Custom Rigid Electronics Boxes
Custom rigid electronics boxes built around the device and everything that ships with it, from 100 units. A tray that presents the product first and hides the cable under it, a lid that lifts with a slow draw of air, and a construction that survives a drop test — because electronics packaging is judged against the best in the world.
The box every customer compares to the one their phone came in
- Board
- 1500–2000 gsm chipboard, wrapped in 128–157 gsm laminated paper
- Styles
- Two-piece lid and base, magnetic flap, book box, drawer
- Interior
- Device tray with cut-out, accessory compartment with cells, ribbon lift
Get a price for Rigid Electronics 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.
Layers: the device first, everything else beneath
The structure that works is a tiered interior: a top tray holding the device in a cut-out sized to it, lifted out by a ribbon or a finger notch, and a compartment below for the cable, the charger, the manual and the accessories, each in its own cell so nothing rattles. The top tray is what the customer sees; the lower compartment is what they find. Getting the device tray flat, level and a millimeter clear of the lid is the whole design.
| Phone or tablet | Two-piece lid and base, device tray, accessory well below |
|---|---|
| Earbuds or wearable | Small two-piece or magnetic box, flocked cavity, cable coil cell |
| Accessory (cable, case, charger) | Drawer or hinged box, single paperboard tray |
| Speaker or headphones | Deep two-piece or book box, foam cradle, manual sleeve |
The lid that lifts slowly
The slow lift comes from a close-fitting lid over a base with no air gap — the lid is a paper thickness over the base, and the air trapped under it has to leak past that fit as the lid rises. It is the same principle as the shoulder box we describe on our rigid shoulder boxes with a neck reveal page, and it depends on the board being flat and the wrap being even; a lid that lifts slowly on one side and fast on the other is a wrapping fault. For a box that needs a tamper seal, a tear strip or a peelable label across the lid line is added without changing the fit.
Electronics boxes are white by convention and white shows every scuff. A matte or soft-touch lamination keeps the box clean through the retail chain; an uncoated white wrap does not.
Protection, and the drop test
- The device tray holds the product still — movement is what breaks a screen, not impact alone.
- A cut-out sized to the device with a millimeter of clearance, in paperboard for a phone and foam for anything with glass on more than one face.
- Board weight of 1500 gsm or more on the base walls, which is where a drop lands.
- A shipping carton around the rigid box for transit — the rigid box is presentation, and the carton takes the courier; the relationship is the one on our mailer boxes with a fitted insert page, with the rigid box as the insert.
Regulatory marks, and where they land
Electronics packaging carries regulatory marks — the certification logos, the model and serial number panel, the barcode, the warnings for batteries — and they have to be legible and in the right places, usually the base and one end panel. We keep the lid and the front faces for the brand and the device image, and plan the regulatory panel on the base at artwork stage rather than squeezing it in after. A label area for the serial number is reserved so it can be applied after print.
Rigid Electronics 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
- 1500–2000 gsm chipboard, wrapped in 128–157 gsm laminated paper
- Styles
- Two-piece lid and base, magnetic flap, book box, drawer
- Interior
- Device tray with cut-out, accessory compartment with cells, ribbon lift
- Lid fit
- One paper thickness over the base; slow air-draw lift
- Seal
- Tear strip or peelable label across the lid line
- Panels
- Regulatory marks on base and end; serial label area reserved
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- The wrap is printed offset as a flat sheet and applied to the board, so the print quality is that of a sheet rather than a box.
- Color
- CMYK on the wrap with spot colors for a brand match. A textured or soft-touch wrap mutes a solid color slightly.
- Tolerance
- Board cut plus or minus 0.5 mm. Lid fit is set on a sample and held on the run, with an allowance for the delivery climate.
- Tooling
- No cutting die on the box itself. The tooling is the wrap print and any foil or emboss die, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- A food-grade liner or an inner tray where a rigid box holds unwrapped food.
- Sustainability
- Board and paper recycle together. Magnets, ribbon and foam come out first, and the spec says which the box has.
- 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 rigid electronics boxes on
A rigid box is two materials: the grayboard that holds the shape and the paper wrapped around it. The board decides the feel; the wrap decides everything a customer sees and touches.
Grayboard 1.2–1.5 mm
The light rigid box: jewelry, small cases, card boxes. Heavy in the hand for its size without thick walls on a small cavity.
