What Is The Maximum Gsm That Laser Printers Will Accept
All laser printers come with varying GSM limitations set by manufacturers to optimise the quality of your prints and also extend the life of your printer. GSM, in short, grams per square metre is the weight or thickness of your paper or print media. Starting from the standard 70 to 90gsm paper to business cardstock 400gsm and over. A higher GSM number means thicker and heavier paper.
Using The Correct Gsm Paper
Paper weights go as low as 40gsm for tracing paper and the optimum for most laser printers is 80gsm general-purpose printing paper. General users dont worry about GSM limitations as they mostly print standard documents using the 80gsm reams of paper, which is recommended.
Using the recommended paper weight has a good impact on a printer and quality of the final print job. The effects of not doing so range from bad quality prints to printer damage. High on the list of issues is paper jam, which then evolves into multiple other issues with varying error codes and messages on your printer. Below are some examples of the maximum GSM recommended for the most common printing scenarios.
- 74gsm to 90gsm This is the basic standard office paper, used in your laser printers.
- 100gsm to 120gsm This is stationary paper used for standard letterheads, complimentary slips.
- 130 to 170gsm Mostly used for leaflets, posters, single-sided flyers, and brochures.
- 175 to 200gsm Quality paper with a card feel. For welcome pack covers, front & back flyers, and posters.
- 250 to 300gsm High gsm quality card for basic crafting, hobbyist photography, book covers.
- 350 to 400gsm Perfect weight for photography, business cards, invitations, and commercial flyers.
- 400gsm and over Very durable and good quality card for serious crafters or artists.
*Most laser printers have a maximum of 220gsm limit
Selling And Lettings Guides
We produce two variations of the selling guide, an eight page and a sixteen page version. The eight pager is a standard A4 in size and the cover is 350gsm silk with matt or gloss laminate to the outside, and the inner pages are 280gsm.
The sixteen pager has a more bespoke feel to it, with a custom size of 200 x 240mm, it is almost square and sits nicely in the hands. 250gsm silk cover with a matt or gloss laminate finish and 12 internal pages on 170gsm silk.
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Sizes Of The A Paper Series
On the surface of it paper sizes can be a little puzzling with all these seemingly unrelated letters and numbers. Once you become familiar with what the numbers and letters stand for and how they relate to one another you will be relieved to know it all becomes rather simple.
Hopefully the below animation will help to demistify standard paper sizes.
Successive paper sizes in the A series
The base A0 size of paper is defined as having an area of 1m².
Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size across the larger dimension. This also effectively halves the area of each sheet.
The dimensions for each size are as follows:
Size Width x Height
A0 â 841 x 1189 mm
A1 â 594 x 841 mm
A2 â 420 x 594 mm
A3 â 297 x 420 mm
A4 â 210 x 297 mm
A5 â 148 x 210 mm
A6 â 105 x 148 mm
A7 â 74 x 105 mm
A8 â 52 x 74 mm
By the way â DL is 1/3 of an A4 sheet. . This is the size of standard compliment slips.
And posters? Well, we here believe that you need to be looking at at least A3 size and above to qualify as a poster.
To drill down deeper into this subject and to explore the lesser known âB and âCâ series of paper you can find out much more here.
Choosing A Paper Weight
Now that you know how we measure and categorize paper weights, youll have a better idea of how to choose the right paper weight for your project. Individual opinions on the right paper weight for various types of materials do, of course, vary, and while were happy to offer our suggestions for what types of paper may work well for your printing needs, you also are welcome to stipulate your own choice of paper from our wide range of in-house options.
Thinking about paper weight early on in the printing process is worthwhile. While youre deciding what size of paper, type, cut, and how many pages are needed, paper weight is another consideration.
If your project has a cover, two different paper weights are desirable to serve the different purposes of the cover and the inside pages. For example, in perfect-bound or saddle-stitched books, a heavy cover weight lends heft and substance, while a lighter paper is used for the printed text, for both affordability and readability simply put, its easier to turn lighter pages. This holds true for other projects with these bindings too, like catalogs, booklets, and magazines.
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A Guide To Paper Weights For Print Brochures
Posted by Digital Printing on 23/09/13
When it comes to deciding on your the type and weight of paper can often be one of the last things you decide on. Getting your design right and filling it with content and images is often the first thing you will sort out.
Next up you may decide on the size of the brochure , how many pages it is to have , how many hundreds or thousands you need to be printed and what sort of budget you have to work with .
After all, this is done, you might actually start to think of the printing of your brochure. Before you start thinking of this however, there are a number of things you need to consider:
How will it be stitched together?
What type of paper do you want to print on?
What weight of paper do you want to use?
