What machines do you need to start a rigid box factory?

The semi-automatic rigid box set: four machines

A rigid gift box is fancy paper wrapped around greyboard (cardboard). Four operations take the cardboard to a finished box: V grooving, corner pasting, paper gluing and box wrapping. The four machines of the set do one each, in that order. Between paper gluing and box wrapping, an operator positions the cardboard on the glued paper by hand.

Semi-automatic lid-and-base set: the four machines in process order.

Parameter	HF-1200	HF-500	HF-850A	HF-450
Speed	25–50 m/min	30–55 pcs/min	Servo version: 7–45 pcs/min · Standard version: 7–40 pcs/min	15–20 pcs/min
Largest job	100–950 mm	480 × 450 × 150 mm	HF-850A: 80–800 mm · HF-650A: 80–600 mm	480 × 400 × 120 mm
Cardboard thickness	0.8–4 mm	0.8–4 mm	—	0.8–4 mm
Power	2.2 kW / 220 V	2.5 kW / 220 V	—	2.5 kW / 220 V
Weight	1,400 kg	1,000 kg	HF-850A: 1,000 kg · HF-650A: 900 kg	1,000 kg
Footprint (L × W × H)	2100 × 1430 × 1500 mm	1750 × 1160 × 1920 mm	HF-850A: 6990 × 1620 × 995 mm · HF-650A: 6990 × 1420 × 995 mm	1400 × 1100 × 2050 mm

What each machine in the set does

1. 01

   HF-1200 V grooving machine

   Cuts the V slots where the cardboard folds, up to 8 slots at one time, at 25–50 m/min and to ±0.05–0.1 mm. The slot angle is set on the machine in two ranges, 80–120° and 120–140°, and a blade sharpener comes with it.

2. 02

   HF-500 corner pasting machine

   Tapes all four corners of the folded cardboard in one stroke, which keeps the corners uniform. It runs PVC, PET or paper tape in 15, 19 or 24 mm widths, on boxes from 45 × 45 × 10 mm to 480 × 450 × 150 mm.

3. 03

   HF-850A paper gluing machine

   Paper feeding and gluing: it feeds the fancy paper one sheet at a time and glues it. It takes 80–250 g/m² paper up to 800 mm wide; the narrower HF-650A takes 600 mm.

4. 04

   HF-450 box forming machine

   The glued and positioned box goes to the forming machine, which finishes the box wrapping in one go: ear folding, paper wrapping and air bubble pressing. Setting is digital: enter the box size on the touch screen and the machine sets itself.

How many boxes does the line produce?

From V grooving, corner pasting and paper gluing to the final box forming, the full line averages about 900–1,200 pcs per hour. The real speed depends on the box size, the materials and the experience of the operators.

The pace is set by the HF-450 box forming machine at 15–20 pcs/min. The corner pasting machine runs 30–55 pcs/min and the paper gluing machine up to 45, so both keep ahead of it. This four-machine set is the entry-level rigid box making line most new box makers start with.

What to add to the line next

• A lower-cost start: the HF-40 manual rigid box corner pasting machine can stand in for the HF-500. It tapes one corner at a time at 10–20 pcs/min, against four corners at once at 30–55 pcs/min.
• Camera positioning: the HF-1050 positions the paper and cardboard by vision and robotic arm to ±0.1 mm, at 15–30 sheets/min.
• One machine instead of three: the HF-5040 does corner pasting, paper gluing, camera positioning and box wrapping in a single machine at 18–25 pcs/min.

If camera positioning is a likely next step, choose the servo version of the HF-850A paper gluing machine. A robotic arm can be added to it later to turn it into an automatic positioning machine. The comparison of the three routes is in HF-5040 vs a modular rigid box line.

What you need besides the machines

Greyboard, jelly glue and corner tape are listed under packaging materials and can be quoted with the machines.

Power, air and floor space for the semi-automatic set

The HF-1200, HF-500 and HF-450 run on 220 V. The HF-850A gluing machine needs 380 V at 50 Hz, with 8 kW of heating for the glue, and it is the long machine in the set at just under 7 m. All four need compressed air at 0.6–0.8 MPa.

The four machines cover about 18 m² of floor between them, and the paper gluing machine alone accounts for more than 11 m² of that. This is the footprint of the machines only: add room for the operators, manual positioning between paper gluing and box forming, and pallets of cardboard, paper and finished boxes.

Which boxes the set can and cannot make

• It makes rigid gift boxes in fancy paper: lid-and-base rigid boxes, and the inner box of a book-style rigid box.
• For the hardcover case of a book-style magnetic box, the same paper gluing machine feeds an HF-900 four-side wrapping machine in place of the forming machine. Magnet pasting and assembly are separate machines.
• A collapsible rigid box needs wing wrapping and assembly machines as well.
• Deep, narrow drawer boxes are formed on the HF-320, which takes boxes down to 35 mm wide. The HF-450 starts at 45 mm.
• Round boxes and paper tubes have their own machines, in two types: flat type and curling type.

Check your box sizes before you choose

The forming machine sets the size range of the line. The HF-450 takes finished boxes from 45 × 45 × 15 mm to 480 × 400 × 120 mm in 0.8–4 mm cardboard. If your largest box is outside that, say so in the enquiry: size ranges can be customised.

What to send us for a recommendation

• The box structure: lid-and-base, book-style, collapsible, drawer, round or card.
• Finished sizes, length × width × height, for your largest and your smallest box.
• Greyboard thickness, and the cover paper and its weight in g/m².
• The output you need per day, in finished boxes.
• The voltage at your plant, and the machines you already have.

Machines in this guide

HF-1200Automatic V Grooving Machine25–50 m/min

HF-500Automatic Rigid Box Corner Pasting Machine30–55 pcs/min

HF-850AAutomatic Paper Gluing Machine7–45 pcs/min

HF-450Automatic Rigid Box Forming Machine15–20 pcs/min