Printer requirements

Sounds about right to me. If you want full bleed on an 8.5x11 sheet, then the paper will have to be larger for the bleed and then cut to fit.

Whether that means using stock that’s 12x18 depends on printer but that’s not beyond reasonable. You might find a printer with a larger press that can run them n-up.

Bob

It should run just fine on 11 x 17 with a trim, so I don't know why they say 12 x 18 unless they just don't stock 11 x 17 and buy the 12 x 18 in huge quantities to get the cost down.

It makes sense that they might do that. 12x18 would cover a range of different projects and I would imagine the cost between 11x17 and 12x18 would not be all that great.

Bob

digital printing is where you have an electronic file > export printer data (postscript, pdf, etc.) > submit data to DFE (digital front end) or RIP (raster image processor) > DFE interprets and rasterizes data > data is imaged on device

digital copying is where you have a paper file > scan to raster format > data is imaged on device

Bob Levine wrote:

I would imagine the cost between 11x17 and 12x18 would not be all that great.

I guess you never bought 12 x 18 paper in small quantity.

In my personal experience, unless you go to large, commercial paper vendors, reams of 12x18 paper (a.k.a. “tabloid extra”) are exceptionally difficult to find. And when you do find such paper, the choices of weights, surfaces, and colors are exceptionally limited. Of course, given the small quantities that are sold, the prices are fairly high.

When commercial printers need 12x18 paper, they typically custom cut from larger sheets.

With regards to edge-to-edge printing, there are some digital printers (including inkjet) that claim such capabilities, but the results are usually not that good. You are still better off printing on larger paper, bleeding off the edge, and trimming.

          - Dov

Dov Isaacs wrote:

 

In my personal experience, unless you go to large, commercial paper vendors, reams of 12x18 paper (a.k.a. “tabloid extra”) are exceptionally difficult to find. And when you do find such paper, the choices of weights, surfaces, and colors are exceptionally limited. Of course, given the small quantities that are sold, the prices are fairly high.

 

When commercial printers need 12x18 paper, they typically custom cut from larger sheets.

There are quite a few choices out there if you ae buying by the palette, but for a single ream, you're quite right. I know a lot of printers who run Xerox printers buy the paper from Xerox, too (and it's very nice paper, but pricey).

Paul Stark wrote:

 

Right, Peter. I think you're saying they could trim my 11 x 17 full bleed document down to remove the white borders, and that would be fine, although that's an extra expense for the trimming.

I think Dov covered this, but I'm not aware of any commercial machine that will print edge to edge on any page size, so you are looking at the trimmcost no matter what.

You said your page was 8.5 x 11, but are you printing a booklet? An 8.5 x 11 two-page spread is 11 x 17, and in that case if it needs to bleed you would need to go to 12 x 18, so maybe that's the explanation.

Paul Stark wrote:

 

Workbook, not booklet.

 

Thx.

How many pages are being printed per side of each sheet?

Actually, it's probably less expensive to print 2-up on 12 x 18 than it would be 1-up on 11 x 17, so I'll take back pretty much everything I've said here today.

I don't think you understood my question.

A stitched book requires folded spreads, which means at least two pages per side on each sheet, and a multiple of 4 pages. Perfect bound or coil bound, especially when printed on digital equipment, can be done using a stacked book block with no folding involved. Page count then can be anything, and you can print multiple copies of the same page on each sheet, so in this case one 12 x 18 stack could be cut apart and trimmed for two full-bleed books.

We're talking 11 sheets as a stitched booklet, times the toal number of books in the order. For perfect bound or coil bound you're talking 21 sheets per book, but multiplied times only half the number in the order (printing two-up), so the cost of printing is likely to be pretty much the same. You'd have to ask the printer which binding method would be less expensive.

Not necessarily. Saddle-stitching can be done in a single pass on a single machine - GFST - is our plant description, Gather, Fold, Stitch & Trim are performed in one pass with finished product packaged at the offend. And it is a pretty ubiquitous operation. For finishing, this is the"must have" machine.

I'm as small an operation as it gets, but we have a Perfect Binder and Hi-speed Spiral as well.

We charge a premium for Perfect Binding, as few small shops can Perfect Bind in-house. (I'm under the impression that Paul's project is not large run)

Coil Binding? - Labor intensive, imo.

Sheet count and usage pretty much dicatates how a job should should be finshed however.

Yeah, I think stitched is likely the chap choice, too, but if it has to be sent out and the run is short, in house coil binding might be competitive. Lots of labor, though -- the pages will need to be punched/drilled for coiling.

Personally, I'd stay away from perfect binding for a workbook. I'd be afraid of the pages falling out after hard use.

The Canon Pixma printers as well as comparable Epson Stylus and HP photo inkjet printers are specialty photo printers that certainly can print edge to edge. I believe that they achieve this by actually extending the printing artificially over the edge of the paper a miniscule amount to simulate bleed but not enough to gum up the works of the device itself.

As you indicated, the ink expense of these devices (as well as speed) obviates their use for the purpose you described in your original posting.

          - Dov