Thin Digital Stock

[Copycats]

I am looking for a thin paper stock that runs well digitally (both color and b/w). Our saddle-stitiched books are bulking up too much when they get over 10 sheets.

Any suggestions?

 

[Possumgal]

Coated or uncoated?

If you don't have the online finishing equipment that can flatten the booklets, one way to do it is to take a stack and flatten it on your cutter using that big doohickey that comes down before the blade. It's not the best solution but it works.

 

[MailGuru]

We use 60# gloss text. Not recommended for some inline booklet makers, but, is well within the specs of most digital printers. If you're running inline, you should experiment with it first to make sure your booklet maker can handle that thin of a sheet.
-Best
MailGuru

 

[Copycats]

We have a off-line Duplo. I think it would handle a 60# coated sheet. What sheet do you use?

 

[MailGuru]

We have a off-line Duplo. I think it would handle a 60# coated sheet. What sheet do you use?

We're using U-Digital 60# Gloss Text from Unisource (I think now they call it "Eco-Porceline", but, equivalent can also be obtained from Mac Papers (stock is called Blazer Digital), or, pretty much any paper vendor. Ultimately, I believe it is a New Page product). It is their "house" paper. We've been using it for over 7 years now, with no problems. It's not a normal substrate for most digital users, so, it's not normally stocked as a floor item. It normally only comes in 24 x 36 sheets, and, our vendor (Unisource) has it cut to 12 x 18 at a local print shop before delivery to us (of course, we could cut it down ourselves, but, as long as they are offering.......

We are using Duplo offline Booklet Maker also. Absolutely no problems with the 60# Gloss Text over the last 7 years. We just installed the Versant 2100 with the standard inline booklet maker and square-fold trimmer. That bookletmaker is not supposed to be able to handle anything less than 70# text, but, our experiments show that it looks like it will handle it ok. We are starting next week to move some of our booklets to inline instead of offline with some through-put bench mark tests to compare it to our normal offline production process. Before the advent of the technology of fuser belts as opposed to the standard heat/pressure fuser, running mixed stock inline booklets (our outside covers are 80# Gloss Cover) was just too slow on output as the fuser would need to pause between 80# Cover & 60# Text, and then visa versa, to re-adjust heat and pressure for the differnt substrates. Fuser Belts (such as on the 2100 as well as the X800/1000) don't have the same constraints.

 

[MailGuru]

In terms of durability and ease of use, we run, and have been running, 120,000 auto-duplex 12 x 18 60# gloss text sheets per month for over 7 years for this one booklet application. That's 1.44 million sheets per year. A little over 10 million sheets total. Machines we run are Xerox DocuColor 8000AP, Xerox DocuColor 8002, and the Xerox Versant 2100. We needed to go with 60# Gloss text, because, for the majority of our booklets, they mail presorted 1st class, and, with the average number of pages (24 - 28), the weight is right at 1.9 ounces. If we went to 70# Gloss Text which, is a standard floor item, it would bump the mail piece weight over the 2-ounce mark, which would cost the client and additional $0.25/ech in postage.