Anyone here working with rigid boxes?

[Morganalex]

Hey all,

I’ve been messing around with rigid boxes lately, and I’m curious how others are handling them. I like the sturdiness compared to folding cartons, but I ran into a bit of a learning curve with finishing. Tried a few wraps, and the edges didn’t come out as clean as I hoped. Ended up doing some research and noticed companies like Lsx Packaging seem to specialize in this kind of stuff, which made me wonder if there’s some trick I’m missing.

What I do like is the premium feel rigid boxes give, it feels way more upscale than regular board. I even tested out a magnetic closure style, which looked great but was a pain to align properly. I came across a guide showing different styles and finishing ideas, which gave me a few things to experiment with next time.

Does anyone here have tips for clean wrapping or adding custom finishes without it looking sloppy? Would love to hear how you all are handling rigid box projects.

 

[chriscozi]

FYI - Many of the old 'Box Makers' are just gone or are going away - lock bottom corrugated have taken over the majority of the market.
The machines to produce them are being scrapped pretty quickly.
So get all the info you can as fast as you can from any old hands out there.

 

[Morganalex]

Wow, @chriscozi, that’s interesting and a little surprising! I didn’t realize that lock-bottom corrugated had taken over so much of the market. Makes sense, though, given how fast production needs to be these days.

It’s a bit concerning that so many of the old-school box makers are disappearing, and the machines are being scrapped. Definitely makes me think it’s important to soak up as much knowledge as possible from anyone with experience while they’re still around.

 

[chriscozi]

Well I have an example at hand of industry shifting to new tech via a good friend.
Remember the old wax packaged trading cards with a piece of bubblegum? I do.
Everything is plastic wrapped now.
So my friend started to build a business (20 years ago) re-creating wax wrapped cards and spent YEARS looking for either the machines or personnel who had experience or even to describe the machines. He made several trips to the US midwest plants where the cards used to be made and was told - 'those guys are long gone and the machines were scrapped decades ago.'

So he's created a whole new process, made his own equipment from scratch, and now has a healthy business. (SidekickLabs Trading Cards)

YMMV.