Services · Nesting
Steel plate nesting from your STEP model
Short answer: we nest every part of your STEP model on standard steel plates, with cut outlines and marking lines. From the real outlines of your parts we count the sheets to buy, then send cut files ready for the machine.
Order the material early
Steel has to be ordered before cutting can start. With the nesting done from the real parts, you know how many sheets to order in a few days, and you can start cutting sooner.
What you send
- A STEP assembly, and how you want the files back: a nesting you already use, or just a few lines.
What you get
- Every part placed on standard sheets, with cut outlines and marking lines.
- The number of sheets to buy, from the real parts.
- Nesting DXF files, ready for the shop, with the drawings and DXF files of every part.
A real job: 1384 parts in 5 working days
Four welded steel assemblies, 1384 parts: 22 sheets of 12 × 2.5 m to order, plus 10 already in stock. The nesting reached the customer 5 working days after the STEP models arrived, before the drawings were delivered. Read the case study.
How we check
Every nested part is measured against the 3D model, like every drawing and booklet page. Code and thickness are checked against the model, material against the bill of materials, and quantity is counted in every file.
How true-shape nesting works
Parts are placed by their real outline, not by their bounding box. If you want to see the idea in code, our guide nests DXF parts on steel sheets with Python, with a second script that measures the real distance between parts.
Questions
What do we get back?
PDF drawings, DXF cutting files and nesting, ready for your shop. Drawings also as DWG or Inventor files. A single booklet with every part is available on request.
What if the design changes?
Send the new revision. We update the files and run every check again.
Are our files confidential?
Yes. We sign an NDA before you send any file.
See also: Put us to the test.