Sheet Cut Optimiser

This one is free and needs no account. Open it, use it, print the diagram. Signing up only ever matters if you want to save a cut list and come back to it.

Getting parts out of a sheet efficiently is a packing problem, and humans are reliably bad at it. Laying out a cut list in the order it was written typically burns more sheets than an optimised layout, and on a job of any size that is real money left in the offcut pile.

What it does

• Takes your sheet size and the parts you need (length, width, quantity) and works out the layout that uses the fewest sheets, then the least offcut
• Starts from common sheets, 4 by 8, 4 by 10, 4 by 5 feet or 2440 by 1220 and 3050 by 1220 mm, or any custom size in inches or millimetres
• Accounts for blade kerf and an edge trim, so the plan matches what the saw actually removes and what the factory edge is worth
• Lets you allow rotation for every part, or lock it off per part when the grain has to run one way
• Only makes guillotine cuts, edge to edge, so every cut can actually be made on a table saw or panel saw
• Prints a colour-keyed cutting diagram for every sheet and a cut list with each part's size and position, to take to the saw without a laptop
• Multiplies your cost per sheet by the sheet count, so the material cost is there before you order

Who uses it

Cabinet makers on plywood and melamine, anyone building shelving, closets or a workshop bench out of sheet goods, and a steady stream of people building one thing who would rather not buy an extra sheet. It works the same for any material sold in sheets and cut to size, in whichever unit you think in.

The rest of the free set

The deck and fence planner produces a framing count and a priced lumber list, and the blueprint designer draws a floor plan with automatic dimensions. Both are free with no account for the same reason this one is: a tool a stranger cannot actually use is worth nothing to them.