# Best Cut Optimizing Software



## austin350s10 (Dec 30, 2016)

I'm getting ready to make a bunch of drawer boxes out of some very nice birdseye maple. I really feel bad wasting this stuff for a number of reasons other than the obvious. The problem I'm running into is I have about 30 boards that have been planned and squared up. They range from 9"-4" wide and anywhere from 20" to 80" long.

With that many boards and that many size variations there's no way I could use good old gray matter and a pencil to figure out the best cut layout. I've poked around a bit and came across a few cut optimizers but, most seem buggy or not what I'm looking for.

That why I'm reaching out today. Wondering if anyone here has suggestions on good cut optimizing software. Here are some of the features I'd like to see:

1. Allows for multiple pieces of different sized stock (since I have 30ish boards)
2. Allows for different cut orientations other than just linear i.e. outputs 2ct 4" x 20" boards using 9" x 20" stock 
3. Allows for a printout of the optimization
4. Keeps track of leftover and allows it to be saved for later use

Of course I'd prefer freeware. However, I wouldn't be opposed to spending a little on the right program. Just not interested in breaking the bank since I'm just a diy guy.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

You don't mention what computing platform(s) you use. There is an excellent IOS app (iPad only) called Cut Calculator that can do linear and sheet layouts for what you are doing. You can even tell it to ignore grain direction when using materials like MDF. It costs $5.

Other than that, SketchUp with a cut list extension is free.


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## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

> You don t mention what computing platform(s) you use. There is an excellent IOS app (iPad only) called Cut Calculator that can do linear and sheet layouts for what you are doing. You can even tell it to ignore grain direction when using materials like MDF. It s costs $5.
> 
> Other than that, SketchUp with a cut list extension is free.
> 
> - Rich


Funny, I was ready to look at the app "Cut Calculator" and download it. Google searched the name and came up with this  Workshop Buddy It's free. Haven't yet looked at the app, so I don't know if one has better utility than the other.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

That's a great find, Bill. I'll try to find some time to run a few layouts through both and see how it goes. Beta could mean it's actively being developed, or it could mean it's a half-assed effort someone threw together and abandoned. I hope it's the former.

I got Cut Calculator years ago when it was free, but it would be nice to have something web based for when I don't have my iPad handy.

Edit:

Well, being the curious geek that I am, I threw a simple layout at both products and the results were surprising. I told both to layout 24 drawer sides, 12 backs, 24 stiles and 24 rails on a sheet of plywood. While they both did a nice job of optimizing, the Workshop Buddy did a more practical layout to cut from.

Here are the two layouts. They're pretty blurry at this resolution, but you can see what's going on. Workshop Buddy is the blue one. Notice that all of the parts are laid out in strips that you could easily rip on the table saw and then crosscut the individual pieces from them. The Cut Calculator did a valid layout, but when you look over in the area where I highlighted the board, the strips are offset. There's no way to make those cuts efficiently. I'm very impressed with Workshop Buddy.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

My firewall won't let me access that site (Workshop Buddy). How does one determine if it's a faults positive?

I tried a couple different ways to get there but either way sets off my software. As you may know free programs sometime come with extra "stuff".


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## ScottM (Jul 10, 2012)

My antivirus warned me about continuing to that site as well so I just stopped there….


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Hmmm. I've tried it with Chrome and Safari without any warnings. I did notice that the green light next to the camera on my laptop is now on and my system font has changed to Cyrillic.

There's probably no connection though.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Я вирішив трохи пограти в Workshop Buddy і знайшов якісь чудові функції. У моєму першому посланні я вказав, як він зробив макет так, щоб довгі смуги могли бути розірвані, а потім поперечно.

Dang, looks like the Russians hacked me 

Anyway, seriously, I decided to play with Workshop Buddy a little more and found a great feature. In my first post I pointed out how it made the layout so that the long strips could be ripped and then crosscut. Well, making that many rip cuts on a full sheet of plywood would be a pain. As it turns out you can also optimize the layout for crosscuts. If you look at the layout below, you can see its benefit in that you can do initial crosscuts with a circular saw or even jig saw and then rip the remaining pieces from much more manageable material.

I'm sold on Workshop Buddy. It outperforms my IOS app, is universal since it runs in the browser and best of all it's free. A big thanks to Bill for finding it and posting about it. Bill, Yo! You da man!

