Nesting lab

Stock sheet Length mm Width mm

Container Length mm Width mm Height mm

Parts

Items

Cutting

Gap between parts mm Edge margin mm Keep offcuts at least mm Fill leftover space with When not every part fits

The gap covers the kerf plus the web the laser needs between cuts. With Turn off, a part can still flip 180°, which keeps its grain direction.

Material

Alloy Thickness mm

Loading rules

Max payload per container kg Items need at least 75% of their base resting on the floor or another item Open another container when one is full

How the nesting works

When every part is a rectangle, the exact MaxRects packer runs: free space is tracked as overlapping maximal rectangles and each part goes wherever a placement rule scores best.

As soon as any part has another shape, a raster nester takes over. Each part is traced onto a fine grid, grown by the gap, and slid across the sheet in 90° steps to the lowest-scoring spot that doesn't touch anything. Holes stay open, so small parts can nest inside rings and cut-outs. The grid size is shown in the status line; finer grids waste less but take longer.

Both engines try several part orders and rules, then a local search keeps any layout that places more, or leaves a bigger clean offcut. Anything that isn't a part or a keepable offcut counts as scrap.

How the loading works

Items are placed at extreme points: the corners that each new box creates against the walls and the boxes already loaded. An item goes to the first extreme point where it fits without overlapping, stays inside the container, keeps under the weight limit, and has enough support underneath.

Three loading patterns (floor first, back wall first and columns from the back) and five item orders are tried, then a local search reshuffles the order. Layouts that load more volume in fewer containers win, and among equals the one that uses the least length in the last container.

Drag the right edge, bottom edge or corner to resize. Hold Shift for 1 mm steps.

Drag a yellow handle to resize. Drag elsewhere to orbit, scroll to zoom. Shift for 1 mm steps.

Parts placed

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Sheet utilization

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Offcut back to stock

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Scrap to recycling

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Material yield

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parts share of the material you consume

Items loaded

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Containers

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Volume used

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Last container

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Weight

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Parts placed and scrap as the sheet length changes PlacedScrapYour sheet