Common stock lengths by material
| Timber and lumber | 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.8, 5.4 m |
| Steel and tube | 6.0, 8.0 m |
| Aluminium extrusion | 6.5 m (6500 mm) |
| Pipe and conduit | 3.0, 6.0 m |
| Reinforcing bar | 6.0, 12.0 m |
| Cut to order or your offcuts | any length |
What each tool removes
| Table or circular saw (wood) | 3 to 4 mm |
| Mitre or chop saw | 2.5 to 4 mm |
| Cold saw (metal) | 2 to 2.5 mm |
| Bandsaw | 0.8 to 1.5 mm |
| Shear or snap cutter | 0 (nothing lost) |
Any spinning blade leaves a slot as wide as itself; only shears, snap cutters and wheel cutters remove nothing. Enter the width your tool leaves, because a plan built on a zero-width blade is not optimistic, it is wrong. More on kerf.
Cut to length is one dimension
If the stock is long and you cut pieces off it, this plans it: timber, steel, tube, extrusion, pipe, skirting, handrail, cable tray. Width, section and grade decide which stock you are on, not how to divide it, so run each stock type as its own job. The optimiser decides which stick each length comes off and how many sticks to buy.
Stock length is a lever, so pull it
The same cut list wastes different amounts on different stock. A 5.4 m length may nest tighter than 4.8 m on one job and worse on another; there is no single best length in the abstract. Enter every length you can buy, price them if they are not proportional, and the plan shows you the cheapest and the least-waste mix instead of you guessing at the merchant.
Use the offcuts before you buy
Every rack has usable ends, and they are stock you already paid for. Enter them and the plan spends them first, or only when they save a full length, and a minimum useful remnant stops it leaving you stubs too short to keep. Across a run that is whole lengths you never buy. More on offcut waste.
Veelgestelde vragen
What does a cut to length calculator do?
Does it work for cut to length timber?
What is a stock length optimizer?
How many pieces can it handle?
Elk plan wordt gecontroleerd voor je het ziet.
Snede voor snede: elk deel aanwezig, alles past binnen de staaflengte, inclusief zaagbreedte. Wanneer de groene badge verschijnt, gebruikt geen enkel plan ter wereld minder staaflengtes voor je zaagstukken, en we publiceer de opdrachten die dat bewijzen.