DXNest Fabrication:
from the first quote to CNC-ready production

DXNest Fabrication and Fabrication Solo

DXNest Fabrication runs a fabrication company on one system: sales, production, supply, people and field work, with the Nesting module for sheet nesting, CNC programs and reports. DXNest Fabrication Solo is the Nesting module on its own, for one engineer.

Which edition is which

Who sees what in a company

Every person signs in with your company's domain. What they see depends on their role, set in Employees:

Signing in

Both editions sign in at the same address, fabrication.dxnest.io. The switch at the top of the sign-in card picks the edition.

Fabrication — for companies

1. Type your Company domain — the short name your company uses in DXNest — and press Continue.
2. Type your username and password and sign in.

Your company's own sign-in link (in Settings → Company) fills the domain in for you — bookmark it.

Fabrication Solo — personal

Type your username and password and press Sign in.

Try the demo opens the application straight away, without an account — see Demo mode.

What happens after you sign in

• A company's office opens on Home; an operator on the workstation; a worker on their work cards; a client on the portal.
• Fabrication Solo opens the Nesting application with an empty document named Web order — start filling it in, or open a saved project.
• A session lasts a working day; after that you sign in again.

Home — the company workspace

The office's starting page: every section one click away, and what needs attention today.

The header

• Your logo and company name — a click returns to Home from anywhere. The crumbs beside it show where you are.
• Search — finds an order number, quote, invoice, client, supplier or part as you type; Enter opens the first match.
• The bell — notifications: new and late work cards, follow-ups due, orders and messages from the client portal. They also reach the phone app.
• Your name and role, and Sign out.

The tiles

Four groups, in one row. A small number on a tile is what waits there: late orders, unpaid invoices, items below minimum.

Today at a glance

A row of cards — open and late orders, what is on the floor now, today's planned hours, the warehouse, stock below minimum, tools out, who is at work, crews on site, what clients owe and what you owe suppliers. Each card opens its page already filtered. Refresh reads the numbers again; + Quote and + Order start a new one.

Under it:

• Needs attention — late orders, overdue invoices and bills, tools due back, orders waiting for material, orders not on the plan, goods ready to ship;
• Production today — each department's planned load against its capacity, and who is running what on the floor right now;
• Orders by status and what is due this week;
• Warehouse — finished goods waiting to go out; Stock — its value, items below minimum, open purchase orders.

Clients and the CRM

The Clients tile holds your clients and the road from a first enquiry to a paid order: the pipeline, the deals, the follow-ups and the client portal's inbox.

Clients

A client keeps its contacts, billing and delivery addresses and its sites — the places where your crews work, each with its address and its place on the map. The client's page lists its orders, quotes, invoices, opportunities, follow-ups and work cards, and its Portal access (see The client portal). A new client can also be added on the spot wherever you choose one — ＋ New client… in the list.

The pipeline

An opportunity (OP-#) is a deal with a client or a new lead: what they want, its value and chance, the owner, the expected close and the source. It moves through the stages

New → Contacted → Measure → Quoted → Negotiation → Won or Lost (with the reason).

Drag a deal to another column, or change its stage on its page. The figures above the columns are the open value and weighted value, the leads, quotes sent, won and lost, orders, invoiced and paid of the last 90 days. Deals lists the same opportunities as a table.

An opportunity

• Make quote turns a lead into a client and opens its quote, with the opportunity linked to it.
• Follow-ups — the calls, e-mails, meetings, visits and tasks planned for this deal.
• Work cards — the estimator's site measure, for example (see Work cards).
• Quotes, Files (the lead's drawings and photos) and the History of every change.

Follow-ups

A follow-up has a time and an owner, who is notified when it is due. Mark it Done… with its outcome — and plan the next one at once. The filters show what is due, late, open or done, and mine only your own.

Quotes, costing and invoices

A quote is priced from your own costing and becomes the order with one click; the order is invoiced, deposits included.

A quote

A quote (Q-#) has its client, contact, site, date, validity and the client's reference. Its lines are edited like an order's parts (see Orders): products from your library with their sizes, custom profiles and panels, DXF and Excel imports, stock items, services and manual lines, each with its quantity, price, discount, unit cost and margin. Notes and terms print on the document.

The status strip — Draft Sent Accepted Declined Expired — can be set by hand; the client can accept or decline in the portal.

How a cost is worked out

Each product's unit cost comes from its production costing (Products → the product → Assembly → Production costing): the departments it goes through, setup minutes per batch and minutes per piece. DXNest adds up:

The suggested price is the cost × (1 + markup). Taxes are added on the quote, not counted as cost. Rates, markup and taxes live in Settings → Costing & documents. The same minutes plan the work — see Planning.

Invoices

An invoice (INV-#) is made from an order (Invoice… on the order page) or on its own. It goes Draft → Issued → Part paid / Paid, or Void. Record payments on the invoice; a deposit invoice is taken off the final one with a Less deposit line. The list shows what is still to be paid and what is overdue. With QuickBooks Online or Xero connected, invoices and payments sync both ways — see Settings → Accounting.

Orders and their parts

An order carries a job from the client's request to the invoice: its lines become parts, the parts are nested and produced, shipped and billed.

The order list

Filter by status, Late or All, or type an order number, job, PO, client or part. Board shows the same orders as columns by status. Order numbers start at 1001; an order split into stages keeps its number: #1015-1, #1015-2.

A new order

1. Choose what the order is for: Parts (made in the shop, shipped or picked up), Parts + installation (and put up on the client's site by your crew) or Installation only.
2. Choose the client (＋ adds a new one) and, for site work, the site; then the job name, customer PO, due date, priority, delivery address and notes.
3. Create order — or Create & open in Nesting to build the part list there.

The order's work scope also decides which work cards are made for it by themselves.

The order page

The buttons on top: Nesting (open the order in the Nesting module), Edit, Ship… (a packing slip, full or partial), Invoice…, Email (an order confirmation), Stages… and Delete. The strip under them is the status — click to change it:

New → Material Required → In Production → Ready to Ship → Shipped → Billed, and On Hold or Cancelled. An order is late when its due date has passed and it is not yet shipped, billed or cancelled.

Below come the order's details and its sections: the parts, the plan by department, cost and margin, nesting, the order's instructions and files, work cards, the client portal thread, follow-ups, shipments, invoices and the history.

The parts

The parts grid works like the Part List of the Nesting module: type, name, material and colour (from the material library and the sheet colours in Stock), sizes, quantity, price, machine and operator. A line is one of:

• Texture above the grid: the material has a grain direction, so no part of the order is turned in nesting. To keep only some parts as drawn, tick Texture on those lines.
• Assign machine & operator… puts the selected lines' operations on a machine and/or an operator (see Production).
• Duplicate, Delete, the arrows and Sort reorder the lines; Clear parts empties the grid after asking.

Is there enough material?

Before nesting, or when the order moves to In Production, DXNest checks each material and colour against Stock: a part's colour must match a sheet's colour. Lines that have no stock can be split off with Stages… into a follow-up stage that waits for the material (Material Required). How many sheets are really needed is known after a nesting run — the run lists the sheets it uses and what goes beyond stock, and shortages become purchase requirements (see Stock and purchasing).

Nesting an order and taking stock

An order is nested on the sheets in Stock — straight from its page, or in the Nesting module where you can check the layout, the BOM and the CNC programs first.

From the order page

• Nesting depth — Rectangles (fastest) nests every part by its bounding box; 90° down to 5° nests by the real shape, turning parts in that step: a finer step packs a little tighter and takes longer.
• Run nesting — nests the order's nesting parts; the run is queued and the page shows its progress.
• Open in Nesting — opens the order in the Nesting module.
• Nested for (in the order's details) — the machine the order is nested for: its CNC files are made for that machine, and the order's parts are assigned to it in production. One machine can make one order and another machine the next.

In the Nesting module

The bar above the toolbar names the order. Save to order keeps the part list, the layout and the programs with the order; Back to order returns to its page; ← DXNest Fabrication to Home. The Machine select on the toolbar picks the machine the order is nested for (Any (per material) uses each material's own machine).

Everything else is the Nesting module described from The Nesting module on — with one difference: the sheets come from Stock, and their quantities are what is available there. The priority you set here is for this order only.

Taking the material

1. A finished run reserves the stock it uses: the sheets show as Reserved in Stock and are no longer available to other orders.
2. Confirm — take from stock consumes the reservation when the material is used.
3. After a confirmed run, offcuts big enough to use (the minimum area and width are set in Settings → Company) can go back to Stock as remnants, ready for the next order.

Planning

The planning board puts one task per order and production department on your production lines, using your working calendar.

Where the times come from

A task's time is setup minutes + minutes per piece × quantity, from each product's production costing — the same figures that price the quote. Orders whose parts have no production time can still go on the plan; set their time on the board.

Working on the board

• Days · Weeks · Months and the arrows move the view; Today returns to today.
• + Add orders puts the orders that are not yet on the plan onto it; Auto-plan lays everything out by due date and the order of departments.
• Click a bar to see and change it. Drag it along its line or onto another line of the same department; drag its right edge to change its time. What then overlaps moves later by itself; a locked bar stays put.
• A red outline: the task ends after the order's due date. A yellow outline: it starts before an earlier department has finished.
• The green strip on each department is its load against its capacity.
• Setup — the production lines, the working time they plan on and the departments.

On an order's page the Plan section shows its tasks: Update plan, Planning board, Off the plan. Home's Production today shows today's load per department.

The shop floor: production, warehouse, shipping

Operators see only their own jobs; the office sees what every machine and operator is doing.