Here's the layout optimized for crosscuts:


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## 000 (Dec 9, 2015)

I use an old version of CUTLIST341. 
I like the old version better because it doesn't have all the hoopla all the new programs have. 
It's very basic, but does all I need.

Type in your pieces parts,
It lets you select your material sizes, (you can mix and match different sizes)
You can select grain or no grain, and also rip cuts or cross cuts. 
There is also a manual parts positioning if you want to layout the pieces your self.










You can also name the pieces parts if you want.


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## AZWoody (Jan 18, 2015)

> Hmmm. I ve tried it with Chrome and Safari without any warnings. I did notice that the green light next to the camera on my laptop is now on and my system font has changed to Cyrillic.
> 
> There s probably no connection though.
> 
> - Rich


LOL


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

They mention two commercial programs on the Buddy site. One is your CutList and the other is MaxCut. MaxCut actually offers a very useable free version that would be completely adequate for a casual user. They are both Windows based, but I can run MaxCut Free on my Mac using Parallels. It'll be fun to try out (plus I'll be safe from the Russians…lol).


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## ScottM (Jul 10, 2012)

I use MaxCut and like it. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't allow you to manually rearrange the parts and doesn't save the last optimization. Not sure if the "pay version" will or not.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

Guys, you really need to tighten up your PC security. Norton says it is blocking multiple attacks after clicking on the work shop buddy site link above. If you have downloaded from that site, I would immediately delete it and run virus scan. You might also want to get a copy of malware bytes and run its scan as well. MWB sometimes finds stuff that NAV misses. It could be that the site itself was hacked so be careful out there.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> Guys, you really need to tighten up your PC security. Norton says it is blocking multiple attacks after clicking on the work shop buddy site link above. If you have downloaded from that site, I would immediately delete it and run virus scan. You might also want to get a copy of malware bytes and run its scan as well. MWB sometimes finds stuff that NAV misses. It could be that the site itself was hacked so be careful out there.
> 
> - Lazyman


Relax. It's because they have the Coinhive api running in the background. It's not going to damage your system. All it's doing is using a portion of your CPU to mine the cryptocurrency Monero. That allows web site owners to monetize their web site without advertising. The main downside of it is that it uses some of your computing resources and may drain your battery more quickly if you're mobile.

Now, that said, I'm using the Stands Fair Adblocker in my Chrome derivative browser and inspecting the Workshop Buddy page while it loads shows this:

"Failed to load resource: net::ERRBLOCKEDBY_CLIENT coinhive.min.js"

So, it's not even getting loaded in my browser. Antivirus programs like Norton are helpful for keeping out malware, but you're depending on it to decide what's malware and what's not. In my book, Coinhive is not malware as it's doing no damage to your system. But the good folks at Norton decided they didn't want it running so they flagged it as such.

So, no need for any panic. You can choose to listen to your AV and not go there, but there's no danger. I think it's a great tool, outperforms the IOS app I've been using, and I have it bookmarked for the future.

Here's some information on how to detect and block cryptocurrency mining in your browser (I have no idea if it will placate Norton or other AVs however):

https://fossbytes.com/block-cryptocurrency-mining-in-browser/


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## bobasaurus (Sep 6, 2009)

> You don t mention what computing platform(s) you use. There is an excellent IOS app (iPad only) called Cut Calculator that can do linear and sheet layouts for what you are doing. You can even tell it to ignore grain direction when using materials like MDF. It s costs $5.
> 
> Other than that, SketchUp with a cut list extension is free.
> 
> ...


My workplace's internet is blocking that link for malicious software downloads. Might want to be wary.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> My workplace s internet is blocking that link for malicious software downloads. Might want to be wary.
> 
> - bobasaurus


Read my post that's right before yours. Number 13. I explain it.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

I wasn't able to open the webpage to see. Do they disclose this? If their website doesn't disclose what they are doing, they should not be trusted. Using my CPU for their own purposes without my consent is sort of the definition of malware in my book. The site didn't give up even after Norton blocked the page from loading. Computer slowed noticeable and I had to close the tab in Chrome to make it stop. What is to prevent them from using a similar approach for other covert or malicious activity. I guess anyone who is smarter than the guys who do these things doesn't have to worry about it.


