Custom Foam Inserts
Foam will hold a shape no other material can hold, absorb more shock per millimeter than anything else we offer, and arrive at a purchasing meeting as the thing someone objects to. Both of those are true at once, and choosing it should be a decision rather than a default.
- Grades
- PE closed cell, PU open cell, antistatic, cross-linked
- Cutting
- Die-cut, CNC routed, water jet, pick and pluck
- Cavities
- Cut slightly undersize for grip, with finger recesses
Get a price for Foam Inserts
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
The grades, and what each is actually for
The common mistake is specifying a soft PU foam for protection because it feels protective. Soft foam bottoms out under impact and passes the force straight through; firm closed-cell foam is what actually absorbs it.
| PE, closed cell | Firm, resilient, does not shed; the standard protective foam |
|---|---|
| PU, open cell | Soft and plush; presentation rather than protection |
| Antistatic PE | Pink or black; required against exposed electronic contacts |
| Cross-linked PE | Fine, smooth cell structure; the premium look and feel |
How the cavity gets made
For a hundred units, routing usually wins because there is no tool to pay for. For thousands, die-cutting takes over.
- Die-cut. A blade cuts the shape through the sheet. Cheapest at volume, needs a tool, straight-sided cavities only.
- CNC routed. Cut by machine from a file. No tooling, any shape including stepped depths, slower per piece.
- Water jet. Very fine detail and clean edges, at a higher cost.
- Pick and pluck. Pre-scored cubes the customer removes by hand. Cheap, flexible, and it always looks like what it is.
Cavity size is not product size
A cavity cut to the exact dimensions of the product will be too tight, because foam compresses at the cut edge and the product has to be pushed in. Cut it slightly undersize on purpose and the foam grips; cut it oversize and the product moves.
The right allowance depends on the foam density and on how often the product is taken in and out. A case opened daily needs a looser fit than one packed once — tell us which it is.
Add a finger recess beside the product. Without one, a snug cavity is genuinely difficult to get anything out of.
When card or pulp will do the same job
A great many products specified for foam would be held perfectly well by a die-cut card cradle or a molded pulp tray, both of which recycle with the box and cost less. Foam earns its place on irregular shapes, on genuinely fragile items, and on cases that get opened repeatedly.
We will quote the alternatives alongside it every time, because the comparison is the useful part — the trade-offs across all four materials are set out in our packaging insert notes.
Making foam look deliberate
Bare foam reads as industrial. A printed card cover over the foam layer, a colored foam rather than gray, or a fabric-faced top sheet all change that impression for very little money.
On a case that is part of the product — a tool kit, an instrument case, a sample set — that top surface is what the customer sees every time they open it, which makes it worth more than the outside of the box.
Foam Inserts — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Grades
- PE closed cell, PU open cell, antistatic, cross-linked
- Cutting
- Die-cut, CNC routed, water jet, pick and pluck
- Cavities
- Cut slightly undersize for grip, with finger recesses
- Colors
- Gray, black, white, colored and antistatic pink
- Alternatives
- Card and pulp quoted alongside on every job
- Minimum
- 100 inserts
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build foam inserts on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: foam inserts
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Foam Inserts in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about foam inserts? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is the minimum order?
100 inserts, cut to your product.
Soft or firm foam for protection?
Firm, closed cell. Soft foam feels protective and bottoms out under impact, passing the force straight through.
Do I need a cutting tool made?
Not for routed foam, which is cut from a file. Die-cutting needs a tool and only pays back at volume.
Could card do the same job?
Often, yes, and it recycles with the box. We quote card and pulp alongside foam so you can see the difference.
Why is my product hard to get out?
The cavity has no finger recess. It is a small cut and it changes the whole experience of using the case.
Does foam need to be antistatic?
Only where it touches exposed electronic contacts. Pink or black antistatic foam is a specification, not a color choice.
Soft or firm foam for protection?
Firm, closed cell. Soft foam feels protective and bottoms out under impact, passing the force straight through.
Do I need a cutting tool made?
Not for routed foam, which is cut from a file. Die-cutting needs a tool and only pays back at volume.
Could card do the same job?
Often, yes — and it recycles with the box. We quote card and pulp alongside foam so you can see the difference.
Why is my product hard to get out?
The cavity has no finger recess. It is a small cut and it changes the whole experience of using the case.
Same range
