Guillotine vs. Nesting Cuts

Guillotine cutting

A guillotine cut runs edge to edge, completely separating the sheet into two pieces, like a paper cutter. Panel saws and beam saws work this way. Layouts must therefore be decomposable into a series of straight, full-length cuts.

This constraint slightly limits how tightly parts can pack, but it is essential for any saw that cannot plunge into the middle of a sheet.

Nesting cuts

Nesting allows parts to be placed anywhere on the sheet, including "islands" cut out of the middle. CNC routers and lasers can plunge and follow any path, so they are not restricted to edge-to-edge cuts. Nesting generally achieves higher yield, especially with mixed or irregular parts.

Which should you use?

• Panel saw / beam saw: use guillotine layouts.
• CNC router / laser / waterjet: nesting layouts are fine and usually more efficient.
• Sliding table saw by hand: guillotine-style is easiest to follow.
• Mixed shop: match the layout type to the machine that will cut the job.

The yield trade-off

Nesting typically squeezes out a few extra percent of yield because it has more placement freedom. But if your only equipment is a panel saw, a beautiful nested layout is useless — it cannot be cut. Always generate layouts compatible with the machine that will produce them.