NEST - Arrange Parts on a Sheet

Automatically arrange parts on raw material sheets (nesting) for laser, plasma, and wire-cut jobs.

What it does

NEST places the closed shapes in your drawing onto raw material sheets so that as little material as possible is wasted. It then exports one DXF per sheet, a CSV report, or passes the result on to G-Code.

Where to find it

Ribbon: Output › Interchange › Nest
Command line: NEST (Alias NESTING, SHEETNEST)

Nesting - Laser / Wire-cut Sheet Layout window

Steps

Draw the parts as closed shapes (open shapes are not counted).
Click Output › Nest and check the Parts list (you can edit the quantity of each part).
Choose a Sheet › Preset, or set Width/Height/Edge margin.
Set the Nesting options (Engine, Time limit, Part spacing, Rotation, Kerf).
Click Nest and review each sheet.
Export with Export DXF per sheet..., Place in drawing, Save report (CSV)..., or G-Code / Simulate...

Options

Option	Meaning
Parts	Current drawing / Selected entities / Visible entities, Refresh parts
Preset	1220 x 2440 (4 x 8 ft), 1250 x 2500, 1500 x 3000, 1000 x 2000, Custom
Edge margin	Margin around the sheet edge
Engine	Auto, Sparrow (true-shape optimiser), Raster (fast, packs toward the lower left)
Time limit	Maximum calculation time
Part spacing	Distance between parts
Rotation	Fixed (0), 0/180, 90 step, 45 step, 30 step, 15 step
Allow part-in-part	Place small parts inside the holes of larger parts
Common-line cut	Cut shared edges once
Kerf	Width of the cut
Write part labels	Write part names on Layer LABELS

Try it: L-brackets and gland plates on one sheet

A batch for an enclosure job: 20 L-shaped mounting brackets and 6 gland plates, laser-cut from a 1000 x 500 offcut. NEST works out the layout and tells you how much of the sheet you use.

Bracket: Polyline - Closed Loop through 0,0 120,0 120,20 20,20 20,80 0,80, then Enter. Holes C 10,65 and C 105,10, both radius 3.25.
Gland plate: REC 200,0 → 160 Tab 80 with the cut-out REC 225,25 → 110 Tab 30.
Output › Interchange › Nest. The Parts list shows P1 120.0 x 80.0 with 2 holes and P2 160.0 x 80.0 with 1 hole. Set Qty 20 for P1 and 6 for P2.
Sheet: Width 1000, Height 500, Edge margin 5.
Nesting: Engine Raster - fast bottom-left, Rotation 90 step, Part spacing 3. Click Nest.
The result line reads 26 part(s) on 1 sheet(s). Use Export DXF per sheet... for the laser, or G-Code / Simulate... to go straight on.

Nesting window with 20 brackets and 6 gland plates on a 1000 x 500 sheet

Challenge: Tick Allow part-in-part and add a small part that fits inside the gland plate cut-out, then nest again and compare the utilisation.