sheet goods software

[B A R R Y]

Oh well! Sometimes, you have to suffer to make a statement.

[Puckdropper]

Andy H wrote in news:fi1i21$daa$ [e-mail]:

You could possibly install Wine on OS X, seeing how it's a *nix base. DAGS if you're interested. Wine would then let you run many Windows programs on Mac (or Linux).

Puckdropper

[Bob the Tomato]

When I was in college, I worked in a lumberyard for a bit. I was one of the "yard monkeys" that loaded up trucks and performed various manual labor tasks outside. One of the most disliked tasks by the other yard monkeys was "sawyer". You'd be given a takeoff list from a house package, and gather up the materials to cut the jack studs, headers, etc. The reason that the other yard monkeys didn't like the job was that it entailed thinking, when they'd rather be taking a smoke break. I, on the other hand, loved doing it, so I became the sawyer almost full time. (They called me "head sawyer" which almost got me to change my major from engineering to brain surgery, hahaha...) We had a 16" radial arm saw that was nicknamed "Killer" but that's a story for another day...

The header beams ranged anywhere from 4x6 to 6x12 and up. I made it a personal challenge to lay out the materials for a house package with the absolute smallest amount of waste possible. I did it with a calculator and a pencil, usually taking between 5 and 15 minutes per house. My usual amount of waste was around 6-8 inches on a 20 foot beam. Once in a while I'd get "in the groove" and produce a cutlist that had NO waste, other than the saw kerfs.

That makes you feel REAL good. Beat that, computer!

The point is, you CAN do it if you set your mind to it. I have regularly produced sheet (plywood) cutlists, by hand, that were easier to cut than those generated by software. The layout software may occasionally beat me on the efficiency of the layout (ie the waste left over) but I can usually get a cutlist that is easier to cut out or has better grain matching.

[Bob the Tomato]

I had a project back at the ol' lumberyard which was similar. A local company needed some specialized packing crates, lots and lots of them. We had a vertical panel saw which could rip and crosscut (you've probably seen those at Home Depot). I spent some time tuning it up and got to work. We delivered the parts for 200 packing crates (made of 3/4" baltic birch) three days later, banded and wrapped. Somewhere I have a picture that a coworker snapped while I was working at the saw, almost shin-deep in sawdust!

Seriously, if you need help with this layout, post details and we'll tear it up!