Printing Knowledge

Bleed is the printing industry term  that refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet before trimming.. What actually happens is that the picture or other graphic extends 1/8" (.125") beyond the edge of the page and that excess image…

VARNISHING After an image has been transferred to a substrate, it is sometimes coated or varnished. The coating becomes a clear protective surface. Usually, the coating makes the surface resistant to moisture and scuffing.Glossy restaurant menus, ann…

Sheets of paper may be bound together in several different ways. The most common methods include: saddle-wire, side-wire, sewn soft-over, sewn case-bound, adhesive, mechanical, and loose-leaf binding. SADDLE-WIRE BINDING. The saddle-wire method of bi…

Finishing refers to several operations that may be performed on printed material after it has left the press. The most common finishing operations are cutting, folding, and gathering. other finishing techniques include scoring, perforating, drilling,…

Self Covers Self-covers are produced from the same material as the body of the book and generally carry part of the message of the piece. Newspaper and some news magazines have selfcovers. The method requires no special techniques to assemble or atta…

The most aggravating problems in lithography are often interaction problems, which arise when there is more than one deficiency among the paper, ink, press, and press operation factors. Consequently, adjusting the press may solve the problem temporar…

Each printing process requires the use of an ink developed specifically for that process. Letterpress, gravure, lithographic, and screen-process inks are specially formulated to match the requirements of the printing process. For example, letterpress…

Many times, a customer requests a specific color other than black, cyan, yellow, or magenta on the ink required, the printer either orders the specific color from the inkmaker or mixes it in the printing plant. Obtaining the ink from the inkmaker is …

Ink manufacturing (Figure 5-10) is complex and requires extensive chemical and printing process knowledge as well as specialized ink manufacturing equipment use. While there a number of manufacturing methods, most share these basic phases of producti…

Ink is transferred from a plate or stencil to paper or some other material during the printing process. The ink forms the image on the printed product. Most printing inks consist of pigments, vehicles, and modifiers. Pigment is the ingredient that pr…

Not only must paper be handled carefully during shipment but it must able be handled carefully in the plant. Paper must be brought to pressroom temperature before opening so that it does not curl due to the gain or loss of moisture. Paper should rema…

Some papers are very adaptable to several applications, while others others are very limited. The next section will briefly discuss the types of paper that are acceptable for different printing processes and applications. Paper for gravure.  General…

Some of the most common printing papers are bond, book, cover, bristol, newsprint, duplicator, and mimeograph. User for each of these kinds of paper and information about their basic sizes and basis weights are included in, Figure 5-6. Basic size is …

There are two fundamental steps in papermaking. First, the fibrous raw material, or cellulose, from pulpwood, nonwood fibers, or recycled papers is converted into pulp, a mass of fibers suitable for papermaking. Second, the pulp is interwoven and bon…

Cellulose fiber. The principal raw material for producing paper is cellulose fibers, which are short, threadlike structures. Cellulose fiber is the basic building block of plant matter, and large amounts of it can be extracted from wood. There are fo…

Making paper by hand is an excellent way to become familiar with the basic procedures of papermaking. Extensive equipment and materials are not required. Equipment includes a tub large pail, a mold, and a deckle. These three items are shown in Figure…

Many types materials can be printed. Plastic, glass and fabric are just some. However, by far the most important printed material is paper. Paper is needed for letterheads, envelopes, invoices, checks, travel brochures, calendars, advertising pieces …

The origin of narrow-web flexography is usually placed in the period immediately after WW ll. At that time, Mark andrews Sr. (1904~1980), the founder of Mark Andy, Inc., made his first presses for printing on the then new product, "scotch Tape." Ot…

Narrow-web flexo has most recently been defined as any web width less than 20" (508mm). While this is an arbitrary designation, it will serve as a definition for this chapter. The vast majority of narrow-web presses, however, are 16" (406mm) or les…

Folding cartons have been printed by flexo for many years, but it has only been in the past 10 years that the industry has started using state-of-the-art central impression presses for this application. Pizza cartons illustrate the type of work that …