Acrylic sheet yield calculator

How this works

Along any edge, the number of parts that fit is the usable length plus one gap, divided by the part size plus one gap, rounded down. On a 48 in. edge with 12 in. parts and a 0.25 in. gap, that's (48 + 0.25) ÷ (12 + 0.25) = 3.9, so 3 parts. Four 12 in. parts would fit only with no gap at all.

The calculator tries several layouts and keeps the one with the most parts:

• every part the same way;
• every part turned 90°;
• some rows one way, then the leftover strip filled with parts turned the other way;
• the same idea in columns.

For example, 10 × 14 in. parts on a 48 × 96 in. sheet with a 0.25 in. gap: all one way gives 4 × 6 = 24, all turned gives 3 × 9 = 27, and a mix of rows gives 28 per sheet, about 85% of the sheet. 40 parts need 2 sheets.

Material use is the area of your parts divided by the area of the sheets. The full-sheet figure is for one packed sheet; the order figure includes the unused part of the last sheet.

This handles rectangles of one size. Real nesting software can fit irregular shapes into each other's gaps and mix sizes, so for curved or odd-shaped parts the true yield is often better. It also ignores grain: acrylic has none, so parts can be turned freely, unless they're printed or have a brushed or patterned surface.

Ordering from us, you pay for your parts rather than whole sheets: put your sizes or drawing into the instant quote, or see acrylic cut to size. For the sheet sizes acrylic comes in, read standard acrylic sheet sizes, and for how much the cut itself removes, acrylic laser kerf.