From the drawing to the machine.
A foam insert or a shaped board insert starts from a drawing: the customer's DXF, or one born in Cartis. Before you cut, the software checks the file, arranges the pieces on the sheet, works out how long your machine will take and produces the DXF to send to it. The cutting time stays in the job, next to the step.
Before you cut, the check.
Import a DXF or an SVG and Cartis checks unit and scale. In the archive it was born from, 728 files out of 1,002 declared a unit different from the real one: a mistake that, without a check, you only discover at the cutter, with the sheet already cut.
- Unit and scale: if the unit declared in the file is not the real one, the software flags it before going any further. You don't cut an insert ten times too small and only find out afterwards.
- Trays, cavities and dividers are read from the drawing and brought into 3D: you see the insert in its box before it exists.
- DXF and SVG: the two formats that come in from customers and design studios. You don't need a CAD system to open them: you open them in Cartis.
Numbered cavities, the cutting grid.
The foam sheet with numbered cavities and the cutting grid: every cavity has its number, and the number is the same in the 3D, on the drawing and on the sheet. The person cutting and the person assembling are talking about the same piece.
- Grid: the sheet's cutting lines, with their dimensions, ready for the machine.
- Cavities: shape and depth read from the drawing; in the 3D the object sits in its cavity.
- Measurements spelled out: the sheet's overall size, the cavities and the gap between pieces are read off the drawing, not worked out by hand on the shop floor.
The pieces arranged on the sheet.
When there are many pieces, or several different codes, nesting arranges them on the sheet with preview and recalculation. Each code has its own colour; the nesting column is ordered by study, material, pieces and calculation, so the command you need is where you expect it.
- Preview: the sheet fits the space it has, the piece detail scrolls separately; ‘Fit’ and ‘Enlarge’ to look up close.
- Recalculate when pieces or quantities change; while it is calculating, the change of section is protected, so you don't lose what you were looking at.
- How many sheets: nesting gives you pieces per sheet and sheets per job, the two numbers the quote needs.
| Code | Pieces | Per sheet | Sheets | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0418-A single cavity | 200 | 8 | 25 | calculated |
| 0418-B divider | 200 | 24 | 9 | calculated |
| 0418-C base | 200 | 6 | 34 | recalculating |
How long the machine will take, before you switch it on.
Machine time is calculated from the DXF with your plotter's speeds: metres of cutting per piece, pieces per sheet, sheets per job. For the guillotine the software gives the sequence of cuts. The time stays in the job, next to the step, and whoever is on the shop floor sees it before starting.
- The speeds are your own: they are declared per machine. Change plotter and the time changes, not the procedure.
- A number, not a recollection: no searching your memory for the time of a similar job done two years ago, and no asking the operator while they are cutting.
- On the shop floor: ‘0418 · Foam insert · 200 pcs · Plotter cutting · 42 min’ is the line that appears in the production queue, with the same figure.
At the end, the DXF for the machine.
The software exports DXF, SVG and PDF: open formats, which your plotter, the die maker and the design studio read with their own tools. Your drawings stay yours, and they open without Cartis too.
- DXF for the cutting table and for the die maker, with cuts and creases on separate layers.
- SVG for the design studio, with the shapes at the right scale.
- PDF of the drawing, to print for the shop floor or to attach to the customer's spec sheet.
Sample screens, with made-up data: the views are the software's, the numbers are not.
The same cut, seen from three desks.
Technical office
Checks the file as soon as it arrives, prepares the sheet with numbered cavities and sends the machine a DXF that doesn't come back.
Shop floor
Opens the ‘Plotter cutting’ step and finds the sheet, the cavity numbers and the expected time. When done, records pieces and time on the same line.
Estimating
Sheets per job and machine time are two numbers, not two guesses: the price of the insert is built on them.
Three things people always ask us.
What files does it accept?
DXF and SVG. On import, Cartis checks unit and scale; trays, cavities and dividers are read from the drawing and brought into 3D. The DXF that comes out is in an open format that machines read.
Does it work with our plotter?
Cartis produces DXF, SVG and PDF: the machine reads them with its own software, as it does today. Your plotter's speeds are declared once and feed the cutting time. Bring one of your DXF files to the demo: we'll import it together.
What if the insert is board?
Shaped board inserts follow the same route: checked drawing, 3D in the box, nesting and DXF for the die maker or for the plotter. The material changes, not the route.
Bring a DXF, we'll cut it together.
In the demo we import one of your files: check, sheet, nesting and cutting time with your machine's speeds. Twenty minutes, on site or by video call.