How thick can you go on a press?

[bigdave]

Seems as I've been awake since about 4am with random things whizzing round my head I thought I'd ask a slightly odd question. I know thickness and weight aren't always directly related but seems at the print world runs on gsm, how heavy can stock be before it's too big to run through a press? (digital or litho).

[Katedesign]

As always it depends on the press!

On small format litho presses (B3) we used to run
400gsm as an Ivory board - (a business card type of board)
350gsm to 400gsm in most stocks would be OK. Most paper merchants don't make/sell much above these weights.

On digital presses (my experience of Xerox 700)
We ran 350gsm digital paper (which is flexible) and an Ivory board of 335gsm (more rigid)
Older digital copiers won't run much above 260gsm

Hope that helps - I must admit that we would always try and put stuff through regardless of whether the spec said we could or not! But lots of people won't.

[bigdave]

Cheers.

I'm just thinking about possibilities for my new business card and am trying to work out at what point litho/digital stops and letterpress starts.

[Katedesign]

I have found a printer in London who can print on 700gsm! Does all sorts of foiling and die-cutting and odd finishing - very pricey though!

[Toppers]

Kate - please share with me their name with me. We are looking for something special for our company portfolio as part of our on-going re-brand.

[bigdave]

They will be running a letterpress to do that kind of thing I'd imagine.

I'm tempted to contact my old employer (a hot foil printer) and see if he'd lend me a converted hand press for a day to hot foil my own cards...

[Davidw]

Cheers.

I'm just thinking about possibilities for my new business card and am trying to work out at what point litho/digital stops and letterpress starts.

Hello Dave

Very few litho or digital printers go above 400gsm.

With letterpress there's no limit but the most popular weights are 540gsm and 700gsm (GF Smith Colorpan range of card).

Email me if you'd like samples.

Regards - David

[neildigital]

I do run 400gsm through my digital press.

And also trucard upto 350gm, which is very rigid as it is 2 ply of board.

Neil

[AdvantageDigitalMedia]

Seems as I've been awake since about 4am with random things whizzing round my head I thought I'd ask a slightly odd question. I know thickness and weight aren't always directly related but seems at the print world runs on gsm, how heavy can stock be before it's too big to run through a press? (digital or litho).

Hi there,

We can get 400gsm duplex (both sides at once) through our Digital presses without a problem. Our Heidelberg XL75 will also happily run 400gsm (not perfecting) with a maximum of around 800 micron. We think we could push that to 900 micron but have never tried.

The reason I swapped units there is because at that weight grammage can differ hugely so it's easier to give you a more accurate measurement in microns. To give you a very rough ballpark that's at least 500gsm if not slightly more, but obviously it's heavily dependant on stock.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Paul Stirling]

Anyone with a CD press can print litho on up to 1000 micron board ( 1mm thick ). You could go heavier by printing on a lighter sheet and then mounting onto pretty much as thick a board as you like ( which is how point of sale works ). Digital print wise on Indido and Igen presses you'd be hard pressed to go above 350gsm.

Give me a shout if you need any help as i know loads of companies with these presses.