Production

Operators shows each operator's queue: what they are running now, for how long, and what waits — including jobs no operator has picked up. Orders lists every operation by order with its machine, operator, quantities and progress; filter by machine, operator or status. An operation is assigned to a machine, an operator, or Anyone at the machine — on the order's parts with Assign machine & operator…, or here.

The operator workstation

An operator's sign-in opens My jobs: their orders, each part's operation, material, sizes, machine and the quantity still to go. START, PAUSE and COMPLETE — with the quantity made — record the work; the office sees it at once, and the time counts as the order's actual labour. Expand a job for the order's instructions and files.

Warehouse and shipping

Warehouse

Finished goods: what is made but not shipped yet, what it is worth at order prices and how long it has waited. A line counts as made when all its operations are done.

Shipping

Orders ready to ship or partly shipped, and every shipment. A packing slip (PS-#) takes the full or a partial quantity; slips and labels are editable documents you can print or e-mail.

Work cards

Work cards are the jobs of the people around production: a site measure, an estimate, engineering drawings, a delivery, an installation, a service call — whatever your company's own cycle needs.

The board

Cards (WC-#) by status: To do → In progress → Waiting for sign-off → Done (or Cancelled). By person lists them per employee; filter by person and kind or search by number, title, client or site. New card makes one from a template or from scratch.

A card

• Who, when, where — the responsible person, priority, start and due date (and time), the address and who to see there, the client, the order, quote, field job or opportunity it belongs to.
• Instructions and a checklist.
• A form to fill in on site: text, numbers, yes/no, dates, choices and photos.
• Photos and files (any document, not programs), and what it is for — the order's parts.
• Comments and history — both ways between the office and the worker, with every change.

Finish asks for what is still required — ticked items, filled fields, photos, the client's signature when the card wants it — and the worker signs. A card that needs the office's sign-off waits in Waiting for sign-off until the office approves it, or returns it with a note.

Templates

Task templates are your company's own cycle: the kind of job, its checklist and form, who usually does it, when it falls due (days from the order's due date; negative means before), which records it is offered for and which work scopes tick it. A template marked automatic makes its card by itself for every new order of those scopes.

On an order, quote or field job, Make cards… offers the templates (the ticked ones first) with their due dates and people. A card made on a quote moves to the order the quote becomes.

For the worker

A worker sees only their own cards — on the web and in the phone app, where changes made without signal wait on the phone and go to the office once it is back. Workers are notified of a new card, a moved due date, a returned card and a comment; the office of a card waiting for sign-off, a finished card and a comment; both of a late card.

Stock, purchasing and suppliers

What you have, what is held for orders, what to buy — and from whom.

Stock

Tabs: Sheets, Remnants, Profiles, Hardware, Other, Purchasing and Stock counts. A sheet item has its material, colour, size, priority, supplier and cost. For every item:

• On hand — what is in stock; Reserved — held for orders by their nesting runs; Available = On hand − Reserved; On order — on open purchase orders.
• An item is Low when Available falls below its Minimum.
• Receive, Issue and Count (a stock-take) move the stock.

Purchasing

Shortages become purchase requirements — open, ordered, received or cancelled — with the order they are for. Purchase order… turns the selected requirements into a purchase order for a supplier.

Suppliers

Suppliers holds their details; Purchase orders (PO-#) what you ordered from them — receiving a PO puts the goods into Stock, updates the item's cost and reserves them again for the orders that were waiting; Bills the suppliers' bills and your payments, with what is unpaid and overdue. A PO can be e-mailed to the supplier.

Inventory — tools

Tools and equipment: in the store, handed out (to whom, at which site, until when) or in repair. Move… sends a tool to another site or person without returning it to the store, and its history shows every move. A photo of the tool shows wherever it appears.

Field work and sites

Jobs on your clients' sites: the crew, the dates, the tools and materials that go out and come back — and where the crew is right now.

• Schedule — every employee's days: which field job (FJ-#) at which site, planned, on site or done, and days off.
• Jobs — each job with its site, client, order, dates, crew, tools out and status. A field job can have its own work cards.
• Sites — your clients' places of work, active or inactive, with their open jobs and the tools there. A site's place on the map and its radius are what the phone's time clock checks.
• Tracking — who is at work now and where, on the map: at the site, away from it, on a break.

Employees and timesheets

Everyone in the company, their sign-ins and their time.

Employees

Every member with their department, position, phone, hourly rate, sign-in and tools out. The tabs also hold the Departments (production, field or office), Positions and Projects (the sites). New employee adds a person; give them a sign-in with a role — Admin, Operator or Worker (see Who sees what). An operator can be tied to their machines.

Timesheets

The month for everyone: hours a day, overtime, days off, jobs and wages. Click a day to see or correct it; Add time enters time for one person or a whole crew; Days off records vacation, sick leave, training, business trips, unpaid leave and absence. Approve month closes it; Excel and Summary take it away. Time log lists every entry, At work now who is clocked in. Time from the phone is marked as such and is corrected here like any other.

The rules — the time zone, unpaid breaks, overtime, paid days off and the phone time clock — are in Settings → Working time.

The DXNest phone app

The phone side of DXNest Fabrication, for iOS and Android: the time clock and work cards for your people, and the company's panel for administrators.

Signing in

Choose Employee or Administrator, then type the company domain, your username and password. The phone stays signed in; signing out, a new password or a disabled account ends it.

For employees

• Clock — Clock in at a site: the stretch of work starts with where the phone was. Break stops the clock; Another site ends the stretch here and starts the next one there; Clock out closes it.
• Cards — the work cards given to you: late, today, coming, done. A card shows where to go (Route, call the client), the instructions, the checklist, the form, photos from the camera or the library, files, comments and history; Start, then Finish with your signature — and the client's when the card asks for it. Without signal the card opens as you last saw it, and every change waits on the phone until the server answers again.
• My time — your month: hours, overtime and every stretch of work.

Location and privacy

• The phone shares its location only while you are clocked in: at clock in, at a break, at clock out and every few minutes in between.
• With location access Allow all the time the trail continues with the phone in your pocket; without it, only while the app is open — the clock works either way.
• A site counts as “here” within its radius. Away from the site, your company decides whether clocking in is allowed and flagged, refused, or not checked.

For administrators

• Now — who is at work, at which site, since when, today's hours, at the site or away from it; tap a person for their day and trail.
• Map — people and sites with their radius.
• Timesheet — the month for everyone; approve or reopen it.
• Overview — Home's attention list, orders, production, field work and money; each opens its page.
• More — the web sections, grouped as on Home, with a search: the CRM and follow-ups, the portal's inbox, quotes, orders, invoices, clients, planning, the floor, work cards, the warehouse, shipping, field jobs and sites, stock, suppliers and tools, employees and reports. An order, quote, invoice or client can be e-mailed from the phone.

The bell shows notifications — also as push notifications — and the AI assistant is there when your company has it switched on. An administrator who also clocks in switches with More → My time clock and back with Profile → Open the administrator panel.

E-mail from DXNest

Quotes, invoices, order confirmations, purchase orders and packing slips go out as PDFs from their own page, with your template text and signature.

Sending a document

Email on a quote, invoice, order, purchase order or packing slip — or on a client — opens the message: the client's (or supplier's) address, Cc, the subject and text from your template, and the document attached as a PDF, plus any of the record's files you tick. Then:

• Send — DXNest sends it, in your company's name; replies come to your company's e-mail.
• Open in email program — the message opens in the computer's own e-mail program (Outlook, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Gmail set as the e-mail app; the phone's mail app in the phone app) and is sent from your own mailbox, staying in its Sent folder.

Every e-mail is logged with its record. Sending a draft quote marks it Sent and plans its follow-up.

Settings → Email

• Email button — Send from DXNest or Open my email program; the dialog always offers both.
• Mail server — DXNest's own (in your company's name) or your company's mail server; the sender name, reply address, a copy to you (Bcc), your signature and a test message.
• Templates — the subject and text for each document, with {client}, {number}, {company}, {total}, {due_date}, {job}.
• Follow-ups by themselves — how many days after a sent quote to follow it up, and the payment reminder for overdue invoices.

The client portal

Your clients follow their orders, accept quotes, see invoices and send you files and new orders — without a phone call.

Giving a client access

On the client's page, Portal access: a username, a password and an e-mail for notices. The client signs in at fabrication.dxnest.io with your company's domain, like your own people.

What the client sees

• Orders — status in plain words, the due date and the lines (without prices, unless you show them), and deliveries;
• the files you share — on the order page, the eye on a file makes it visible to the client;
• a message thread per order — the client is e-mailed when you write;
• Quotes to accept or decline, and Invoices with what is still to pay, each as a PDF.

Orders from the client

New order in the portal: the lines (without prices), a description, when it is needed, and any files — drawings, CAD files, spreadsheets, photos. The order arrives marked Portal, its files in the order's instructions marked from client; you are notified and get a follow-up to price it. Clients → Client portal lists new portal orders and unread messages.

Settings → Client portal switches the portal, client orders and prices on or off, and holds the welcome text.

The AI assistant

An assistant that answers from your own DXNest data and prepares actions you confirm — in the office, in the Nesting module, in Fabrication Solo and in the phone app.

What it can do

• Answer from orders, stock, purchasing, production, clients, the material library, part types and nesting runs — and explain any screen, open a page or point at a button.
• Read files you send it — with the paperclip, drag and drop or paste: drawings (PDF, pictures), part lists (Excel, CSV), DXF parts and instructions (PDF, Word, text). They are kept for a day.
• Prepare changes: a new order (for a new client too), lines read from a part list or DXF parts, an order's status, machine, operator, plan or nesting run; work cards; opportunities and follow-ups; an e-mail of a document; a message to the client in the portal; a new part type with its flat and 3D preview; parts and a nesting run in the Part List.

