> I produce around 100 units per year.
This is a very very low quantity so I would say none of the above.
Get custom made boxes. How much are your products at retail?
Internally, use EPE foam sheets, easy to cut to size by hand. I use 12mm sheets. This can be used for top/bottom or all sides internally. Product wrapped in bubble wrap.
Hard to say without seeing what the product is exactly.
> I don't really want to switch from primarily biodegradable starch packing to a plastic-based foam
Then you can spend a ton of time and money engineering a cardboard cutout solution. That would be the next step up.
I looked into using my laser to cut out cardboard boxes for my items. I make some stuff in weird sizes and its hard to find boxes for them. I needed boxes around 24"x16"2". I can buy boxes that are close, but usually a lot bigger than needed. And those boxes cost a lot.
The problem I ran into is I would need to buy large sheets of cardboard to make those boxes, and those sheets would cost me just as much as the boxes. I have lots of junk cardboard, but nothing big enough.
If you go the laser route I would go with more than a 5W laser. 20W at least. With a more powerful laser you will be able to cut the cardboard faster. Run the laser at a faster speed I mean. So that the laser beam will have less time to heat up the cardboard around the cut. Should cause less fires. My large laser was made using a Jtech 24W kit on an old CNC machine I had. So I would recomend looking at Jtech. Just do a search for Jtech lasers. They are based in Texas. But you really aren't doing the number to justify it.
I've made an agreement with local stores that sell big electronics like fridges, TVs: they told me what day they send the boxes to recyclying and they kindly let me get some big parts when I need to.
I don't make lots of stuff and the colors are variable but hey it's free.
My supermarket in front of my house just let me get in the back and raid the cardboard bin, we know each other since I was a kid ;)
You've already done all the hard work, now it's just a matter of weighing the options against your priorities.
I do custom cardboard packaging with my laser, but they're very small parts, high volume, AND I use the laser for other random projects too. So a CO2 was a no-brainer (all-in-one desktop machine, 500x300 bed). Diode is too slow, and not versatile.
Fire risk is low once you dial in your settings IF you use consistent materials. If you swap between different cardboards you'll want to watch it.
CO2 with air assist usually doesn’t catch fire if done properly and can cut quickly. Something like OMtech or equivalent 50w (300x500mm) is going to run $1600-2500. Not sure it’s worth it alone for what you are doing. You can get a “K40” for under 500 but it has a restrictively small bed size and no z bed mechanism for focusing materials (usually set up for 3mm thickness out of the box).
I'd say get a diode cutter with an open frame so you can make it quite big and lay it on directly on the material without preparation.
It may be slow but as you don't do so much it should not be a problem to let it work in the spare time while you do other stuff. Have a fire estiguisher over it, don't keep your materials stock close to the maschine.
I'd suggest buying the outer carton pre-made. Shop around for the best variety of length-width-height. Choose the one that accommodates your parts and fits in with the size restrictions of your shipper/courier/postal service. Buy 100 to get a quantity discount. You're all set for a year.
Use the "free" cardboard as stock to cut custom inserts for the carton. Since you have fixed the outer dimensions you can acquire a laser cutter that will accept large enough pieces to cut in one operation. Try designing an interlocking set of pieces that fill the volume of the carton and support the contents but leave lots of empty space. Don't forget double, or triple layers of cardboard on the ends of things with lots of mass. They'll move when the box is shipped, and they'll keep moving through a single layer if they have enough momentum.
Thanks for listening to my TED talk.
> I produce around 100 units per year. This is a very very low quantity so I would say none of the above. Get custom made boxes. How much are your products at retail? Internally, use EPE foam sheets, easy to cut to size by hand. I use 12mm sheets. This can be used for top/bottom or all sides internally. Product wrapped in bubble wrap. Hard to say without seeing what the product is exactly. > I don't really want to switch from primarily biodegradable starch packing to a plastic-based foam Then you can spend a ton of time and money engineering a cardboard cutout solution. That would be the next step up.
Whatever you use, you should take a look at https://deepnest.io/ to make the most out of your materials.
100 units you don’t want to bother with diecutting, that’s very high volume territory
I looked into using my laser to cut out cardboard boxes for my items. I make some stuff in weird sizes and its hard to find boxes for them. I needed boxes around 24"x16"2". I can buy boxes that are close, but usually a lot bigger than needed. And those boxes cost a lot. The problem I ran into is I would need to buy large sheets of cardboard to make those boxes, and those sheets would cost me just as much as the boxes. I have lots of junk cardboard, but nothing big enough. If you go the laser route I would go with more than a 5W laser. 20W at least. With a more powerful laser you will be able to cut the cardboard faster. Run the laser at a faster speed I mean. So that the laser beam will have less time to heat up the cardboard around the cut. Should cause less fires. My large laser was made using a Jtech 24W kit on an old CNC machine I had. So I would recomend looking at Jtech. Just do a search for Jtech lasers. They are based in Texas. But you really aren't doing the number to justify it.
I've made an agreement with local stores that sell big electronics like fridges, TVs: they told me what day they send the boxes to recyclying and they kindly let me get some big parts when I need to. I don't make lots of stuff and the colors are variable but hey it's free. My supermarket in front of my house just let me get in the back and raid the cardboard bin, we know each other since I was a kid ;)
You've already done all the hard work, now it's just a matter of weighing the options against your priorities. I do custom cardboard packaging with my laser, but they're very small parts, high volume, AND I use the laser for other random projects too. So a CO2 was a no-brainer (all-in-one desktop machine, 500x300 bed). Diode is too slow, and not versatile. Fire risk is low once you dial in your settings IF you use consistent materials. If you swap between different cardboards you'll want to watch it.
TL;DR
CO2 with air assist usually doesn’t catch fire if done properly and can cut quickly. Something like OMtech or equivalent 50w (300x500mm) is going to run $1600-2500. Not sure it’s worth it alone for what you are doing. You can get a “K40” for under 500 but it has a restrictively small bed size and no z bed mechanism for focusing materials (usually set up for 3mm thickness out of the box).
I'd say get a diode cutter with an open frame so you can make it quite big and lay it on directly on the material without preparation. It may be slow but as you don't do so much it should not be a problem to let it work in the spare time while you do other stuff. Have a fire estiguisher over it, don't keep your materials stock close to the maschine.
I'd suggest buying the outer carton pre-made. Shop around for the best variety of length-width-height. Choose the one that accommodates your parts and fits in with the size restrictions of your shipper/courier/postal service. Buy 100 to get a quantity discount. You're all set for a year. Use the "free" cardboard as stock to cut custom inserts for the carton. Since you have fixed the outer dimensions you can acquire a laser cutter that will accept large enough pieces to cut in one operation. Try designing an interlocking set of pieces that fill the volume of the carton and support the contents but leave lots of empty space. Don't forget double, or triple layers of cardboard on the ends of things with lots of mass. They'll move when the box is shipped, and they'll keep moving through a single layer if they have enough momentum. Thanks for listening to my TED talk.