WORKED EXAMPLE / SHEET MATERIAL
Plan ten shelves, including the saw kerf.
Area alone does not tell you how many plywood sheets to buy. Piece dimensions, rotation, and the blade's cut width all affect what fits.
1. Match the settings to real material
Add a plywood / sheet material and choose 3/4 in thickness. Use fractional inches. Enter a sheet width of 48, sheet length of 96, and blade kerf of 1/8. Choose Order new material.
| Part | Width | Length | Quantity | Rotate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelf | 12 inches | 36 inches | 10 | On |
Turn Allow one kerf extra in sheet width and length off for this example. Leave long-run splitting off for this ordinary shelf part. Generate the complete job. The checked result uses two 48×96-inch sheets: seven shelves from the first sheet and three from the second.
Grain and face direction matter. Rotation permits the planner to turn a part 90 degrees. If the visible grain must run along every shelf's length, disable rotation and regenerate. The illustrated result assumes rotation is acceptable.
2. Read the sheet and piece numbers together
7 finished shelves. Numbers restart on each sheet. Shelf #7 is rotated.
3 finished shelves. Numbers restart on each sheet. Three shelves occupy the first 36-inch strip.
Write “Sheet 1” and “Sheet 2” on your stock. A piece number identifies a piece within that sheet, so “Sheet 1, #2” and “Sheet 2, #2” are different shelves. Open Piece key, offcuts & cutting sequence under a layout to match numbers to dimensions and inspect the planned sequence.
The first two 36-inch strips on sheet 1 each hold three 12-inch-wide shelves. A seventh shelf is turned to 36 inches wide by 12 inches long in the remaining lower strip. Sheet 2 supplies the last three shelves.
3. Use the sequence, not just the rectangles
For the first strip, the layout crosscuts a 36-inch length from the 48-inch width. The blade consumes another 1/8 inch. Rip the resulting strip into three 12-inch shelves, keeping each finished part on the correct side of the blade.
Three 12-inch widths and three kerfs take 36 3/8 inches, leaving an 11 5/8-inch wide offcut in that strip. Do not expect four exact 12-inch widths from 48 inches: four widths already use the whole sheet before allowing for the cuts between them.
The engine uses straight cuts across the remaining rectangles, often called guillotine cuts. Open the sequence for the actual plan and measure each current rectangle from its own edge. A displayed offset is a finished-part dimension measured from that region's top or left edge, not automatically a measurement from the original sheet's corner.
4. Measure the leftovers before saving them
| Sheet | Planned rectangular offcuts |
|---|---|
| 1 | Two at 11 5/8×36″; one at 11 7/8×12″; one at 48×11 5/8″ |
| 2 | One at 11 5/8×36″; one at 48×59 7/8″ |
Gray regions are usable rectangles remaining after kerf. They are not all one continuous piece. Set minimum offcut width and length when keeping stock; after marking the sheet complete, save qualifying rectangles individually. Preserve the material thickness and name so future jobs can match them.
Why the extra-sheet allowance is optional
Some supplied sheets have slightly more usable material than their nominal size. The allowance setting adds one kerf to both nominal dimensions; it assumes you actually have that material. It cannot recover sawdust or make an exact 48-inch sheet wider. Keep it off unless you have measured and confirmed the extra usable size.
Measure supplied sheets, check for damaged edges, and plan any required trimming first. The layouts do not model grain matching, edge banding, defects, or structural suitability, and the bounded search does not guarantee the fewest possible sheets.