Instructions for setting up a Cake Pop Stand & Atrium
This set is comprised of a Gable Cake Pop Box and a Cake Pop Stand. Together, they make for a great way to showcase your cake pops.
• This is what we see out of the box.
• Lay your cake pop box sleeve on a flat surface with the stand closest to you (gable top away).
• Slide your right hand into the structure and just to the right of the crease line, use your fingers to pin down the inside wall of the sleeve. Slide your left hand outside the outer panel to lift it up 90 degrees, guiding it to crease on the score. Do not push on the window. Place your fingertips on the paperboard frame around the window when folding.
• Flip the sleeve over and repeat the process. Strategic placement of your fingers guides the setup of the box in a way that prevents false scores. “False scores” are a creasing of the paperboard at places that should not be folded or have creases.
• After making these initial creases, square up the sleeve so the sides are 90 degrees and the sleeve takes on a box-like shape.
• Next, we want to ‘pre-break’ the top windowed panel by reaching up through the bottom of the sleeve, pinning down the lower wall of the structure, and using our opposite hand to support the windowed top panel, fold over the top of the gable to at least 90 degrees. Use the paperboard for leverage and not the window. Flip the sleeve over, and do the same thing to the opposite windowed gable top panel.
Because there is so much window to show off the treats inside the structure, the carton wants to put false scores in the corners of the windows at the bottom corners of those top windowed panels. These improvisational creases are ugly and avoidable. Don’t let the structure take the creasing path of least resistance! Support these corners on their way up and the panel will crease only where you want it to crease – along the manufactured score.
• Follow this same process for the triangular sides of the gable top. These are a bit easier because there is no window in these panels and far less chance of getting a false score.
• Next, you want to fold in the gable top wings. These peculiar little angles make the gable top rigid and mighty. You’ll find wings on either side of the windowed top panel of the gable top. Reach into the stand again from the bottom. Pin down the windowed panel with your fingers just inside the score for the wing. Using your other hand, fold these little wings up to at least 90 degrees. Folding them over takes patience to make sure the windowed panel does not get creased where there is no score.
• Next, we’ll pre-break the handles. These fold back and away from the center of the sleeve – the opposite direction of everything else we have creased so far.
• The handle tabs fold down in the opposite direction of the handles.
• The tabs inside the handle bend down and fit together like the teeth of a crocodile.
• The windowless triangular side panels come down and the crooks of the handles go through the diamond holes and hold the side panels in place. Do not press down on the handles when attaching the side panels.
• It is a good idea to use your fingertips to groom any bulging creases to make the sleeve look as good and symmetrical as possible.
• The tray ships flat and setting it up is as easy as placing one hand on either side of the folded structure. You want to press in on the folded edges of the bottom to make it pop up. Look inside the tray as you are erecting it to make sure things are standing up properly. When the walls are at 90 degrees to the adjacent panels and the bottom tray is square, that is far enough. Do not go past 90 degrees. Going too far could cause the internal elements of the tray to rip. Don’t worry if the stand isn’t perfectly square. It will square up once you fold up the ends.
• Fold the dust flaps in on each side.
• Fold the tongue of the long end flaps. This is easiest if you place the stand on its back and use the flat surface of the table to fold the tongues up on each end of the stand.
• With the dust flaps folded in, fold the end flaps into the stand. The flaps may not stay inside the stand without the locking tabs. Don’t worry. The sleeve will hold in the ends flaps and the locking tabs will make everything secure.
• Get the end flaps started into the ends of the stand and then slip the top over the stand.
• Fold up the tongue lock tabs to 90 degrees exactly at the end of the tongue locks. Do not over-fold past 90 degrees.
• The tongue lock straps fold up inside the tongue lock notches at the bottom of the cake pop box sleeve.
• Place the tip of the tongue lock tabs into the top of the triangle and into the arched locking slots of the stand. This is probably the trickiest part of the whole setup. The lock has to be tough enough to secure the cake pop sleeve to the stand, but not so tough that it can come loose. When inserting the tongue lock tab, make sure the tab is squared up to the slot and going straight in. When pushing on the crease behind the tab, make sure the paperboard is parallel to the earth and not tilted up or down. This could create a false score and make it very difficult to insert the tab.
• To remove the sleeve from the stand, remove the locking tabs from the arched locking slots. To do this, use your thumb and finger to pull on the locking tab. Pull the locking tab end straight out of the arched locking slot. Pulling the tab straight out from the slot ensures it doesn’t get mangled. We need that.
• When the stand is being used without the sleeve top, place the locking tongue tabs into the locking slots to tidy everything up.
• If care was taken while inserting the locking tabs and pulling the locking tabs out, displaying your cake pops in this structure should look just as good topless as it does with the top.
You’ve done it. You have successfully erected the most difficult box in the entire world.
