Print & finish
Print & finish2 min readUpdated
Laser engraving and windows
Most finishes add something on top of the print. These two cut into the board instead: a laser burns a mark into the surface, and a window cuts a hole so the product can be seen.
Laser engraving
A laser beam burns off a very thin layer of the board and leaves a mark that stands out against it. It needs no plate and no die, only a file, so every piece can be different: a name, a date, a number.
The laser marks one piece at a time, so it suits samples, short runs and personal touches. For a large run with the same design on every box, printing is usually the cheaper way. Some shops also cut whole blanks with a laser instead of a cutting dieCutting die The steel knife that cuts the pack out of the sheet along the dieline. The die-maker builds it from the same file., which again suits a handful of pieces.
Ask the shop how they want the engraving supplied, and keep it on a layer of its own, apart from your print and the dielineDieline The flat outline of a pack before it is cut and folded: where to cut, where to fold and where artwork is safe. layers.
Windows
A window is a hole cut into the board so the product shows without opening the pack. On many windowed cartons a clear plastic film is glued over the hole from the inside while the box is still a flat blank, on a machine of its own or one built into the folding and gluing line. PET and polypropylene are common films; your printer will say which ones they use.
A window doesn't always need film. On our wine carriers the cut-out isn't thrown away: most windows are cut on three sides and creasedCrease A fold line pressed into board so it bends cleanly, also called a score. Dashed green on our dielines. on the fourth, so the flapFlap A panel hinged on a crease that folds over to close an end of a box or to hold it together. folds in and holds the bottle.
Windows on our dielines
The cake box has a window in the lid, two thirds of its length and width, with rounded corners, and you can switch it off. The wine carriers have one in the front for each bottle. On both, the window is part of the red cut line.
Our dieline draws the hole, not the film. The film is a little bigger than the hole and glued round it, so ask your printer how much board it needs around the window.
Treat the window's edge like the outer edge: run any background a little past the cut line, so no bare board shows if the cut lands slightly off. How much is your printer's call.
Try a window on a cake box
The cake box draws its lid window in the red cut line. Switch it on or off in the editor, then download the PDF for your printer.
- Cut
- Crease