I think the common line stuff is for laser, not plasma. I’ve not tried deepnest.io with common line (parts share cut lines) but I don’t think that will work right on plasma.
Not sure what you mean about curves to segments.
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Curve is the term Affinity Designer uses for a path.
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I just have it setup to leave .125" to .25" between parts and seems to work well.
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Common line will work for plasma, laser has a kerf width same as us right?
The curve to segment comment comes from the deep nest settings description. It even shows an example of a circle with multiple straight lines instead of an entire arc.
I think that is the issue - the kerf on laser is much smaller and more precise. Try it - it may work. I leave spacing about double the .06 kerf I use - about .125 as @Fortifyfabworks mentioned above.
My laser kerf on 1/8" plywood is 0.007" - almost an order of magnitude smaller than the plasma.
If it’s going to make a difference, I expand the drawing object by half that so I get it cutting exactly the size I spec.
I’ve never tried using the common line before I just assumed it wouldn’t work with the plasma kerf width but even if it compensated for the kerf width and it gave you proper sized parts in the end how would you get a cut path generated for it. I cant think of a way I could get fusion to be happy with it, probably have a little more luck with sheetcam but I don’t use that very often so I’m not sure.
Hmm. My local laser guy told me his kerf on 16 gauge mild steel is about .031. Maybe it was a typo and he meant .0031? Hypertherm book specs show .029 for fine cuts at low speed.
If I was just doing artsy stuff or my firepits, I could totally live with a .015 difference in the size. Shoot, I could probably even absorb that in my bumper or battery tray design.
Probably not. Laser cutting steel tends to be in the .012 - .025" range. It depends a lot on the type of laser & the material.
Hypertherm has some of the best plasma cutters on the market. I’d bet that 0.029" is pretty ideal 
I’m having issues with uploading DXF files to Deepnest, hoping someone can help me out or give me some guidance. Issue is, when I upload a file only parts of the sketch are uploaded. For example I uploaded a rectangular part with holes. Only the holes were uploaded and were separated in different parts. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I had the same issue years ago this is how I solved that deepnest problem.
These days I use the arrange tool in Fusion 360 but that does not help a SheetCAM user.
Is the arrange tool available for the paid subscription only? I am currently running the free version.
yes it is only included in the paid subscription
Got it. I tried changing the settings just now and it did not work. Still had the same issue.
.75 Swing out hinge.dxf (15.6 KB)
What is the cost for deepnest? Is this something you can’t patter in fire control without wasting material?
@vmtwrx This DXF has several unnecessary lines in it
I cleaned it up and it nested without issue
Zero dollars it is available at deepnest.io
This part is prefect for patterning weather that is in SheetCAM, Fusion360( in Design or manufacturing ) or FireControl
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Thanks was curious wasn’t around my computer couldn’t look at the file.
@TinWhisperer wow this is awesome! So I did try cleaning it up in Fusion360 by removing the unnecessary lines. I saved that version and exported DXF file. I was still getting issues with only parts of the sketch importing into deepnest. What did you do after you removed the lines?
here is the settings i used in deepnest and the revised DXF file i made, try it on your machine
dxf test export.dxf (99.5 KB)
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The DXF you provided worked flawlessly. The one I exported didn’t. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong? I cleaned up the lines again and exported again.
test.dxf (13.0 KB)