Safety gates

Quoting modes

“Quote mode” is set in Quoting rules, in the Safety gates section. Modes:

• “Instant price”: the engine's price is shown to the customer without review, except in the cases described below.
• “Review above threshold”: a quote whose value reaches the “Price review threshold” waits for a person.
• “Review every quote”: every quote waits for a person.
• “Always ask for confirmation (TBD)”: the customer never receives an automatic price and is told that the shop will price the part by hand.

The complexity threshold applies in both automatic modes: in “Instant price” too, a part above the threshold goes to review.

A new account starts in “Review every quote”, so no price reaches a customer before the shop has checked what the engine does with its configuration.

Unusual parts and risk signals

In every mode, the following parts always wait for a person:

• a probable casting or weldment;
• a catalogue part (a bearing, a screw, a seal);
• a part estimated at more than 40 hours of machining per piece;
• a part that none of the shop's machines can take: larger than every work envelope, with an inside corner tighter than the smallest cutter, a blank heavier than the table takes, a quantity below a machine's minimum batch, a prismatic part when only lathes could take it, or a part too short for a bar automatic.

The customer is then told that the shop will price the part by hand, and is asked for an e-mail address. A request to contact the shop is shown only for a quote the shop rejected.

A catalogue part or a casting can be priced as machined. The “Customer specification” card of the quote (on an assembly, with the part selected) shows a row named after the flag, “Catalog part” or “Casting”, with two options: “Bought” or “Machined”, and “Cast / welded + finishing” or “Machined from solid”. The second option prices the part like any machined part, and the quote waits for approval. The work envelope, the 40-hour limit, the risk signals and gear teeth still apply. Changing the option removes a price entered for that part.

Risk signals move a quote from instant price to review:

• thin walls;
• deep holes;
• a slender part;
• an external thread;
• compound-angle features that require multi-axis machining;
• undercuts (a T-slot, a dovetail);
• a feature the machine's own tool list cannot make;
• more tools than the machine's magazine holds.

The shop sets the thin-wall and slenderness thresholds, next to the amount and complexity thresholds. The deep-hole limit is fixed and cannot be set: 8 times the diameter, or 12 times on a machine with through-spindle coolant.

A quote made from a drawing (PDF, scan, photo or DXF) is never released automatically. A solid rebuilt from a drawing is derived from its views, not measured, so such a quote always waits for confirmation.

Quotes waiting for a decision are listed in the Quotes tab under the “Awaiting review” filter. The number of new ones is shown in the sidebar, on the Dashboard and in the notification bell.