Cut list guides
Each guide answers one workshop question with a worked example. Every number and every drawing comes from CutGrid’s optimizer running that example, and is recomputed whenever the optimizer changes.
Planning a job
How many sheets of plywood do I need?
Three 600 mm base cabinets are 2.62 sheets of area, so the quick estimate says 3. The layout needs 4 sheets. Why the estimate is low, and how to check before you buy.Plywood sheet nesting
Four 600 × 800 mm doors and four 560 × 300 mm shelves nest on one 2440 × 1220 mm sheet at 12.9% waste. Make the doors 10 mm wider and the layout needs 2 sheets.Kitchen cabinet cut list
One 600 mm base cabinet in 18 mm board: 7 parts on 1 sheet of 2440 × 1220 mm at 12.6% waste. How the sizes are derived, and what changes when you build three.How to reduce waste on sheet goods
Five levers measured on the same job: trim, rotation, sheet size, cutting jobs together and keeping offcuts. Three base cabinets start at 4 sheets and 34.5% waste.
Settings that change the layout
Saw kerf and sheet trim
Four 610 × 1220 mm panels fill a 2440 × 1220 mm sheet at kerf 0; at 3 mm they need 2 sheets. Trim works the same way: on three cabinets, 10 mm per edge means 4 sheets instead of 3.Grain direction on a cut list
Two base cabinets with grain locked on the sides and doors: entered the right way they still need 2 sheets; entered across the grain they need 3 sheets. How CutGrid treats grain and how to enter it.Edge banding on a cut list
A 596 × 716 mm door banded on four edges with 1 mm tape is cut at 594 × 714 mm. How CutGrid deducts banding from cut sizes, and how much tape one base cabinet needs: 4.63 m.CNC nesting vs panel saw layouts
Seven parts that need 2 sheets with straight saw cuts fit on 1 sheet when a CNC router may cut any path. When CNC nesting saves board, and why it often does not.Inch fractions on a cut list
A 96 × 48 in sheet, 1/8 in kerf, four doors at 23 3/4 × 30 1/2 in and four shelves at 22 1/2 × 11 1/4 in: 1 sheet at 15.1% waste. What you can type and how CutGrid rounds.
Materials and stock
Standard sheet sizes and which to buy
Three base cabinets need 4 sheets of 2440 × 1220 mm (11.91 m²), 2 of 2800 × 2070 mm (11.59 m²) or 2 of 3660 × 1830 mm (13.4 m²). The sheet count is not the cost; the board you buy is.Bar and profile cutting
Cutting lists for bars, tubes and aluminium profiles from 6 m stock: eight pieces from 1 bar with 21 mm lost to the saw, and a 14-piece frame on 4 bars.Glass cutting list
Six 800 × 500 mm panes on a 2440 × 1220 mm sheet with no gap between cuts: 1 sheet at 19.4% waste. How kerf, rotation and edge work apply to glass in CutGrid.
Files and offcuts
Saving and reusing offcuts
A sheet leftover is offered for the stock library when both sides are at least 200 mm. Ten 1600 mm cuts need 4 bars of 6000 mm, or an 1800 mm remnant plus 3 bars.Cut list from Excel or CSV
Import a cut list from Excel, CSV or TSV instead of retyping it. The columns CutGrid reads, the optional ones, and the mistakes that make an import fail.DXF export for CAD and CAM
Expert exports a DXF of the layout: one rectangle per sheet, one per part, the part name at its centre, sheets 100 units apart. What is in the file, what is not, and how to take it into CAM.