Optimising layout / Reduding wastage

[jsavage]

Hi, Does anyone know of any free / GPL software that can be used to automate the optimization of a cutting plan / layout to minimize waste. I am looking for a solution that will work with DXF, SVG or (less ideally) image files such as jpg. This is for a minor school project, but hundreds of small components to optimise so commercial solutions are not viable.

Apologies if this is a FAQ but have searched high and low for a solution to no avail so far. I suspect I must be using the wrong keywords!

Thanks all,

James (UK)

[mc-motorsports]

I think it's called "nesting", but I might be wrong, I'm not a sheetmetal guy. You need an inexpensive or free CAD/CAM program with automatic nesting, I think, lol!

[kewlkiwi]

....Apologies if this is a FAQ but have searched high and low for a solution to no avail so far. I suspect I must be using the wrong keywords!

Try searching for 'nesting software' James, perhaps adding 'free' or 'shareware' too.

I have no idea if there are any free versions, but I do think that's the keyword you should be using.

Bob

[dreamzguy]

try using the evaluation version of nestlib software from Geometric. You can save the nested result in img format.