Inner size versus outer size on a gift-box RFQ

Label every number

Write “inner 180×80×70 mm” or “outer 186×86×76 mm”. A bare 180×80×70 is treated as inner on our quotes unless you say outer. Wrap thickness and grey-board caliper add to the outside. Mixing labelled and unlabelled numbers on the same RFQ is how a lid misses a bottle.

Wenzhou Taishan Printing Co., Ltd. manufactures in Longgang, not from a trading-desk size chart. If you copied millimetres from a retail listing, say whether that listing claimed inner or outer. We will not assume the listing used the same convention as a converter.

• Put “inner” or “outer” next to every L×W×H.
• Use millimetres, not inches, unless you state inches clearly.
• If only one number exists, say which axis it is (height of a tube, diameter, spine).
• Do not paste a screenshot of a size table without saying which row is the cavity.

Lid-and-base needs both

Heaven-and-earth boxes need lid inner and base inner, or a fit note (loose / snug / extra-loose for tissue). A single outer cube does not tell the plant how the lid drops onto the base. Grey-board walls, typically 1.5–3 mm in the catalog, sit between those two inners.

If the lid must clear a ribbon, a neck label, or a pump, write the obstruction. Fit is a converting choice, not a colour. See the lid-and-base fit article on this site when the closure is the whole program.

Book-style boxes need cavity and spine. The closed-book outer is not the same as the tray the bottle sits in. Magnet size belongs with the spine, not as a decoration nickname.

Product plus insert

If an EVA or paper tray holds a bottle, the cavity is the bottle plus tray wall, not the bottle alone. Send a photo with a ruler on the product. A wrap colour does not imply a cavity.

Flocked wrap, paper tray, and EVA are three different jobs. Do not write “insert” without the family. If the object is not yet tooled, send the object size and say the insert is still open — we will not guess a foam pocket from a JPEG.

• Object L×W×H or a physical sample.
• Insert family: EVA, paper tray, flocked wrap, or none.
• Clearance for tissue, card, or a hanging tag if those sit in the same cavity.

We do not reverse-engineer a JPEG

A marketing shot without a scale is a mood board. We can match a structure family. We cannot promise the same millimetres as an unknown brand’s existing die. Portfolio photos on taishanprint.com are structure references, not SKUs with locked cavities.

If the program must match an existing retail box, send that box or a measured dieline. Cloning unknown tooling from a phone photo is not converting. Confirm millimetres on the RFQ after a structure sample, not from the photo alone.

How wrap and core add to the outside

Inner size is the cavity. Outer size grows with core millimetres plus wrap plus any lamination. A 2 mm grey-board lid-and-base is not the same outer as a 3 mm core on the same inner. MDF cores in the catalog run 1.5–7 mm and change the outside again.

Foil and spot UV do not usually move millimetres the way board caliper does. Lamination adds a thin film. Still write inner and outer separately so estimating does not have to reverse the wrap.

• Core family: grey board 1.5–3 mm or MDF 1.5–7 mm (catalog ranges).
• Wrap sheet called out apart from the core.
• Whether the quoted size is before or after wrap.
• Lid wall height if the lid is a deep sky lid, not a shallow cap.

Book-style, drawer, and folding rigid

Book-style: cavity inner, spine width, and closed outer if the shelf cube matters. Drawer boxes need the sleeve inner and the drawer outer, or the drawer will scrape. Folding rigid boxes that collapse for freight still need a locked inner — fold-flat is a pack method, not a reason to skip millimetres.

Tubes need diameter and height, and whether those are inner. PVC and cartons use the same inner/outer rule. One unlabelled number on a mixed RFQ will be read as inner unless you write outer.

What to photograph with a ruler

Photograph the product on a table with a millimetre ruler along length and height. Photograph the existing box only if you own it and can open it — inner of the cavity, not only the closed gift. Send those stills with the RFQ to [email protected] or the form on taishanprint.com (EN/ZH/ES).

Wenzhou Taishan Printing is the converter at Cendong Road, Longgang: 20,000+ m², 3,500 m² warehouse, Heidelberg sheetfed and die-cutting in-house. A ruler photo plus labelled millimetres is faster than a mood board and a target outer that nobody labelled.

• Ruler in the frame, not a coin “for scale”.
• Open cavity if you are matching an existing box.
• WhatsApp +86 138 6598 7984 if the files are too large for mail — still write inner/outer in the message.