CNC quoting directly from the PDF drawing — a free skill from goCAD.
An open-source skill for CNC quoting from technical PDF drawings. Upload the drawing, the part is read, our calibrated engine computes cycle time, setup and cost — and delivers a formatted Excel report for turning and milling parts. The quick replacement for manual Excel quoting.
Technical drawing straight to Excel quote.
The skill reads your technical PDF drawing automatically — title block, category (turning / milling), every dimensioned feature and tolerance — and produces a structured feature spec. The bundled engine computes cycle time, setup, programming and the full cost buildup, and writes a two-sheet Excel report. That replaces manual Excel CNC quoting in seconds instead of 20 minutes per part.
Read the PDF drawing
The skill detects part, material, category (turning vs milling) and every feature straight from the drawing — holes, pockets, threads, chamfers, ISO fits (H7, g6).
Emit a feature spec
The result is stored as a structured JSON specification — traceable, editable, versionable. The basis for the time calculation.
Build the Excel report
The engine computes cycle times against calibrated reference data, applies your hourly rates, mark-ups and margin, and writes a goCAD-style Excel report (Cost + Manufacturing).
Two-sheet Excel report — Cost + Manufacturing.
For a 1.4301 milled part with a Ø25 H7 fit, M8 threads and lightening pockets, the skill returns: 12.43 min cycle time, €176.47 unit price incl. all mark-ups, and a full cycle-time buildup with CAM operations and tooling.
Your hourly rates, your mark-ups, your prices.
All commercial values live in config/pricing_config.example.json — as a template. Copy it to config/pricing_config.json, enter your values — done. The report footer transparently shows which source was used.
What you configure
- Hourly rates — machine, setup, programming (€/h)
- Mark-ups — material, manufacturing, admin, sales, risk (%)
- Margin — profit uplift (%)
- Lot size — setup and programming cost amortised over the batch
- Material prices — €/kg per grade (1.4301, S235JR, AlMg3, …)
- Currency — EUR by default, freely changeable
Technical parameters (cutting speeds, feed rates, per-feature time coefficients) stay in references/calibration.json — calibrated against real goCAD reference data.
{
"currency": "EUR",
"lot_size": 10,
"rates_eur_per_hour": {
"machine_processing": 72.0,
"machine_setup": 66.0,
"programming": 85.0
},
"additions_percent": {
"material_additions": 16.0,
"manufacturing_additions": 20.0,
"admin_additions": 10.0,
"general_sales": 10.0,
"risk_additions": 2.0,
"margin": 8.0
},
"material_prices_eur_per_kg": {
"1.4301": 6.20,
"S235JR": 1.60,
"AlMg3": 5.50
}
} Install the skill and start — in minutes.
- 1 Request the skill and load it into Claude. After you request it, we send the
.skillpackage by email — a ZIP with all scripts, reference data and the config template. Import via Claude's skill management. - 2 Set your rates. Copy
config/pricing_config.example.jsontoconfig/pricing_config.jsonand edit. Or pass--config customer_x.jsonper run. - 3 Upload a drawing. Share a technical drawing (PDF, turning or milling part) in Claude and ask for "cycle time + cost" — the skill triggers automatically.
- 4 Receive the Excel report. Cost and Manufacturing reports as
.xlsx, plus the feature spec as JSON for post-processing or versioning.
The complete skill package — free by email.
The skill isn't distributed publicly — we send it out on request so we can gather feedback and support you with configuration questions. The skill itself stays free of charge and ships under Apache 2.0.
gocad-cycle-time-estimator.skill
The full skill as a ZIP (~40 KB) — contains scripts, reference data, examples, config template and all legal documents.
SKILL.md
The complete skill definition — workflow, feature vocabulary, tolerances, examples.
pricing_config.example.json
All commercial parameters as a template — hourly rates, mark-ups, margin, material prices.
PRICING_CONFIG.md
Configuration guide including the cost buildup and activation paths.
LICENSE (Apache 2.0)
Full Apache-2.0 licence text. Allows use, adaptation and commercial use — with patent and trademark clauses.
NOTICE
goCAD GmbH copyright, ownership statement and the crucial "estimates only, not a binding quote" disclaimer.
THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md
Attribution for openpyxl (MIT), Pillow (HPND), Python stdlib (PSF) and Poppler / pdftoppm (GPL-2.0, called externally).
Milling_Part_2_estimate.xlsx
Finished example report for a 1.4301 milled part — exactly what the skill produces for your drawing.
Request the skill — a short note with your email is enough.
We'll send you the full skill package, the example report and the config template by email within one business day.
Licence, attribution & disclaimer.
Apache 2.0
The goCAD parts are released under the Apache License 2.0 — permissive, commercially usable, with patent and trademark clauses. © 2026 goCAD GmbH.
Estimates only
The skill produces automated estimates from a drawing. Not a binding quote, no guarantee of price, feasibility or lead time. Full text in the NOTICE document that ships with the skill package.
Third-party
Uses openpyxl (MIT), Pillow (HPND), Python stdlib (PSF) and Poppler / pdftoppm (GPL-2.0, called as an external program — not statically linked).
Example data
All bundled drawings, sample specs and calibration values are property of goCAD GmbH. The commercial values in the example config are illustrative — not goCAD's or any customer's real rates.
Need more than an estimate? Use the goCAD platform.
The skill is a tool for quick estimates. For versioned quotes, assembly quoting, webshop and ERP integration, use the goCAD quoting software.