Replies

1. 
   GaryW | Jan 16, 2008 08:33pm | #1

   Bob,

   Google "plywood cutting optimizer," and you'll come up with quite a list of software offerings. I've tried a couple those, but none of the less expensive ones satisfy my need proper grain direction or figure alignment. When I need to save on expensive material (like the wenge job we're working on), and insure figure alignment, as on slab doors, I do it by hand, using the attached MS Word drawing. It's relatively quick and easy. 

   Gary W

   gwwoodworking.com

1. 
   GDH2 | Jan 20, 2008 07:57pm | #5

   Gary -
   DOC is a lot easier than DOCX for those of us who refuse to adopt Vista and Office 2007!

1. 
   GaryW | Jan 21, 2008 07:01am | #6

   Point well taken. Here it is in .doc format.

   MSWord 2007 has been a pain to set up and learn after 20 years of using word. Nothing really intuitive about it.Gary W

   gwwoodworking.com

   
1. 
   GDH2 | Jan 23, 2008 12:50am | #7

   Gary. Simple but effective solution. You could also use Excel with 6" squares and internal dot borders. Thanks for doing the conversion. I appreciate your effort.

2. 
   JohnWW | Jan 19, 2008 07:37pm | #2

   I'm not the person to ask on this subject, I've never used a sheet goods cutting program.

   Most of my projects never use more than a sheet or two of plywood so I just lay out the cuts the old fashioned way. Personally, I use computers as little more than fancy typewriters, I never expect them to solve anything.

   I think that it would be fairly difficult to get a program to effectively lay out the cuts in the best possible layout, there must be a at least a few hundred possible answers to any specific problem.

   This would probably be a good question to post on the regular Knots site, there are a number of software experts there.

   Sorry I can't be of more help on this,

   John W.

1. 
   saschafer | Jan 19, 2008 08:45pm | #3

   "I think that it would be fairly difficult to get a program to effectively lay out the cuts in the best possible layout, there must be a at least a few hundred possible answers to any specific problem."

   There can be a lot of possible combinations, but the better programs do quite a good job at it. I've been using CutListPlus, and have been surprised a couple of times when it suggested a better layout than I would have come up with by hand. It lets you make various kinds of "what if..." trade-offs. For example, you can optimize for the fewest number of cuts, care/not care about grain orientation, maximize the size of any offcuts, etc.

   -Steve

    

1. 
   JohnWW | Jan 20, 2008 01:36am | #4

   Thanks for the feed back, I'm sure the original questioner will appreciate the information. Now I feel challenged to try my skills against "the machine". I'm hoping to use less and less sheet goods in the future, primarily because they're so hard to handle in a one man shop, especially if you can't move the sheets right from the truck onto a cart or a dolly, which is the case in my shop.Thanks again,John W.