We use a manual shear to cut the majority of our pieces but creating a cut sheet is a time consuming process. Does anyone know of a good sheet metal nesting program for use in efficiently placing square and rectangular shapes on sheet metal? It doesn't necessarily have to integrate with Inventor, but that would be a nice bonus. This is not for any kind of CNC machine, it's just for making cut sheets faster.
I've been looking at one from Striker Systems but they don't seem to have a free trial. I requested info from them so I'm waiting on that. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
We use Striker software and we were able to try the products we wanted to by to make sure they would do what we expected, which was interface with Inventor and AutoCAD.
I can sum up my opinion by saying, It Works and we bought it.
Paul
If you dont do a lot of nesting My Netsing could be a cost effective solution. http://www.mynesting.com/
Theres also Bobcad.
Cant comment on how good they are as I use Sigmanest. Good software but expensive.
Try FastCUT from FastCAM. Only $99. We use the full FastCAM/FastNEST package for automatic nesting of odd shaped parts for our CNC plasma cutter and can recommend thier products (no kickbacks-no affiliation).
We use Radan, switching from MTC/Thermadyne. The only problem with Striker is for their sort and nest build, Inventor files need to be Sheet-Metal. If you created profiles that are not Sheet-Metal, then the auto nest build won't work and you need to manually select your items to nest.
The nest will still work but not having the ability to take a number of parts of different material and thickness and let the software soft them out and create the nested jobs.
IT is going to look into getting this. We have Radan but not the 3d part. We spend an insane amount of time creating flats the way the shop needs them done.
Use the calculate k-Factor. Have the shop bend a predetermined length of scrape material, then get the leg measurements. This will then allow you to calculate the correct k-Factor for each machine and type of bend.
A lot depends on what you are cutting... If its cheap material or a material you can recycle the offcuts then cheap or free nesting software will work for you depending on the shapes you are cutting effects the percentage of waste. If you are cutting more expensive material you want to minimize waste, I have not found software that can nest parts better than me manually... simple equation...
if "my time cost" < "waste cost saved" = do it manually
elseif "my time cost" > "waste cost saved" + "software cost" = use software
Look into sigmanest out of all the software nest programs I have used and that is most this one worked the best.
you click on the assembly and it extracts all flats and folded parts unfolds them reads the material and thickness and nest all with one click.
Very Very expensive starts at $14,000.00
http://www.sigmanest.com/en-us/
But it is great...
Hi,
We have a new Solution for the Nesting "Problem".
Our Solution has a strong optimized process in Inventor for Nesting Parts.
You can look at http://www.simplifiers.de/software/module/simple-nesting
With this solution you never have to leave Autodesk Inventor to produce nesting sheet plates.
also you can take a look here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksMTTmy8cO8
Greetings
Steffen Sameith
I know this is an old post but Autodesk now offers Autodesk TruNEST (formerly from Magestic Systems). This is our own product that is integrated with Inventor & Vault and should provide Adsk CAD users their best solution for metal and composite nesting. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact Taylor Munz (taylor.munz@autodesk.com) or check out the product page:
http://www.autodesk.com/products/trunest/overview
Thanks!
Vince
Good afternoon Franc! We would appreciate the chance to share some customer testimonials regarding TruNest success. It is still your best solution for Inventor integrated nesting. If you would send your contact information to my Autodesk e-mail, I can make sure the right information is sent over. You can reach me at vince.adams@autodesk.com. Thanks!!