How Do You Create Your Cut Lists?

[Jeff Wright]

I will soon begin designing and building our new kitchen. I am leaning towards face frame construction with inset drawers and doors. My shop includes a MiniMax combo machine equipped with an 8' slider to handle the sheet stock.

1] What methods do you use to create your cut lists? Do you have a unique way that you approach creating an accurate list from your design plans?

2] Do you use software? Which one? How much?

3] What do you do to help maximize your hardwoods and sheet stock when cutting? Any tricks of the trade?

4] Any books you feel do a good job of explaining some good techniques?

Thanks in advance!

[Dennis Peacock]

Jeff,

I use CutList Plus and went with the Silver Edition. It's $89 right now on their site and when I bought mine almost a year ago it was $79. Great software!! :D

[Mike Armstrong]

Ditto Dennis's recommendation for CutListPlus. I opted to the Silver edition, too. With it, you can have up 50 parts per project [vs. 25] and it calculates edge-banding allowances. You can d/l a demo version from their website - http://www.cutlistplus.com

Mike

[Larry Fox]

Jeff - I am wrapping up a kitchen cabinet project, my first one, and for me I didn't use a cut list. I started out trying to develop one and when I purchased the hardwood I marked every board as to where I thought it would go. However when I got into the milling I realized that board A looked/matched better as part of door Y instead of door X. This had a cascading effect on the list so I quickly abandoned it. For sheet goods, I guessed when I was at the yard. My guess was very accurate in that I guessed exactly the right number of sheets of 3/4 stock and was short two sheets of 1/4" stock. My waste on the 3/4" stock is very minimal.

I should also point out that I am a notorously bad estimator. You get to the point that you are so close to the project that you just sorta "know" how much you need. I am usually not so wreckless but valuing my time I was more inclined to spend another $70.00 on a sheet of plywood than spend the time laboring over a cutlist.

I should also point out that I had a virtually limitless supply of hardwood for rails/stiles/face frames so sheet goods and wide hardwoods were really the only places I needed to be careful.

[Rob Hix]

Jeff,

I used to religiously use Cutlist plus, and it is a great piece of software. However, there was a string of projects that I did in which Cutlist gave me totally bad sheet layouts. I could look and see better ways to approach the layout. From that point on, I do my sheet layouts by hand. I first scratch them out on paper and then a lay them out in my CAD software to be sure the measurements come out right. Then I put the list in a spreadsheet and go to work.

Hope this helps,
Rob Hix

[Mark Hulette]

Jeff,

I use CutList Plus and went with the Silver Edition. It's $89 right now on their site and when I bought mine almost a year ago it was $79. Great software!! :D

Dennis-

I agree. Cutlist is a great program. I have used it on several projects.

[Keel McDonald]

I do all mine on graph paper. I know it sounds long and tedious, but I enjoy doing it. I often discover better ways of doing it once I see it on paper.

[Mike Dauphinee]

Jeff,

I used to religiously use Cutlist plus, and it is a great piece of software. However, there was a string of projects that I did in which Cutlist gave me totally bad sheet layouts. I could look and see better ways to approach the layout. From that point on, I do my sheet layouts by hand. I first scratch them out on paper and then a lay them out in my CAD software to be sure the measurements come out right. Then I put the list in a spreadsheet and go to work.

Hope this helps,
Rob Hix

I too have found that it can give you worse layouts for sheet goods than you can do yourself. But I have also found that you can force it to do the right thing by being a bit selective on sizes after the first layout is run. I still like to have it all on disk and printer so I just force it to give me what I want. An acceptable compromise IMO.

[Benjimin Young]

I do a lot of hand sketching of ideas and like to work with graph paper in a scale that works for the project so, I created some simple MS Word templates that generate (at least on my printer) resonably scaled graph paper

4 squares per inch (typical stuff) 295kb
6 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 604 kb
8 squares per inch (Great when youa re working with 1/8" mutiples) 1052 kb
12 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 1056 kb

Unfortuanately they exceed the forum upload size limit but I will be happy to email. Better stil, if someone has a place to post them with a link ...
See picture example

Ben

[Neil Lamens]

Jeff:

With meticulous field measurments, appliance specs, specs on requested hardware, and templates if needed, I then just make sketches of each cabinet run.
ie: Run 1 uppers, Run 1 lowers
Corner Cab1 Upper/ Corner Cab Lower 1
Run 2 starts after corner cabinet
Run2 uppers, Run 2 lowers

Are you installing yourself or are you planning on a helper, and how much muscle can that helper provide???

Being I see you mention "designing and building for your home", I would build with ease of handling and installation in mind so for efficiency down the road, you can handle cabinets by yourself if needed.

With the one man Jeff Wright shop in mind, I would envision building the cabinets in boxes rather than sections. Yes this means an extra Upper and lower Cabinet End Panel here and there but for controling "the job" and ease of handling, smaller units is the way to go you may find you'll use an extra sheet and-a-half.

After making my sketch runs, I'll use differnet color flairs for instance, a green dot is an End Panel (EP) and count down the run EP,EP,EP etc, A red flair will marl Top and bottom and just count down each sketched run.

