Practical notes for metal fabrication and industrial piping.
BOM extraction, grade equivalence, cutting optimization: what we've learned building ConsoliBom, written to be useful whether or not you use the tool.
BOM extraction from PDF drawings: how it works
How automatic bill-of-materials extraction reads title blocks and MTO tables from PDF drawings, and why manual takeoff still costs fabricators time and money.
Steel grade equivalence charts: how to compare them properly
EN, ASTM, JIS and KS grades are never truly "equivalent." How to read cross-reference charts without getting burned.
1D vs 2D cutting optimization: choosing the right nesting approach
Bars vs plates, guillotine cuts vs free-rectangle packing, and which trade-off matters for your shop.
BOM consolidation: why the same part gets ordered three times
One physical item, described three ways across three drawings, becomes three purchase lines.
Reading isometric and GA drawings for material takeoff
Title blocks, MTO tables, item numbers, and the mistakes that trip up new estimators.
Run the calculation instead of reading about it
Price your next job on your own drawings.
Upload a drawing set, get an extracted and consolidated BOM with a cutting plan. Free tier, no ERP integration needed to start.