26 → 5
Bars ordered
// Worked example
26 cuts. 3 profiles. 5 bars.
A reproducible benchmark of CADshift's weldment cut-list optimiser on the StairTower sample — 26 structural members across square tube, rectangular tube and equal angle, nested into the fewest 6 m bars. An illustrative worked example, not a customer story; every figure below comes straight out of the sample file.
// The input
One stair tower. Three structural profiles.
SHS 100×100×4 — columns — the vertical posts and main framing. The longest members, most sensitive to offcut waste.
RHS 150×75×5 — stringers — the angled stair stringers and landing beams; mixed lengths that rarely divide evenly into a 6 m bar.
EA 75×75×5 — 8 tread supports — short, repetitive cuts. Cut one-per-bar and you scrap eight near-full lengths of angle.
26 members, 6 m stock — cut each from its own bar and that is 26 bars ordered — the cost the optimiser exists to kill.
// What CADshift did
Bin-packing, in one click, inside SOLIDWORKS.
1 · Read the cut list — pulled all 26 weldment members straight from the assembly (length, profile key, material) with no manual re-keying.
2 · Grouped by profile & material — SHS, RHS and EA packed in separate pools, so every bar you order is buildable as printed.
3 · Packed into 6 m bars — a 1-D bin-packing pass fitted every cut into the fewest stock lengths, allowed for saw kerf, and reported per-bar offcut.
4 · Exported the schedule — a per-bar cut schedule dropped to PDF and CSV, ready for the saw operator and purchasing.
// The result
26 bars become 5.
SHS 100×100×4 → 2 bars — columns packed at ~95% utilisation, almost no waste on the most expensive profile.
RHS 150×75×5 → 2 bars — mixed stringer lengths nested to ~78%; the awkward profile, still two bars instead of nine.
EA 75×75×5 → 1 bar — all eight tread supports off a single 6 m length at ~93%; seven bars saved on this profile alone.
Run it yourself.
The StairTower sample ships with the installer. Open it, run Cut List, and reproduce these exact numbers. Free 14-day trial · no card.