Free speaker cabinet cut list calculator

From speaker design to cutting plan

Speaker building starts in a design tool: you model the driver and the target volume, and you end up with internal dimensions for the enclosure. The step that wastes material is the one after that: turning two enclosures' worth of baffles, backs, sides, tops, bottoms and braces into cuts on a sheet of MDF. A speaker cabinet cut list calculator does exactly that translation. You enter each panel with its length, width and quantity (a stereo pair means quantity 2 of almost everything), and the optimizer nests the whole list onto full sheets with the least waste, accounting for the saw blade kerf on every cut so panels come out to size. That matters for speakers more than for most furniture: an enclosure only seals if the panels meet squarely, and a panel that is a kerf short does not.

How to use it for speaker boxes

1. Work out your panel sizes first. Take the external dimensions from your enclosure design and derive the six panels per box, remembering that two opposite pairs overlap the material thickness. For a double-thickness front baffle, add a second baffle panel.
2. Enter or paste the parts. Type them in, or paste the list straight from a spreadsheet via CSV import. Set the quantity to 2 for a stereo pair, and add bracing pieces and crossover boards to the same list.
3. Pick the sheet and the kerf. MDF is the usual choice for speakers (dense, dead, cheap); 18 mm sheets of 2440 × 1220 mm are standard in Europe, 3/4″ 4 × 8 ft in the US. Set your blade kerf (typically 2 to 3 mm).
4. Cut in order. The plan comes with a numbered cutting order of straight, full-length cuts, so it works with a track saw or a panel saw at the store. Driver and port cutouts are routed afterwards; they are holes, not sheet cuts.

Speaker-specific tips

• Grain does not matter on MDF. Leave rotation free so parts can turn and pack tighter; you will paint or veneer the box anyway. Building in plywood for a visible finish? Lock the grain on the visible panels only.
• Cut the baffles from one area. Sheet thickness can vary slightly across a sheet; cutting both baffles (and both backs) next to each other keeps the pairs identical.
• Add the offcuts to your stock. Speaker projects leave usable rectangles. Save them in the offcut stock and the next project (stands, a subwoofer, bracing) uses them first.
• CNC option. If a CNC router will cut your panels including the driver openings, switch on CNC mode for a tighter non-guillotine layout and export it as DXF.

A worked example: a two-way stereo pair

A typical stand-mount two-way in 18 mm MDF, external size 350 × 220 × 280 mm (H × W × D), one pair, with a single-thickness baffle and one window brace per box:

Fourteen panels, comfortably out of half a sheet of 18 mm MDF, and the leftover half sheet goes into your offcut stock for the stands. Switch the goal to fewest cuts if the store charges per cut, print the plan or the part labels, and take it to the saw.

Frequently asked questions