After I've counted all my runs, I have a photstated sheet with 4 4x8 sheets drawn on them, Then just pencil in on those 4x8 rectangle the needed parts for instance 12 End panels 12 x 42, I get 8 EP's from one 4x8 sheet.

You got through each run taking your appliances and the size customizing you plan on doing.....after all its your kitchen..... and work through each run.

One caveat, if you think in smaller units, a face frame in the middle of a run will extend over another cabinet section the width of your face frame. When you building you'll see this. No big deal.

I'm hoping this post gets you thinking further than just software. You should have this kitchen built in your head before you hit the shop. Then just cook!!!!

[Jeff Wright]

I do a lot of hand sketching of ideas and like to work with graph paper in a scale that works for the project so, I created some simple MS Word templates that generate (at least on my printer) resonably scaled graph paper

4 squares per inch (typical stuff) 295kb
6 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 604 kb
8 squares per inch (Great when youa re working with 1/8" mutiples) 1052 kb
12 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 1056 kb

Unfortuanately they exceed the forum upload size limit but I will be happy to email. Better stil, if someone has a place to post them with a link ...
See picture example

Ben

Ben,

Please email me your template for the 6 and 12 squares per inch. Thanks.

jkwright @ msn.com

[Mark Hulette]

I do a lot of hand sketching of ideas and like to work with graph paper in a scale that works for the project so, I created some simple MS Word templates that generate (at least on my printer) resonably scaled graph paper

4 squares per inch (typical stuff) 295kb
6 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 604 kb
8 squares per inch (Great when youa re working with 1/8" mutiples) 1052 kb
12 squares per inch (Great for 12 inch or 1 foot mutiples) 1056 kb

Unfortuanately they exceed the forum upload size limit but I will be happy to email. Better stil, if someone has a place to post them with a link ...
See picture example

Ben

Ben- Sawmill Creek has a relatively new forum for posting plans so I'd think this might qualify. Seek the advise of your friendly neighborhood moderator.

[Charlie Plesums]

I use the cheap version of cut-list plus to optimize my sheet goods usage. Sometimes I see a layout that works better for me (for example, getting the first pieces I will use out of a single sheet), so I go ahead with the cuts, change quantity required in the program to 0, then run again to optimize the rest. I am amazed how much you can do with 25 unique parts (the limit of the cheap version) since many pieces are alike (shelves, sides, etc. count as one part each, with multiple copies). It is free to try - from their web site.

I have given up optimizing hardwood... every time I do, I find a split or knot that throws everything off... so I just start with the longest pieces, etc.

[Jim Becker]

When I did my kitchen, I used CutList Plus (Silver) for the cut-sheets. It saved me a lot more than the cost of the application! I don't use it often as I don't work with sheet goods that much, but when I do...it's the bee's knees for the job!

[Don Selke]

Ditto on CutList plus, Use mine all the time. Great software and very accurate.

[Bill Arnold]

I create my cutting diagrams in the CAD program I use. I tried CutList a few years ago and found that I could do a more effective job manually. Sounds like the newer version might be better -- I'll have to try it. For the actual list of materials, I use Excel.

[Byron Trantham]

Cut List Plus all the way. The program has a built in inventory program and I keep up as best I can. The program can be told to use "cut offs" first then full sheets. That way I can use up as much scrap as possible before buying more material. Helps keep the amount scrap material laying around. BTW - I have the Gold edition. I had a project with over 150 separate items!:o I also use it to figure out how many BF of hardwoods to buy. During the first pass, I tell the program to use rough lumber for all the pieces (face frames etc). It might tell me I need 30 BF. I buy 35. Then I mill them to final thickness and enter the length and width for each board and go back tell the program to use dimensioned lumber and Wa La, it lays out the pieces on the boards. If I am short of material, I know it right away.

[Steve Sawyer]

Unfortuanately they exceed the forum upload size limit but I will be happy to email. Better stil, if someone has a place to post them with a link ...

I'd like to get a copy of those, Ben. I'm sending a PM. I'll also be happy to host 'em on the woodworking section of my website (with due credit).

[Jeff Wright]

Ben Young's graph paper templates in Microsoft Word got me thinking about making some templates of my own. I liked the idea of 12 squares per inch (both vertical and horizontally to keep the perspectives accurate). I wanted paper large enough to accomodate at least a 12 foot run of cabinets showing the elevation view and the plan view aligned exactly above it as I create my design across the paper left-to-right. So I created this graph paper layout in Excel IN LEDGER SIZE (11"x17") and have also converted it into a Adobe PDF file for those of you without Microsoft Excel. If you would like a copy of the file so you can print out your own blanks, email me offline. You will either need a printer capable of printing ledger size paper or you could take the electronic file to a Kinkos and have them print a bunch of them for you. In fact, you can email the file to your local store and pick up the printed pages later.

Thanks, Ben Young, for sending me your template versions. There is a lot to be said for making your own designs by hand to really get to understand what you are about to build.

[Joe Dusel (Vista, CA)]

If you are setup as a business (which you should be to write off all those nice tools) you can get eCabinet Systems software for free. The eCabs software does the cabinet design, cutlists, buy lists, nest diagrams, line drawings and nice renderings.

Joe