Type, or hold the microphone to speak. It can remember your preferences; the memory list can be reviewed, edited or switched off in its settings. A company switches the assistant on in Settings → Company; in Fabrication Solo, the orb on the toolbar switches it on and off.

Company settings, products and reports

Where the company is set up: its details and sign-in, costing, working time, materials, machines, e-mail, the client portal and accounting — plus the product library and the reports.

Products — your part types

The Products tile is the company's library of part types — the same object editor and model builder Fabrication Solo calls Object Settings. A part type is parametric: panels with flanges, bends and holes, profiles drawn as a cross-section, or assemblies with child parts, hardware and profile bars. Each one also carries its production costing (Assembly → Production costing): the departments, setup minutes and minutes per piece that price quotes and plan the work. See Object editor and The model builder.

Reports

For 7 days, 30 days, 90 days or a year: orders created and billed, packing slips, the open order value, late orders, orders by status, production by operator and by machine, material used and low stock.

The Nesting module and Fabrication Solo

The Nesting module is where DXNest prepares production: from a parts list and an elevation layout through sheet nesting, CNC programs, the bill of materials and printable reports. In DXNest Fabrication it opens from Home → Nesting or from an order; DXNest Fabrication Solo is this application on its own.

Everything happens in a single browser window, and your projects, your object library and every generated file are kept in your own private space. The chapters from here on show the application as Fabrication Solo has it; inside a company, an order's bar sits above the toolbar and the sheets come from Stock — see Nesting an order.

The usual route through the program

The main window

Quick start — your first job in 10 steps

The shortest path from an empty document to files ready for the machine. Every step has its own detailed section — this is just the order.

1. Sign in with Fabrication Solo — or, in a company, open Nesting from Home. An empty document called Web order opens.
2. Fill in the header. Right panel → Job Settings: Job Name (it becomes the name of the output folder), customer, date, PO. In Sheet Settings, keep Nesting depth at 90° (or Rectangles (fastest) for plain panels) so the first run is quick.
3. Describe the material and the sheets. Right panel → Sheet Settings: rename the material, choose its Kind (Steel / Aluminum / ACM), enter the stock formats and how many you have. Add a second material with + if you need one.
4. Set the margins. Same place: Parts Margin is the clearance between parts, Frame Margin the distance to the sheet edge.
5. Add the parts. Part List tab → Add part. For each row pick a Type, enter W and H (the depth D fills itself in), the quantity and a name. The material is limited by the type — if the one you need is missing, widen the list in the type's definition.
6. Look at a part. The eye button in the Edit column shows the geometry exactly as the engine will build it. It is the fastest way to catch a wrong dimension.
7. Check the BOM. The BOM tab is computed without a run: it already shows profile lengths, cut angles and flat-pattern sizes. If a flat pattern is bigger than your sheet, fix it now rather than after a failed run.
8. Run the nesting — the Run ▶ button on the toolbar. The app switches to the Nesting tab by itself when the job finishes.
9. Save the project. The Save project button in the Nesting tab (or the diskette on the toolbar). A saved project keeps its layout, programs and reports in your library.
10. Collect the files. Right panel → Project Tree: download them one by one, or press Download all (.zip) in the results window.

What a document needs before it can run

The Run button will not start a job until all three conditions hold:

The parts named in the third message are immediately flagged in the Part List with a ⚠.

The window frame

Four permanent strips: the title bar, the toolbar, the tabs and the status bar. They stay the same whichever tab you work in.

The title bar

Logo

The product name. Not a button.

Your name

The account's display name, not the login. It tells you which account you are working under.

Sign out

Ends the session. In demo mode it reads Exit demo.

Document name

On the right is the current Job Name (a field in Job Settings). The same name becomes the output folder for the generated files.

The tabs

The status bar

• On the left — how many part rows the document holds.
• On the right — the unit selector and the application state: Ready, or Running… during a job.

How dimension fields behave

Every length field — in the Part List, in the sheet settings, in the grid, in the part editor — follows the same rules:

The toolbar — every button

Thirteen buttons in groups separated by dividers: project · history · content · run · settings panel.

Project

New projectNew project

Resets the document to its starting state: no parts, one material, default fields. The undo history, the last run's results and the link to a saved project are cleared too. Save the project first if you want to keep it.

Open projectOpen project

Opens your private project library. If a layout was saved with the project, the Nesting and CNC tabs come back too.

Save projectSave project

The save dialog: a project name plus the list of what you already saved. An edited layout is stored along with the document. disabled in the demo

History and content

UndoUndo

Reverses the last change to the document (parts, materials, settings, grid). Greyed out while the history is empty.

RedoRedo

Puts back a change you undid. Becomes available right after Undo.

Import custom DXFImport custom DXF parts

Picks one or more .dxf files and adds them as CUSTOM parts — see Importing your own DXF files.

Object editorObject editor (Assembly Settings)

The parametric object builder: your own panel types, their dimensions, hole rules, BOM content — see Object editor.

GridGrid — lay out an elevation and place panels in its cells

Shows and hides the Grid tab. The button stays highlighted while the mode is on.

CNC configCNC machines, tools & materials

The manager for machines, tools and per-layer machining rules — see CNC machines, tools and materials.

APIAPI access & keys

Access keys and the full HTTP API documentation — see The API panel.

Run and the settings panel

RunRun nesting job

The main action: sends the document to the server and performs the full run. Greyed out while the document has no parts and while another run is in progress. Drawn in the accent colour.

Settings panelToggle settings panel

Collapses and expands the right-hand settings panel, freeing space for the table or the canvas.

The settings panel

Six accordion sections. As many can be open at once as you like; the state is remembered for the session.

Collapsed sections

Clicking a heading expands the section. The open one is marked by an accent bar on its left.

Hiding the panel

The narrow handle on the panel edge (or the gear button on the toolbar) hides the panel completely.

Project Tree — the produced files

Before the first run the section shows a structural summary of the document: the job name, the materials with how many sheet formats each has, and the number of parts.

After a run it becomes a tree of the generated files.

Folder row

Clicking it collapses or expands the branch. Folders always sort before files.

File row

The icon on the left shows the kind (DXF, NC, PDF, XLSX, image). On the right: the eye previews DXF geometry right in the browser; the down arrow downloads the file.

Job Settings — the order header

Sheet Settings — materials, sheets and margins

Margins

• Parts Margin — the minimum clearance between parts.
• Frame Margin — the distance to the sheet edge on all four sides.
• Frame margin per side — switch it on to set each side separately (Top / Right / Bottom / Left). The sides start from the previous common value.

Nesting options

• Texture — the material has a grain direction (wood, brushed or patterned metal): no part is turned on the sheet, every part is nested as drawn. To keep only some parts as drawn, tick Texture on those rows of the Part List instead.
• Trim overlapping lines — remove lines that coincide on neighbouring parts so the cutter does not travel the same path twice.
• Nesting depth — how parts are turned when they are nested by their real shape, cut-outs included: 90° is the quickest, a finer step (45° … 5°) packs a little tighter and takes longer (about twice as long at 45°). Rectangles (fastest) nests every part by its bounding box — fine for plain panels.
• Search, s — how long the nesting may look for a tighter layout, for each material. The first layout is ready in about a second; the time left tries other part orders and keeps the best.
• Parts in cut-outs — small parts may be nested inside the cut-outs of bigger ones; the CNC program cuts them out first.

Materials

Each material is its own tab. A dot “·” next to the name means no part uses that material yet (you can configure it in advance). + adds a material; the router icon on the right opens the CNC rules for that material.

Stock sheets

Profile Settings — linear stock

• Kerf Width — the saw kerf; it is subtracted at every cut.
• The bar table — name, length, quantity in stock.
• Add bar — add a stock entry.
• Export cut plan — pack the profile pieces from the BOM into these bars (first fit) and download the optimised plan as Excel. disabled in the demo

Report Settings — which reports to produce

Open shows the job's Packing Slip / Labels on their own tab, ready to edit and save as PDF or Excel; Edit template… opens the template there — see Packing slip and labels. The tag project template means this project carries its own template, overriding your default. Which reports are ticked is remembered for the next project.

General Settings

Shows the connection to the engine and how many panel types are loaded. If it reads Offline, reload the page. The unit selector deliberately lives in the status bar so it is always within reach.

Part List

The main table of the document. One row is one line item: panel type, dimensions, quantity, name, material.

The action bar

Add part

Adds a row named Part N. The type is chosen automatically (the first suitable type with W/H/D), and every dimension starts at that type's default — for a modelled type the Value in its PARAMETERS table (for a DXF-marked type: depth from Default Depth, angles from their defaults, W/H/W2 600/400/300). Then just correct the numbers you need.

• Duplicate — copies the selected rows with all their dimensions and inner contours.
• Remove — deletes the selected rows.
• Clear parts — deletes every part row and empties the grid cells, keeping materials, sheets and settings: handy when you move a new order onto a configured template. Undo brings them back; in an order or a quote it asks first.
• Export DXF — saves the drawings of the selected rows (of every row when none are selected). One file comes back as a .dxf, several as a .zip; a panel with child parts (a sandwich panel's inner sheet, say) gives a file per part.
• Set group material… — changes the material for a whole material group at once (see below).
• On the right — a counter: N parts or N selected.

The columns

The buttons in the Edit column

Pencil · Eye · Bin

Pencil — the part editor (name, quantity, dimensions, rotation, inner cut-outs). A small badge shows how many inner contours are already there. Eye — a quick geometry preview. Bin — delete the row.

