Guillotine cut list optimizer

What a guillotine cut is

A guillotine cut is a straight cut that runs all the way across a sheet, from one edge to the opposite edge, splitting it cleanly into two pieces. Each new piece can then be cut again the same way. This is exactly what a circular saw and a track let you do, and it is how a panel saw works too. You set the line, you run the saw across, and the sheet comes apart in two. There is no way to start a cut in the middle of a panel and stop before the far edge with these tools.

The opposite of a guillotine layout is a nested layout, where small parts are tucked into pockets and a single cut would have to start and stop part way across the sheet. Those layouts look efficient on screen, but you cannot make them with a track saw. They need a CNC router or a jigsaw and a lot of cleanup. cutlistlab produces guillotine-compatible layouts only, so every cut in the plan is a full edge-to-edge cut you can really make.

Why guillotine layouts matter for a track saw

If you work with a circular saw on a guide rail, or you have your panels cut at the home center, you can only make guillotine cuts. A plan that ignores this gives you a layout that is impossible to follow. You end up improvising at the bench, the parts drift out of size, and the waste you were promised never shows up.

A guillotine optimizer respects the tool from the start. It packs your parts onto full sheets, but only in a way that breaks down into a series of straight, complete cuts. The result is a layout you can read off the screen and reproduce on the sheet, cut for cut, without guessing. The kerf, the width your blade removes on each pass, is included for every cut, so the parts come out to size and the leftover offcuts are the real ones you can save and reuse.

How to use it

1. Enter your parts. Add each part with its length, width and quantity. Name the parts so they are easy to match against the plan later.
2. Pick your sheet. Choose a standard 4x8 ft (1220x2440 mm) panel, a metric size, or enter your own. Add any offcuts you already have so they get used first.
3. Set the kerf. Enter the width your saw blade removes per cut, so each part ends up exactly the right size.
4. Read the guillotine plan. The optimizer packs your parts onto the fewest sheets, draws the layout, and lists the cuts in order. Every cut runs edge to edge, so you can follow it straight off the screen.

A worked example

Say you need these parts from a single 2440 × 1220 mm sheet. Every cut in the plan runs edge to edge, so a track saw, a plunge saw on a rail or the panel saw at the builders' merchant can all follow it.

The optimizer turns that into a sequence of full-width cuts, for example:

1. Rip the sheet lengthwise at 600 mm to free the first run of side panels.
2. Rip again at 1200 mm so you have a second strip for the shelves.
3. Crosscut the first strip at 2000 mm to get the two 2000 × 600 sides.
4. Crosscut the second strip at 1160 mm to drop the two 1160 × 580 shelves off the end.

Each step is one straight cut across the panel in your hand, so nothing needs a plunge in the middle. The exact order and offcut depend on your sizes and kerf, so treat this as roughly how a plan reads rather than a fixed result.

Frequently asked questions