A real nest
4 ply kits on 9.43 m of a 1250 mm roll, 85% of the material used
A kit of 0/90 and ±45 plies, ring doublers, patches and unidirectional strips, 18 plies a kit. The woven plies may turn in 90° steps, which keeps their fibres at the same angles; the ±45 plies are drawn at 45° and stay so; the UD strips only turn half round. Patches are cut from inside the doublers. Its first marker was 10.86 m; the search kept going and cut it to 9.43 m.
| Part | Per set | Rotation | Tilt | Mirror |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ply-0-90 | 2 | 90° steps | – | no |
| ply-45 | 2 | 90° steps | – | no |
| doubler · 1 cut-out | 4 | 90° steps | – | no |
| ud-strip | 6 | 180° steps | – | no |
| patch | 4 | 90° steps | – | no |
- parts placed
- 72
- material used
- 84.6%
- marker length
- 9.43 m
- gap between parts
- 2 mm
- search time
- 2 min
Want to see how Lescut nests your own parts? Start a free trial or send us your parts.
The problem
Fibre orientation is a hard rule, and material is expensive
Orientation is part of the design
A ply's fibre angle is in the laminate specification. Turn it and the part fails. Woven fabric allows 90° steps, unidirectional material only half turns, and ±45 plies sit diagonally on the roll.
Diagonal plies waste the most
±45 plies cut from 0/90 fabric lie across the roll and leave triangles of waste at both edges unless other plies fill them.
Kits, out-time and labels
Plies for one part are cut together, labelled and laid up or frozen within the material's out-time, so a nest should hold whole kits and every ply should keep its name.
Applications
Where composite ply nesting software is used
Aerospace
Prepreg ply kits at fixed fibre angles, with ply names kept for labelling.
Motorsport and automotive carbon
Carbon prepreg kits for body panels and structures, cut per kit.
Marine hulls and decks
Glass and carbon fabric plies for laminated hulls and decks.
Wind energy
Glass fabric ply kits for blades.
Sporting goods
Skis, bike frames and rackets: small, many plies at exact angles.
Drones and UAVs
Small carbon parts nested with the kit's large plies.
Settings to start from
A starting point for composites
Rules per part come from text in your file (NAME, QTY, GRADE, ROT, TILT, FLIP) or the parts table; the rest is saved once in a nesting profile that starts every job.
| For | Setting | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Woven 0/90 plies | ROT:90 | a 0/90 fabric turned 90° keeps its fibre angles |
| ±45 plies | drawn at 45° with no grain line, ROT:90 | the diagonal stays; a 90° step turns +45 into −45, which on balanced weave is the same ply |
| UD plies and tape | ROT:180 | fibres along the roll; only half turns |
| Flip | FLIP:N | asymmetric or face-sensitive materials never come out mirrored |
| Gap | 1–2 mm | the knife's kerf on the cutting table |
Preparing your files
From your CAD to Lescut
Most composites design tools export flat ply patterns as DXF. Lescut reads closed outlines as plies and keeps every other layer.
- Draw each ply as it should lie on the roll, with the roll's length along X, and leave out any grain line, which would turn the ply to lie along the roll; give its rotation rule as ROT text inside it.
- Put ply labels and orientation arrows on TEXT, MARK or PEN layers: they travel with the ply into the cutting file.
- Draw cut-outs in a ply as closed outlines inside it; small plies of the kit can be cut from inside them.
Good to know
What Lescut does not do
- Lescut does not track material out-time, batches, freezer stock or cut plies through kitting.
- One roll width per job; to nest the same kit on two widths, run two jobs.
- It does not sequence plies for lay-up or drive a ply-cutting machine; it returns DXF and SVG.
Savings
What better nesting is worth in composites
The same parts need the same area of material however they are nested, so a better yield means buying less of it. Prepreg costs many times what apparel fabric does, and scrap cannot be reused once it has been out of the freezer. The starting figures are an example for a shop cutting carbon prepreg at about €60 a running metre; enter your own.
75% today → 79.0% with nesting. This is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files.
Engine time: how the plan is chosen
Count every lay cut from a marker; most markers need 2 to 5 minutes, and longer jobs keep shortening them. Your monthly volume divided by this gives the jobs a month, and the calculator picks the cheapest plan whose engine minutes and job length cover them.
The yield gain is your assumption; the trial measures it on your own files. More on how the fabric savings calculator works.
Pricing
Composite ply nesting software plans, free for 7 days
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial with engine minutes to nest your own parts against the rolls you would have used. Add a card when you sign up; you are charged only if you keep the plan.
Textile Starter
€29 per month
120 engine minutes, 8 vCPU per job, jobs up to 2 min
- Roll nesting: fixed width, shortest marker
- Rotation, grain and flip rules per part
- Part-in-part nesting
- DXF / SVG in, DXF / SVG out, layers kept
- Stripe and plaid matching, folded and tubular markers
- 1 user
€0 for 7 days. Card required. Cancel any time.
Extra engine minutes are €0.50 each, with up to 30% off. All fabric nesting plans.
Composite ply nesting software: questions
Can Lescut keep ±45° plies at their angle?
Yes. Each ply keeps the angle it is drawn at, plus only the turns its rule allows: 90° steps, half turns, or none. Export the plies laid out as they should lie on the roll.
Can I nest unidirectional tape and woven fabric together?
Only if they come from the same roll. A job nests on one roll of one width; plies of another material are a second job.
Does Lescut work with dry fabric, honeycomb or peel ply?
Yes. Anything cut from a roll of fixed width nests the same way: dry carbon, glass and aramid, peel ply, release film, breather and bagging film.
Are ply names kept?
Yes. The name comes from NAME text in the file or the parts table, and every text and mark of the ply travels into the cutting file.