Three kinds of dimension cell

A number

A normal length field. It accepts the units selected in the status bar; internally the value is always millimetres.

An angle from a list

If the type has a variable angle, the cell becomes a dropdown of the permitted values (min…max with the declared step) — an arbitrary number cannot be typed.

A fixed value

For CUSTOM (DXF) parts the dimensions are shown in italics and cannot be edited: they were read from the file.

Materials and material groups

A part's material is constrained by its type. The type declares a list of allowed materials and a group name:

• A single-material type — the cell shows it as plain text, with no choice (a Back Pan is always Steel 1mm).
• A multi-material type — a dropdown of the allowed materials only (a Standard: Aluminum 3mm or ACM 4 mm).
• CUSTOM — any material in the project.

The Set group material… list is grouped by group name (“Exterior Panels”, “Back Pan Panels”, “Custom Group”) — one pick switches every part in the group.

What happens when you change a part's type

1. All dimensions are replaced by the new type's defaults — as in a freshly added row. The old type's sizes mean something else on another panel (a tray's D is not a plank's return), so they are not carried over.
2. The exception is a part placed by the grid (Grid): the grid recomputes its W, H, W2 and joint-linked angles straight away.
3. If the part's current material is not allowed by the new type, it switches to the first allowed one. If that material does not exist in the project yet, it is created.
4. The set of dimension columns is rebuilt around the types actually present in the list.

Small things that save time

• Materials with no parts at all are left out of the run entirely — you can keep spare materials configured in advance.
• If a part's material was deleted, the part is not lost: it runs with the first material that does have parts.
• Duplicate copies inner contours as well.
• Row order drives the numbering in reports and labels — drag rows to get the order you want.

Selection and ordering

• click the row number to select it; Ctrl/⌘+click adds or removes;
• a row can be dragged by any part of it and dropped onto another — the list order changes (and with it the numbering in reports);
• rows that failed to place in the last run are highlighted and carry an explanatory tooltip.

Importing your own DXF files (CUSTOM)

An existing drawing can go into the nesting as it is — no parametric type required.

1. Press Import custom DXF parts on the toolbar and pick one or several .dxf files.
2. The server reads each file, works out its extents and stores it in your import area.
3. A row of type Custom (DXF) appears in the Part List, named after the file without its extension.

The part editor and inner contours

The pencil in a Part List row opens the part's card with a live geometry preview.

The basic fields

• Name, Qty — the same as in the table, only easier to edit.
• Dimensions — every one the type declares; angles are dropdowns of permitted values here as well.
• Rotate 90° — force the part to be turned when nesting; with Texture it decides which way the grain runs along the part.
• Texture — the part is nested exactly as drawn, never turned. When Texture is on for the whole job in Sheet Settings it is ticked here already.

Inner contours (cut-outs)

Four cut-out shapes:

The DXF viewer

One viewer is used everywhere: for parts in the list, for files in the output tree, for object previews.

• 2D flat / 3D — the flat pattern or the folded part; 3D is there for parts made in the model builder (an object built by marking up a drawing has none);
• Dimensions — draws every Part List parameter on the part itself: W, H, W2 across the face, D, H1, RET… along the wall or return they set, angles such as ANGLEA 95° at their bend line — on the flat and in 3D alike, so you can see which number is which without guessing. The button remembers its state;
• DXF, STL, OBJ — save the part as a file: the flat drawing or the three-dimensional model (STL is binary, in millimetres). The same buttons sit in the Edit part window;
• Fit — fit the drawing to the window;
• mouse wheel — zoom around the cursor;
• drag — pan;
• on the right, the number of drawn entities.

Layer colours

Grid — the elevation layout

Instead of typing dozens of rows by hand you draw the façade: columns × rows of cells with joints between them. Every filled cell creates — and keeps in sync — one part in the Part List.

The tab appears once you press Grid on the toolbar.

How the panel size is worked out

This is the key rule of the tab; without it the numbers in the cells look puzzling.

• A column width and a row height are the module, measured from joint centre-line to joint centre-line.
• The panel in a cell = the module minus half a joint on each of its four sides. That way two neighbouring panels always leave exactly one whole joint between them.
• The outer boundaries of the elevation default to a joint of 0 — the panel runs out to the edge. They can still be given their own width like any other line.
• The default joint is 16 mm (≈ 5/8″); a fresh grid is 4 columns × 3 rows of 1000 mm.

Example: a 1200 mm column with 20 mm joints left and right gives a panel of 1200 − 10 − 10 = 1180 mm.

A joint angle and what it changes

• An angle on a line is the turn of the wall at that joint: 90 is an outside corner of the building, −90 an inside one, 0 a flat wall.
• The angle alone changes nothing in the panels. Which of a panel's dimensions follow it is up to the panel's type — the Grid block in the object editor (in JSON panel_type_spec.grid, see The object JSON format). A type without those settings takes only its size from the grid; its angles stay as typed in the Part List.

The standard types

• The result snaps onto the values the type allows (Min…Max with the declared Step). If it falls outside the range it is pulled to the limit and the cell's angles turn red — that is the “clamped” warning.

Corner panel sizes

A corner panel runs right up to the corner line: no joint is taken off at the shared line; half a joint comes off the far edges only.

Example: 1000 mm modules, 16 mm joints, outer boundaries with a zero joint. A corner panel in the second row over the two right-most cells: W = 1000 − 8 = 992, W2 = 1000 − 0 = 1000, H = 1000 − 8 − 8 = 984 — the cell reads 992 × 984 + 1000. The fold comes from the shared line; edge angles (if the type has any) from the pair's outer edges.

A panel is handed only the dimensions its type declares — anything else is dropped.

The top row of controls

Selecting cells

• Click — select one cell;
• Click and drag — a rectangular region;
• Shift+click — extend the selection to that cell;
• Ctrl/⌘+click — add or remove a single cell;
• click empty background — clear the selection;
• double-click a filled cell — jump to the Part List with that panel's row selected.

The second row of controls — contextual

It shows whatever is currently picked: either a joint, or cells.

Cells selected

The Top / Right / Bottom / Left fields set the joint for these cells specifically, overriding the default. An empty field means “as everywhere else” (the inherited value shows as the field's placeholder). Default clears the override.

A joint selected

What a cell shows

An ordinary panel

The type name, the computed panel size (module minus half joints) and the reference R1C1 — row and column.

A corner panel

The panel occupies both cells and covers the joint between them (none is taken off there); the size reads W × H + W2, where W2 is the second leg, with the fold angle below.

Extra markers: a small dot in the corner means this cell has its own joint override; red angles warn that a computed angle had to be clamped into the type's range.

Hovering a cell

The cell tooltip gathers everything known about it: Cell R2C3, the panel size in your units (or Disabled), the type, where each angle came from (ANGLEB = 135° from right line V3 (wall -90°), ANGLE = 90° from corner line V3 (wall -90°) or (default; line V2 is flat)) and the name of the created part; for a corner panel both legs as well: W 992 + W2 1000 × H 984 (no joint at the corner line). A line's tooltip shows its number, the joint width and the angle with the resulting panel angle.

What happens when you resize the grid

• Growing — new columns and rows take the size of the last existing column/row.
• Shrinking — cells and line overrides that fall outside are removed along with their parts; a corner pair that lost half of itself is split automatically.

Corner panel rules

• Only two neighbouring cells can be joined (horizontally or vertically) — the control stays disabled until exactly two neighbours are selected.
• The panel “belongs” to the upper-left cell of the pair; the second becomes its continuation and has no part of its own.
• The Corner panel… list contains only types marked as corner panels (Corner panel in the type's Grid block).
• A corner panel runs right up to the corner line — no joint is taken off at the shared line (see Corner panel sizes above).
• Split breaks the pair: the primary cell keeps its type, the other becomes empty.
• Placing a type in a cell (Place type…) automatically clears its Disabled state and breaks an existing corner pair.

How the grid drives the parts

• Every filled cell creates exactly one part, named after its coordinate: R1C1, R2C3…
• New parts are appended left to right, top to bottom.
• Emptying a cell (Empty), disabling it (Disable) or Clear all removes the matching parts from the list.
• The grid only rewrites geometry: W, H, W2 and the angles the type links to joints. Quantity, name, material, depth, other angles and inner cut-outs stay exactly as you set them in the Part List.
• Change a type's Grid settings and save it, and the grid's parts are recomputed as soon as the type list refreshes.

A full example

BOM — the bill of materials

Computed by the engine from the current parts list and refreshed on its own whenever you change something. No run needed.

How the table is structured

Rows are grouped into sections with orange headings:

The columns

The export buttons

• Export BOM — the whole table as a formatted Excel file;
• Packing Slip — the packing slip in your layout;
• Labels — the label sheet;
• on the right, the number of items, or Computing… while the engine works.

Packing slip and labels

The Packing Slip and the Labels open on their own tabs as the document itself — a white sheet you edit in place, then print or save as PDF or Excel. The same sheet, with placeholders instead of values, is the template.

Where they open

• After a run — when Report Settings → Packing Slip (or Labels) is ticked, the tab opens with a fresh copy for the job; the Packing Slip comes to the front. The Excel file is also written into the output folder, as before.
• Any time — Report Settings → Open next to Packing Slip / Labels, or the Packing Slip / Labels buttons on the BOM tab. No run is needed.
• The template — Report Settings → Edit template…, or the Template switch at the top of the tab.

The Packing Slip is no longer generated on a run by default; tick it once and the choice is remembered (see What Fabrication remembers).

