Cutlist Plus?

Allen Bookout

Member
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902
Location
Punta Gorda, Florida
Does anyone here use a program called Cutlist Plus?

My projects are small and I do not do a whole lot of them throughout the year but I was thinking that if it saved me time on figuring out the most ecomomical way to cut and maybe saved me a couple pieces of plywood it might be worth the cost. I am guessing that it would give me a close estimate for the cost before I started. For my use is this program worth the cost and effort to learn it? I am going to build a built in cabinet and I could try their free trial but I think that I would get a better assesment from someone that uses it.
 
Cutlist Plus

As is typical for us guys using Macintosh computers, there ain't much choice out there. So I use the free download of Cutlist.

Because I'm just starting out with woodworking (new shop is consuming my time), I don't have a lot of experience with the program. But, I don't know how a guy would accomplish this much efficiency with any other method.

The challenge with the program (it seems to me) is naming individual parts to be cut. Why not try the free version to try it out before investing money. You might find that the "plus" version is overkill. Someone who is running a production cabinet shop might need all the bells and whistles.

Gary Curtis
Northern Calif.
 
Thanks guys! Dave Richards sent me a private message about Sketchup. He said that he sent the private message instead of posting in my thread due to the fact that he did not want to be misunderstood and seem to be pushing the program. We all know Dave and I do not think than anyone here could possibly think anything bad about a person that is as well respected as he is. I am going to copy the messages here. This is the first message:

"CutList
Hi Allen, I saw your question regarding CutList Plus. I haven't used it so I can't really advise you on it. Are you using SketchUp? If so, and if you don't mind spending a bit more time with your model, you could do most of what you could do with CutList.

There are some plugins that would help but you wouldn't even need all of those. If this is of interest to you, I could come up with an example for you.

Dave

p.s. I would have posted this in your thread but I didn't want to hijack it or make it look like all I want to do is convert folks to SU because that's not the case.
__________________

I tried to copy the second message here but was unable to get the attached image copied. If you are around Dave could you please copy that message here so that the image will show up. Thanks! Allen
 
At Allen's request I am posting the text and image from a PM I sent to him earlier this afternoon. He's already posted the previous message so I won't repeat that one.


Allen,

The nice thing about SketchUp is that you can start drawing loosely as if you were working with pencil and paper. You don't have to worry about dimensions at all. You can just start drawing playing with proportions and layout (3 drawers or 4? and so on.)

Once you've got the basics worked out to your client's satisfaction (even if the client is you) you can start fleshing out the design to work out the actual size of the parts and the joinery. Draw in as much detail as you want or need.

Finally, pull the parts of the model apart so that you can lay them out for materials optimization. Using a cutlist plugin you can generate a list of parts to cut.

The attached image was done from a cabinet I had drawn sometime ago. It wasn't drawn with the intent of making it from sheet goods but I treated it as if it was for this example. I left 1/8" between parts as saw kerfs. Hopefully this gives you an idea.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.


wallcab.jpg
 
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Last week I planed out a built in cabinet and spent a long time trying to figure out a way to cut the carcass parts out of three sheets of plywood. I finally gave up and bought four sheets. I started this thread thinking that there must be a better way. Yesterday I downloaded the free to use thirty day trial version of Cutlist Plus and put in my dimensions and type of materials. I clicked on the cutlist tab and there it was, all of the parts on three pieces of plywood with very little waste.

Needless to say, I am very impressed with the program. The cut list portion is a small part of the whole thing. It will not only come up with your total material cost and cut list but if you have a small business it will also calculate labor cost, Indirect cost including profit and give you a price excluding taxes and a price including taxes on a Pricing Summary sheet. And best of all it is very easy to use.

For you guys that have a small business and are not using something simular it might be worth a try. For me (non pro) I am convinced that over just a few projects or so it will pay for itself since I plan on buying the Silver Edition for $89 and this is not even considering the time and headaches that it will save me. For you pro guys it is going to cost a lot more but that is the way that it goes---make more, spend more.
 
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