I’m new to the world of CNC Routers and am practicing using the Carbide Create Pro Software, I’m currently trying to test out tiling and alignment in the software. I have a couple of SVG files to make a set of cornhole boards out of 4x8 Plywood and want to minimize my waste and maximize my yield of each different component (currently I’m just trying to yield 1 set out of 1 sheet of plywood but eventually I want to get enough components out of 1 sheet to yield as many frames as possible). To do this I’m trying to arrange all the components precisely to allow for them to be cut out with tabs and have the minimum distance between them so I’m not wasting material on the frame. Is there a way to align the parts with an offset from one vector to another? or with an offset from the edge of my material? its looking like ill have to make a reference vector from the edge of my material and apply a reference offset vector from each of my components to accomplish this or maybe play with nodes and grid size, I’m just hoping there is an easier way with the alignment tool I don’t know about. Picture for reference, everything is just eyeballed at the moment.
For items that are identical, you can use Linear Array to replicate one item to multiple, with a set distance between them.
For items that are identical except that they are mirror images, you can do the same, then flip as needed in place.
So the design above could be created pretty easily from 5 ‘originals’.
Another option would be something like DeepNest - you upload an SVG of all your items, and it re-arranges things to be ‘efficient’ (for some definition of the word ‘efficient’). You can tell it the minimum distance between items.
It’s definitely something that requires some experimenting with though, it’s not just plug-and-go.
Keep in mind that the arrow keys can be used to move selected objects using the grid size.
Arrow - move 1 grid. Shift Arrow - Move 1/10th of a grid.
You can probably come close to squeezing a full set from 3/4 sheet, or 4 sets from 3 sheets.