Box Dieline Generator (tuck box, pillow box, gift box)
Printable and cuttable box templates with cut and fold lines for Cricut, Silhouette and lasers.
How it works
Make a folding box template at your exact size: reverse tuck-end box, pillow box, two-piece gift box (base and lid), pyramid or sleeve. Cut lines and fold lines sit on separate layers (or fold lines become perforations), the board thickness is added at the folds, and you get layered SVG and DXF for cutting machines plus a 1:1 PDF with a scale bar, tiled onto A4/Letter when the net is larger.
- Each net is a tree of panels joined by fold lines. Panels between two folds are one board thickness larger than the inside size (L + t, W + t, H + t), so the box closes around its contents. The cut outline is the boundary of the union of all panels; fold lines are the hinges between them.
- Reverse tuck-end: four walls and a glue flap, the top lid on the back and the bottom lid on the front, rounded tuck flaps and tapered dust flaps. Gift box: base and lid trays with corner flaps; the lid is sized to slip over the base (inside = base outside + 1 mm). Pyramid: faces fold up by 180° − atan(height ÷ half base); glue flaps fold by the angle between the neighbouring face normals. Pillow box: curved ends are circular arcs with the given curve depth (sagitta).
- The 3-D preview folds the same panel tree about every hinge (Rodrigues rotation), so the preview also checks the net. The pillow preview is illustrative.
- Fold lines go to a blue score layer (Cricut: set the layer to Score and attach it; Silhouette: cut by line colour; laser: low-power pass), or become 4 mm cuts with 2 mm bridges on the cut layer. SVG files use millimetres (width/height in mm, 1 user unit = 1 mm) with one group per layer: cut (red #e4002b), score (blue #0067c5), engrave (black) and labels (grey). DXF R12 uses the same layers, millimetres, y up.
Templates are starting points: make one test box from scrap card before cutting a batch, and check the print scale with the 10 cm scale bar. Laser cutters and CNC routers can start fires and release harmful fumes: never leave the machine unattended, use extraction, and never cut PVC, vinyl or other chlorine-containing plastics. Sizes, kerf and fit are starting points — check them with a test cut and follow your machine maker's safety rules.
Sources
- ECMA Code of Folding Carton Styles (style names such as reverse tuck end; no dielines copied) (European Carton Makers Association)
- Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1, Second Edition — paths and units (W3C)
- AutoCAD DXF Reference — R12 entities POLYLINE, VERTEX, TEXT and the LAYER table (Autodesk)
- ISO 32000-1:2008 Document management — Portable document format (PDF 1.7) (Adobe / ISO)
Part of Kerfwise
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Kerfwise Cabinet & furniture CAD
Design cabinets and furniture, get cut lists, optimised sheet layouts, costs and drawings.
How to use the Box Dieline Generator
Make a tuck box, pillow box, gift box, pyramid or sleeve template at your exact size, with cut and fold lines ready for Cricut, Silhouette, a laser or scissors.
What it is for
A dieline is the flat outline of a folding box: solid lines where you cut, separate lines where you fold. Packaging printers buy them, but for one card deck, a handful of party favours or a product sample you just want a template at your exact size. This generator draws five classic styles from first principles: a reverse tuck-end box, a pillow box, a two-piece gift box with base and lid, a pyramid and an open sleeve.
You enter the inside size, the board thickness and the glue flap width. Panels between two folds get one board thickness extra, so the box closes around its contents. Fold lines go to a blue score layer, or become perforation dashes when your cutter has no scoring tool. You also get a 1:1 PDF that is tiled onto A4 or Letter when the net is bigger, plus a folded 3-D preview.
Worked example
The first example is a tuck box for a 63 × 88 mm card deck: inside 66 × 22 × 92 mm in 0.35 mm card. The result:
Reverse tuck-end box: folds to about 66.35 × 22.35 × 92.35 mm; flat 189.4 × 157.17 mm.
The flat net needs a sheet of at least 189.4 × 157.17 mm, so it fits on A4 with room to spare. It has 71.22 cm of fold lines and 79.74 cm of cuts. The top lid hangs on the back panel and the bottom lid on the front, which is what "reverse" tuck end means; a half-round notch in the front helps you open it.
For the pyramid example (70 × 70 mm base, 80 mm high, 0.3 mm card) the faces fold up by 113.72° and the glue flaps by 80.69°. The net is 245.06 mm across, so on A4 the PDF splits it over two pages.
How to read the result
- Folded size is the outside of the main body, about one board thickness bigger than the inside.
- Flat size is the sheet you need; the two-piece gift box lists base and lid separately.
- Fold lines and Cut length in centimetres help you estimate cutting time and blade wear.
- In the cut file, red means cut and blue means score or fold. With perforated folds everything is red.
- The folded preview folds the same net along its fold lines, so a mistake in the net would show up there.
Tips and common mistakes
- In Cricut Design Space, change the blue layer to Score and attach it to the cut layer before you send the job.
- Print the PDF at 100 % (actual size) and measure the 10 cm scale bar before cutting by hand.
- Card thicker than about 0.5 mm folds more cleanly when you score it on the inside of the fold.
- For the gift box, the lid is 1 mm larger than the base on each axis plus two board thicknesses, so it slides on easily.
- Make one test box from scrap before you print a batch.
FAQ
Are these copies of commercial dielines?
No. The styles are generic folding-box types, and each net is constructed from your dimensions; no commercial library is used.
Why is the pillow box preview so simple?
Its curved ends do not fold along straight lines, so the preview only illustrates the shape. The cut file itself is exact.
Can I cut the template on a laser?
Yes. Use a low-power pass for the score layer so the board is marked but not cut through.
What thickness should I enter?
Plain paper is about 0.1 mm, card stock 0.3–0.5 mm and chipboard 1–2 mm. Measure it if you can.
Guide last updated:
For scripts and AI agents
- JSON API:
POST https://kerfwiseboxdieline.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate(same calculation as this page) - Interface description: OpenAPI 3.1 · AI guide: llms.txt
- MCP server (Streamable HTTP):
https://kerfwiseboxdieline.usefulweb.app/mcp· tool namekerfwise_box_dieline
Example request
curl -s -X POST https://kerfwiseboxdieline.usefulweb.app/api/v1/calculate \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"style":"tuck-end","length":66,"width":22,"height":92,"caliper":0.35}'