[mbauer]

This Thread is About Cardstock.
It has been put together from various sources and personal testing. I’ve been without the internet for awhile and did some updating to my old tables. Here is the newest version of each.

There are many different types of cardstock! The following tables (PDF) are concerned with the most common types I use:
-Cover
-Index
-Tag

Coated Paper usually has a “clay” coating that makes it glossy. This weighs a bunch and really doesn’t add to the paper strength.

You can find different weights of coated cardstock at any “professional” printing press shop. Please note that this means Printing press and not a copy shop.

You can buy almost any type of cardstock or paper from a professional printing press. They can cut it to any size you would like. Expect to pay more for these services though.

A professional printer uses a press to print/die cut the paper or cardstock. I’ve been to one and asked many questions. The owner took me on a very interesting tour. He explained about inks, coatings and then showed me a run in progress.

They are set-up to do thousands of prints per run. Typically you have to pay a set-up fee. This set-up fee is usually for the workers to set the press up for a particular job. It is a standard fee that is set beforehand. It is cost effective to print 3000 sheets instead of 1000, because you only have to pay the per sheet fee after the press is set-up.

The Printing press uses dies that are made for your particular project. A 28” x 40” Die costs around $1000, this die can do the ink transfer as well as any cutting or scoring fold lines as needed. After creating the dies, they are yours to keep, the shop will warehouse them for you or you can take them home.

Copy shops usually use laser copiers/printers. The laser printers use plastic ink that is superheated and then cools once it hits the paper causing it to “bond”. When making models this “ink” has a tendency to flake off on the bends. They can easily do one or a thousand copies at a per sheet price.

One of the best resources that I’ve found for paper information is www.ipaper.com This is the link for International Paper. You will need to click on several links to find what you’re looking for.

The first PDF shows common sizes to determine Basis Weight for each category of cardstock. It also lists the cardstock by POINT, and CALIPER thickness. It has International Metric sheet sizes. There are examples of how to use the tables and a short glossary.

The second PDF has a table to compare cardstock Equivalent Weights for your project. I updated the example to hopefully make more sense when trying to cross-reference what category weight works with another one.

The third PDF is in answer to a question I see quite often on these forums-What thickness of cardstock laminates to make 1mm or even 0.5mm thick nesses. Please note these are laminates and if you have the time and resources you can buy or find actual cardstock in the proper thickness called for.

The fourth PDF has some testing that was done to determine if certain brands would work better for my flying models. I was surprised to find that there is a big difference between manufacturers.

In addition to Cardstock, certain paper can also be used for Paper Model construction. Bond 20# is the common type that most users print on at home or in the office.

There are quite a few different categories to buy paper in.
Bond:
-Ledger
-Mimeo
-Duplicator
-Rag Paper

Offset:
-Book
-Text
-Coated paper
Example: Bond-20# paper is equivalent to Offset Text 50# or in Cardstock equivalents - Index 42#, Cover 28#, Tag 46#.
20# Bond has the following properties:
-3.8 Point
-.0038 Caliper Inches
-.097 Caliper mm
-75.2 g/m2 (grams a meter squared)

I hope this helps explain a very confusing but important aspect of cardstock/paper modeling!

Mike