BoxTemplate

Nestable Tray Template

A tray whose walls lean outwards so a pile of them nest instead of jamming. Give the draft angle and it reports how tall the stack grows per tray.

Nestable tray — change shape

Size mm
Only here Your own design

Put a logo, photo or pattern straight onto the box — most free template sites give you the outline and stop there. Drag it where you want it; it is trimmed to the cut lines so nothing prints off the card, and it stays in your browser.

Advanced settingsunits, flaps, board, paper, lines
Units
Shape settings
Page

Bigger than the paper? Each piece prints whole on its own sheet. A single piece is never split: pick bigger paper or a smaller size. More about printing

Template

cutfold

Drop a picture anywhere on the drawingTap “Add a picture” below to print your own design on this box.

Print at 100% (“actual size”), never “fit to page”, or the box comes out the wrong size.

The nestable tray template, flat and folded

Nestable tray template — free printable dieline with cut and fold lines, any size
The printable dieline at its standard size. Type your own size above for yours.
Nestable tray folded up from the template — the finished box
The finished nestable tray, made from it.

What this template is for

A tray whose walls lean outwards so a pile of them nest instead of jamming. Give the draft angle and it reports how tall the stack grows per tray.

Also called stacking tray · draft angle tray · nesting tray · tapered storage tray — all the same shape, and this is it.

The same box as the tapered tub. It cuts the identical dieline — the only difference is how you type the size: here you give a draft angle and it works the opening out; there you give the top opening directly.

How to use this template

All four downloads are the same nestable tray at the same size — only the format changes.

PDF printing at home
Print at 100 per cent, or hand it to a print shop as "actual size, no scaling".
PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate
Upload, lock it in place and design your nestable tray on top. Free plan and phone included. Full Canva walkthrough →
SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity
Vector, with cuts, folds and labels on separate layers. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters
Two layers, CUT and FOLD — and the one free Silhouette Studio Basic will open.

Getting it printed properly →

Printing it

  1. Type your size above, then download the PDF.
  2. Print at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
  3. Too big for the paper? Pick your paper size and leave Fit the pieces to the page ticked: each piece gets its own place on a sheet and the PDF comes out with every page in it, nothing cut in half and nothing to tape.

How to put it together

These pictures are the nestable tray itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.

  1. Cut the solid lines

    Every solid line is a cut. Do the inside shapes first, while the sheet is still whole and easy to hold.

  2. Score every dashed line

    Dashed lines are folds. Score each one first — an empty ballpoint against a ruler — or the card cracks along the outside of the bend.

  3. BOTTOMSIDESIDEENDEND

    Fold, glue and hold

    Fold the four walls up; the two long walls carry the tabs. Glue each tab behind the neighbouring wall, and let one dry fully before you stack the next inside it.

Glue: a glue stick for paper, white PVA on card — hold each seam thirty seconds, and let it dry before you use it.

Questions about the nestable tray

Why do the walls lean outwards?
So a stack of them nests instead of jamming. Straight-sided trays wedge into one another and have to be prised apart; a few degrees of draft means each one drops in and lifts out cleanly.
What draft angle should I use?
Five to eight degrees suits card. Below about three the trays still stick; above about twelve you lose a lot of shelf height, because each tray in the stack rises by roughly the board thickness divided by the sine of the draft angle. The tool prints that figure under the drawing.
Is this the same as the tapered tub?
Same family of dieline, set up differently. The tapered tub asks for the top measurements; this one asks for the draft angle, which is the number that decides whether a stack nests.

Print your own design on it

Add a logo, photo or pattern in the panel on the left and drag it onto the nestable tray. It is trimmed to the cut outline, embedded properly in the PDF, and never leaves your computer — most free template sites hand you the outline and stop there. How printing your own design works.

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