Easy Protective Mylar Box
Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:39 pm
spacerspacerspacer
2 Part Mylar Card Box
This is for ecNate, and anyone else who found the first mylar tuck intimidating. In fact I will be using this box for my own decks from now on. This is a much simpler structure that has an old world feel but translates well to mylar. You end up with a box that can stand for display and will protect a deck in storage, but you only have to make 3 straight cuts and 8 simple folds.
Many thanks to Eoghann and Jase for their excellent feedback which much improved this DIY.
**Though I am using decks without tuck boxes to demonstrate the process here, I have also made these to fit around tuck boxes themselves. This protects the tuck and looks good in display.
First I'm showing a box made out of heavy papers, so the structure is easy to see. Shown next to it is a mylar box made the same way.
This will use pretty much the same tools the first mylar tuck did - one sheet of mylar (my mylar sheets are 11"/27.9 cm long), a cutting board, ruler, a scoring tool (dry ballpoint pen or a bone folder like mine), a sharp knife and double sided tape.
Sorry, the mat knife didn't make it into the photo.
The white object is the bone folder.
This box is made up of 2 strips of mylar that are folded in on themselves. Below is a drawing of the 2 strips I made for the deck I was boxing, with the fold lines as dotted lines. The X'd out area is not needed and is cut off, as you can see in the photo below that.
Step 1:
Cut 2 strips of mylar, one as wide as your deck is, plus a little wiggle room (maybe 1 mm), and one as wide as the length of your deck, plus a little.
Step 2:
Take the first strip of mylar, the one that's the width of your deck, and place a card from your deck, or the tuck box if your deck is in a box, right in the middle.
Mark just past the card or box, on each end, and use your empty ballpoint pen, or other rounded point or edge, to score 2 lines across the strip on those marks. These are the lines marked with a "A" in the drawing. I used graph paper under the mylar so I wouldn't have to draw the lines across the mylar before scoring.
**Score all your lines more than once, and with a fair amount of pressure, to make them easier to fold. Keep in mind that if you stress the plastic to the point of making a solid white line then it may eventually break along that line.
Measure the thickness of your deck or tuck box and score 2 more lines, where I have marked "B" on the drawing. You can find the distance without measuring by simply placing your deck, on edge, next to the first lines you scored. Set the strip aside for now.
Step 3:
Now for the second strip of mylar - your outer box.
Place the deck or its box on its side at one end of the second strip and add 1 mm. Or, measure the thickness of the deck and, adding 1 mm, mark that distance from the end of the strip. Score that line - this is the line you see marked with a "C" in the drawing.
Place the deck, flat across the mylar strip and against the scored line, and mark the width of the deck plus 1 mm. Score that line - this is the line you see marked with a "D" in the drawing.
Repeat the above, scoring a line after another deck thickness - "E", and one more after another deck width - "F". You will now have 4 scored lines.
Step 4:
After the last scored line measure another deck thickness out and cut off the remaining mylar - see the X'd out area in the drawing. The mylar strip will now be divided by the scored lines into 3 narrow areas and 2 wide ones.
Step 5:
Apply the double sided tape to one end of the strip, leaving the backing paper in place, and fold the strip inward on all the scored lines.
Step 6:
Take the backing off the adhesive and carefully line-up the sides to stick together. I find that resting the edge of one side in the fold of the other, with the surfaces angled apart, allows me better control when lining them up to press together.
The structure will be like a tuckbox but open ended.
Your outer box is finished.
Step 7:
Slip the first strip inside of the outer box to check that it fits. If it is too wide cut a sliver off one side. When it fits snugly but completely inside the outer box fold the 4 lines you scored, inward, to make this:
The inner sleeve is done.
Place your deck within the folds of the inner sleeve and slide it into the outer box.
Your box is now complete.
**TIP** When making multiple boxes use the 8.5" x 11" mylar sheets more efficiently by cutting 3 inner box strips from one sheet, and 2 outer strips from another. Making 12 boxes this way will use 10 sheets instead of 12.
2 Part Mylar Card Box
This is for ecNate, and anyone else who found the first mylar tuck intimidating. In fact I will be using this box for my own decks from now on. This is a much simpler structure that has an old world feel but translates well to mylar. You end up with a box that can stand for display and will protect a deck in storage, but you only have to make 3 straight cuts and 8 simple folds.
Many thanks to Eoghann and Jase for their excellent feedback which much improved this DIY.
**Though I am using decks without tuck boxes to demonstrate the process here, I have also made these to fit around tuck boxes themselves. This protects the tuck and looks good in display.
First I'm showing a box made out of heavy papers, so the structure is easy to see. Shown next to it is a mylar box made the same way.
The white object is the bone folder.
This box is made up of 2 strips of mylar that are folded in on themselves. Below is a drawing of the 2 strips I made for the deck I was boxing, with the fold lines as dotted lines. The X'd out area is not needed and is cut off, as you can see in the photo below that.
Cut 2 strips of mylar, one as wide as your deck is, plus a little wiggle room (maybe 1 mm), and one as wide as the length of your deck, plus a little.
Step 2:
Take the first strip of mylar, the one that's the width of your deck, and place a card from your deck, or the tuck box if your deck is in a box, right in the middle.
**Score all your lines more than once, and with a fair amount of pressure, to make them easier to fold. Keep in mind that if you stress the plastic to the point of making a solid white line then it may eventually break along that line.
Step 3:
Now for the second strip of mylar - your outer box.
Place the deck or its box on its side at one end of the second strip and add 1 mm. Or, measure the thickness of the deck and, adding 1 mm, mark that distance from the end of the strip. Score that line - this is the line you see marked with a "C" in the drawing.
Place the deck, flat across the mylar strip and against the scored line, and mark the width of the deck plus 1 mm. Score that line - this is the line you see marked with a "D" in the drawing.
Repeat the above, scoring a line after another deck thickness - "E", and one more after another deck width - "F". You will now have 4 scored lines.
Step 4:
After the last scored line measure another deck thickness out and cut off the remaining mylar - see the X'd out area in the drawing. The mylar strip will now be divided by the scored lines into 3 narrow areas and 2 wide ones.
Apply the double sided tape to one end of the strip, leaving the backing paper in place, and fold the strip inward on all the scored lines.
Take the backing off the adhesive and carefully line-up the sides to stick together. I find that resting the edge of one side in the fold of the other, with the surfaces angled apart, allows me better control when lining them up to press together.
The structure will be like a tuckbox but open ended.
Step 7:
Slip the first strip inside of the outer box to check that it fits. If it is too wide cut a sliver off one side. When it fits snugly but completely inside the outer box fold the 4 lines you scored, inward, to make this:
Place your deck within the folds of the inner sleeve and slide it into the outer box.
**TIP** When making multiple boxes use the 8.5" x 11" mylar sheets more efficiently by cutting 3 inner box strips from one sheet, and 2 outer strips from another. Making 12 boxes this way will use 10 sheets instead of 12.
