Quote tube parts accurately — before stick waste eats your margin
Spreadsheet tube math breaks on holes, miters, and minimum stock rules. NanoQuote plans billable sticks, pierce time, and setup fees from STEP geometry and your tube stock catalog.
How tube jobs get underquoted
Length × price per foot
Material cost alone ignores machine time, pierce count, rapid travel, setup, and load/unload — especially on perforated tube.
Spreadsheets miss hole pierces
Four radial holes on a round tube means more than two end-cut pierces. Guessing pierce count underprices laser time on every hole.
Minimum stock uplift is forgotten
When utilization falls below your minimum billable threshold, you may need to charge for more stick length than the part strictly requires.
No stick plan before send
Without 1D allocation, billable sticks and drop length stay hidden until production — when the quote is already locked.
Wrong workflow for the file
Flat STEP parts forced through tube quoting — or 3D tube solids through sheet nesting — produce wrong numbers and rework.
Setup and load fees typed manually
Every quote becomes a custom spreadsheet row instead of pulling tube setup and load/unload from machine and stock configuration.
A repeatable tube quoting workflow
Configure tube stock and tube laser machines once
Set stick length, wall, price basis, profile limits, chuck/tail loss, kerf, spacing, and load times in NanoQuote — not in every quote spreadsheet.
Upload STEP and validate detection
Confirm profile, length, and detected holes. Example: a round tube with four radial holes should show pierce count that includes end cuts plus each hole.
Review allocation warnings
Catch blocking issues — part exceeds stock capacity, incompatible profile, or other tube warnings — before the customer sees a price.
Price with setup and load system fees
Tube setup and load/unload fees follow your machine and stock rules automatically alongside material and cut time.
Send a quote link with stock assumptions
Customers see tube parts and Tube Stock Assumptions: billable sticks, utilization, estimated drop, and remnant estimates.
What changes when tube quoting lives in NanoQuote
STEP-driven cut metrics
Cut length, pierce count, and rapid travel start from geometry analysis — editable when you know the job better.
1D stick allocation panel
Billable sticks, billable utilization, drop, and remnant planning replace back-of-napkin stick math.
Tube stock catalog
Round, square, and rectangular stock with per-stick, per-meter, or per-foot pricing and minimum stock rules.
Send guardrails
Blocking tube warnings prevent sending quotes that violate stock capacity or compatibility rules.
Mixed assembly support
Quote tubular frames plus flat sheet parts on one job when the assembly needs both processes.
Actuals and close-out
Record actual sticks used, drop, remnant, and setup/load time to improve future tube estimates.
Why this beats spreadsheet tube quoting
Frequently asked questions
You need at least one active tube laser machine configured in NanoQuote with tube profile limits and stock loss settings. Sheet laser machines remain separate.
Tube quoting supports end-cut types including square, miter, and cope in operations. Detection focuses on profile, length, and pierce-producing features like holes and slots.
NanoQuote rejects flat sheet solids for tube quoting and directs you to the sheet laser flow with 2D projection — avoiding wrong tube pricing.
No. Tube allocation is a quoting-level 1D stick plan for material assumptions — not NC output or shop-floor stick optimization software.
Tube quoting is in beta. It is enabled per organization. Sign up and request tube quoting access, or contact us if you are already a customer.
Related resources
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