Digitally optimised paper - Xerox & others

[Lukew]

Interested to hear feedback from other offset printers regarding this digitally optimised paper from Xerox being used for offset printing.
The powers to be have now chosen this as our house stock for all coated ranging from 130gsm up to 350 gsm gloss & silk to be used for offset printing.

Reading xerox's data sheet, it says the coating has be altered & the capillaries are tighter to help dry toner adhesion on digital copiers, also the sheets have been cut sheeted instead of guillotine cut in which they claim reduced paper dust from this. The moisture % content of the paper they say is a lot lower then a coated paper manufactured for offset printing.
With that being said xerox claim it runs fine for offset printing.

Early days yet but I'm noticing three key area's of concern when used on an offset press.
1) A lot more paper dust, especially on the edge of the sheets. The edges of the paper feel rough and look rough under a glass.
2) I need to run spray powder a lot higher to stop set off compared to our normal coated paper range
3) When cutting though a solid there is more bruising/offsetting onto the reverse side.

About the only bonus I see is the ink looks glossier & has less dry back on the sheet. Thinking this comes down to the altered coating not allowing the ink to penetrate as easy.

Regards.

 

[Alith7]

Interested to hear feedback from other offset printers regarding this digitally optimised paper from Xerox being used for offset printing.
The powers to be have now chosen this as our house stock for all coated ranging from 130gsm up to 350 gsm gloss & silk to be used for offset printing.

Reading xerox's data sheet, it says the coating has be altered & the capillaries are tighter to help dry toner adhesion on digital copiers, also the sheets have been cut sheeted instead of guillotine cut in which they claim reduced paper dust from this. The moisture % content of the paper they say is a lot lower then a coated paper manufactured for offset printing.
With that being said xerox claim it runs fine for offset printing.

Early days yet but I'm noticing three key area's of concern when used on an offset press.
1) A lot more paper dust, especially on the edge of the sheets. The edges of the paper feel rough and look rough under a glass.
2) I need to run spray powder a lot higher to stop set off compared to our normal coated paper range
3) When cutting though a solid there is more bruising/offsetting onto the reverse side.

About the only bonus I see is the ink looks glossier & has less dry back on the sheet. Thinking this comes down to the altered coating not allowing the ink to penetrate as easy.

Regards.

I haven't had any experience with the papers specifically, but I would think you would start seeing problems. the Papers are less porous so that the toner sits smoother on the sheet, and while this is great for digital, that will stop the absorption of the inks and greatly increase necessary dry time. Think similar to printing on a Vinyl or Poly paper. Also, from my experience with "sheeted" papers instead of guillotine cut, you do not have a consistent size. The sheet size can vary up to a as much as an 1/8". on both digital AND offset this can be a problem. And, as you have noticed, it really doesn't seem to have helped the dust.

Also, I don't think Xerox manufactures their paper, they get it from one of the standard mills, but I don't recall which.

That said, One of my vendor reps had brought in new swatch books, and one of them had this really awesome chart of which of their papers were rated best for which process and which digital machines. I thought it was Mohawk, but for the life of me I can't find it now.

 

[MailGuru]

Xerox recently (within the last 90 days) has divested itself from the paper supplies business. I believe they sold that division to MAC papers. I believe that Alith7 is correct, I'm pretty sure it's Mohawk-milled

 

[Lukew]

This paper is crap!
Rub resistance even on gloss is poor.
Lots of carbonising when cutting through bleed pictures/solids etc even on gloss
Paper dust building up on blanket & cylinders due to the fact its sheeted.

Run on our old stock there is no issues..

 

[Alois Senefelder]

Xerox Paper

Xerox Paper

Hello fellow Lithographers,

Enlightenment


ALL commercial printing paper grades (Uncoated/Coated) are Sheeted!

Warning Paper sheeted via 3 reels, introduce a lot of Sheet to Sheet quality variation into the Pallets of Paper


Some PDF's - that I hope you will find of interest and value.


Regards, Alois

 

[Lukew]

Thanks for the PDf Alois.

This crap paper is exactly that rough sheeted and inconsistent sizing.
The edges are that rough you can slide your fingers down the edge of 130gsm gloss and silk with out fear of any paper cuts.

Put a stripe of clear sticky tape against the edge of 130 gsm silk/gloss ream and put it away it is covered in paper dust.

Xerox claim that
Their sheeted paper is more accurately cut size wise then guillotine cut .
Their sheeted paper has no paper dust.

I can deal with paper dust, What I can't deal with is paper that requires you to run higher levels of spray powder, and has rub & cut issues in bindery.