Today we will be talking about automatic and semi-automatic nesting aids. If you sometimes get a little impatient with the nesting process, I assure you that these aids will speed up your work and make your life much easier.
The first thing I want you to understand is that automatic and semi-automatic nesting works like a virtual assistant, nesting the pieces in the most efficient way possible. It sounds great in theory, and for it to be great in practice as well, it is necessary to have judgment and apply limits and conditions so that the suggestions that the program gives you are as accurate as possible.
As you may have already guessed, these aids help you save time, because they save you having to think about how to nest your pieces one by one. And if time is money for you, this is something really valuable.
Let’s get into the detail.
Now, I am going to explain in detail how I make use of the different automatic aids available in Lantek.
Use a saved nest.
It’s the first place I go. Once I have the pieces selected that I am working on and go to the nesting environment, the first thing I do is check if I have a saved nest that could be useful to me. In the first “subjobs” menu, click on the “Import nested stored” option. If there is a previous nest that has the same pieces, you already have the work practically done. You just have to import it, choose the number of sheets you are going to make of that nest and define if you want to prioritize the nesting or the machining.
Automatic help.
If you are not lucky enough to be able to import a previous nest, then you will have to create one from scratch.
In the Lantek menu, you have several options in the “Start” menu.
â—Ź Do everything. It will automatically create the nest and even the machining, if you have it planned in the configuration of all the subjobs, including different machines, sheet metal specifications, formats (including remnants that you have available) and thicknesses.
â—Ź Make the active subjob: It will automatically create the nest for the active subjob (with the same machine, material and sheet thickness) that you have selected, with all the necessary sheets that you have in stock until all the pieces of that subjob are nested.
â—Ź One Sheet: Only one sheet of the subjob you have selected will be nested, so if you want to make several sheets with the same nest, you will then have to change the quantity by clicking on the sheet’s contextual menu with the right mouse button.
In all these cases, Lantek will help you with the automatic positioning of the pieces. It has five calculation levels. With level 1 it will make a faster calculation while with level 5 it will take more time to place the pieces optimally on the sheet, trying to obtain the best possible material usage.
Apart from that, you also have automatic part rotation. This will allow you to rotate the parts at different angles so that they fit better on the sheet metal.
Keep in mind that you can configure the increment of degrees of rotation for the pieces. If you set the configuration so that the degrees of rotation for the pieces is 1 degree instead of 15 degrees, for example, it will take much longer to do the calculation, but the result will be much better. Furthermore, you can also configure it to mirror pieces, and thus try to take advantage of any space that is left.
Last but not least, you have the automatic adjustment of the gap between pieces. This automatic help will allow you to establish the optimum distance between the pieces, ensuring that the cutting process is as efficient as possible.
Semi-automatic aids.
Lantek also offers semi-automatic tools for nesting. These tools require minimal intervention from you, saving time and reducing errors.
Intelligent manual positioning: Semi-automatic part placing.
This tool allows you to place parts semi-automatically, intelligently fitting the pieces into the available spaces. That is, when you click on the piece or pieces, they are placed on the sheet, looking for gaps and hence optimizing the use of the space available.
Wizard in a window
This wizard helps you nest parts quickly and easily in an area of the sheet metal. You just have to select the pieces to nest and create and drag the window where you want the pieces to be nested. As you change the size of the window, the assistant automatically places them in the most efficient way possible.
Advanced Copy
This tool helps you select the most appropriatly sized sheet metal for nesting a given part. The tool takes into account factors such as part size, material type and thickness to recommend the most efficient size of sheet metal in terms of cost and time. I learned about this tool in a webinar with Lantek, but I have barely used it, I intend to do some tests with it, because I can see that it will be quite useful.
Advantages of automatic and semi-automatic nesting aids.
Lantek’s automatic and semi-automatic nesting aids offer you numerous advantages that deserve to be highlighted.
Firstly, thanks to the automatic positioning of the parts, valuable time is saved that was previously dedicated to manually locating, copying and pasting, each one of them onto the sheet. In addition, by having automatic rotation and automatic mirroring of the pieces, you can make the most of the surface of the sheet and avoid waste material as much as possible.
Another benefit of the automatic adjustment of the separation between pieces is that it guarantees adequate space between each of them to avoid collisions and ensure optimal cutting quality.
Finally, the use of these aids significantly reduces the possibility of human error, which translates into greater efficiency in the cutting process and reduced costs.
That’s all.
In my experience, I have noticed that there is a certain tendency to not take full advantage of these functions and continue to do the nesting in a very manual way. It is true that sometimes you think that manual methods may be faster, but after spending some time discovering some of the advantages that Lantek offers, you will become a true fan of these automatic aids.
So, if you are a Lantek user and have not yet tried these functions, I encourage you to do so and, I tell you, that combining these aids with the configuration of hot keys can make your productivity literally explode. But I will explain that to you in future articles which you can read soon.
