Pipe Cut List Calculator — Optimize Cuts for Pipe, Tube & Conduit

Every plumbing, electrical, or mechanical job turns a spec into a list of cut lengths — risers, runs, stubs, drops. The question is how to get those lengths out of standard sticks with the least waste, and the answer is rarely "cut them in the order the takeoff lists them":

• Stock comes in fixed lengths — 10 ft (EMT, PVC), 20 ft (PVC, copper), 21 ft (steel pipe), 3 m / 6 m metric
• A long run can only come from a long-enough stick — you can't couple your way out of every shortfall, and every extra coupling is a joint you didn't need
• Each cut costs a kerf — negligible for a tubing cutter, an eighth-inch for an abrasive saw
• The tail of each stick is either reusable drop or scrap, depending on whether you planned it

This is the classic cutting stock problem, and solved properly it routinely turns a padded 15% overbuy into low-single-digit waste. EZNESTING packs your list with a First-Fit-Decreasing pass and shows the cut plan per stick.

Say a rough-in needs these cuts from 20 ft sticks of 2" PVC:

• 12 × 11 ft (horizontal runs)
• 18 × 5 ft (risers)
• 24 × 3 ft 6 in (stubs and drops)

That's 306 ft of pipe. The old-school order is "306 ft ÷ 20 plus 15% waste" — about 18–20 sticks.

Optimized, the plan is 12 sticks cut as 11 + 5 + 3'6" (6 inches of drop each), three sticks as 5 + 5 + 3'6" + 3'6", and the remaining stubs packed onto two more — 17 sticks at 90% yield, with the plan telling you exactly which cuts come off which stick. Every stick's leftover is listed, so the usable drops go back on the rack instead of in the dumpster.

Enter your own cut list and stock length and the calculator produces the per-stick plan in seconds — and re-runs instantly when the takeoff changes.

The optimizer only needs lengths, quantities, and kerf — the material is a label. That makes one tool cover:

• Plumbing — PVC, ABS, copper (10/20 ft), PEX, cast iron
• Electrical — EMT and rigid conduit (10 ft), PVC conduit, strut
• Mechanical / HVAC — black iron and steel pipe (21 ft), refrigeration line sets
• Fabrication — round and square structural tube, handrail pipe, roll-cage tube
• Site work — rebar (20/40/60 ft), fence pipe, irrigation pipe

Mixed stock lengths work too: if you have 10 ft and 20 ft sticks (or a rack of usable drops from the last job), enter them all and the optimizer picks the best stick for each cut — including using up short stock first.

Two practical notes to keep the plan honest:

• Kerf. A wheel cutter removes essentially nothing; a chop saw or abrasive wheel takes ~1/8" (3 mm) per cut. Set it once and the optimizer subtracts it at every cut — on a stick with five cuts that's over half an inch, enough to lose a piece if ignored.
• Cut lengths are your job. The calculator optimizes the lengths you give it — it doesn't subtract fitting allowances, thread engagement, or bend gain. Do the takeoff math first (end-to-end minus fitting take-outs, plus thread makeup), then feed the finished cut lengths in.

And pad the buy slightly for reality: damaged ends, a miscut, a bent stick. The right pad on top of an optimized plan is a stick or two — not 15%.

Most pipe-cutting calculators online are single-purpose web forms (one stock length, no kerf, no export) or dated paid desktop apps. EZNESTING treats pipe as a first-class 1D mode of a full nesting optimizer:

• Free, browser-based — use it in the office or on a phone at the supply house
• Kerf and multiple stock lengths — the two things simple calculators skip
• Offcut tracking — every stick's drop is reported for reuse
• Metric and imperial, with fractions — 3 ft 6 in and 1067 mm both work, even mixed in one list
• Real exports — print the per-stick cut plan as a PDF for the field, or export CSV for purchasing
• 1D and 2D in one tool — the same project can nest sheet stock (see the metal cut list optimizer) alongside pipe

For the general case — bar, extrusion, lumber, and any cut-to-length stock — the same engine powers the linear cut optimizer.