Will you decide to coat the paper or leave it uncoated?
These elements can often be forgotten about but deciding on the paper you wish to print on is of huge importance when it comes to completing the printing of your brochure.
The weight of the paper will be the main factor in determining the final weight of your brochure and this could impact on the delivery cost if you have decided on doing a direct mail campaign. The thicker a sheet of paper is then the heavier it tends to be .
Below is a guide to different paper weights for you to consider when printing.
Paper weight is measured in grams per square metre . In general, the higher the gsm rating, the heavier and thicker the paper will be.
What Is Paper Weight
The term paper weight, also known as basis weight, refers to the papers thickness and sturdiness, not the individual sheets actual weight. The weight of printer paper is measured in pounds per 500 sheets and grams per square meter .
The most common weight of printer paper is 20 lbs., while most fine printer, business and stationery paper weighs anywhere from 20-32 lbs. Fine paper refers to a class of paper grades that range from 100 percent cotton to processed wood pulp grade.
To give you an idea of what types of paper are considered lightweight, medium-weight and heavyweight, here are some distinguishing characteristics and examples of each.
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Standard Stocks For Specific Purposes
There are standard stocks used in everyday printing situations or for common projects. When purchasing paper for your company, this may be a handy cheat sheet for you to reference.
- Standard Printing Paper: 20# pound bond or 50# text
- Letterhead: 24# bond or 60# text
- Brochures/Presentations: 28#/32# bond or 70#/80# text
- Postcards/Posters: 65# cover
- Tabs/Dividers/Manila Folders: 110# index
Copy And Multipurpose Paper
As the name suggests, these papers are adaptable to different functions, including inkjet printing, laser printing, and photocopying. The papers can come in a wide variety of size, weight, color, and brightness choices. Copy paper tends to be slightly thinner and less expensive than regular printing paper and can usually be a good substitute for it unless the page features heavy ink coverage. In this case, the result might be too saturated and affect image quality.
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Paper Weight By Paper Type
In case you hadnt guessed yet, 80 lb cardstock is a different animal from 80 lb printer paper. The truth is, the type of paper can significantly change what the weight means.
Cardstock is thicker than regular printer paper but thinner and more flexible than cardboard, sort of a happy medium between the two. Its also referred to as cover paper.
Our white cardstock comes in the following weights:
- 65 lb
- Ice Pink
- Spring Green
All of our parchment cardstock, regardless of color or size, is available in 65 lb bond. This means it may still be thin enough and flexible enough to print in your home printer, but make sure to check the weight limit of your printer and the caliper of the paper.
Recycled And Sustainable Paper Stock
Nonrecycled paper, sometimes known as virgin paper, is made from all-new materials, such as wood pulp or cotton. Recycled paper can be manufactured from:
- Pre-consumer material scrap material left over from a manufacturing process
- Post-consumer waste materials, like newspapers, used by people in their homes or in other settings
According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, a paper can be called recycled only if it contains 100% post-consumer recovered fiber. If the post-consumer content is less than 100%, the paper should be called recycled-content paper.
Sustainable papers come from carefully controlled forests that are replanted and renewed. They meet specific environmental standards, helping users support practices that better protect forests and the environment.
Some papers boast an FSC certification. The Forest Stewardship Council is a widely respected not-for-profit organization that seeks to protect the worlds forests by monitoring and improving timber production. The FSC has worked with key players in the lumber industry to inspect and track timber and pulp through production chains, ensuring that woodlands are managed sustainably. Any paper products certified by the FSC are created with sustainable practices.
While some businesses might be hesitant to use recycled paper since its texture and quality can differ slightly from virgin paper brands, FSC-certified products are virtually indistinguishable.
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Still Unsure Talk To A Printing Pro
Knowing your paper weights will help you create a higher quality, more durable and more impressive printed product in the end. However, each project is individual, and were here to help you with any questions you may still have.
If you have questions regarding paper weight, or what kind of paper would best suit your printing project, please reach out to our experts at Thomas Group Printing. Were a fourth generation family owned printing company in NYC and were always happy to lend our experience to our clients. Not only will they help you determine which paper is the best fit for your product, but they will help you with any other questions you may have.
How To Choose The Right Paper Weight
While modern multifunction printers are designed to work with a variety of paper weights, there are few printers that can perform at a high level using all paper weights. The type of printer and the type of print job are going to play major roles in the final product you receive in the printer tray.
Standard bond paper, weighing 20 pounds, is the most common paper found in offices. It is ideal for use in copy machines, fax machines and standard printers. Bond papers lighter weight makes it jam resistant, economical to purchase and the most flexible for use across various machines. Common uses include high-volume print jobs, faxes and everyday print jobs .