The job's packing slip

The tab shows Packing slip for this job: your letterhead, the title with the job's fields (date, invoice, PO, job), the customer / ship-to blocks, one line per part and a total, notes, signature lines and a footer note. The Dimensions column lists every size of a part by name, e.g. W=600; H=400; D=25 or H=25; L=3000; R1=50; R2=40.

• Click any text to change it; Enter finishes a one-line text, Esc undoes the edit. The change is for this copy only.
• × removes a field, a block, a line or a signature line; + field, + block, + line, + column, + signature line add one. A total that was the column's sum follows the lines you add or remove.
• Click a column heading to move the column (◀ ▶), align it, make it bold or remove it.
• Regenerate makes the copy again from the parts and the template (your edits on it are dropped). When the template changes, a banner offers it.
• Print prints the sheet alone (the browser's dialog can also save it as PDF), PDF downloads a PDF, Excel an .xlsx workbook. Excel is disabled in the demo

Nothing on the editing sheet that is not part of the document prints: the ×, + buttons and the column bar stay on screen.

The template

Template shows the same sheet with placeholders in braces. Everything is edited the same way, in one place: the title, the letterhead, the fields on the right, the blocks, the columns and the notes. In the table, the blue row is what every part's line holds.

• To put a value in, click into a text on the sheet and pick it on the Insert bar: job fields — Customer, Ship to, PO, Date, Invoice #, Job name, Material, Total QTY; part values — Line #, Part name, Type, QTY, All sizes and every size code your types use (W, H, D, R1…). A placeholder can sit inside any text, e.g. Job: {job_name} or {W} × {H}.
• Total row (on the column bar) adds a total under the QTY column.

The tag next to the switch says whose template it is: this project's template, your default template or built-in template; not saved marks pending changes. For a company account the built-in letterhead is the company's name, address and contacts from DXNest ERP settings. A layout made in the earlier grid editor keeps working: its columns and fields are read into the new template.

Labels

The Labels tab works the same way: Labels for this job is a sheet of labels — one per part — each edited on its own or removed with ×; Labels across the page sets how many fit in a row. In Template you edit one label: its text lines (e.g. Customer: {customer}), the small table of fields (QTY, W, H…), the big number on the right and the name underneath; + line / + field add more. The buttons and the Insert bar are those of the packing slip.

What Fabrication remembers

A new project, and the next sign-in, start the way you left them:

• which reports and files a run writes (Report Settings) — for an individual account and for a company (shared by its admins);
• for an individual account also Sheet Settings — margins, frame margin, rotation, trimming, the materials and their sheets — and Profile Settings — the kerf and the bars. A company's sheets and bars come from DXNest ERP stock.

Opening a saved project does not change these: the project keeps its own settings.

Running a job

The Run button sends the document to the server: the engine builds the geometry of every part, lays them out on sheets and generates DXFs, CNC programs and reports.

The check before anything is sent

Before anything reaches the server the app validates the document locally. If something is wrong, the window opens straight away with the error and no job is created:

While it runs

The usual stages: preparing the parts → nesting onto sheets → generating DXF → CNC → reports.

When the run succeeds the app switches to the Nesting tab by itself, provided a layout was produced.

A successful finish

The files are grouped by kind: Report (PDF), CNC programs (.nc), DXF files, Other files. Each row shows the size, an eye for DXFs and a download button.

Warnings worth reading

When a run fails

Parts that could not be placed are afterwards flagged in the Part List with a ⚠.

After the run

Nesting — the layout editor

Whatever the engine produced can be reworked by hand: move a part, rotate it, delete it, bring one back from the queue, change the sheet format or the margins — and rewrite the files on disk.

The bar at the top

The sheet list

For each sheet: name, size, number of parts and which they are. A ×4 badge means this sheet repeats four times (the same layout, multiplied by the run quantity).

The unplaced queue

Everything that did not fit, or came back after a sheet was deleted, ends up here. The thumbnail is drawn from the part's real contour; next to it is the remaining quantity.

• click a free spot — drop one copy;
• drag — lay down an array of copies (as many as fit and as many as remain);
• Angle / Rotate 90° — the angle the copies are placed at;
• Esc or Cancel leaves the mode.

Working on the canvas

The magnet

While you drag, a part snaps to the right distance as soon as it comes close enough (about 8 screen pixels):

• onto the sheet's frame-margin lines — the part lands exactly on the edge of the working area;
• onto a neighbour's contour offset by the gap — leaving precisely the configured clearance rather than an eyeballed one.

Snapping is computed from the real contour, not a bounding box, so shaped parts nest tightly. The same magnet works when placing a new part.

When a move is rejected

• the part leaves the sheet's working area (sheet minus frame margins);
• its contour comes closer to another part's contour than the configured gap.

An invalid position is drawn red while you drag, and on release the part returns to where it was.

Rotation

• the ○ handle above the selected part — drag to rotate; with Shift the angle snaps to 15°;
• the Angle field accepts any number (normalised to 0…359°);
• R or Rotate 90° steps by 90°;
• rotation happens about the bottom-left corner of the part's footprint, as it does in the engine, so the angle on screen and in the program agree.

Arrays of copies

In placing mode hold the mouse button and drag: a grid is built out from the first copy. The step is the part size plus the gap between parts; the direction follows your drag. Only valid copies are laid down — those that would leave the sheet or clash are skipped — and the total is capped by the remaining unplaced quantity.

After hand edits

1. Edits live in the browser and are marked by a “•” on the buttons.
2. Recompute CNC rewrites the layout DXFs and machine programs to match the new arrangement.
3. Save project does the same (when there is something to recompute) and stores the project with its layout — after that it can be reopened without running again.

CNC — the machine programs

Shows the generated program for each sheet: the toolpath with its travel order, and the operation list you can reorder.

The bar at the top

• Material — switch materials; only those that produced CNC output are listed;
• a caption such as CNC Woodwork · 3mm Aluminum — the machine and the rules the engine applied;
• Edit CNC rules… — opens the CNC manager on exactly that material;
• Recompute — regenerate the program;
• Save project — write any unsaved operation edits into the .nc and save the project;
• on the right, the number of operations and the tools involved.

The toolpath preview

The operations themselves are drawn plus a travel line connecting them in execution order — so wasted rapid moves are visible at a glance. The sheet outline is drawn as a frame.

Single-point operations (drilling) are shown as circles of a nominal radius — a position marker, not the hole diameter.

The operation list

Save CNC rewrites the .nc with the new order and tool assignments; it is only enabled when there are changes.

The order of saving — important

1. Edits to the operation order and tools live in the browser until you press Save CNC (or Save project, which does it for you).
2. Save project first writes the pending operation edits into the .nc, then stores the project.
3. A layout recompute (Recompute) rewrites the .nc from scratch — every hand edit to order and tools in it is lost.

CNC machines, tools and materials

This is the brain behind the machine programs. You describe your machines, their tools and the machining rules for every layer of every material — and the engine uses them on every run.

The tabs

• Form — the ordinary editor with fields and tables;
• JSON (this material) — the same content as a file: handy for copying between installations;
• Guide — a reference for every field with a fully worked example;
• Import all… / Export all — a backup of the entire configuration (all machines and materials). export disabled in the demo

The machine

The list of machines, a field to rename the current one, and + Machine to add a new one: give it a name and choose its post-processor — a built-in one or one of yours. It starts with the current machine's tools.

Processing order

A machine's Processing order tab sets the order in which its programs machine a sheet — holes, engraving, grooves, open cuts and closed contours. Inner cuts always come before the outer contour that releases them.

• Start corner — the machine's home-side corner the nearest and snake strategies start from;
• Snake lane — the width of one row or column of a snake, in millimetres.

The material library

Shared by every machine. Each entry has:

• Name — for example 3mm Aluminum;
• Kind — Steel / Aluminum / ACM. The kind is what links a project material to these machining rules;
• Default machine — which machine to use when a job does not name one.

The tool library

Per-layer machining rules

For the chosen material × machine pair there is one row per layer:

Holes

A table of its own: an any (default) row plus as many “from Ø to Ø” rules as you like. A hole takes the first rule whose range contains its diameter; if none matches, the default applies.

• Rules are checked top to bottom — keep narrow ranges above wide ones.
• A new rule is created as a copy of the default, so you only change the diameters and the tool.
• Per-diameter rules have no speed of their own: they take the RPM from the drilling block (the Holes default row). The table shows a dash for that.

G-code blocks

Only lines with recognised words are synchronised. Changing a tool number (#) or offset register (H) in the tool library updates the blocks of all materials on that machine.

What imports and exports cover

JSON and Guide

Object editor — building panel types

The most powerful part of the application: here you describe what a panel of a given type is — which dimensions it has, how its geometry stretches, where holes are drilled, what its BOM consists of and which parts are made together with it.

The three columns

Left — the library

Your objects: display name, type code and the list of dimensions. × deletes an object, + Sheet metal part starts a new one.

Right — the preview

Two modes: Reference DXF, the source drawing you mark up, and Scaled preview, the result built at test sizes.

The action bar

Form / JSON

The form with its tables, or the complete definition JSON. Note: edits in JSON are used directly for Build & Preview and Save, but the form tables are not updated from JSON.

• Load DXF… — load the reference drawing (the part at its minimum size) that you then mark up;
• Import JSON… — load a ready definition from a file;
• Export JSON — save the object as Name.json. A model travels with its object_model, so Import JSON… on another account opens it in the model builder again; the button also sits above the Sheet Metal / Assembly tabs;
• Build & Preview — build the object and show the result;
• Save to library — store it; the type becomes available in the Part List straight away.

General Info

The mark-up sections

Seven sections follow. Each heading carries an ⓘ icon — hovering it shows an illustrated hint inside the program; they are reproduced here.

