Import DXF Part Outlines and Nest Them on Sheets
If your parts are drawn in CAD rather than listed in a spreadsheet, EZNESTING can read them from a DXF. Every closed outline in the drawing becomes a part: closed polylines, and lines and arcs that join end to end. The part's size is measured from the outline, and text placed next to it becomes its name.
It runs in the browser with nothing to install. Try it with the sample DXF: two rectangles and an L-shaped part, in millimetres.
Prepare the DXF
- Draw each part once, flat, at full size. One closed outline per part, laid out anywhere in the drawing.
- Close your outlines. Closed polylines work best. Loose lines and arcs are joined when their ends meet.
- Set the drawing units. EZNESTING reads the DXF's `$INSUNITS` header (inches, feet, mm, cm or m). Unitless files are assumed to be millimetres, and you can switch units in the dialog.
- Label parts with text. A TEXT or MTEXT entity next to an outline becomes that part's name. Otherwise parts are named Part 1, Part 2, and so on.
- Leave out dimensions and title blocks, or keep them on their own layers so the outlines are easy to spot.
Common ways to get a DXF: in Fusion 360, right-click a sketch and choose Save As DXF. In AutoCAD, use SAVEAS or DXFOUT. Most CAD and drawing programs, Inkscape included, can save DXF.
Import and nest
- Open the nesting optimizer in sheet mode.
- Click DXF under the Optimize button and drop the file in.
- Check the detected units and the list of parts. If the drawing has a rectangle on a layer named BOUNDARY, its size is shown as the sheet size.
- Import, set quantities for parts you need more than once, add your sheet size and kerf, and click Optimize.
In linear mode, the DXF import reads LINE entities as lengths to cut from bar or board stock.
How shaped parts are nested
EZNESTING is a guillotine optimizer: every cut runs edge to edge, the way a table saw, track saw or panel saw cuts. A non-rectangular outline keeps its shape on the diagram and in the DXF you export, but it's placed by its bounding rectangle. The L-shaped part in the sample takes up a 500 × 400 mm box.
That works when shaped parts are cut from rectangular blanks, which is how most cabinet and furniture parts are made. If you need true-shape nesting, where curved parts interlock to save material, use a CAM nesting tool instead. EZNESTING doesn't do that.
Re-importing an EZNESTING DXF
DXF files exported from EZNESTING with the CNC / CAM preset can be imported again. The importer recognizes the PARTS layer and skips the sheet outline, saw cuts and labels. A saw-lines-only export (Panel saw preset) has no part outlines, so the importer tells you to export with the CNC / CAM preset instead.