Z-Fold

[ad41061]

Hi, I'm new to digital printing, and I have a basic question for a Z fold on an A4 size paper do you Laminate before folding or fold first and then Laminate?

Regards

AD

 

[keith1]

1) laminate
2) score (crease)
3) fold
Because of the laminate it may not fold well without scoring. But give it a try.

 

[Ynot_UK]

@ad41061 welcome to the forum

As a rule, the first stages will always be:
1. Print
2. Laminate
3. Trim
and Folding will always be last, with creasing before folding where required, as @keith1 has highlighted.

It's done in this order because the laminating film is undersized to the printed sheet and oversized to the trimmed (finished) size.
For example an SRA3 shop will print A4 (210x297mm) jobs 2-up onto SRA3 (320x450mm)
The laminating film will either be 315mm or 440/445mm (depending on whether the printed SRA3 substrate is being fed into the laminator on the long or the short edge). In either case, you'll note there are 2.5-5.0mm top & bottom not laminated (i.e. 320-315mm = 5mm), which keeps things clean in the laminator and assists with an accurate guillotine cut.

In this example, the laminated SRA3 sheets are then trimmed on the guillotine down to A4.
Then any additional finishing, such as creasing and folding are carried out.