CNC Sheet Optimization Workflow

Where MOACUT fits in a CNC workflow

MOACUT's current calculator works with rectangular parts described by width, height, and quantity. It estimates how many rectangular stock sheets are required, places those rectangles with a bottom-left procedure, and reports used area, material utilization, scrap, and estimated sheet cost.

This makes MOACUT useful before purchasing stock and before building a CAM job. It is not a geometry editor, arbitrary-shape nesting system, post-processor, or CNC controller. Circles, contours, pockets, drilling, joinery, and toolpath details are not derived from a width-and-height cut list.

1. Prepare a production cut list

For each rectangular part, record the finished width, finished height, and required quantity. Consolidate exact duplicates so quantity is unambiguous, but keep parts separate when their allowed orientation differs. MOACUT currently applies one global rotation switch to the calculation, so a project that mixes rotatable and direction-locked parts may need separate runs.

Parts can be entered in the table or imported from CSV. The importer reads comma-separated Width, Height, Quantity columns, accepts positive integer dimensions, and defaults quantity to one when that third value is absent or invalid. The calculator can also export the current input list as CSV. That CSV represents inputs, not placed coordinates or machine code.

2. Enter stock size, spacing, and edge margin

Enter the stock sheet's actual width and height in millimetres. Presets are shortcuts, not a substitute for checking delivered stock. MOACUT calculates usable dimensions as the entered sheet dimension minus the edge margin on both sides.

Enter the process allowance required between neighboring rectangles in the Kerf field. In MOACUT this value is used directly as part spacing. It can represent tool-related clearance chosen by the operator, but it does not generate cutter compensation. Use Edge Margin separately for clamps, questionable sheet edges, vacuum zones, or other perimeter exclusions.

3. Decide whether 90° rotation is acceptable

When Allow Rotation is on, MOACUT can swap a non-square part's width and height while testing a position. Rotation can improve packing, but a denser layout is not automatically a valid CNC layout.

Turn rotation off when the part must follow wood grain, a brushed or printed surface direction, a structural axis, or another orientation rule. Because the current setting is global, confirm that the same rule is appropriate for every part included in the run.

4. Run nesting and inspect more than the headline percentage

MOACUT expands quantities, sorts rectangles from larger area to smaller area, and tests bottom-left candidate positions across existing sheets. A new sheet is created when no tested position fits. After calculation, review:

• Required Sheets for purchasing and job allocation.
• Each sheet drawing for the actual rotation and location of every rectangle.
• Material Utilization and Scrap for the whole job and for individual sheets.
• The final sheet, which is often lightly occupied and may offer a remnant-planning opportunity.
• Estimated Material Cost, which is sheet count multiplied only by the entered cost per sheet.

Utilization is calculated from pure rectangle area divided by full nominal sheet area. It does not treat the margin as a smaller denominator and does not add kerf area to Used Area.

Worked example: a direction-locked CNC cut list

This example uses an illustrative 6 mm spacing value to exercise the calculator; it is not a recommended cutter value. Determine spacing from the actual tool, material, and CAM strategy.

With rotation disabled, five 600 × 400 parts fit vertically in the left region of the first sheet: six heights plus five 6 mm gaps would need 2430 mm, exceeding the 2420 mm usable height. The smaller parts occupy available space beside the larger group, while the sixth large rectangle opens a second sheet. The result comes from the current MOACUT placement and reporting logic, not from an assumed ideal packing ratio.

This is a signal to review constraints before ordering: if rotation is genuinely permissible, compare another run; if not, the second sheet is a real consequence of the directional rule for this input.

5. Use the supported export handoff

The server revalidates export geometry and authorizes the account before generating DXF or PDF bytes. Changing a browser-side flag does not provide export access.

6. Complete CAM and shop checks separately

After reviewing or exporting a layout, the production workflow still needs authoritative part geometry, cutter compensation, inside/outside profiles, lead-ins, tabs or onion skin where used, pocketing and drilling operations, cut order, feeds and speeds, workholding, safe travel, origin, post-processing, and machine simulation. MOACUT does not calculate or validate these items.

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