Planner · Workshop
Lay out a cut list on real sheets — and see the waste before you buy
Enter your stock sheet size and every piece you need cut. The planner packs them shelf by shelf, shows each sheet as a labelled diagram, and totals sheets needed, waste and cost — so you confirm the order before the first cut.
Stock sheet
materialKerf is the material the blade removes per cut. Leave it at 2–4 mm for a circular saw.
Cut list
piecesAdd a piece
| Label | W | H | Qty | Opts |
|---|
Sheets
add pieces to see the layoutPlacement detail
per piece on sheet| Sheet | Piece | W × H | Rot | X, Y |
|---|
What to do next
How the numbers are worked out
Every figure below is arithmetic you can check by hand. Nothing is fetched from a server.
Shelf packing
Pieces are sorted by decreasing height then
width. Each shelf's height equals its first
piece. A piece is placed left-to-right with
a kerf gap between neighbours;
a new shelf is opened when the piece does
not fit the current shelf's remaining width
or height. If no shelf on any open sheet
fits, a new sheet is opened. Leftovers are
re-sorted by decreasing width and packed
again.
Utilisation & waste
utilisation = placed area ÷ (sheets ×
sheet area) × 100
and waste = 100 − utilisation.
Kerf is not drawn as extra area but is
charged as consumed width/height, so it
appears as waste.
Offcuts
Per sheet, the largest usable offcut is the
maximum of every shelf's right-hand strip
(sheetW − shelfX) × shelfH and
the bottom strip
sheetW × (sheetH − usedH). Only
the biggest rectangle per sheet is reported.
Cost & alternative check
cost = sheets used × price per
sheet. To suggest a better stock, the same cut
list is re-packed on each of the other
standard sizes (2440×1220, 2500×1250,
3050×1220, 1220×610, 2000×1000, 3000×1500)
and waste is compared.
What this is not: a heuristic layout, not a mathematically optimal nesting solution; offcuts and grain are respected only as far as you declare them.
Questions
How does the shelf-packing layout work?
Pieces are sorted by decreasing height then width and placed into horizontal shelves. A shelf's height is set by its first piece; later pieces in the same shelf must fit within that height. When nothing fits, a new shelf is opened; when no shelf on any open sheet fits, a new sheet is opened. A second pass re-sorts any leftovers by decreasing width to reduce shelf-height waste.
What does the waste percentage include?
Waste is the sheet area that is not covered by pieces. Kerf (the blade thickness) is counted as waste because it is material the blade removes. Offcuts that remain as contiguous rectangles are reported separately as usable offcut area.
Should I allow pieces to rotate, and what about grain?
Tick allow-rotate when the piece can be turned 90 degrees. If the material has a visible grain or brush direction, tick grain-locked and the planner will never rotate that piece, even if rotation would save space.
How accurate are the sheet count and cost?
The count is a heuristic, not a mathematically optimal nesting. Real saws need trim margins, clamping waste and defect avoidance, and many shops batch similar sizes together. Treat the total as a disciplined lower bound and buy one spare sheet for miscuts.
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