Anyone tried the iPhone/iPod app Ambisaw?

[cronejp]

quickly:

I was looking for an iPhone/iPod app similar to the

commercial (and sadly, a little too expensive)

program called CutList Plus.

Came across something on the itunes app store called Ambisaw.

It -looks- like it might be interesting, but at $20.00 it costs

more than my "buy it and try it" threshold.

Wondering if anyone else has tried it?

(in case folks are wondering: its essentially a cutlist optimizer.

put in your cutlist, especially if you're dealing with a bunch of

parts you'd cut out of sheet material, and it tries to layout

all the pieces for an optimium cut pattern, minimum rips/crosscuts)

[PaulMarcel]

Looks interesting. I don't own it or use it, but there is a 9 minute YouTube demo someone put up showing off the features. It may give you a better idea of what it can do:

[iSawitFirst]

I played with a computer program in 1974 that did this. It computed the centroid of each piece and then arranged them relative to each other so that the distance from all centroids to each other was a minimum. Only in 1974 I was using it to design buildings.

[PaulMarcel]

I played with a computer program in 1974 that did this. It computed the centroid of each piece and then arranged them relative to each other so that the distance from all centroids to each other was a minimum. Only in 1974 I was using it to design buildings.

...and in 1974, the computer to run the software to lay out buildings required its own building!!

[iSawitFirst]

Got that right. I had to have special permission to use it and had to "keypunch" several hundred cards to make it work. Each card had to be perfect or else I'd get a "Death in the Family" alert.

We've come quite a ways since then.

[PaulMarcel]

I'm embarrassed to say that it's a picture of a PDP-11/34, which is what I learned on. In fact, if you got rid of the second tape reader, that was the same hardware (1 teletype, 1 CRT, 3 removable hard disks, and a tape reader). Fortunately, it didn't have a paper punch or card reader.

But not to get toooo far off topic... has someone used the Ambisaw app? It sounds interesting although I dunno about entering all that data via a screen keyboard. Maybe if you attached the optional card reader.

[cronejp]

I'm embarrassed to say that it's a picture of a PDP-11/34, which is what I learned on. In fact, if you got rid of the second tape reader, that was the same hardware (1 teletype, 1 CRT, 3 removable hard disks, and a tape reader). Fortunately, it didn't have a paper punch or card reader.

But not to get toooo far off topic... has someone used the Ambisaw app? It sounds interesting although I dunno about entering all that data via a screen keyboard. Maybe if you attached the optional card reader.

I sent Ambisaw folks an email asking a bunch of questions and I will post if they respond.

I suppose I'm marking myself as a noob, if I mention my first computer experiences

was on a Commodore PET with the original built in cassette tape, and the chicklet keyboard.

[cronejp]

I indicated I'd sent an email to the developer, I got a great response from him this morning.

So, I think I will be picking it up and trying it out.

A> a quick response from a developer, and

B> he's a real woodworker, and not just some guy writing an app in a hurry.

For other interested folks here's my email to him:

Hello.

Was looking on the itunes store to see if someone had

created a program similar to the program 'CutList Plus'

and I was pleased to come across your program.

(although, searching for "CutList" did not cause it to be found,

looking for 'woodworking' did... )

Some questions, as I'm sorry, but the $19.99 canadian price

point precludes me simply buying the app and trying it out immediately..

(please note: given that you're showing some interesting features

in an app that I can hold in my hand vs the rather high price point of

CutlistPlus, i'm not knocking your price point, its just your price point

is higher than my "buy it immediately" level..... )

A> is there a means to get a previously generated set of measurements

and import them into Ambisaw? lets say I've designed a set of cabinets,

and I have 20 or 30 pieces to prepare, i don't want to

have to fight with the little ipod keyboard typing in all those

measurements, especially if I've used something like sketchup

to build a component list.

A CSV or XLS import might be powerful.

Failing that: is there a way, once a cutlist has been prepared,

to email the dataset out of Ambisaw? (or to email it in?)

B> I didn't see anything in the ambisaw manual to allow

me to automatically factor for grain direction.

If I'm dealing with a plywood or hardwood, a material with grain,

I may want to define the grain direction prior to parts assignment.

If on the other hand I was dealing with a plastic coated particle board

material (melamine, phenolic coated plywood, MDF etc) that

has no grain, I may not care about how the material gets aligned,

and only care about optimizing cuts.

C> it appears that Ambisaw works with a single sheet of material.

Is it possible to have a long enough list of parts that Ambisaw would

automatically show cuts for multiple sheets?

If it supports multiple sheets, can I have different sized sheets, or is

it presumed that I'm always dealing with 4x8 or 5x5 plywood (for example)

(in comparison to, for example, dealing with a stack of hardwood,

with say, 6" wide, 8" wide and 10" wide boards )

Thanks for your program, and I look forward to your answers.

I work "full time" as a test engineer in a high tech environment,

and work "for fun" as a woodworking hobby, building furniture,

trying to finish my kitchen renovation for my long suffering wife,

and I teach seminars at Lee Valley Tools/Veritas, a

Canadian woodworking store, so I look at the potential of your

program with some interest.

His response, with wonderful detail:

Hi Jonathan,

Many thanks for your email.

On import/export:

At the moment there is no import/export of cutting lists but that is one of the primary things in mind for the next version (version updates come free in the App Store). One of our main activities is actually supplying online cutting list technology for cut-to-size services (e.g. www.cutwrights.com in the UK and www.wcl.ie in Ireland). I'm thinking of a 'AmbiSaw Connect' type facility where you can manage your cutting lists (editing, CSV upload etc) from anywhere online and then sync the lists with your iPhone. Your email is +1 for developing this!

On grain direction:

If there is a grain then it is assumed to run with the length dimension. AmbiSaw will never rotate parts off its own back so if you go with grain runs with length for the stock and the parts you'll get the results you want. If however grain is not important like with as you say MDF then the user can manually rotate a given part and the optimisation algorithm will run with that part rotated.

On multiple sheets:

You can up the stock sheet quantities so if you want ten 8 by 4 foot boards that's fine. At the moment AmbiSaw works with just one stock size (which you can set) and as many of them as you like. Hundreds of parts across tens of stock sheets is possible.

[...]

And once again I value your feedback and questions so please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best Regards

Andrew

Andrew Moran

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andrew@templatesbynumbers.com