Abstract: In an apparatus for spreading and cutting layups of sheet material pin mechanisms are distributed over the supporting surface of the table and include pins moveable between raised and lowered positions to enable selected portions of the supporting surface to be adapted, or not, to a spreading procedure involving the pinning of each layer as it is spread. The supporting surface is divided into sections and the pin mechanisms of each section are operated in unison by a control element located on the side wall of the table with each control element being aligned with its associated section of the table so as to be quickly and easily operable by an operator without the operator having to give great thought or attention to which pin mechanisms are operated by which switch. The pins passing through a layup being cut by the cutter are automatically lowered upon the cutter approaching the pins to avoid collision between the pins and the cutter.