Custom Keyboard Boxes
Custom keyboard boxes with a cradle for the board, a well for the cable and a lid or sleeve that opens like a product launch — sized to your layout from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
A flat, heavy object with a hundred loose parts on top
- Board
- E flute white-lined presentation box; B flute shipper
- Builds
- Two-piece lidded, mailer with sleeve, tray and lid
- Cradle
- EVA foam, molded pulp or folded board; top layer over keys
Get a price for Keyboard Boxes
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.
Sizing by layout
Height is the keyboard at its tallest key plus 8–10 mm of foam or board above it. Send the board or a drawing with the tallest key marked.
| 60% / 65% | About 300 × 110 mm; a compact carton with a cable well |
|---|---|
| 75% / TKL | About 360–370 × 140 mm |
| Full size | About 440–450 × 140 mm; B flute recommended |
| With wrist rest | Add 80–100 mm to the depth or a second tray |
The cradle: foam, pulp or board
Our electronics boxes for devices and accessories cover the mouse, charger and cable cartons that go beside a keyboard.
- Die-cut EVA foam — holds the case at the edges, keycaps clear of everything; the enthusiast standard.
- Molded pulp tray — plastic-free, shaped to the case, lighter than foam; a cable pocket molded in.
- Folded board cradle — the cheapest, a corrugated frame around the case; fine for a budget board.
- A top layer of foam or a board sheet over the keys, so nothing presses on a keycap in transit.
Carton and the unboxing
A two-piece lidded box in E flute with a white liner, or a mailer with a sleeve, is the usual build. The lid lifts to the keyboard face-up in its cradle, the cable and any extras in a well or a small printed box beside it, a keycap puller and a card on top. Inside print on the lid liner is what gets photographed.
Keyboards ship with the keycaps on. The top foam layer is what keeps them on; do not leave it out to save a few cents.
Shipping a kilogram safely
The presentation box travels inside a B-flute shipper with 20–25 mm of clearance and a corrugated pad at each end. A drop on a corner is absorbed by the shipper and the pad; the inner box and the cradle keep the board still. Boxes are tested by dropping a filled sample, which is quicker than arguing about it.
Small runs and group buys
Keyboard brands run in hundreds — a launch, a colorway, a group buy — and the box is part of the product. The cradle die and the print are kept, so a second colorway is a change of ink and not a new box.
Keyboard Boxes — 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
- Board
- E flute white-lined presentation box; B flute shipper
- Builds
- Two-piece lidded, mailer with sleeve, tray and lid
- Cradle
- EVA foam, molded pulp or folded board; top layer over keys
- Sizing
- 60% to full size; height to tallest key plus 8–10 mm
- Extras
- Cable well, accessory box, puller and card slot
- Full color, matte laminate; inside print on lid liner
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. One side or both, with spot colors where a match has to hold.
- Color
- CMYK as standard. Uncoated and kraft stocks print lighter and warmer; a spot color is the only exact match.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, creasing plus or minus 0.5 mm, confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, made once and kept. Foil and emboss dies per artwork, also kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade board and inks where the carton touches food, with the interior left plain.
- Sustainability
- Mono-material board wherever the product allows; recycled-content and FSC stocks; no claim printed the pack does not earn.
- 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 keyboard boxes on
A folding carton is one sheet of board, so the board is the product. These are the stocks we run for cartons, what each is good at, and where it lets you down.
Natural kraft
Unbleached folding board. Warm, hides marks, costs least. Mutes color — one or two flat colors print well, photographs do not.
250–350gsm sleeves; 14–24pt cartonsWhite SBS
Solid bleached sulfate: bright, coated, the retail carton standard. Takes accurate color and every finish. Shows scuffs sooner than kraft.
14–24ptWhite lined chipboard
A recycled gray core under a white printing face. Cheaper than SBS and slightly duller; the back of the sheet stays gray.
16–24ptKraft-look coated
A kraft face over a coated inner. The natural look with a barrier behind it — the answer where oil, grease or moisture would mark plain kraft.
14–20ptRecycled-content board
Post-consumer fiber with a gray-brown cast. Right for outers and inner components; poor for bright whites and photography.
16–22ptMicro-flute E and F
A fine corrugated layer where a carton needs structure it cannot get from board — a large panel, a heavy product, a box that ships alone.
E 1.5 mm; F 0.8 mmUncoated and textured
No clay coat, or a linen or laid grain. Print reads softer and warmer; a deboss goes deeper. Photographs do not sit well on it.
280–350gsmMetallised and pearlescent
A metallic or pearl face for a shelf that needs to catch light. Costly, and it fights a photograph — a mark or a pattern suits it better.
16–20ptNot 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.
Every finish here is a decision about light on a shelf, not about luxury.
Matte lamination
Reads considered, hides marks, takes a ballpoint.
Gloss lamination
Lifts color; glares under shop lighting.
Soft-touch
Velvet in the hand; shows fingerprints in a bag.
Hot foil
Real metal leaf — the most reliable premium signal.
Emboss / deboss
Shape with no ink; works in the dark.
Spot UV
Gloss shapes on a matte field.
Uncoated kraft
Warm, natural, mutes color.
Textured stock
Texture in the paper; cannot scuff off.
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 folding carton so the die comes out right: keyboard boxes
Measure the product, not the box it is in now. A carton is built around what has to fit inside it, assembled — cap on, lid fitted, folded if it folds — at its widest point in each direction. Send those three numbers and say which is which.
- Length x width x height
- Internal, always. External dimensions include the board and are what the carrier measures, not what the product needs.
- Clearance
- 2–3 mm a side for a snug fit; more where an insert or void fill goes in. A carton cut exactly to the product is slow to pack and transmits every knock.
- Board thickness
- Heavier board takes internal space from the product. It matters most on small boxes, where four walls of 24pt is a real share of the cavity.
- Varies between batches?
- Glass, textiles, molded parts and cured soap all do. Measure several and build to the largest.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm on folding board. Confirmed on a plain sample before the run.
- Units
- Metric or imperial, as long as you say which. Mixing them in one spec is where mistakes happen.
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 Keyboard Boxes 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 keyboard boxes? 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 sizes do you make?
Any layout, from 60% to full size, sized from the board with the tallest key marked.
Foam or plastic-free?
EVA foam is the enthusiast standard; molded pulp is plastic-free and shaped to the case. Both hold the board at the edges with the keys clear.
Will the keycaps stay on in shipping?
Yes, with a top layer of foam or board over the keys so nothing presses on them.
Where does the cable go?
In a well beside the board or a small printed box in the same tray.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes.
Can the inside be printed?
Yes, and the lid liner is the part that gets photographed at unboxing.
Does it ship flat?
The carton does. Foam and pulp cradles ship as they are, and the box is assembled at packing.
Do you supply the outer shipper?
Yes, a B-flute shipper with end pads, quoted with the box.
Can it hold a wrist rest too?
Yes, with a deeper cradle or a second tray.
Do you drop-test it?
A filled sample is dropped before the run, which settles the cradle and the shipper faster than a drawing.
Can I change the color for a new run?
Yes, the die and the cradle are kept; a new colorway is a change of ink.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
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