📐 CutCraft Pro

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How to adjust a cutting layout before exporting the workshop PDF

A finished layout sometimes needs one part moved to another sheet or a clearer path for a cut. CutCraft lets you adjust the arrangement on the map. After a move, check the cutting sizes, blade gaps and part count before sending the PDF to the workshop.

Start with cutting sizes

Check the part list and the saw kerf setting first. Our example uses cutting dimensions, with no extra allowance deducted for edge banding. On a banded job, avoid subtracting an allowance again from a size already calculated for the saw.

Check grain direction before rotating anything. A part may fit after rotation but still be wrong for the agreed grain pattern across the fronts.

Move the part, then check the gap

While you drag a part, the editor helps it snap to the trimmed sheet edge or a neighbouring part, including the configured kerf. Inspect the final position when you release it.

Take a 1000 × 600 mm sheet with 10 mm trimmed from every side. Its usable area is 980 × 580 mm. Put a 600 × 300 mm blank beside a 300 × 300 mm blank, leaving a 4 mm saw gap. Their horizontal span is 600 + 4 + 300 = 904 mm. Add the two 10 mm trims and they need 924 mm across the sheet, leaving 76 mm.

If the first part starts at (10, 10), the second starts at (614, 10). With a 2 mm gap the rectangles would still not overlap, but the gap would be too small for a 4 mm kerf. A map without red overlap warnings is not proof that every cut has enough room for the blade.

Use the buffer to change sheets

Select a part and choose To buffer, or drag it off the sheet. The buffer is shared across all sheets. Switch to the destination sheet, then use To sheet, double-click the buffered item or drag it onto the map. Check the placement again.

A new optimisation clears the buffer. Finish and review your transfers before recalculating the job, and keep track of which layout version you intend to use.

Match the map to the order

Check quantities, part numbers, grain and blade gaps. Work through the sequence of cuts your saw can make. After manual changes, an arrangement may no longer allow guillotine cuts from edge to edge. The report includes a guillotine status; inspect that alongside the map.

Return every required part from the buffer before exporting. Anything left there appears in neither the map nor the report, even if you accept the export warning. Save the checked version and generate the workshop PDF from that version.

Start a cutting plan