Mid-range paper weights are ideal for use in higher-end multifunction devices and inkjet/laser printers. These heavier paper weights are more versatile, resistant to translucency and tend to provide a smoother finish. Youll often see mid-range paper weights used in printing business proposals, presentations and documents geared toward customers .
Finally, papers with the heaviest weights are best suited for commercial printers and specific inkjet/laser printers only. These sturdy paper weights offer the smoothest finishes, clear colors and the greatest resistance to translucency. Heavy paper is often used for signs, flyers, professional presentation materials and as cover material for documents .
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How Paper Weight Isdetermined
Every good paper weight guide will discuss the various methods for specifying different paper weights and thicknesses. We have found it helpful to our customers to focus on the two most common:
For customers looking for a more straightforward method, Printivity recommends the following approach.
Printer Paper Weight Guide
What weight is printer paper? There are a few dozen answers to this question! There are different weights of printer paper, and the weight you choose depends on what kind of output you are looking for. Two very common output styles for those in an office setting may include basic, day-to-day 20# copy paper, or maybe something with a richer output like glossy stock. While paper comes in a huge variety of weights, sizes and textures, this variety makes paper both versatile and confusing to some.
In order to understand all the different kinds of paper weight, its important to understand the different units of how paper is measured.
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The Simple Paper Weight Guide: How To Choose Paper For Printing
Step 1: Choose the bestpaper weight according to the specifics of your print job.
Are you printing color copies or black and white copies? Are you printing booklets, brochures, or invitations? Or, are you printing business cards/postcards? This will narrow down your decision-making to the best paper weights and types of paper commonly used for your print project.
Step 2: Think aboutwhether you want a cardstock paper weight, or a non-cardstock paper weight
Ifour paper weight guides dont help you find the right paper, think about whethercardstock or non-cardstock paper is better suited to your type of printproject.
Cardstock is also known as cover, index, or bristol. Non-cardstock papers are called text or bond. At Printivity, our cover paper is synonymous with cardstock, and non-cardstock is synonymous with text weight. This keeps things simpler for our customers.
Printing customers often obsess about the numbered paper weights , but I typically tell them not to worry about that detail. First, decide what kind of paper you want Cover or Text and then move on to the next step.
Step 3: Choose a papercoatingglossy , matte , or uncoated
Thisis an important step because not all coating types have the same paper weightoptions. For example, glossy paper has the option of 60 lb. glossy text, whilematte paper does not. Uncoated paper has 50/60/70 lb., but doesnt have 80/100lb.
Step 4: Choose your numbered paper weight
How Paper Weight Is Measured
Paper weight is measured using three measures of sturdiness:
You may wonder why the weight of a cardstock says 65 lb when the reams of paper dont weigh 65 lb. Thats because weight in pounds isnt calculated by the ream, but rather by the weight of the uncut paper. So, if 500 sheets of uncut cardstock weigh 65 lbs, its called 65 lb stock.
Point is calculated by the thousandths of an inch thickness of sheets of paper. A sheet of paper 0.010 inches thick is 10 pt cardstock, 0.015 inches thick is 15 pt cardstock, etc.
Density is the universal metric measurement of paper density. In North America, this is converted to either pounds or points. Our site uses pounds for the sake of simplicity.
Why Paper Weight Doesnt Fully Describe the Weight of Paper
As you can see, weight doesnt fully describe the calculation process used to assess paper weight. Its actually a combination of two things: weight and thickness.
This is actually a good thing for consumers, even though it is confusing. Because weight takes into account the actual thickness of the paper, you can use weight to determine whether a sheet of cardstock is too thick for your home printer to handle.
On the other hand, paper weight may be standardized, but the methods of producing paper are not. This means that weight can mean something quite different between one manufacturer and the next.
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Estate And Lettings Agents Ncr Agreements
Our templated estate agency agreements for sales is a 2 part NCR set, A3 in size and printed both sides on 80gsm paper. They duplicate on one side and are designed to fold into a convenient 4 page A4 .
Our lettings agency agreement is larger, with a flat size of 630 x 297mm, is a 2 part NCR set and printed both sides on 80gsm paper. They duplicate on one side and are designed to fold into a convenient 6 page A4 .
What Counts As Lightweight/medium Weight/heavyweight
Lightweight paper can print in most consumer-grade home printers and is usually up to 60 lbs. This kind of paper can be folded without scoring and can be translucent or average printer paper.
Medium weight paper is generally between 65 lbs to 80 lbspicture the type of paper typically used in cards and youre in the right ballpark. Heavyweight paper runs from 80 lbs to 200 lbs and can be used in anything from business cards to hang tags to booklets, as it is sturdy and substantial.
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