Grain direction and edges

Two fitting-trade concepts strongly influence the algorithm: grain direction and edge banding. This page explains how Panelgator handles them.

Grain direction

Grain direction is the orientation of the wood grain (or the pattern on a decorative melamine panel). When grain is defined on a material, Panelgator guarantees that every part of the same material will have a consistent grain.

On the material (Stock)

At the Stock level, you indicate whether the material has a grain direction:

• None — the panel is isotropic (plain white melamine, raw MDF, etc.). Panelgator can freely rotate parts to optimize the cutting layout.
• Length — grain follows the panel’s long axis (classic case for decorative melamine panels)
• Width — grain follows the short axis (rare, but possible on some species or drops)

On the part

At the part level, you indicate the desired grain direction relative to the part:

• None — the part has no grain constraint (default when the material has no grain)
• Length — grain runs along the part’s length
• Width — grain runs along the part’s width

When the material has a defined grain, Panelgator places the parts on the panel in the correct orientation to respect that constraint.

Note

If a part can’t be placed because of a grain constraint (for example, the part is larger than the panel in the dimension imposed by the grain), it will be flagged as unplaceable in the Results view.

Grain matching (Chains)

You can link several parts together to make the grain flow continuously between them.

Example: a cabinet with 3 drawer fronts stacked vertically (typically a pots-and-pans cabinet), where the grain has to continue from one front to the next to give the impression of a single panel cut into several pieces.

At compute time, the algorithm places these parts adjacent on the same panel, in the order you defined, to preserve grain continuity.

A chain can be broken by the algorithm if it doesn’t fit on a panel (cumulative dimensions too large).

See grain matching

Edge banding

Edge banding is a finishing strip glued onto a panel’s edge to hide the material’s core and give a finished look. Banded edges are shown on the cutting plan in Results and on exports.

Selecting edges

For each part, you indicate which sides are banded. Panelgator uses a 4-box visual selector (top, right, bottom, left). Click each side to toggle the edge on or off.

Banded sides appear in gold in the selector.

Tip

Use the ← ↑ ↓ → or Space keys in the selector to assign edges without using the mouse.

Impact on the cutting layout

Banded edges have two important impacts:

1. Edged-board mode

If you use pre-edged boards (panels pre-banded on one length — see Stock), Panelgator tries to place parts with an edge on pre-edged boards as a priority instead of full sheets, and aligns the part’s edge against the board’s pre-banded side.

2. Edge-band thickness compensation

If the Subtract edge thickness option is enabled (Settings tab > Cut), Panelgator subtracts the edge-band thickness from the cut dimensions for each banded side. The cut renderings show the subtracted dimension (cutting plan), the documents show the finished dimension (cut list, labels).

Good to know

• Grain direction and edge banding are completely independent. You can have a part with grain but no edge, with an edge but no grain, both, or neither.

What’s next

• Stock and materials — where to flag a material as having grain, and the panel types
• Alignment and saw kerf — other settings that influence the cutting layout
• Parts tab — details on creating a grain-matching chain