Quoting CNC machined parts from the model and the print
VenturusEQ measures the STEP model for setups, holes and the turning profile, reads the PDF print for threads, tolerances and finishes, and proposes a method. Your estimator confirms each value before it becomes a price in your own rates, so nothing is priced from an upload alone.
How a machined part gets quoted today
A machining RFQ arrives as a PDF print, sometimes a STEP model, and an email that says quantities of ten, twenty-five and a hundred. The estimator opens the print, reads the title block, finds the material and the finish note, and starts counting holes with a pen. If there is a model, it opens in a separate CAD seat or a free viewer, and the setups are guessed from the faces on screen.
Then the spreadsheet. A stock size from the bounding box, a removal rate from experience, minutes per tapped hole from memory, a setup allowance per operation and three quantity columns. The tolerance buried in note seven is missed, the part is quoted as a three-axis job, and the shop finds out on the floor.
The judgment in that work stays the estimator's. What VenturusEQ takes off the desk is the rest: the same numbers keyed twice, the print read three times, and the file opened in three tools before a single hour is priced.
What VenturusEQ measures, reads and proposes on a machined part
A turning profile measured from the model
The geometry summary says whether the part is turned, its maximum outside diameter, minimum inside diameter, slenderness, off-axis holes and whether live tooling is needed. Every number carries an exact-or-estimated badge.
Setups detected from the solid
Setups are detected from the solid and the method proposal writes one operation per setup. The proposal is fingerprinted to the geometry it came from, carries a confidence band, and is never selected for you.
Holes counted and grouped by size
Holes are counted from the solid and grouped by size with depth ranges shown. Tapped holes come from the print, not the solid. A hole-group highlight in the 3D viewer shows which holes a row means.
Drill and tap minutes from your table
Hole count multiplied by minutes per hole from a governed lookup table. A missing row refuses to price rather than pricing at zero, and the row used is recorded on the line.
Findings raised before the line is priced
Thirty-five manufacturability rules with your own thresholds: deep holes, tight corners, thin walls, slender turned parts, tight tolerances, heat treat and finish needs. A finding can no-quote the line or add an operation.
Print call-outs become priced operations
Heat treat and finish read from the print become subcontract legs, per lot, piece or load. Tolerance, surface finish and inspection call-outs become in-house hours. All of it is confirmed first.
How a machining package becomes a sent quote
The package lands
Every file is hashed and given a role. The drawing is paired with the right model by evidence: a bound file, the read title block, dash variants, the name, the folder.
The print is read
The AI returns material, holes with threads, tolerances with datums, surface finishes, heat treat and special processes as proposals with a confidence. The estimator confirms each one, and the confirmation is written to a ledger.
The model is measured
Bounding box, volume, area, mass, faces, holes, pockets, setups and the turning block, computed by an open-source CAD kernel inside the product. Nothing leaves the container.
A method is proposed
One operation per detected setup, with drilling and tapping rows from the hole groups. The estimator confirms, edits or replaces it. An unconfirmed value cannot enter a formula.
Two cost lines are built
One is your worksheet in your rates. The other is built from the confirmed geometry, with where every number came from recorded. You pick which one the quote uses, line by line.
Quantity breaks and margin are set, and the quote goes out
Up to 30 quantity breaks with setup amortized per break, a target margin or markup with a per-line override, and a digital quote link sent from your own Microsoft 365 mailbox where that is switched on.
Common questions
Does it price a machined part straight from the STEP file?
No. It measures the model and proposes a method, one operation per detected setup, with a confidence band on each number. An estimator confirms what enters the price. A formula cannot use an unconfirmed geometry value, so nothing prices from an upload alone.
Where do the drilling and tapping minutes come from?
Holes are counted from the solid and grouped by size, with depth ranges shown. Minutes per hole come from a lookup table your shop controls. If the table has no row for a hole, the line refuses to price rather than pricing at zero.
How does it know a hole is tapped?
From the print, never from the solid. The AI read of the PDF returns holes with size, depth, thread, quantity and bolt circle as proposals, and the estimator confirms them against the drawing in the same page.
See one of your own machined parts priced in VenturusEQ
Bring a print and a STEP file you have already quoted. We run them through the read, the measurement and both cost lines in your rates, live. If you would rather look first, the interactive demo is open, with no form in front of it.