Cardstock usage

[Obiwan3]

To all,

I'm a newbie, with a decided slant toward ACW ironclads. Hope my question isn't too basic for the gang.

I have an HP G85 printer and the paper path is a pretty tight 180 degree turn from the tray to where the printer heads do their work. I can coerce 67 lb. stock to work, but I suspect anything heavier may jam up the old printer.

I've printed out the CSS Texas on the 67 pound stock. Some of the build threads I've followed seem to be using heavier stock for the egg crate framing. Are these laminations or are they able to print on heavier gauge paper?

And I think I'm printing slightly undersized. The printer is set to shrink oversize PDF pages and I get page edge lines near the margins of my pages.

Your help will much appreciated.

Ken

Can this be moved to a more appropriate forum, like First Cuts. I didn't scroll far enough. Rookie faux pas. Sorry 'bout that.

[sporticus]

Hi, I think most people laminate to make the skeleton. I think this is as much to give rigidity as it is to give strength.
Personally I use 210gsm card as it is easily available from Staples (although my local staples is now closing down, so my next order might be online). I find this works ok, but it would be better laminated to double thickness. I design with the idea this is 0.2mm thick, so double thickness is 0.4mm.


My printer says I can use up to 105gsm, so I am using double that. After probably 200 sheets I have noticed no ill effects on the printer.

I did try to work out what 67lb was compared to 210gsm, but failed miserably!

[sporticus]

ps..glad you like the ACW ships. You should feel at home here!

[wag]

I've owned a couple of HP printers similar in description to yours and they both handled 110 lb card with no problems. If you have problems, print one page at a time and just apply a very slight pressure as the page loads. Try to avoid "shrink to fit page" as it can change the proportions (height vs width) of what your printing. You can order legal size (8.5 x 14) cardstock from Amazon.com which will allow you to print A4 size pages without having to shrink the image. For the structural formers they are usually laminated to heavier card like cereal boxes.
Hope this helps.
Wayne

[Lighter]

I worry more about the finish of the paper than the weight. It is easy to laminate with glue, spray, or permanent dot rollers.

I use high resolution paper for lighter weight things and matte photo paper for most of my construction. When laminating I use card that comes in the photo paper packages. Which is about like cereal boxes which lots of folks use. (Truth in posting - I use a Canon which has a straight through path and can take fairly heavy card.)

As for the sizing - don't let the PDF print dialogue mess with scaling. Turn off "fit to page." Most, (not all) 250 scale civil war ships from various sources will print on letter size even if they are originally on a European size paper. If you find one that won't - let the list know because one of us might have solved a specific ship's sizing problem already.

[SCEtoAUX]

In 1999 or there abouts I had an HP 720C inkjet that could handle the 110lb/199gsm cardstock (index) just fine. It had the usual HP 180º paper path.

You can go to OfficeWorld.com - Office Supplies & Business Products! and input tagboard in the search box to get to some Pacon tagboard. There is medium weight and heavy weight. The 9"x12" can be cut down to A4 size if you want, otherwise just trim ½" off of the long side to get it to 8½" width to fit through your printer. The trimmed strip can be used for other things. Make sure you order the white and not the manila, unless you want manila.

The medium weight tagboard is about the same as 65lb cover stock (177gsm); the heavy weight tagboard is about the same as 93lb cover/140lb index (252gsm) and will most likely cause problems going through the printer.

Most of the 65lb or 67lb cardstock available is what is called cover stock; most of the 110lb cardstock available is what is called index.

[Bionic Modeler]

I offered this suggestion a few years back. Water Color paper is very stiff and relatively thin. If you need the stiffness of heavier cardstock without the bulk then laminate the 67lb to the water color paper. You can buy a whole pad for $5. it is excellent for those times when you are making very narrow parts that need to be strong. it is also very flat. I use it under my decking for ships. It is much stiffer than 110 lb. I would also use it for the hulls on ships with flat hull designs like the Titanic

[Obiwan3]

Great info, folks! Much appreciated. Now I can re-purpose my empty Cheerios boxes. And yes, I've even added the paper models to a spreadsheet I made up a while ago to track the resin and pewter kits of these ships. Paper covers a much wider range and it's pretty much all in the 1/250 scale.

Wayne: I did the single sheet feed, but didn't "push" the sheet. Next print session I'll try that.

Tim: I'll see if the "Boss" has any of this Water Color paper. She does a little painting and I seem to recall this paper was in her stash.

Ken

[mbauer]

Hi Ken,

The 67lb stock you mention could be fairly heavy stuff. Is it Cover by chance?

Cover cardstock is heavy weight stuff. A few years ago I created a PDF that shows the equivelant weights when comparing Cover, Index, Vellum, & Tag.

The links to it are in my signature below my name. Blue link = Cardstock Property Tables and Terms that is underlined.

Tried to show in a chart the different brands and how they are weighed. Only common way to measure cardstock is by GSM (Grams per Square meter).

Check the link and you'll see the PDF that can be saved for reference...

Mike

[Obiwan3]

Hey Mike,

I went and double checked my paper stash. I have both 67# and 80# "Cover" papers. I've been using the 80# cover material. The ole HP balks a bit, but I do get it through the 180 degree turn. I'll try some 67# stuff next time.

Your PDFs are outstanding; copies now reside here at the ranch.

Ken