Springfold Paper/All plans/Printable templates/2026-08
Scored Gift Box Tray: A One-Piece Net at 250 gsm
The whole template is one cross-shaped net that prints on a single A4 sheet and folds in about six minutes. Three things decide whether it looks bought or home-made: print scale, scoring before cutting, and glue applied to the tab and not the panel.
Print at 100%, and check the calibration square first
Every printable net here carries a 50 mm calibration square in the corner. Print the page, measure that square with a steel rule, and only start cutting if it reads 50 mm. Most printers default to fit-to-page, which scales this net to about 94% and produces a box whose lid is 7 mm too small — the most common reason a printed box will not close.
Print on 250 gsm card with the rear feed down and the top tray empty. A top-load tray bends 250 gsm through a 90° turn and leaves a visible roller mark across the middle of the largest panel.
Score every line before the knife comes out
Run the bone folder along all four base creases and both lid rails, on the printed side for the mountains and on the back for the valleys. Scoring after cutting lets the panel edges spread and the crease lands 1 mm off, which on a 45 mm wall is visible as a lid that sits crooked.
Score the two lid rails 12 mm in from the top edge rather than at the edge itself. The rail is what gives the folded box its rigidity at the rim; scoring at the very edge just folds the print over and the box goes floppy.
Cut the outside in one pass, the notches in two
Cut the outer contour with the rule and a single firm pass. The thumb notches — four 6 mm half-circles on the lid rails — need two passes each because the blade has to change direction inside a small radius. Trying to do them in one continuous cut leaves a step where the blade stopped.
Cut the notches on the discard side of the line, so the notch ends up 6 mm rather than 7. Notches that are too big look like damage; too small and the lid cannot be lifted.
Glue the tabs, fold the rails, and clip rather than squeeze
Fold the four walls up first without glue and check the corners meet. Then glue the inside face of each tab — not the panel — and bring the wall over it. Glue on the panel squeezes out onto the printed face, where it dries as a shiny patch that cannot be removed.
Fold the two lid rails inward last, then clip all four corners for five minutes. The lid of this box is the base of the same net folded at the 12 mm rail, so a corner that has not been clipped will spring open the moment the box is picked up by the lid.
Specification
| Box | 120 × 80 × 45 mm base, 100 mm deep lid version 30 mm |
|---|---|
| Sheet | One A4 per box at 100% scale |
| Card | 250 gsm — below 200 gsm the corners go soft, above 300 gsm it cracks on the fold |
| Blank size | 200 × 170 mm including tabs and lid rails |
| Working time | 25 minutes including six minutes of folding |
| Blank size | 226 x 186 mm |
| Pieces | 1 |
| Assembled | 120 x 80 x 45 mm |
Fold order
| Line | Kind | Angle |
|---|---|---|
| Four base creases, mountain, so the printed side stays outside | mountain | 90° |
| Two lid rails, valley, 12 mm in from the top edge | valley | 90° |
| All four glue tabs, valley, 8 mm | valley | 90° |
Cut list
- One-piece cross net, 120 × 80 × 45 mm base
- Two 12 mm lid rails cut 118 mm long
- One sleeve band, 340 × 48 mm, for the closed version
- Four 6 mm thumb notches on the lid rails
Check the plan against the object
What goes wrong
- Printing in fit-to-page mode, which scales the net to about 94% and stops the lid closing.
- Scoring after cutting, so every crease lands 1 mm out and the walls stand crooked.
- Gluing the panel instead of the tab, which leaves a permanent shiny mark on the printed face.
Keep it clean
- Store the box flat until it is needed. A folded box stored assembled loses its crisp edges within about a fortnight.
- 250 gsm card does not like humidity; the corners go soft before anything else. Keep templates in a sealed bag.
- If a crease cracks the print, wipe the fold line with a barely damp cloth before re-folding — the moisture relaxes the ink film.
Also in this section
- Leporello Card: 630 mm, Six Panels, One Fold Rule — 2026-09-02 · 55 min
- Cone Treat Pouch: One A4, Twenty Minutes — 2026-09-17 · 20 min
- Index Card File Holder: A 300 gsm Box That Stays Upright — 2026-09-26 · 45 min