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## builtinbkyn (Oct 29, 2015)

Hmmm? Sorry if anyone has had issues from the link I provided. I run a Mac and also have virus/malware software running. Nothing showed up here as being suspect.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> I wasn t able to open the webpage to see. Do they disclose this? If their website doesn t disclose what they are doing, they should not be trusted. Using my CPU for their own purposes without my consent is sort of the definition of malware in my book. The site didn t give up even after Norton blocked the page from loading. Computer slowed noticeable and I had to close the tab in Chrome to make it stop. What is to prevent them from using a similar approach for other covert or malicious activity. I guess anyone who is smarter than the guys who do these things doesn t have to worry about it.
> 
> - Lazyman


You're not the only one who considers it malware - Norton obviously does too. You need to ask yourself how badly you want to access the functionality of the web site. If you do, the link I posted in reply #13 has several options for blocking the coin harvesting links. Coinhive isn't the only one, it's just the one we're dealing with here.

If you install a blocker, the api will simply not load and not run in the background. It'll be as if it didn't exist on the web site at all.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> Hmmm? Sorry if anyone has had issues from the link I provided. I run a Mac and also have virus/malware software running. Nothing showed up here as being suspect.
> 
> - builtinbkyn


It's no big deal. It's not malware in the sense that it installs anything nefarious on your system or causes any damage in any way. It's simply eating up some of your CPU to do its cryptocurrency mining while you are on that page.

Some folks, like Nathan, legitimately don't want that going on in their system. I can fully respect that. I've tried to explain the situation and posted a link to a site that lists several browser extensions that will block the coin harvesting apis from even loading, and therefore not using your system for anything.


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## iq0099 (May 30, 2015)

Use Maxcut, it has lots of features

https://www.maxcutsoftware.com/

Discount coupon.
ABFirst10


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## jacww (Aug 23, 2015)

The original post is almost 2 years old! Here is an update on Workshop Buddy.

I looked up workshop-buddy.com on virustotal.com and only one engine out of 73 reported it as malware. Digging into the details, the one engine was reporting coinhive BUT the submission was from 2018 (the same time as Rich's findings).

*TODAY* (26 March, 2020) it looks like Workshop Buddy no longer uses coinhive. I base this opinion on the fact that I am using Firefox with strict tracking protection enabled. When I go to Workshop Buddy Firefox reports NO cryptominers being blocked. I also believe the virustotal report indicating that the site is clean.

The use of cryptominers to fund web sites was certainly a fad that some web sites used. Many web sites were also hacked, compromised and loaded with cryptro mining software without the knowledge of the web site owner/administrator.

*There is no reason to avoid Workshop Buddy if it has features that you like.*

I have no affiliation with Workshop Buddy. Like Rich I am a curious geek with many years of computer security experience.

TonyC


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

iq0099's post kicked this to the top, and jacww's has furthered this to a point I saw it. I had opened this file a little over 9 months ago, and it popped right open, no warnings, or whatever, and I have run MWB, and Spybot-S&D several times since then, and nothing has been picked up. I wasn't aware of this being an issue in the time since I opened it, until I read this. Anyhow I concur with jacww. Safe to see, visit, and use.

I'm not sure about using the linear finder, but the sheet goods calculator works pretty well.


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## Lazyman (Aug 8, 2014)

It was probably just their website that was a problem but since the website was doing something I considered nefarious at the time, I didn't didn't feel like I could trust them. The software might be just fine and it could have just been a bad ad on their website for example. Just be careful downloading any software, especially free software because it often isn't really free.

BTW, when I want to try something like this I use a program called Sandboxie which can be used try software like this with less risk of releasing a virus into your system. As with anything you download from the web, use at your own risk.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

Just to play the devil's advocate here, I guess cutlist programs can help in some way for sheet stock but way back when this thread started the OP was talking about solid, figured wood and he asked for the best cut optimizing software.
There is only one answer and it's not online. You were born with it.

Software programs miss little details like the little defect right there, or the crack over there, or that spot where the grain is really short, or that dark stripe in the second board, or that gorgeous spot there that needs to be featured, or ….... do I need to go on?

Point is that's what your brain is for. If you can't figure it out, practice on some plain wood and leave that figured hardwood for someone who can.

Rant concluded.


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