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Four Pack pattern

Chas at Tahoe

Master Brewer
Joined
Aug 9, 2009
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Location
Reno, Nevada
I've seen so many posts looking for a cut and fold pattern for a four pack that I created one for myself.  I've tried cutting out two of them, one out of cardboard ( the lid of a ten reem case of paper ) and the other out of a file folder.  Neither were very easy.  I kept cutting where I should have folded.  :(

The pattern as it stands now requires a 12"x22" peice of paper that is thick enough to support four 12oz long necks.  Unfortunately both my printers will only take 8.5" paper so my thoughts of printing a nice logo etc. on the packaging is not viable.  The pattern is one piece but I wonder if a two or three piece would allow the sides to go through a printer. 

I could cut two 8.5”x14” sheets of paper into the front and back and a third into a bottom and then all three would go through my printers.  My first thought was to use hot glue but that stuff on a home brew level is not easy to get even while it's hot.  Gorilla glue is awesome but requires a long time to dry.

Just don’t know what would be strong enough to support the weight.

Has anyone tried this?

Chas

BTW: the drawing is in Autocad format but could be saved as a pdf...
 
What weight paper are you thinking of using?

  Depending on the finish of the paper you might try some type book-binding adhesives.  Old fashioned bindery uses stuff like wheat starch.  Modern stuff is called PVA, - poly vinyl.  I think PVA is strongest of the two (I have only used the starch).  For your purposes I think you want the glue to join two rougher sides of the paper if possible, so keep that in mind when making your pattern.
 
I've cut a couple patterns out of 65lb paper.  It seems strong enough but the problem is getting it to stick together.  I'm thinking about hot glue because it sets almost instantly and is fairly strong.  The gorilla glue expands while it dries so it's no good, even though it grips like a gorilla.  :)

My latest plan is to make an entire side, two bottles, complete and then glue the two together to make the four pack.  It would make several problems go away.

A friend who is an aspiring graphic artist is making up some art work for my four pack.  He says that Office Depot will print heavy paper in large format fairly cheaply. I think I'm going to abandon my self print goal and have it done professionally so the paper weight may not be an issue for my printer.

This is harder than I thought it would be.  :eek:
 
Your friend is a good one.  Having someone else do the gruntwork, printing in large format, is a good thing.  Make sure we get pics later.
 
The carpet tape is my best solution so far.  It's difficult to cut but it really holds and is easier to apply than glue.
 
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