Glass Cutting Optimizer — Lay Out Lites on Stock Sheets, Waste Less Glass

Glass isn't sawn — it's scored and snapped — so the optimizer settings map to that process directly:

• Guillotine mode is the default you want — a glass cutter scores edge-to-edge and snaps along that line. Guillotine mode restricts every layout to straight through-breaks, so what the optimizer draws is what a cutting table (manual or CNC) can actually run out. Free-arrangement nesting would draw breaks glass can't make.
• Score kerf — the score line removes almost no material, so set a very small kerf (often 0). If you dress or seam edges after, fold that allowance into the per-side trim instead.
• Edge trim — stock sheets have damaged or uneven factory edges. Set a per-side trim allowance and the optimizer keeps every lite off the sheet edge so you're not cutting a flare or a chip into a finished piece.
• Orientation locks — for patterned, low-iron, or coated glass with a coated side or a directional pattern, lock part orientation so every lite keeps the same face and direction. Plain float can rotate freely for better yield.

The result is a sheet-by-sheet cutting map your cutter can follow at the table or import into a CNC scoring line.

Say a glazing job needs these lites of 4 mm float, cut from a split stock sheet of 96×130 in:

• 8 × 24×36 in (sash lites)
• 6 × 18×48 in (sidelites)
• 12 × 12×20 in (transoms)

That's 12,672 in² of glass. One 96×130 sheet is 12,480 in² — so a single sheet is mathematically too small, and cutting the list in whatever order it comes in typically spills onto a third sheet by the time the offcuts stop fitting.

Optimized into straight scored runs, the lites pack onto two sheets at about 79% yield: the 18×48 sidelites run in a column down one edge, the 24×36 sash lites band across the middle, and the 12×20 transoms fill the tail — every break a clean edge-to-edge score. Same job, one fewer jumbo pulled off the rack.

Enter your own lite sizes and stock size and the optimizer produces the cutting map in seconds.

EZNESTING is material-agnostic: a lite is a width, a length, a quantity, and a material label. That maps cleanly onto a real glass shop that runs more than one product:

• Clear float — the everyday workhorse; rotate freely for best yield
• Low-iron / ultra-clear — showcase and display work, priced high enough that yield matters most
• Laminated — the same layout planning applies to the cut; the score-and-snap-and-cut of the interlayer is a table concern, not a nesting one
• Mirror & coated — lock orientation so the coated or silvered face stays consistent
• Patterned / obscure — lock direction so the pattern runs the same way across every lite

Assign each lite its glass type and thickness, and the optimizer nests each type onto its own stock — 4 mm float never gets drawn on a 6 mm low-iron sheet. One project, separate cutting maps per glass type.

EZNESTING is a pure cut list and nesting optimizer — it answers "how do I get these lites out of the fewest sheets, in breaks I can actually score," and hands the result downstream:

• PDF / SVG cutting maps — print for the cutting table or the bench cutter
• DXF export — feed a CNC scoring line or downstream CAM
• CSV / Excel — push the lite list to your order or ERP

It is not a CNC glass-line controller and not a shape-optimizer for arbitrary curved or CNC-shaped glass — arched tops, notched corners, and drilled holes are a cutting-table and CNC concern, not a nesting one. EZNESTING covers rectangular lites (plus L/T/U where a job needs it), which is the overwhelming majority of window, door, shelf, and table-top glass. For non-rectangular art or shaped glass, a dedicated shape nester is the right tool.

Dedicated glass-optimization software exists, but it's usually a paid desktop package or a module bolted onto a full glass-shop ERP — powerful, licensed per seat, and overkill if you just need a good run-out map. The other common approach — eyeballing lites on a stock sheet at the table — routinely leaves 15–30% of each jumbo in the scrap bin.

EZNESTING sits in between:

• Free and browser-based — no install, no license server, works on the shop office PC
• Guillotine-aware — every layout is a set of straight scored breaks, which is the whole point for glass
• Any material — glass today, and the same tool nests metal, acrylic, or sheet goods if your shop cuts them too
• Import from CSV or Excel — pull lite sizes straight from your order list
• Ad-free, one flat plan — free for up to 5 optimizations a day, then a single $4.99/month Pro plan

If you later add a CNC scoring line, the DXF export means nothing you planned here is throwaway.

Three ways to load a glass cut list:

1. Type it in — piece name, width, height, quantity, glass type. Fractions and decimals both work; mix mm and inches per row if a drawing is metric and your stock is imperial.
2. Import CSV or Excel — export from your order system or estimating sheet and map the columns once.
3. Paste from a spreadsheet — drop in a block of sizes and quantities.

Then set stock size, a small score kerf, per-side edge trim, and guillotine mode, and run it. When the order changes — an added lite, a different stock sheet — it's a ten-second re-nest, not a re-draw at the table.