Duplicate Grid Nesting
Updated v2.3.9At a glance
- Repeated parts auto-pack into tight grid blocks before the main nest runs — always on, every effort
- Rectangles, squares, and plate-like parts (notches and tabs included) grid at their best orientation
- Right triangles and tapered dividers interlock in 180° mated pairs — angled edges cancel into clean rectangles
- Groups pack snugly against each other at your part-spacing gap — no dead bands between blocks
- Small parts still drop into the holes of gridded parts
- Rings, gears, and irregular shapes flow to the regular nester, which packs them better than a grid
When a job carries a stack of identical parts — gussets, base plates, tapered dividers — Auto-Nest now recognizes the duplicates and packs each set into a clean, tight grid block before the main nesting algorithm runs. The general-purpose nester places parts one at a time and can leave obviously-gridable duplicates at odd rotations with wasted voids between them; the grid pre-pass removes that failure mode entirely. It runs automatically at every effort level (Quick, Medium, Max, and custom) and steps aside when a job has no repeated parts.
What grids, and how
- Rectangles and squares grid in rows at their best orientation — parts drawn at an angle are straightened to pack square.
- Plate-like parts with notches, tabs, or profiled edges grid too, as long as the shape fills most of its bounding rectangle. Each part keeps its own holes.
- Right triangles and tapered dividers place as mated pairs: the second part is rotated 180° against the first so the angled edges cancel and the pair tiles like a solid rectangle — the classic hand-nesting trick for taper stock, done automatically, with the normal cut spacing preserved between the mated edges.
- Mirror-image parts (left- and right-hand versions of the same shape) grid as separate blocks — parts are only ever rotated, never flipped, so every part cuts exactly as designed.
Working with everything else
Grid blocks pack tight against each other and against locked parts at your configured part spacing — a second group starts right on top of the first, not at some arbitrary distance. Small parts still nest into the holes of gridded parts, exactly as they would if the nester had placed them. Everything that doesn't grid well — rings, gears, arms, and other low-fill shapes — flows to the regular Skyline or NFP nester, which packs those shapes better than any grid could. A built-in utilization guard makes sure the pre-pass only grids when the grid genuinely beats free nesting, so a nest can never come out worse than before.