Cardboard Tube Packaging, Made to Your Diameter and Length

Yes, cardboard tube packaging is a format Half Price Packaging makes. Tubes are produced to order, to the diameter, length and artwork you specify, rather than picked from a stock size chart. Two lines cover the brief: a standard tubes packaging range for straightforward cylindrical packs, and custom tubes when the wall, the closure or the print has to be worked out from your own drawing. Tubes suit posters and prints that must not crease, rolled textiles, single bottles, spirits and gift sets, and cosmetics ranges. Full-colour printing runs across the tube body, free design support covers the artwork wrap, and a digital proof is approved before production starts. Delivery and turnaround are confirmed on your quote.

Two tube lines, both cut to your size

The range splits in two. Tubes Packaging covers the common cylindrical briefs, where a round pack in a sensible diameter does the job and the work is mostly print and finish. Custom Tubes is for anything that has to be drawn from scratch: an unusual diameter, a longer body, a particular wall build or a specific way of closing. Both are made to your own dimensions and artwork, and both are quoted against your specification rather than off a chart. If you are not sure which one your job is, describe the product and we will place it.

Diameter and length are the first two numbers

A tube is specified from the inside out. Send the internal diameter and the internal length you need, both in millimetres, measured against the product as it will actually travel. For a rolled poster or textile, roll it first and measure the roll, then allow some clearance so it goes in without scuffing the printed face. For a bottle, measure the widest point, usually the shoulder or the base, not the neck. Length counts twice: it decides whether the pack sits inside a carrier's longest side band, and how much printed area you have.

Wall construction, caps and how a tube closes

Wall build is what makes a tube feel solid, and it is a choice rather than a default. A heavier wall holds its round shape under a stack and resists crushing across the middle. A lighter wall keeps the pack light for posting. The ends are the other half of the decision. Caps can be plain or printed, and a tube can be built to be opened once or opened again and again, which matters for a gift set that gets kept and not for a poster tube that gets recycled. Tell us how the customer opens it and both are specified on your quote.

Wrapping artwork around a cylinder

Print on a tube behaves differently from print on a flat panel. Only about a third of the circumference reads head on, so the brand name and the key line belong in that face, and it is worth repeating them around the body in case the tube lands the wrong way up. There are no corners to hide a join, so the artwork is set up as a continuous wrap with the seam planned instead of discovered. Full-colour printing is available across the body, and matt or gloss lamination, foiling and embossing are quoted per job. Free design support will set your artwork against the flat template the tube is printed from.

Products that suit a tube, and what to send us

• Fit: posters and prints that must not crease, rolled textiles, single bottles, spirits and gift sets, and cosmetics ranges.
• Dimensions: internal diameter and internal length in millimetres, plus the product measured as it travels.
• Construction: how sturdy the wall needs to be, what the ends should do, and whether the tube gets reopened.
• Artwork: print files or a rough, and any finishes you want quoted.

If the cylinder is a preference rather than a requirement, compare a boxed structure in the material, style and shape range. Send the specification through the site form and the Uxbridge team will quote it, with delivery and turnaround confirmed on the quote.