Brochure Folding ?

[jdr999]

Hi All,

I'm trying to find the best workflow for brochure printing. They seem to be a fairly low-priced commodity item and I'd like to do them as efficiently as possible. Some online printers even price them less than flyers.

We are an all-digital shop and can't seem to fold anything over 70# text without cracking.

Currently we print, cut, crease on a Duplo 616, and fold on our air-fed Horizon PF-330. Is there an easier way? I can't imagine the larger shops pre-crease everything.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[Magnus59]

Hi All,

I'm trying to find the best workflow for brochure printing. They seem to be a fairly low-priced commodity item and I'd like to do them as efficiently as possible. Some online printers even price them less than flyers.

We are an all-digital shop and can't seem to fold anything over 70# text without cracking.

Currently we print, cut, crease on a Duplo 616, and fold on our air-fed Horizon PF-330. Is there an easier way? I can't image the larger shops pre-crease everything.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Joe

Grain direction is critical with heavier stocks, it can be troublesome with digital because the many of the machines like short grain stock, but if you're printing brochures 2 up, you need a long grain stock for folding.

 

[jdr999]

Interesting - I'll have to check on that as we do print them 2up.

Can 100# text weight paper be cleanly folded without creasing?

Does the added toner on the sheet make folding difficult and more prone to cracking?

We also do a lot of booklets and bi-folds. Should I be keeping paper in both grain directions then?

 

[Wheate]

You could invest in a unit that creases and folds in one pass. Couldn't imagine not having one in our shop, absolutely crucial for us. We have a Touchline Foldmaster CF375. While grain direction will absolutely lessen toner cracking, we routinely run 300-350 gsm stock with perfect results.

 

[jdr999]

You could invest in a unit that creases and folds in one pass. Couldn't imagine not having one in our shop, absolutely crucial for us. We have a Touchline Foldmaster CF375. While grain direction will absolutely lessen toner cracking, we routinely run 300-350 gsm stock with perfect results.

Is that a knife folder? I assumed they were for cover stock only. I wasn't aware that I could use them for text weight as well..

So generally, crease before fold is typical for digital?

I already have a Duplo 616 so I'd hate to have to purchase another creaser -- but I don't think this one is compatible with their knife folder..

 

[jdr999]

Grain direction is critical with heavier stocks, it can be troublesome with digital because the many of the machines like short grain stock, but if you're printing brochures 2 up, you need a long grain stock for folding.

I just checked and most of our text-weight 12x18s' are long grain. That should be correct for a 2up tri-fold?

 

[Wheate]

Is that a knife folder? I assumed they were for cover stock only. I wasn't aware that I could use them for text weight as well..

So generally, crease before fold is typical for digital?

I already have a Duplo 616 so I'd hate to have to purchase another creaser -- but I don't think this one is compatible with their knife folder..

Yeah the CF375 has a knife folder but it creases prior to the fold so no cracking. The lowest weight stock we routinely run is a 70# Accent Opaque. Me personally, I would never fold anything digitally printed without a crease. We have a Duplo 616Pro that we do use for flat output greeting cards and other creased items but for anything folded it's gotta go through the CF375.

 

[jdr999]

Yeah the CF375 has a knife folder but it creases prior to the fold so no cracking. The lowest weight stock we routinely run is a 70# Accent Opaque. Me personally, I would never fold anything digitally printed without a crease. We have a Duplo 616Pro that we do use for flat output greeting cards and other creased items but for anything folded it's gotta go through the CF375.

So you have the same slitter we do. Did you find it difficult to buy another machine with similar capability to the 616 vs. just trying to add a knife folder? I know the Duplo unit only feeds from the larger slitter, but there may be other options such as Count..?

I really don't want to spend the money, but in your mind it's worth the extra investment?

 

[Wheate]

So you have the same slitter we do. Did you find it difficult to buy another machine with similar capability to the 616 vs. just trying to add a knife folder? I know the Duplo unit only feeds from the larger slitter, but there may be other options such as Count..?

I really don't want to spend the money, but in your mind it's worth the extra investment?[/QUOTE

We treat the 616 as a totally different process, we purchased it with the sole use of cutting business cards and small items to alleviate our guillotine time. It's nice that it creases but for say a run of 2000 brochures it would be wayyyy too slow to be useful. The CF375 is only for folding, we do a lot of brochures so it was a no brainer for us.