Every number traced back to something measured
A quote is only defensible if each figure on it came from somewhere. Lasertally reads the solid and records what it found, so every line on the price is tied to a quantity you can point at.
- Pierces, cut length, bends and bounding box read straight off the geometry, in the units your shop works in.
- Pre-quote checks that refuse to guess. Material priced, cut speed known, geometry priceable, part fits stock. A missing figure shows as a gap, never as a zero.
- Your rate card, to the cent. Programming, loading, run rates, pierce rates, travel, admin, markup, lead-time tiers, secondary ops, and operations you invent yourself.
- Formed parts unfold. A bent bracket is priced on its developed flat pattern, with the bend allowance the metal actually needs.
A pre-quote check is a refusal, not a warning
Most estimating tools will happily hand you a number built on a rate nobody set. Lasertally will not price a part until four things are known: the material has a price, the cut speed exists for that material and thickness, the geometry is priceable, and the part fits the stock. A missing figure shows as a gap in the panel rather than quietly becoming a zero in the total, because a zero in a total is how a job gets quoted at a loss and nobody finds out until it ships.
A price you can defend on the phone
When a customer asks why a part costs what it costs, the answer is on the screen: this many pierces at this rate, this much material at this stick share, this long in the machine at the speed your own material curve gives.
- Quantity breaks priced properly, with the setup amortized across the run instead of multiplied by it.
- Whole-sheet and shared-stick billing, so you charge for the metal you actually consume.
Which CAD files Lasertally reads
Lasertally reads STEP, IGES, DXF and DSTV NC1 files. SAT and DWG are not supported, and every CAD package can export one of the four that are.
| Format | Extensions | Flat parts | Tube | What Lasertally reads from it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEP | .step, .stp | Yes | Yes | Solids and 2D profiles. Tube sections are detected automatically and matched against 1,300+ built-in standard profiles. |
| IGES | .igs, .iges | Yes | Yes | Solids. For tube the axis is found by measurement and the section classified, or honestly called free form. |
| DXF | .dxf | Yes | Flat only | 2D profiles. Contours, circles and cut length, measured off the drawing geometry. |
| NC1 (DSTV) | .nc1 | Tube only | Yes | Tube and structural sections, with their holes and end preparations. |
| SAT | .sat | No | No | Not supported. Export STEP or DXF from any CAD package instead. |
| DWG | .dwg | No | No | Not supported. Export STEP or DXF from any CAD package instead. |
Calibrated against a real quotation, to the cent
Lasertally's quoting engine reproduces a real fabrication shop's three-part tube quotation exactly: $306.12, $379.74 and $1,269.22, totalling $1,955.08. The geometry engine is pinned to ground-truth pierce counts on real customer RFQ files, one of which contains 346 pierces where the drawing said fewer. More than 1,800 automated tests enforce both on every release, and a build that does not reproduce the reference quotes exactly does not ship.
Price your next RFQ from the file it arrived as.
Sheet or Tube is $479 a month, Complete is both for $759. Five seats, unlimited quotes, and a full refund inside 14 days if it is not what you expected.