Reference Geometry

Shows what could be read from the drawing: how many contour points, holes, inner contours and grooves.

Parameters — the dimensions

Scaling Lines — how the geometry stretches

The buttons under the table: + Add Mark for a new row, − Remove for the selected one, Pick Line to enter line-picking mode on the drawing (pressing it again leaves the mode).

Variable Angles

Pick Angle asks you to click the three points in turn: A → B → C.

Hole Rules

BOM — Profiles

BOM — Details

Non-profile items: Sheet, Screws, Blocks, Sealant, Other. The fields are the category, the name (which may contain {name}), the quantity (an expression) and the unit.

Child Objects

An object can carry other objects — a galvanised inner sheet, say. The child is chosen from the library and its dimensions are expressions of the parent's.

Picking mode on the drawing

The Pick Endpoints, Pick Line, Pick Angle and Pick 2 Holes/Points buttons put the preview into picking mode: a hint at the bottom says what to click next, and picked points stay marked on the drawing. Pressing the button again leaves the mode.

Building a new object from scratch

1. + Sheet metal part — an empty form.
2. Fill in Display Name and Type Code, choose the materials and the group.
3. Load DXF… — load the drawing of the part at its minimum size.
4. Add the Parameters and mark their end points on the drawing.
5. Add Scaling Lines so the geometry follows those parameters.
6. If needed, describe the angles, the hole runs, the BOM content and the child objects.
7. Build & Preview — check the result at test sizes.
8. Save to library. The type appears in the Type dropdown of the Part List.

Working with JSON

The model builder — Sheet Metal tab

The second way to describe a panel type: instead of marking up a finished drawing you model the part the way you would in SolidWorks — draw the face, dimension it, fold the walls, add notches and holes. The flat pattern, the bend lines, the 3D model and the DXF are all worked out from the formulas. Open to every user.

Both live in the same Object Settings window: the tabs Sheet Metal, Assembly, Advanced and JSON. An object saved as a model opens in the builder; one made by mark-up opens in Advanced.

The builder window

The line under the sketch lists the gestures: drag a vertex, click an edge or a dimension, double-click a dimension to edit it, right-click for actions, Alt-drag to pan. Fully defined above the sketch means the dimensions are enough and the contour cannot drift.

The OBJECT card — the type itself

The face sketch: tools and menus

A right-click opens the menu of whatever is under the cursor:

When the sketch is short of dimensions or has too many, a list of problems shows over it (the first four); the newer of two conflicting dimensions is the one flagged.

Several parts in one object

The + next to the main part adds another sheet-metal part — a sandwich panel's galvanised sheet, for instance. It has its own sketch, walls, material and holes, and in the Part card:

Such parts go into the BOM and come out of the Part List's Export DXF as files of their own.

Eight steps: a panel type from scratch

1. + Sheet metal part → the Sheet Metal tab.
2. In OBJECT fill in Display name, Type code (short and unique), Material group and the materials.
3. PARAMETERS: add the dimensions the Part List will drive — W, H, D, and W2, H2, ANGLEA… if you need them. Each parameter becomes a Part List column; its Value is what a new part of this type starts at.
4. The face: Preset face ▾ (rectangle, L-shape, trapezoid) or Draw face point by point.
5. Smart Dimension: add the dimensions and type formulas into them (=W, =H - 2*D). Aim for Fully defined.
6. Sheet & bend: thickness, bend radius and how the flat pattern is worked out. Flange all folds every edge at once; for a single edge, right-click it → Add edge flange.
7. Cut-outs and holes: Add on a wall → Notch / Hole / Hole row / Corner tab, then click the wall on the 2D flat or in 3D. Check the part in 3D.
8. Save to library — the type appears in the Part List type list straight away.

Parameters, variables and formulas

PARAMETERS are what the Part List sees.

VARIABLES are intermediate values worked out from the parameters and referred to by the formulas (the equations table of Motion). Their order does not matter: A = 100, B = 90, C = A*cos(B). The Value column shows the current value at the preview sizes, err a formula error (hover to read it). A formula in any field of the builder starts with =. Units can go straight into numbers: mm, cm, m, in, deg, rad.

Walls (flanges) and the bends after them

A selected wall shows its own fields on the right.

How to add another bend line

Three different things go by that name, and each is done its own way:

Corners where two walls meet

Returns (the second and later bends) are always mitred 45° at a box corner, whatever the relief shape is.

Notches, holes and tabs — straight on the model

1. In the Add on a wall strip pick the kind: Notch (a slot in from the outer edge), Hole, Hole row (a run of holes along the wall) or Corner tab (an ear at the nearer corner).
2. Click the wall — on the 2D flat or in 3D, whichever suits. The feature arrives with the numbers of the spot you clicked; clicking the face itself adds a plain hole.
3. Any field then takes a formula: =W / 2, =D - 20.
4. A selected wall shows a grip on each of its features. Drag a grip (hold Shift to keep to one axis); click it and its field values appear beside it — click a value to type a new one.
5. Delete removes the selected feature.

Wall feature fields

Holes and marks on the face

Material and the flat pattern

Assembly — bill of materials, profiles and child parts

The Assembly tab describes everything that goes into the BOM with the panel: profiles (with their cut length and count), consumables (screws, blocks, sealant), time and direct cost, and child parts — the galvanised sheet inside a sandwich panel, for instance. A child part gets the code CODE_suffix and dimensions of its own.

The preview: 2D flat and 3D

Above the preview: the 2D flat / 3D switch, the part's name and the flat's overall size in mm, the Dims button, and on the right Export JSON and Save to library. The divider between the sketch and the preview can be dragged; the sketch column never gets narrower than the Assembly tab's tables need.

• 2D flat — the flat exactly as nesting will get it: outline, holes, bend lines (if switched on). The walls are shaded over it: all of them faintly, the selected one in orange. Clicking a wall selects it, and the feature grips, dragging and the values beside the grips work just as in 3D.
• 3D — the part folded from the very same flat; rotate with the mouse, the wheel zooms.
• Fit — fit the part to the view.
• The line under the preview: Previewed at W=…, H=… — the parameter values (their Values) the part is shown at; for an extra part also its quantity per object.
• A build error (a wall that does not fit at these sizes, say) shows in red over the preview.

The same 2D and 3D are in the Part List's preview and part-editor windows, where they can be saved as DXF, STL or OBJ (see Viewing DXF).

The 3D model

The 3D view builds the part from the very flat pattern the DXF gets. Every bend is drawn as an arc — inside radius the material's Bend radius, one sheet thick — and the legs either side stop where it starts, so a corner reads as a real formed bend, not two slabs butted together. With a radius of 0 (steel, ACM) the inside corner is sharp and the outside is rounded by the sheet's thickness. Hems keep their sharp fold, with the sheet laid back over itself.

The Dims button above the preview draws the object's parameters on the part — the face sketch's own dimensions, every wall and return length, every bend angle — each labelled with the Part List column it comes from. A wall whose length is a formula of one parameter (=D + 3.28) is labelled with that parameter.

Templates

From template ▾ lists the ready-made models with a line about each; hovering highlights the row and clicking opens that template in the builder as a new object (change the code so it does not shadow an existing type). The same menu can save every template into the library at once.

Recipes: the five classic panels from scratch

These are the exact settings the templates of the same name are built from. The numbers come from the working drawings, so the result matches the panels the shop has been cutting for years.

1. Standard Panel — the ACM tray

1. OBJECT: name "Standard Panel", code R, group Exterior Panels, materials Aluminum 3mm and ACM 4 mm.
2. PARAMETERS: W 600 (304.8…3000), H 400 (304.8…3000), D 25.4 (24…100).
3. Face: Preset face ▾ → Rectangle; dimensions =W across and =H up.
4. Sheet & bend: Thickness 4, Bend radius 0, method Bend deduction = 0.5, Bend line on (ACM is grooved).
5. Flange all: all four walls, Flange length =D, Bend 90°, Side Up.
6. Corners: Relief, Gap 0, Relief shape Rectangular.
7. Holes in every wall, all 14 mm out from the bend line: a Hole 20.5 from the start (mirrored to the other end), another at 51, and a Hole row between them spaced by the size table (Count by =W on the horizontal walls, =H on the vertical ones).
8. Assembly: one sheet, 16 screws, 4 shear blocks, the W1 and H profiles twice each.

2. Corner Panel

1. Parameters: W 600, W2 300, H 400, D 25.4 and the angle ANGLE 90 (15…165, ticked °) — the panel's fold.
2. The face is a (W2 + W) × H rectangle. To get a vertex on the fold line, right-click the top and the bottom edge → Split edge, then dimension the halves =W2 and =W.
3. Fold across the face: from the lower middle vertex to the upper one, Bend =ANGLE, Side Up, Deduction 1. The walls' V at the fold is worked out from that angle, so the flat is right for a corner that is not square too.
4. OBJECT → Grid: Corner panel on, Corner angle = ANGLE — the grid then places the panel over two cells and folds it by the wall's turn.
5. All six edges get a =D wall at 90°; the ones the fold crosses are mitred into a V for you.
6. Wall holes as on the Standard Panel (14 mm out; 20.5 and 50.5 from the corner, 55.5 from the fold, a table-spaced row between).
7. Corner Sofit Panel is the same object with two Marks 20 mm before the fold, near the top and the bottom.

