How to nest laser cut files on a plywood sheet
PlyFill is a free online nesting tool for laser cutters. Drop your SVG or DXF cut files, set the size of your stock sheet, and PlyFill arranges as many parts as possible onto each sheet — with live numbers for yield, waste and the reusable offcut. It runs entirely in your browser: your design files are never uploaded.
Fill a sheet in 5 steps
- Drop your SVG or DXF files anywhere on the page. PlyFill reads them right in your browser and finds every separate piece, its holes and its engrave lines.
- Set your stock sheet — 12 × 12 in or 20 × 12 in presets or any custom size, in millimeters or inches. Rotate the sheet 90° when your plywood runs the other way.
- Choose quantity or Max fill for each design. Repeated single shapes are packed in their tightest repeating pattern — a honeycomb for hexagons — and Max fill pours copies into every leftover space.
- Pick a minimum gap or shared cut lines. A gap keeps clearance around every part; shared lines cut touching edges once to save time and scorching.
- Check your yield, then export (Pro). The results bar shows yield, scrap, offcut kept, cut length and material cost per part. Pro downloads DXF, SVG, PDF or EPS for every sheet, or all sheets in one ZIP.
Get more parts from every sheet
Most online nesters drop parts on a grid and waste the gaps between shapes. PlyFill does more:
- Lattice (honeycomb) packing. For a shape you need many copies of, PlyFill computes the tightest repeating pattern of that exact outline — for a hexagon that is a perfect honeycomb with zero wasted space between coasters; for stars the points interlock.
- Shared cut lines. Parts can touch, so one cut separates two parts. You save laser time and the edge between them comes out cleaner, with less scorching.
- Keep a usable offcut. Parts pack toward the top of the last sheet so the leftover is one clean rectangle you can actually reuse, not a handful of slivers.
- Grain lock and rotation. For projects where the wood grain must look consistent, grain lock holds every part at one angle to the grain — and grain-locked parts turn automatically when you rotate the sheet.
Understand your numbers
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Yield | The share of the stock sheet that becomes parts. 70 %+ is a good yield. |
| Scrap | Material that is wasted — the area left after parts and the kept offcut. |
| Offcut kept | The clean rectangular leftover reserved for later jobs, with its exact size. |
| Cut length | Total millimeters the laser head travels — and, in shared mode, how much you save by cutting shared edges once. |
| Material cost | Sheets × your price per sheet, plus the average cost per part and per set, so you can price your products. |
Free and Pro
| Free | Pro — $5 / month or $50 / year | |
|---|---|---|
| Import, arranging, every setting, metrics | ✔ | ✔ |
| Export sheet with live preview | ✔ | ✔ |
| Uploads | 3 per day | Unlimited |
| Download DXF, SVG, PDF, EPS | — | ✔ |
| All sheets in one ZIP (cut-1, cut-2…) | — | ✔ |
| Layer, colour, unit and curve options | — | ✔ |
Yearly shows “Save $10” against paying monthly for a year. Cancel any time — Pro continues to the end of the paid period.
Frequently asked questions
- Is PlyFill free?
- Yes. Everything on screen is free: import, arranging, every setting, the metrics and the export preview. Free accounts include 3 uploads per day. PlyFill Pro ($5/month or $50/year) adds unlimited uploads and the cut-file downloads (DXF, SVG, PDF, EPS, plus a ZIP of every sheet).
- Are my design files uploaded to a server?
- No. Your SVG/DXF files are read and arranged entirely in your browser — they never leave your computer. The only time anything is sent to our server is when a Pro user downloads an export: the final arranged drawing is processed in memory to build the file, and nothing is stored.
- Which file formats work?
- PlyFill reads SVG and DXF files (ASCII DXF, R12 or newer). It understands paths, shapes, transforms and blocks, detects units from the file (mm, inches, px at 96 or 72 DPI), and splits loose lines into closed parts with their holes and engrave lines.
- Why is my design the wrong size?
- Almost always a units mismatch. Inkscape exports SVG in px at 96 DPI, Illustrator in pt at 72 DPI, and DXF files carry their own unit flag. PlyFill marks the detected unit on each design card — if the size looks off, open the card and switch the Units dropdown (for example between “px, 96 DPI” and “px, 72 DPI”) until the dimensions match your drawing.
- What is shared-line (common-line) cutting and when should I use it?
- In shared-lines mode, parts touch so a single cut separates both — this saves cutting time and reduces scorching along the edge. Each part loses about half a kerf (the laser’s line width) on the shared edges. Use it when parts do not need a gap between them and you want the fastest cut; use a gap when you want clearance around every part.
- What is kerf?
- Kerf is the width of material the laser burns away, typically 0.1–0.2 mm depending on your machine, focus and material. When you cut shared lines, each touching edge is cut once, so each of the two parts loses about half a kerf on that edge.
- What does grain lock do?
- Grain lock keeps every part of a design at the same angle to the wood grain, so the grain looks consistent across all pieces. When you rotate the stock sheet 90°, grain-locked designs turn with it automatically.
- What is a usable offcut?
- When “Keep a usable offcut” is on, PlyFill packs your parts toward the top of the last sheet, leaving one clean rectangular leftover you can reuse on a later job, instead of many useless slivers. The offcut size is shown on the sheet and in the results.
- Which laser software can open the exported files?
- SVG and DXF are the two most widely supported cut-file formats. They open in vector editors like Inkscape and in laser control software that imports SVG/DXF — for example LightBurn and Creality Falcon Design Space. PDF and EPS are included for tools that prefer document formats.
- How do I cancel Pro?
- From the Account menu in the app: open Account, choose Cancel subscription. Pro access continues until the end of your paid period — no partial refunds. You can resubscribe at any time.
- Do you offer refunds?
- No. Subscriptions renew automatically but you can cancel any time; Pro simply continues until the end of the period you already paid for, and then the account returns to the free plan.
Ready to fill your sheets?
Open PlyFill and drop your first file — the sample job is one click away if you want to see it working first.