I'm wondering if it's possible to specify 2 different material sizes to use for nesting.
We get 7' x 9' sheets and have a 5' x 10' table so we end up cutting off 20" rips from the 7' x 9' sheets. The only way I can figure out how to nest using all the material (full 5' x 9' & 20" x 9') is to manually play around with the list until I get a pretty good yield utilizing the offcuts and "full" sheets.
Is there any built in functionality that would take the trial and error out of this for me? I'm sure there must be, since we can barcode unused areas of sheets, but I have no idea how to use it.
We have seen this sort of request as well from a few companies that deal with some VERY expensive materials.
There are online systems that can do this sort of material optimization based on the availability of multiple sheet sizes. They do not necessarily translate directly into Control Nesting as there could be differences in the optimization algorithms and parameters.
Examples of the process only (I am not promoting):
optiCutterhttps://www.opticutter.com/ It designed for RECTANGULAR parts and is targeted at panel saws. I am sure that it uses some sort of a “Cut-Line” optimization method as it does not have to deal with non-rectangular parts.
Attempting to use these to know how to divide up your parts and materiel sizes will probably not work due to optimization differences in the end - but if a similar process could be incorporated into Control Nesting! <smile>