What KerfCraft checks and what you must check

KerfCraft helps you draft a design and its cut list. It is not an engineering service or a manufacturing service. Every cut list, cutting plan and workshop pack says the same thing. It says: "Check every dimension against your own measurements before cutting." This page explains why, and what the label "needs extra checking" means.

What the tests cover#

KerfCraft has independent tests for many of the numbers that it gives you. An independent test compares the output with a number that a person calculated by hand, or took from a specification. The test does not read the expected number back from the code. Thus a mistake in the code makes the test fail.

The tests cover, for example, these parts of the app:

• The parts of a carcass: sides, top, bottom, dividers, shelves, backs, doors and drawer boxes.
• The joints, grooves, shelf-pin holes, hinge cups and handle holes that a carcass generator makes.
• Stud frames with openings, joists with trimmed openings, and timber stairs with a straight flight.
• Mitred timber: the long point, the short point and the blank to cut.
• Mouldings, edge profiles, scribed parts and mirrored parts.
• The cutting plan: the margins, the kerf, the end trim, the grain, and each part placed one time.
• The parts that the bill of materials tells you to buy, for example sheets, boards, hinges and drawer runners.
• The same size for a part in the cut list, the DXF file and the workshop drawing.

A test that passes is not a guarantee. A test only examines the cases that it contains.

What "needs extra checking" means#

Some parts are outside the tests. KerfCraft labels each of these parts "needs extra checking" and gives the reason. The label shows in the cut list, the bill of materials, the workshop pack and the DXF file.

Some reasons for the label are:

• A unit sized like an IKEA unit. KerfCraft makes it from published IKEA dimensions, not from IKEA drawings.
• A generated part whose position, rotation, material, section or drilling you changed by hand. The generator no longer controls that part.
• A turned or tapered part. The cut list gives the square blank, and you shape the part from the drawing.
• A custom edge profile, a custom moulding or a timber section that you measured.
• Winder treads and landings on a stair.
• Glass. You order glass to size, because you cannot cut it in the workshop.
• A cut-out for a sink or a hob. KerfCraft uses a typical size, not the size of the appliance that you buy.

What you must check#

You are responsible for what you cut, make and install. Before you buy material or cut a part, measure the room or the space yourself. Compare each dimension in the cut list with your own measurements. Examine each part that needs extra checking, and the reason that KerfCraft gives. Also examine the Warnings tab in the manufacturing panel. Export a cut list shows where to find these.

Structure and regulations#

KerfCraft does not check that a structure is strong enough. It does not check that a design obeys Building Regulations or planning rules. Some features give advice, for example the shelf sag advice and the checks on room sizes and stairs. This advice does not replace an architect or a structural engineer.