Envelope Punch Board _BOX_ math ... no more spreadsheets, etc. ...

Hello! I'm new to the forum and fairly new to papercrafting, at least in terms of what that means nowadays (punch boards and other kewl stuff!).

I bought my Envelope Punch Board (EPB) about 3 months ago now but I'm having so much trouble with all the calculators out there. They all have something, well not wrong, but all have something that I find difficult to work with and it always means that I have to try more than once to get the right box size. I'm wasting way too much paper, too!

It would be so much easier if I just knew the math to use, i.e., an actual mathematical formula instead. Yeah, I'm one of those nutty people that prefers an algebraic formula that works to all the stuff out there that I need to be hooked up to a PC for. Even the app I found for my android phone is unreliable! I have quite a few failures whenever I use it.

And the measurements given on the EPB are limited so even those that have posted "formulas" based on the measurements for envelopes on the EPB are no good because it never has the measurement I need so I can't go any further with that idea of adding so much to the measurements found on the EPB to make a box! I always need to make envelopes and boxes of very specific sizes which are never found on the EPB.

btw, the biggest issue with all the calculators out there is the terminology. I never seem to get one that has length, width (depth), height that corresponds to what I understand my box's length, width and height are to be. Also, another awkward thing is that most of them deal with decimals and not fractions. My EPB deals with increments of 1/8th of an inch and I created a paper ruler that is 16" long also with increments of 1/8th of an inch that I then glued onto a length of cut chipboard the exact same size as my cutout ruler. I have a fractions calculator app on my android phone that does math in fractions so no problems there. The easiest for me, then, is fractions whereas all the spreadsheets out there and my android app deal with decimals. What a pain!

I've searched these last 3 months for _any_ math formula and haven't found anything at all.

Does anyone know of a formula posted anywhere?

The 3 Excel spreadsheets I've tried and the Boxbuster and other sites just don't cut it for me. I'm guessing anyone that wants a specific size and doesn't just settle on close enough has the same problem.

Thanks in advance for any help in finding a formula!

Cheers!

Hi and welcome!

I'm really sorry though, I've had the same troubles that you've had, and have kind of given up. I bought the WRMK EPB for its inverse corner punch. I already have an envelope score-board which I spent a day making trial and error envelopes from scrap paper, covered in directions. I marked my board with permanent marker showing the half-measurements so that I wouldn't have to go through all that again. So I haven't actually used the EPB as it is intended. I must though, because it can make bigger envelopes than the one I have.

The part that got me was the sticker that they included for metric measurements, without actually mentioning ANYWHERE what ANY of the units of measurement were. That made me quite irritated.

I hope you find someone out there who can help you.

Thank you so much for your response.

The EPB is a fantastic tool, no question, it just has a couple things wrong with it, imo. It's too small. Hopefully they come up with a newer version somewhere down the road that is a little bigger and has an extending arm, like the Gift Box Punch Board, and they give instructions on how to make _any_ size envelope _and_ box.

Despite liking how easy algebraic formulas take the guesswork out of things, I'm not good in math. I found yet another Excel spreadsheet yesterday that doesn't hide the formulas so maybe that would have given me a place to start but it's in cm.

I know someone, probably more than one someone, out there has figured out how to do it so that if they need a box, I don't know, say, 3 3/8" x 4 1/4" x 2 7/8", can calculate and produce in one go a box that fits that, it's just to find them .

Thanks. Hopefully someone has figured something out and posts it here for less brainy/math people like me!

Cheers.

Found a solution!!! And, unfortunately, it's not with the Envelope Punch Board (EPB).

Had I found these videos before the EPB, I would have been intimidated, along with the fact that 3 months ago, I didn't have the Simply Scored scoreboard. But when I found these videos yesterday, it was great because I have confidence in my abilities to figure things out on paper now and if I can think of how to do it, I can produce it. Plus I bought the diagonal plate about a month ago and it just means I'll use it more now.

Out of all the videos I saw on the scoring plate, 2 easily explained how to make _custom_ envelopes with the diagonal board (Martha Stewart has one, as well, so any board with a diagonal-scoring option should work just as well). And it's EASY-PEASY!! Not only that, but I figure that there will be 3 "settings" I can use that will account for any embellishments/bling that might be added to make the card thicker:

Add 1/8" to measurement, as stated, for a regular card.

