Custom Cardboard Tubes

Large cardboard tubes generally start at 3″ internal diameter and run up to 12″, with lengths to 48″ on standard tooling. Below 1½″ is a small tube, and 1½″ to 3″ is the medium range that most candle, cosmetic and rolled-print work sits in.

If you are packing a rolled poster, large usually means 3″ to 4″. If you are packing apparel or a banner, it usually means 4″ to 6″.

Thick refers to the wall, not the diameter. A standard wall is 1.0 to 1.5 mm; a thick or heavy-duty wall is 1.5 to 3.0 mm, built from three to five plies; industrial cores go above 3 mm.

You need a thick wall once the tube is over about 3″ in diameter, once it will be handled by a courier rather than a person, or once the contents are heavy enough to load the wall from the inside.

Yes. Full-wrap offset printing is the standard route for retail-facing tubes and gives photographic quality across the whole surface. Flexographic direct printing is the economical option for one to three spot colors at volume, and digital printing suits shorter runs.

Supply artwork with bleed on all four edges. The wrap overlaps along one seam, so keep critical type away from that join.

Yes — that is most of what this category is for. A courier-handled tube should be specified with a 1.5 mm or heavier wall, a closure that will not pop off under compression, and enough length margin that the contents are not touching the end caps.

Metal ends or a well-fitted plastic push cap are the two closures that survive courier handling most reliably.

Our standard minimum is 500 pieces. We can produce smaller runs — from around 100 pieces — at a higher per-piece cost, since setup and printing are fixed regardless of quantity. Per-piece cost drops significantly as quantity increases.

Share your size, material, printing and quantity and we will send a quote.

Yes, for rolled and cylindrical goods, and that is most of what this category is for. A wound cardboard wall resists crushing from the side far better than a flat carton of the same weight, which is why posters, banners and textiles ship in tubes rather than boxes.

Specify a 1.5 mm or heavier wall and a closure that will not pop under compression, and add an inch or two of length beyond the contents so nothing bears against the end caps. Those three choices are what decide whether it arrives intact.

The wound core is normally made from recycled board — that is the standard construction, not an upgrade. Kraft and white-lined outer liners are available with recycled content, and an uncoated tube with a paperboard cap goes into curbside paper recycling as it is.

What changes that is the finish: a plastic film lamination, a foil barrier liner or a plastic end cap all mean the layers have to be separated. If a fully recyclable pack matters to you, say so at the specification stage rather than at artwork stage, because it decides the closure and the finish, not just the material.

Yes. Plain unprinted tubes are the lowest-cost configuration at every quantity and the fastest to produce, and they are ordered regularly for fabric storage, craft use, workshop organization and as blanks for finishing in house.

Tell us the internal diameter, the length and the wall class you want. For craft use a thick 1.5 to 3.0 mm wall is usually the right call, because it can be cut, drilled and stood upright without deforming.

Directly here. Every product in this category is quoted to your specification rather than sold from a fixed catalogue, so a bulk order is the normal case rather than a special one, and per-piece cost drops significantly as quantity increases.

The standard minimum is 500 pieces, with smaller runs from around 100 pieces at a higher per-piece cost. Send the diameter, length, wall and quantity and we will quote against it.

A print-ready vector file for the wrap, with bleed on all four edges, and your colors specified as Pantone references where an exact match matters. Photographic elements should be supplied at 300 dpi at final size.

The wrap overlaps itself along one vertical seam, so keep logos and critical type clear of that join. We will confirm the exact flat dimensions for your tube size before you lay the artwork out, because the circumference changes with the diameter.

Yes. Samples can be provided to confirm sizing, material selection and design details before full production begins, so you can check the structure and the print in your hand rather than on screen.

Free design support comes with it — artwork preparation, layout help, bleed and print-ready file setup, and 3D mockups before manufacturing starts. For a first order it is worth using both, because the two things that go wrong most often are a diameter chosen without the product to hand and artwork laid out before the flat dimensions were confirmed.

Processing takes 3 to 5 business days, which covers printing, packaging and quality checks, and orders are processed Monday to Saturday. Transit is a further 3 to 5 business days, for a total estimated delivery time of 6 to 10 business days.

Timelines vary a little with the destination city and courier workload, and a tracking link is emailed once the order ships. Embossing adds to production time, so allow extra if your build includes it.

Yes — free standard shipping to the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Those are the destinations the policy covers, so it is worth checking it applies to yours before you plan around it.

The full terms, including processing and transit times, order tracking and what happens if a shipment is delayed or lost, are set out on the shipping policy page.