Digital Queries: Additives for Digital Performance and Paper Guarantees
Our Digital Queries blog series features the questions we most frequently receive from the digital print marketplace. By sharing our answers in this blog, we aim to distribute our tips and insights to a broader audience. This week, we tackle paper additives and compatibility guarantees.
When you are printing first on an offset press then sending through digital equipment, does the paper need to be manufactured different?
Offset printing is considered a wet process, while toner based printing is considered a heat process. Typically, uncoated paper manufacturers produce paper for offset with a higher moisture content while toner grades are made at lower moisture content. To make the sheet able to perform in a wider range of equipment, some manufacturers will run a mid-moisture level with additives for digital performance.
Is color copy paper to be used on color copy equipment only, or is it guaranteed for all digital equipment?
Color copy paper typically has a very smooth surface for better printability, thus making it a higher end sheet. If the paper is guaranteed to perform on color copy equipment or is laser guaranteed, this usually means it performs on all toner-based equipment, from small office copiers to high-speed production presses, unless otherwise specified.
Regarding the compatibility of paper for digital print, we often get asked whether our Royal grades can be run offset for a shell and then run through a non-impact process afterward.
For pre-print applications there are three pieces of advice. The first two are crucial and the latter is helpful. 1) make sure the paper is guaranteed for preprint applications in the first place 2) always print the piece so that the final piece is grain long i.e. 8.5 x 11” not 11 x 8.5” 3) I would recommend using at least a 60 to 70# basis weight sheet not 50# as the sheet is too thin for this tough application.