3. Back Panel — a steel pan with leaning walls

1. Parameters: W 600, H 400, D 101.6, and the angles ANGLEA / ANGLEB 90 (90…150) — how far the left and right wall lean; 90 is a square wall, which is what the panel gets at a flat grid joint.
2. VARIABLES: SA = (D - 6.06) * tan(ANGLEA - 90), SB likewise for ANGLEB, LA = (D - 6.06) / cos(ANGLEA - 90) + 11.34 and LB.
3. Face: a =W - SA - SB × =H rectangle — W is measured where the walls meet the corner chamfers.
4. Sheet & bend: Thickness 1, Bend radius 0, Bend deduction 0, Bend line off.
5. Top and bottom walls: =D + 3.28, deduction 0.685, End chamfer Along 10 / Down 9.34, and four Notches 5 wide and 12.77 deep at 80.8 and 131.6 from each end, with the conditions =W >= 215 and =W >= 300.
6. Side walls: length =LA / =LB, angle =90 - (ANGLEA - 90), deduction 1.21, chamfer Along 6.61 / Down 9.34.
7. Each side wall carries a Corner tab 26.4 long, tapered by =max(0, ANGLEA - 90) and skewed by =min(0, ANGLEA - 90), plus a row of Ø4.7625 holes 20.71 in from the outer edge, at most 350 mm apart.
8. The lip: right-click each wall → Add a bend after the flange — 12.7 mm, 45°, in; shorten the wall's first leg by the same 12.7 (steel deducts 0) and the flat stays exactly as it was — only the bend is added. Stop the corner tab just short of the lip's bend line.
9. Ears on all four walls, so both close each corner: the side wall's ear from 2 mm above the bend up to half the depth (never below 28.4 mm), the top and bottom walls' ears from there to the lip, all 26.4 mm long. They then meet neither in the flat nor inside the corner. The top/bottom ear is skewed by atan(-sin(2·lean)/2) so it lies square on the leaning side wall. The template keeps these in the variables SPLIT, EWx, Rx, TSx, TKx, and an ear with no room is switched off by itself.
10. OBJECT → Grid: ANGLEA — Left edge, ANGLEB — Right edge, so the grid opens the wall next to an inside corner by itself.

4. Sandwich Back Panel

1. Parameters: W 600, H 400, D 127.
2. VARIABLES: DEEP = iif(D >= 86 and W > 278, 1, 0) — a deep pan has longer walls and deeper notches.
3. Face: =W + 12.7 × =H + 12.7, 1 mm steel, bend lines off.
4. Walls: =D + 5.29 + 18.75 * DEEP (top and bottom) and =D + 3.28 + 18.75 * DEEP (sides); the corner chamfers and notch depths go through DEEP too (=iif(DEEP, 24.49, 6.61) and so on).
5. Tabs switched by depth: =D < 86 and W > 278, =D >= 86 and D < 127, =D >= 127.
6. A second part (+ Part): the flat aluminium sheet =W × =H, 2 mm, suffix _al, its own material and no CNC.
7. The lip: right-click each wall → Add a bend after the flange — 12.7 mm, 45°, in; shorten the wall's first leg by the same 12.7 (steel deducts 0) and the flat stays exactly as it was — only the bend is added. Stop the corner tab just short of the lip's bend line.

5. Sandwich Aluminum Panel

1. Parameters: W 600, H 400, D 81, angles ANGLEA / ANGLEB 60 (1…150).
2. VARIABLES: LA = min(ANGLEA, 90), LB = min(ANGLEB, 90), and SPC_W / SPC_H for the galvanised sheet.
3. Face =W × =H, 2 mm aluminium, deduction 3.66, face share 0.5, bend lines off.
4. All four walls: =D + 12.84 with a two-step End chamfer (Along 14.08 / Down 16.53 and an intermediate point 1.92 / 12.16).
5. The side walls when the wall leans: length =(D - 5.52) / sin(LA) + 18.36, angle =180 - LA, and a row of Ø25 access holes 28.5 out from the bend, conditioned on =LA < 90 and D >= 50.
6. Face holes (Hole rules): 12.21 mm in from each edge, starting 50 mm from the corners, at most 304.8 mm apart.
7. The second part: the galvanised sheet =SPC_W × =SPC_H, 1 mm, holes 6 mm in from every edge at most 304.8 mm apart.
8. The lip: Add a bend after the flange on every wall — 16 mm, in, at 90° on the top and bottom walls and =LA / =LB on the sides (so it lies parallel to the face). Shorten the first leg by 12.34 (16 less the 3.66 deduction) and the flat does not change.
9. OBJECT → Grid: ANGLEA — Left edge, ANGLEB — Right edge: next to an outside corner the grid tucks the wall in under the face (45°).

Formed aluminium panels (the Fusion R1 / R6 / R7 drawings)

These five types are built from the working drawings of the Fusion system: 3 mm plate, press-brake bends (k-factor 0.44, radius 3), Back cut corners 6 mm deep, and the FUSDFPE10 frame inside.

The object (panel type) JSON format

Every panel type is one JSON file. The object editor's Export JSON writes it; Import JSON… and the API take it (POST /definitions/{name}, the objects array of /api/job, any .json with a panel_type_spec inside a /api/job-zip archive). This chapter describes every field and how to put such a file together yourself.

Two kinds of object

The top level

{
  "panel_type_spec": { "code": "MBP", "display": "My Back Pan", "dimensions": ["W", "H", "D"], ... },
  "object":          { "type_code": "MBP", "dims": { "W": "W", "H": "H", "D": "D" }, "profiles": [], "details": [], ... },
  "draw":            { "layers": [...], "vars": [...], "point_sets": {...}, "steps": [...] },
  "object_model":    { "version": 2, "spec": {...}, "inputs": [...], "parts": [...], ... }   // modelled objects only
}

panel_type_spec

grid — the Grid tab's settings

"grid": {
  "edge_angles": {
    "ANGLEA": { "edge": "left" },
    "ANGLEB": { "edge": "right", "reverse": false }
  },
  "corner": true,
  "corner_angle": "ANGLE"
}

DXNest cleans this block: unknown edges and names missing from dimensions are dropped, and a dimension linked to an edge cannot also be the corner_angle. A corner panel's sizes (no joint at the corner line) are worked out by the grid itself — see Grid.

object

draw — the flat's program (mark-up objects)

Writing draw by hand is awkward and risky; it is safer to mark up a drawing in the Advanced tab or to model the part. A modelled object's draw is generated entirely.

object_model — the builder's model

A part (parts[])

Values and formulas

• Any size field is a number or a string. A string starting with = is a formula: "=D + 3.28", "=iif(D >= 86, 24.49, 6.61)". variables and object.dims take no =.
• Formulas see every inputs and variables name; trigonometry is in degrees; there are min, max, abs, sqrt, pow, floor, ceil, round, comparisons, and/or/not, iif, and the units mm/cm/m/in/deg/rad.
• Names starting sm_ and sk_ are reserved for the compiler.

Example: a pan with leaning walls linked to the grid

A working model (checked through /sheetmetal-build, the preview and 3D): a W − SA − SB × H face with formulas in points, four walls with the side ones leaning, a hole row and conditional notches, and in spec.grid the angles ANGLEA/ANGLEB following the left and right joints.

{
  "version": 2,
  "spec": {
    "display": "My Back Pan",
    "code": "MBP",
    "material_group": "Back Pan Panels",
    "materials": [{ "name": "Steel 1mm", "class": "steel_1mm" }],
    "cnc_allowed": false,
    "grid": { "edge_angles": { "ANGLEA": "left", "ANGLEB": { "edge": "right" } } }
  },
  "inputs": [
    { "name": "W", "default": 600, "min": 150, "max": 3000, "description": "Width" },
    { "name": "H", "default": 400, "min": 150, "max": 3000, "description": "Height" },
    { "name": "D", "default": 100, "min": 40, "max": 200, "description": "Depth" },
    { "name": "ANGLEA", "default": 90, "min": 90, "max": 150, "description": "Left wall angle", "angle": true },
    { "name": "ANGLEB", "default": 90, "min": 90, "max": 150, "description": "Right wall angle", "angle": true }
  ],
  "variables": [
    { "name": "SA", "expr": "D * tan(ANGLEA - 90)" },
    { "name": "SB", "expr": "D * tan(ANGLEB - 90)" }
  ],
  "parts": [
    {
      "id": "p1", "name": "Pan", "suffix": "", "qty": "1",
      "material": { "thickness": 1, "bend_radius": 0, "method": "deduction",
                    "k_factor": 0.44, "bend_allowance": 0, "bend_deduction": 0, "face_share": 1 },
      "sketch": {
        "nodes": [ { "id": "n1", "x": 0, "y": 0 }, { "id": "n2", "x": 600, "y": 0 },
                   { "id": "n3", "x": 600, "y": 400 }, { "id": "n4", "x": 0, "y": 400 } ],
        "constraints": [],
        "dimensions": [],
        "origin": 0,
        "points": [ ["0", "0"], ["=W - SA - SB", "0"], ["=W - SA - SB", "=H"], ["0", "=H"] ]
      },
      "flanges": [
        { "edge": 0, "length": "=D", "angle": "90", "direction": "up", "enabled": true },
        { "edge": 1, "length": "=D / cos(ANGLEB - 90)", "angle": "=180 - ANGLEB", "direction": "up", "enabled": true,
          "features": [ { "type": "hole_row", "start": "40", "end": "40", "t": "15", "ref": "outer",
                          "diameter": 5, "spacing": "max_step", "max_step": 350, "ends": true } ] },
        { "edge": 2, "length": "=D", "angle": "90", "direction": "up", "enabled": true,
          "features": [ { "type": "notch", "from": "start", "at": "80", "mirror": true,
                          "width": "5", "depth": "12", "when": "=W >= 300" } ] },
        { "edge": 3, "length": "=D / cos(ANGLEA - 90)", "angle": "=180 - ANGLEA", "direction": "up", "enabled": true }
      ],
      "corner": { "treatment": "relief", "gap": 0, "relief": "rectangular" },
      "features": { "holes": [], "hole_rules": [] },
      "bend_lines": false
    }
  ],
  "assembly": {
    "components": [], "profiles": [],
    "details": [ { "category": "Sheet", "name": "Sheet {name}", "qty": "1", "unit": "pc" } ],
    "time_cost": { "cut_min": "0", "bend_min": "0", "assemble_min": "0", "direct_cost": "0" }
  },
  "engrave_name": true
}

1. Save the model to a file, say my_back_pan.json.
2. In the app: Object Settings → Import JSON… → the model opens in the builder (Sheet Metal tab) → check 2D and 3D → Save to library.
3. Over the API: POST /sheetmetal-build with the model as the body → take definition from the reply → POST /definitions/my_back_pan with that definition. Or put the finished definition into the objects array of a /api/job request.
4. Check the type: GET /panel-types should list MBP with angles and grid; POST /part-preview shows the flat.

