Do I have to laminate both sides for folds

[Sam Design]

I am creating a children's pop up theatre made from card which I am assuming I need to laminate both sides to stop the card cracking and looking unsightly and to give it a bit more longevity/robustness.
I also want to leave an area clear where someone can write a message which I am guessing isn't idea if the surface is laminated.

So my questions are......

1. Must I laminate both sides to protect the folds, I am guessing the stock will show a raw cracked edge on the non-laminated side
2. If I create a guide for lamination that misses the writing area so like spot lamination is this more cost to straight full side lamination
3. Are people likely to be able to write on lamination with regular pen so it doesn't matter anyway
4. If I am going to say this is recyclable after use is this the case with laminated stock?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help !
Sam

 

[kslight]

To stop the card from cracking you want to score it.

 

[Ynot_UK]

1. As @kslight indictes - you should score or crease the folds

2. Not sure how you would do this with regular roll laminator, spot UV coating may be an alternative

3. Yes, but with varying degrees of success (a fine tip permanent marker works great, a ballpoint pen is generally poor and becomes scratchy. We generally include the pens we want used with our products (training materials), I guess you can't do that with your product)

4. Depends on the substrate, you'd need the manufacturer's spec sheet to establish. However I'd give that a swerve, as there will be some guru out there looking to diss your sustainability credentials!

 

[TJPrinter]

Ideally you would laminate with writable laminating film on both sides and score. Recyclable would be questionable.

Synthetic paper can be recyclable and writable too but you still need to score it.

 

[Sam Design]

So do I need to UV or laminate to protect the folds or is scoring just needed? .... so for this product I could do away with UV coating or laminating altogether ?

 

[Stickman42]

Why not get a prototype made without any lamination and see if it withstands your expected amount of use? A properly scored piece of card stock should fold cleanly with and against the grain.

 

[pdan]

IMHO lamination kills any ability to fold up nicely.
A project like this will require a cutting die which will include any necessary crease rules.
A flood varnish or UV coat will enhance and protect the piece.

 

[SheetSqueezer]

IMHO lamination kills any ability to fold up nicely.
A project like this will require a cutting die which will include any necessary crease rules.
A flood varnish or UV coat will enhance and protect the piece.

Since OP wants it to be written on, a knocked-out spot UV or varnish coat might be even better.

 

[kdw75]

To stop the card from cracking you want to score it.

We always crease and never score. We did some menus recently on 9pt matte cover and then laminated both sides with 3mil lamination. Before folding, we creased using matrix on our Cylinder and it looked fantastic and laid very flat.

 

[Magnus59]

We always crease and never score. We did some menus recently on 9pt matte cover and then laminated both sides with 3mil lamination. Before folding, we creased using matrix on our Cylinder and it looked fantastic and laid very flat.

Creasing and scoring are often used interchangeably, I have always referred to the reshaping of paper using a rule and matrix as scoring, as that is what I was taught as an apprentice. I don't know if the definitions have changed over time, or if they differ geographically. This is the result of a quick search on the subject:
Creasing v Scoring

 

[kdw75]

Creasing and scoring are often used interchangeably, I have always referred to the reshaping of paper using a rule and matrix as scoring, as that is what I was taught as an apprentice. I don't know if the definitions have changed over time, or if they differ geographically. This is the result of a quick search on the subject:
Creasing v Scoring

Yep. The link describes it as I have learned it. Scoring leaves a white line at the fold whereas creasing makes a beautiful fold without cracks or white showing through the ink.

 

[bill kahny]

What system or machine removes material at the score/crease short of die cutting? The "Material is taken off at the score, thus reducing the thickness at this point by removing a wedge-shaped or rectangular cardboard chip. " comment in the link confuses me.

 

[MailGuru]

What system or machine removes material at the score/crease short of die cutting? The "Material is taken off at the score, thus reducing the thickness at this point by removing a wedge-shaped or rectangular cardboard chip. " comment in the link confuses me.

I'm confused also. Not sure what a machine that can do this would even look like. Logistically, it would have to be some sort of left-to-right, right-to-left, horizontal movement of something like a print head, except that it would need a very sharp "scraping" blade with an extremely accurate caliper-style paper depth adjustment.

Mmmmm.........did I just invent a new piece of bindery equipment?

 

[bill kahny]

MY IDEA! MY IDEA!!!

maybe just a new head for flatbed machines

 

[MailGuru]

Ok, so, to make this work, we'll need a good sturdy rod that the print head (cutter/scraper head) can slide back & forth on and can be replaced easily (due to wear & tear). We'll call that the "fanatney rod"

 

[MailGuru]

MY IDEA! MY IDEA!!!

maybe just a new head for flatbed machines

We'll call it the "BK2000" (in honor of it's inventor: Bill Kahny).

So accurate, it can take 5/1,000ths of an inch off of 10-point C2S.

But Wait! There's more!

Order in the next 48 hours and receive a free set of Ginsu knives that can easily slice through tin cans (should you ever have the need to do so)

 

[tngcas]

For some reason I thought creasing vs scoring was depending on what kind of method was used. IE. I thought creasing was where the entire crease was pressed top to bottom simultaneously (like in the duplos) and that scoring was done with a roller where the sheet rolls through a roller that pressed down on only part of the sheet at a time as it "rolls through". I hadn't thought of the idea of 'scoring' being more like a knife blade partially cutting the paper/grain.

That does make more sense for definitions but it leaves me wanting a different word for 'simultaneous creasing' vs 'rolled creasing.'
Does someone have a word/definition for the two methods of creasing?

 

[bill kahny]

For some reason I thought creasing vs scoring was depending on what kind of method was used. IE. I thought creasing was where the entire crease was pressed top to bottom simultaneously (like in the duplos) and that scoring was done with a roller where the sheet rolls through a roller that pressed down on only part of the sheet at a time as it "rolls through". I hadn't thought of the idea of 'scoring' being more like a knife blade partially cutting the paper/grain.

That does make more sense for definitions but it leaves me wanting a different word for 'simultaneous creasing' vs 'rolled creasing.'
Does someone have a word/definition for the two methods of creasing?

"For some reason I thought creasing vs scoring was depending on what kind of method was used."

This is what I learned.
There is no process or machine that removes a wedge for the fold. The closest would be a "kiss cut" in die cutting and its not a wedge.

 

[TJPrinter]

For some reason I thought creasing vs scoring was depending on what kind of method was used. IE. I thought creasing was where the entire crease was pressed top to bottom simultaneously (like in the duplos) and that scoring was done with a roller where the sheet rolls through a roller that pressed down on only part of the sheet at a time as it "rolls through". I hadn't thought of the idea of 'scoring' being more like a knife blade partially cutting the paper/grain.

That does make more sense for definitions but it leaves me wanting a different word for 'simultaneous creasing' vs 'rolled creasing.'
Does someone have a word/definition for the two methods of creasing?

I always thought that this was called “slit scoring”. Scoring and creasing seem to be used interchangeably although technically only creasing de-laminates the sheet to eliminate cracking. Scoring helps fold along a line…at least this is how I’ve always considered it. I’ve been wrong before though!

 

[bill kahny]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dhh_q29dlQAI&ved=2ahUKEwibvPnfvNaFAxX4kIkEHaVOAq0QtwJ6BAgNEAI&usg=AOvVaw2leXo2Q8rS7mxYBt2B2mbw

Apparently Mailguru and I were beat to the punch. V cuts can be done on flatbed machines.