Plywood nesting optimizer

Every part on the sheet, the way you'd lay it.

The parts the design generates are nested onto sheet stock by material — true-shape, grain-locked — with the yield on every sheet, the drops tracked, and the layout ready for your CAM or a direct machine post.

True-shape, not rectanglesYield per sheetDrops racked as stockLayered DXF out
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The sheet optimizer

The real thing, on a real job.

This is the shipping optimizer, not a diagram: a seven-cabinet job nested onto seven sheets of prefinished ¾ at 81% yield, every part labeled with its name and cut size, the yield on each sheet, and the 31 solid-stock face-frame members routed to the lumber list instead of onto ply.

  • By material — case parts, backs, finished panels and doors each nest onto their own stock; tick what runs today.
  • Your numbers — sheet size per material, tool diameter (⅜ compression as the standard), sheet rim, and a wider gap for parts under 6″.
  • Per-sheet control — rotate, remake, or move a part to another sheet by hand when you know better than the packer.
  • Drops, not waste — every offcut reported by size and rackable as stock for the next job.
  • Out the door — layered DXF for your CAM today; direct posts written and simulated, first program on scrap.
The WoodWright sheet optimizer: a seven-cabinet job nested onto seven 4 by 8 sheets of prefinished plywood at 81% yield, every part labeled with its name and cut size, tool diameter and sheet rim settings on the left, and 31 face-frame members routed to the lumber list
sheet optimizer — prefinished ¾ · 7 sheets · 81% yield · ready to cut
Questions

Straight answers

What sheet sizes does it nest onto?
Any you set. The default is a 4×8 sheet with the oversize your supplier actually ships (48½ × 96½), and each material class — door stock, prefinished, case ply — can carry its own sheet size or follow the default. Tool diameter, sheet rim and the small-part gap are yours to set too.
Is it true-shape or just rectangles?
True-shape. A corner deck cut on a 45° is nested as the shape it is, so two of them can interlock across the diagonal — a placement rectangles cannot make. Grain direction is respected per part.
What happens to the offcuts?
Every sheet reports its drops by size. Rack a drop and it is remembered as stock for a later job instead of being written off as waste.
How does the nest get to my CNC?
Two ways. Layered DXF part export to the CAM you already run — the proven path. Or a direct machine post: SCM Xilog, ShopBot, Biesse, Homag and Mach/GRBL/LinuxCNC/Masso are written and simulated, and none has cut on iron yet, so the app asks you to run the first program on scrap. The CNC page has every file format from real emitter bytes.

Related: cutlist generator · cabinet layout planner · shop drawings & 3D · CNC output