Checks before you use it

• panel_type_spec.code is there and matches object.type_code.
• Every dimension the Part List or the API sends is in dimensions; angles have model_options (in a model, the "angle": true flag).
• grid names only dimensions; corner_angle only together with corner.
• A run is refused (422) for rows whose flat crosses itself at their sizes — the message names the row and the reason. Try the extreme sizes through /part-preview.

The project library

Your private store of projects. Only your account can open them.

Opening

Saving

The name is proposed automatically: first the name of the project already open (so saving overwrites it), otherwise the Job Name. Saving under the name of another project asks before overwriting it; in the save dialog, a click on a project picks it to save over. An edited nesting layout is stored with the document, so next time the Nesting and CNC tabs open without running again.

Uploading a file

Upload JSON accepts a project file you exported earlier. Every upload gets its own working folder, so two projects with the same name never overwrite each other's files.

The API panel: keys and documentation

The key button on the toolbar. It is where access keys are created, and it holds the full HTTP API documentation — everything another program needs to run production jobs in DXNest.

Access keys

1. Type a name for the key (for example CI server) and press Generate key.
2. Copy the key immediately — it is shown once and can never be read back.
3. Afterwards the list shows only the prefix, the date of last use and a bin to revoke it.

The built-in documentation

Ten tabs, each with working examples and a copy button:

A short endpoint reference

The key is sent as the header Authorization: Bearer <key> or X-API-Key: <key>.

Demo mode

The Try the demo button on the sign-in screen creates a throwaway account and takes you straight into the program. Every visitor gets their own account, so parallel runs never interfere.

How to tell you are in the demo

• a Demo badge next to the logo;
• a note in the status bar: “the PDF report is the only download”;
• the sign-out button reads Exit demo.

What works and what does not

Step-by-step recipes

Ten typical tasks from beginning to end. If you are not sure where to start, find the one closest to yours.

An order from parametric panels

1. Open project — reuse a similar previous project, or New project for a clean sheet.
2. Job Settings: Job Name, customer, date, PO; in Sheet Settings a quick Nesting depth.
3. Sheet Settings: check the materials, their Kind and the sheet formats; use Priority to consume the right format first.
4. Part List → Add part for each line item; type, dimensions, quantity, name.
5. Add identical items with Duplicate rather than from scratch.
6. Check a few parts with the eye button.
7. BOM — compare Flat Pattern W/H against your sheet formats.
8. Run ▶.
9. Save project to keep the layout and the files in your library.
10. Project Tree → download the DXFs, the .nc files and the reports.

An order from existing drawings (CUSTOM DXF)

1. Make sure the files have a closed outer contour.
2. Import custom DXF parts on the toolbar — several files can be selected at once.
3. Set Qty and Material for each row (the dimensions are not editable — they come from the file).
4. Check the geometry with the eye button.
5. Then as usual: Sheet Settings → Run → Save project.

A façade through Grid with a building corner

1. Switch on Grid on the toolbar.
2. Set Rows and Cols, then type the column widths and row heights straight into the grid headers.
3. Set Joint X and Joint Y — the default joint width.
4. Select a row or a block of cells and place a type with Place type….
5. Click the joint where the wall turns and set its Angle (90 — outside corner, −90 — inside corner). The caption beside it shows the angle linked panel edges will get and the fold a corner panel will get.
6. Panels either side of the joint whose type links its angles to the edges (Back Panel, Sandwich Aluminum Panel) recompute on their own — check the angles in the cells (red = the type cannot make that angle).
7. Or select the two cells either side of the joint (Ctrl/⌘+click) and pick a type in Corner panel… — one panel round the corner, no joint at the corner line, folded by the wall's turn.
8. Where windows go, select the cells and press Disable.
9. For individual joints, select the cells and fill in Top/Right/Bottom/Left.
10. Switch to Part List — all the panels are already there. Set quantities, materials and names.
11. Run ▶ and continue as usual.

Creating your own panel type — by marking up a drawing

1. Draw the part in CAD at its minimum size, with the contour and holes on their own layers; save as DXF.
2. Toolbar → Object editor → + Sheet metal part.
3. General Info: Display Name, a unique Type Code, Material Group, Default Depth, the Materials list, the CNC allowed checkbox.
4. Load DXF… — load the drawing. Check in Reference Geometry that the contour and holes were read.
5. Parameters: add W, H, D (and W2 and so on), enter Min; for each press Pick Endpoints and click two vertices on the drawing.
6. Scaling Lines: + Add Mark → choose Parameter and Axis, the type ray or segment, then Pick Line and click the edge.
7. Variable Angles — if the panel has a variable angle: Pick Angle, click A → B → C, then set Default, Min, Max, Step and Tag.
8. Hole Rules — for runs of holes: Pick 2 Holes/Points, click the two end holes, then set Max step.
9. BOM — Profiles and BOM — Details: describe what the panel consumes.
10. Build & Preview — inspect the Scaled preview at test sizes.
11. Save to library. The type appears at once in the Type list of the Part List.

Creating your own panel type — by modelling it

1. Toolbar → Object Settings → + Sheet metal part, the Sheet Metal tab.
2. Fill in Display name, Type code, the material group and the materials.
3. PARAMETERS: W, H, D and whatever else the Part List should drive.
4. Draw the face (Preset face ▾ or Draw face) and dimension it with formulas until it reads Fully defined.
5. Sheet & bend — thickness, radius, how the flat is worked out; Flange all, or single walls with their own angles and returns.
6. Add on a wall — notches, holes, tabs; check the part in 3D.
7. Assembly — profiles, consumables, child parts.
8. Save to library.

In full in The model builder, which also holds recipes for the five classic panels and for the formed-aluminium ones.

Setting up a new machine

1. Toolbar → CNC machines, tools & materials.
2. + Machine — the new machine inherits the current one's tools; rename it.
3. Tool library: + Tool for every cutter — number #, label, Ø mm, register H.
4. Material library: make sure the materials you need exist and have the right Kind.
5. In the Material block use + Add material… to attach a material to this machine.
6. Fill in the per-layer parameters: Contour, Inner contour, Grooves, Weep lines, Engraving — tool, pass depths, feeds, RPM.
7. In the Holes block set the default rule and, if needed, per-diameter rules.
8. Check the G-code blocks: the start block, the tool-change blocks and the end block.
9. Save. Subsequent runs follow these rules.
10. To apply them to an already generated program — CNC tab → Recompute.

Hand-tuning a layout

1. Open the Nesting tab and wait for the part geometry to load.
2. Choose the material and the sheet in the list on the left.
3. Move parts around; the magnet puts them at the right distance for you.
4. Rotate with the ○ handle or the R key.
5. Unwanted parts — Delete: they go back to the unplaced queue.
6. An empty sheet — Delete sheet.
7. From the unplaced queue: click a part, then click a free spot (or drag to lay an array).
8. When the layout is right — Recompute CNC.
9. Save project.

Your own packing-slip layout

1. Right panel → Report Settings → Packing Slip → Edit template… (the Packing Slip tab opens on Template).
2. Click the letterhead and type your company name, address and phone; change the title if you like.
3. Fields on the right: edit a label, remove one with ×, + field for another — click into its value and pick it on the Insert bar.
4. Columns: click a heading to move, align or remove it; + column, then click into the blue row and pick the part value (All sizes lists every size of a part).
5. Notes, signature lines and the footer note at the bottom.
6. Save as my default for every project, or Apply to this project for this one only.
7. Switch to Packing slip for this job → Regenerate to see it with the job's values, then PDF, Excel or Print.

Automating through the API

1. Toolbar → API access & keys → type a key name → Generate key.
2. Copy the key at once — it is never shown again.
3. The Full sample tab — download the ready bundle or the single-file request example.
4. Send POST /api/job with the header Authorization: Bearer <key> and the full document; "return": "zip" returns an archive of every file.
5. Collect the result when the run finishes.

Units, keys and small print

Units of measurement

Storage is always in millimetres. The selector in the status bar only changes how values are displayed and parsed.

Decimal inches

Fractional inches

In fractional mode every usual notation is accepted: 23 5/8, 23-5/8, 5/8, 23.62. Rounding is to 1/16″. Switching units does not change stored values: only a field you actually edited is written back.

Keys and gestures

Message reference

Every caption, banner and confirmation the application can show, with what it means and what to do. Find yours with the search box at the top.

Empty states — when there is nothing yet

Before a run

During and after a run

Saving and recomputing

Confirmations

Mode hints

Demo-mode limits

When something goes wrong

Glossary

Terms that appear in the interface and in this manual.