Plywood Cut-list Layout Form

[John Poole]

I prepared this single page form for 5' x 5' plywood using Adobe Illustrator. Basically the page has a 5" square graph with 12 units per inch so that you can draw out on this how you would cut your plywood with accuracy to the inch.

I know there is software that does cut lists, but sometimes just having a simple piece of paper on hand that let's one immediately sketch out something anywhere can be helpful.

I could easily create other dimensions, e.g. 4' x 8', and I can easily adjust the coloration/lines.

Comments/suggestions?

[Helen Gee]

Hey John,

That is a cool idea! Not just the paper printout, but with Illustrator, you can even draw out the size of the shapes and rearrange as you please until you get the layout that you want.

[John Weidner]

I have a page I print with 6 rectangles, representing 4 x 8 sheets, with dots at each 1' interval.

This is less precise than yours, but useful when estimating how much stock a project will take, and for experimenting to find the most efficient way to cut sheets up...

[John Poole]

My early PDF, the 5' x 5', had form fields and I indicated you could save the document with the information in the form fields. I found out saving did not preserve what you typed in the field.

Also, if anyone wants my source files, in Adobe Illustrator 11.0 format, I'm happy to share them. I used a series of symbols and aggregated same to create a 1 foot square unit; this way I can alter any particular line and have the change propagate throughout. I also have a sample of lines based on a 300 dpi that should print 1, 2, 3, & 4 dot widths. Of course, you can modify the math to suite whatever the dpi resolution of your printer is to achieve the same control so as to print widths based on your printer's dot capability.

Creating a form is not only about control of dot widths on your printer, but of grayscale to create a graph that is discernable, yet allows (#2B) pencils marks to be noticeable.

Send me an email with "Diagram Cutting AI" in the subject line, if your do not hear from me within 2 business days, then leave a private message with your email address on this forum.