But I'm guessing that adding 2/8" (better known as 1/4") would work for a card fairly heavily embellished.

Then perhaps adding 3/8" for a card very heavily embellished might be measurement to try.

Anything beyond that will need, really, a box envelope, I think. But I'll figure that out when I get there. I'm sure there are easy vids to make box envelopes using a diagonal plate, too .

So I've created a couple of A2 envelopes so far, because wanted to go with the example in the vids. I'll try the technique on a couple of projects I have that have odd dimensions to see how well the technique works and will report back soon re the results of that.

p.s., I thought the EPB would work regarding cutting out the notches, but it doesn't, unfortunately. I'm sure I could fiddle around to figure out something but it didn't do it easily without too more cardstock off than needed. So not good for this method of creating envelopes.

I like the 1" square punch Mike uses and will buy one in my next order. I think this approach is easiest with one of those (this gives me the extra excuse to buy it, too! ).

Here are the links.

The first one, the Mike's Minute one, I found the easiest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RteEo44re7M
- really like how you use the plate beforehand to help line up the measurement on the bottom! I need that type of help!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEx5NS6vl94 (with lovely classical music in background as a bonus! )

I'll report back.

Cheers,

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Envelope Punch Board. I hardly ever use it for envelopes though! I make lots of boxes, bags, bows, etc. with it. Tons of info on Pinterest.

I also have the Box Punch Board but haven't tried it yet. It's still in the box!

HTH
1/16 = .0625
1/8 = .125
3/16 = .1875
1/4 = .25
5/16 = .3125
3/8 = .375
7/16 = .4375
1/2 = .5
9/16 = .5625
5/8 = .625
11/16 = .6875
3/4 = .75
13/16 = .8125
7/8 = .875
15/16 = .9375

I'm late to the Envelope Punch Board party (and new to cardmaking in general), but I quickly got frustrated with the measurements on the board, too. I searched high and low for other calculators, but none of them quite worked for me, so I made my own. I knew how to figure out the paper size and score line using a scoring board but coming up with math formulas was quite a bit harder since I haven't touched trigonometry since high school. I enlisted my friend's help with the math and we came up with this calculator.

https://amatterofsqueak.wordpress.com/2016/12/15/envelope-punch-board-calculator/

It's unpolished, but I decided to post it anyway, in case someone else finds it useful.

It automatically rounds the measurements to the nearest 1/8" because the Punch Board ruler is in 1/8" increments.

That was very nice of you to put this together. Thank you so much!

Thanks! Let me know if you have issues with the measurements. It seems like there's a range of paper sizes and score lines out there that work with any given card size--this is just what has been working for me!

My next task is figuring out how to make envelopes boxes that don't leave holes in the corners!

This may be of help.

Box envelopes for raised cards
http://thecraftyowl.co.uk/boxbuster/

Here is a sample of an envelope box which I created using the link above as a calculator. Hope it will work for you as well as it works for me. Follow the sample image of the box to determine which is the height, depth and width of your card.

https://www.scrapbook.com/myplace/index.php?mod=galleri...

I was having the same problem as you and one day I came across this online calculator which never let me down when it comes to EPB.

Before you start look at the sample picture of the envelop or box so you can determine which sides of your item are the length, width, height, depth etc. and just follow the provided measurements and the punching and scoring instructions.

You can choose between the metric and imperial measurements. The imperial measurements come with fractions and not decimals.

Plain/Flat envelopes for flat cards:
http://thecraftyowl.co.uk/EnvelopeExpert/

Box envelopes for raised cards
http://thecraftyowl.co.uk/boxbuster/

Thanks so much for this post! I'm purging my craft room (again) and thanks to the great info here, will be selling my (redundant) punch boards and keeping my SU! Simply Scored Scoring Board + Diagonal Plate. Sure, the punch boards are seamless and very user friendly, but I don't mind a few extra steps while I'm creating (I wonder if I'll change my mind years later... ).