1.2–1.5 mmGrayboard 2–3 mm
The full rigid box. Resists crushing, bends poorly — thickness is chosen from box size so a wide lid does not sag.
2–3 mmArt paper wrap
Printed coated paper, matte or gloss laminated. Full color, photographs, any design. The most flexible wrap and the least tactile.
128–157gsmSoft-touch wrap
A velvet-feel laminate over printed paper. Reads expensive, shows fingerprints on white, and scuffs at the corners before anywhere else.
128–157gsm laminatedLinen and textured wrap
Texture woven into the paper, so it cannot scuff off. Takes foil and deboss beautifully; breaks up a solid print.
120–140gsmLeather-grain and specialty
Embossed grain papers, metallics and colored stocks. One color and a foil mark, not a photograph.
120–160gsmFlocked and velvet liners
A short-fiber or woven pile for the interior and the insert. Holds a product without marking it and sets the color the piece is seen against.
Applied to board or foamMagnets and hardware
Neodymium magnets under the wrap, ribbon pulls, and hinges built from the wrap itself. Each is a line on the quote.
Per closureNot 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.
On a rigid box the wrap is the finish, and the corners are where it is judged.
Soft-touch wrap
Velvet in the hand. The category default, and it scuffs at the corners first.
Linen and laid
Texture woven into the paper; hides marks and cannot rub off.
Hot foil
Stamped into the wrap. Small block, cheap die, large effect on a lid.
Blind deboss
Shape with no ink. On a textured wrap it is the quietest premium mark there is.
Spot UV on matte
A gloss shape on a matte field; a pattern that only shows at an angle.
Colored liner
A wrap on the inside face, seen for a second as the lid lifts. The cheapest thing that changes an opening.
Leather-grain
Embossed grain paper. One color and a foil mark, never a photograph.
Ribbon and hardware
A pull under the product, magnets under the wrap, a hinge built from the paper.
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 rigid box, where the wrap is part of the wall: rigid electronics boxes
A rigid box is built up rather than folded, so the internal size is set first and the board and wrap are added outside it. The lid is then made to fit the base, and that fit is the thing people judge.
- Internal dimensions
- The product plus its insert, at the widest point. Everything else is built outward from this number.
- Wall build-up
- Each wall is the grayboard plus the wrap on both faces — roughly 2.5 mm on a 2 mm board. A small box gains noticeably in outside size.
- Lid clearance
- A few tenths of a millimeter. Set on a plain sample: a slow, air-cushioned lift, not a lid that drops off or has to be prised.
- Insert depth
- The tallest item plus 2 mm. On a two-layer box, this sets the total height and the ribbon lift.
- Humidity
- Board takes up moisture and a lid set snug in a dry factory can bind in a damp shop. We allow for the delivery market.
- Tolerance
- Plus or minus 0.5 mm on a rigid box, tighter than folding board because nothing springs back.
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 Rigid Electronics 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 rigid electronics 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.
Can you make the lid lift slowly?
Yes. It comes from a lid that fits the base by one paper thickness, so air leaks past slowly as it rises. It depends on flat board and even wrapping.
How is the device held?
In a cut-out in a top tray, sized to the device with a millimeter of clearance, so it cannot move. Movement is what breaks screens.
Where do the cable and charger go?
In a compartment under the device tray, each in its own cell. The tray lifts out on a ribbon or a finger notch.
Paperboard or foam tray?
Paperboard for a phone or a flat device; foam for anything with glass on more than one face or a shape that needs a cradle.
Does the box survive shipping?
The rigid box is presentation; it goes inside a shipping carton for transit. We size the carton to it.
Can it have a tamper seal?
Yes, a tear strip or a peelable label across the lid line, added without changing the fit.
Where do the regulatory marks go?
The base and one end panel, planned at artwork stage. A serial-number label area is reserved for after print.
White or a color?
White is the category convention and shows scuffs, so we laminate it. A color or black wrap hides handling and stands out on a shelf of white.
Can I have a magnetic closure?
Yes, as a flap-lid box with hidden magnets, which suits earbuds and wearables. The two-piece with the slow lift suits phones and tablets.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes. The hand-wrapping and the tray dies are the set-up cost.
How long does production take?
Longer than a carton — wrapped parts, a fitted tray and a fit check. We give a date with the quote.
Will you send a sample?
A white sample with the tray cut to your device, so you can check the lift, the fit and the drop before print.
Same range
