	13	12	32	18	17

Speeds in mm/min (divide by 25.4 for in/min). Abrasive waterjet, about 60,000 psi with a typical 0.33 kg/min garnet feed, quality 3 (standard) edge. These come from a simple model, speed = 1150 × material factor × t^−1.15 mm/min (mild steel 1, stainless 0.9, aluminium 2.5, brass 1.4, copper 1.3), set to agree roughly with typical published quality-3 speeds. The OMAX or Flow cutting calculators give exact values for your pump, orifice and abrasive.

CNC router

Thickness	Plywood	Acrylic	Aluminium
1 mm	-	-	900
1.5 mm	-	-	900
2 mm	-	1,800	450
3 mm	7,200	1,800	450
4 mm	7,200	-	300
5 mm	-	1,800	225
6 mm	7,200	1,800	225
8 mm	-	900	150
9 mm	3,600	-	-
10 mm	-	900	129
12 mm	3,600	900	-
15 mm	2,400	-	-
18 mm	2,400	-	-
25 mm	1,440	-	-

Speeds in mm/min (divide by 25.4 for in/min). CNC router with a 6 mm cutter at 18,000 rpm: feed = rpm × flutes × chip load (plywood 2 flutes × 0.20 mm, acrylic 1 flute × 0.10 mm, aluminium 1 flute × 0.05 mm), divided by the number of passes (depth per pass 6 mm, or 1.5 mm in aluminium). Common router tooling starting points.

Default pierce times (seconds each): fibre laser 0.1 s at 1 mm rising to 4 s over 15 mm; CO2 about 1.5 times longer; plasma 1.2 to 4.5 s including torch height sensing; waterjet about 1.2 s per mm of steel (minimum 2 s, faster in aluminium); router 3 s for each plunge or ramp. All are rough starting values.

Tips for Better Quotes

Use your own machine's speeds. Speeds vary with power, gas, nozzle and edge quality. Time a test cut of a known length and type the speed in. The tool remembers your rates, not the speed, because speed depends on the job.
Nesting matters. Material is often the largest cost on big parts. A scrap allowance of 15 to 30% suits most nests; awkward shapes waste more. Use the bounding rectangle for one-off parts cut from offcuts. The Sheet Cut Optimizer helps with rectangular nests and the Weight Calculator checks plate weight.
Watch small holes. As a rule of thumb, plasma holes should be at least the plate thickness across, and laser holes at least half the thickness. The tool warns you below these.
Lead-ins add length. Every pierce has a lead-in and often a lead-out of 2 to 5 mm on laser and more on plasma. Enter one in the tool for parts with many holes.
Charge a minimum. Loading the program, the sheet and the first-off check take time even for one part. A minimum charge covers it.
Clean the DXF first. Duplicate lines double the cut time on many machines. Draw parts in the DXF Sketcher or DXF Part Maker, or trace a template with Image to DXF, then check them here. For whole-job quotes, see the Production Quote tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on cut length, number of pierces, thickness, material and the shop's hourly rate. A small 3 mm steel bracket may cost only a few pounds or dollars each in a batch of 50, while a single part often hits the shop's minimum charge. Machine rates for fibre lasers are commonly around 100 to 200 per hour. Open your DXF in this tool with your own rates for a breakdown.

The tool adds up the length of every line, arc and circle that will be cut, then divides by the cutting speed. It adds the pierce time for each closed outline and open chain, and your handling time per part. Rapid moves between features are not included.

Every hole and outline starts with a pierce through the material. On thin sheet that takes a fraction of a second, but on thick plate it can take several seconds on a laser or plasma and much longer on a waterjet. A part with many small holes can spend more time piercing than cutting.

They are typical starting values only, rounded from the range in published cut charts for about 3 kW fibre, 4 kW CO2, 45 to 105 A air plasma and 60,000 psi abrasive waterjet machines. Power, gas, nozzle and edge quality change the speed a lot. Type your machine's speed into the tool and it replaces the typical value.

Check for lines drawn twice, centre lines or construction lines on a layer that is ticked, and the units. A file drawn in inches but read as millimetres comes out 25.4 times too small, and the other way round 25.4 times too big. The tool warns about duplicates, overlaps, open outlines and parts that look the wrong size.

No. The DXF is read and measured by your browser on your own device. Only your shop rates are saved, in this browser's local storage, so they are there next time.

Estimates use typical or entered speeds and simple rules of thumb. They are not a binding quote. Check the drawing, the speeds and your costs before pricing work.