Nesting Options - Small Parts to Center of Nest
Users of Microvellum set their nesting optimization ‘Strategy’ option to ‘Small Parts to Center’ for various reasons, including safety and accuracy. However, this option is often misunderstood. This article explains what the percentage value represents and how to set it to achieve your objectives in using it.
Nesting Optimization Strategy
When the option is set to ‘Small Parts to Center,’ the optimizer uses the ‘Small Part Threshold’ property to determine what qualifies as a small part. The optimizer first identifies and creates a collection of ‘small parts’ defined by the Small Part Threshold value. It then locates those small parts in the center of the sheet. Lastly, it collects all the parts that are larger than the small part threshold and places them around the perimeter of the sheet, outside the area defined for the small parts.
Small Parts % Buffer from Sheet Edge
The value for ‘Small Parts % Buffer From Sheet Edge’ is crucial if you want to predictably group your small parts in the center of the sheet. Look at Figure 1 below as an example.
The value of this property is set to 20. This value represents a percentage of the width and length of the sheet.
By entering a value of 20 as shown in Figure 1, you are identifying the border of the ‘small parts area’ as being a distance of 20% of the sheet width from each long edge, and a distance of 20% of the sheet length from each short edge.
Therefore, if you have a sheet that measures 48 inches wide and 96 inches long, your area for small parts is 28.8 inches wide and 57.6 inches long.
The distance from both the long edges is 9.6 inches, and the distance from both short edges is 19.2, as shown in Figure 2 below.
The red rectangle represents the area where the optimizer will place the small parts. Make sure this area is larger than your largest ‘small part’ as defined by ‘Small Part Threshold.’ If you have a part that is larger than that size, it will fail to optimize as expected.
Related Articles
Processing Station Nest Options - Optimization
The nesting optimization section in the Processing Station allows you to choose how to optimize parts within a material sheet. Selecting the strategy for your Nesting Optimizer will allow you to maximize materials by placing and rotating the parts as ...Processing Station Nest Options - Border Method
This article covers Border Methods available in the Nest tab of the Processing Station options interface. For more information on processing station options see the article Nesting Processing Station Controls and Settings . Standard Border Method ...Overview & Tutorials: Nest Tabbing
Automated nesting programs such as the Microvellum Nesting Optimizer are very efficient at maximizing material usage by placing and rotating a large number of parts as necessary to create a nested pattern that minimizes waste. Along with this ...Nesting Processing Station Controls and Settings
To access the settings for a processing station, select the processing station and click the Edit icon. The Settings tab for the processing stations is the same across the different types of processing stations. Name – Allows you to set the name for ...Overview: 15.6 Processing Center
The Microvellum Processing Center is an indispensable tool in the production of manufacturing data for your company. Countless users depend on it every day to edit processing stations, create g-code, print reports, and labels, work with the nest ...
Recent Articles
Toolbox Release Notes | Build 24.1.1105.641
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1105.641 Nesting Fix Fig. 1: The fatal error that would occur during processing. There was reportedly an issue that occurred when clients attempted to process a work order using the nesting ...Microvellum Foundation Library Release Notes | Build 24.1025
The following release notes apply to Microvellum Foundation Library build 24.1025. Additions Added new global variable “Remove Stop Dado On Bottom Edge” for wood drawer boxes. Check this option to run the dado through at the bottom of the sub front ...Toolbox Release Notes | Build 24.1.1030.641
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1030.641 Routing and Profile Fixes Several issues were found with routing and polyline paths: Fig. 1: Horizontal routes off of a part disappearing (left) and appearing correctly (right). When ...Toolbox Release Notes | Build 24.1.1010.641
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1010.641 Biesse Winstore Fix Several issues with the Biesse Winstore plugin have been resolved: There was an issue that would sometimes occur wherein materials that were intended to stack wound ...Toolbox Release Notes | Build 24.1.1001.641
The following release notes apply to Toolbox build 24.1.1001.641 HBore Toolfile Fix Fig. 1: The location in the Toolfile UI where the error would occur. There was an issue reported with the functionality of the Horizontal Boring Machine setting in ...