Paper question

[pergurd]

Noticed at Staples yesterday, they no longer have laser paper or ink jet
paper, it is now called printing paper "good for both laser and ink jet
printers"
That begs the obvious question: is there really a difference in this paper
and how would one tell?

 

[MCheu]

Noticed at Staples yesterday, they no longer have laser paper or ink jet
paper, it is now called printing paper "good for both laser and ink jet
printers"
That begs the obvious question: is there really a difference in this paper
and how would one tell?

The reason is that with early ink jet papers, you had to use "inkjet
paper". Inkjet paper is (or was) paper which is treated with a clay
mixture to make it more absorbant to ink. That was kind of needed
with early inks to keep it from bleeding and running after printing.
The drawback is that you usually gave up a bit of brightness for this,
and the paper was a bit more expensive.

Modern inks and printers are designed for plain paper printing. They
probably will benefit a bit from using those clay treated papers, but
you can get pretty good results from plain paper.

Laser printers don't really need special paper at all. However, 40 LB
or higher grade paper has the stiffness to reduce likelihood of
jamming in the mechanism -- or at least that's the theory. The paper
path in inkjet printers tends to be straighter, but many newer lasers
also have a pretty straight paper path too, so that requirement might
not be such a big deal anymore.

General purpose office paper is generally white, with a brightness of
80 (don't know what that means, just that higher numbers are
brighter), with 40 LB grade. Laser paper is usually 40 LB or higher
with a higher brightness than 80. Not so much because that brightness
is needed, but because text looks sharper on brighter paper. I've
already covered inkjet paper. Whether modern specialty inkjet paper
is made the same way, I don't know. Aside from photo paper, I haven't
bought any specialty paper for my printer in a very long time.

 

[jbuch]

The reason is that with early ink jet papers, you had to use "inkjet
paper". Inkjet paper is (or was) paper which is treated with a clay
mixture to make it more absorbant to ink. That was kind of needed
with early inks to keep it from bleeding and running after printing.
The drawback is that you usually gave up a bit of brightness for this,
and the paper was a bit more expensive.

Modern inks and printers are designed for plain paper printing. They
probably will benefit a bit from using those clay treated papers, but
you can get pretty good results from plain paper.

Laser printers don't really need special paper at all. However, 40 LB
or higher grade paper has the stiffness to reduce likelihood of
jamming in the mechanism -- or at least that's the theory. The paper
path in inkjet printers tends to be straighter, but many newer lasers
also have a pretty straight paper path too, so that requirement might
not be such a big deal anymore.

General purpose office paper is generally white, with a brightness of
80 (don't know what that means, just that higher numbers are
brighter), with 40 LB grade. Laser paper is usually 40 LB or higher
with a higher brightness than 80. Not so much because that brightness
is needed, but because text looks sharper on brighter paper. I've
already covered inkjet paper. Whether modern specialty inkjet paper
is made the same way, I don't know. Aside from photo paper, I haven't
bought any specialty paper for my printer in a very long time.

I was under the impression that there was an electrical resistance
requirement for laser printer paper.

Maybe that too is long ago dead as a requirement, but maybe not.

Jim

--
................................


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[jbuch]

The reason is that with early ink jet papers, you had to use "inkjet
paper". Inkjet paper is (or was) paper which is treated with a clay
mixture to make it more absorbant to ink. That was kind of needed
with early inks to keep it from bleeding and running after printing.
The drawback is that you usually gave up a bit of brightness for this,
and the paper was a bit more expensive.

Modern inks and printers are designed for plain paper printing. They
probably will benefit a bit from using those clay treated papers, but
you can get pretty good results from plain paper.

Laser printers don't really need special paper at all.
http://www.hp.com/sbso/product/supplies/more_specs.html


The tables below summarize the paper specifications that provide the best performance for paper, envelopes, labels and transparencies.

The specifications listed in this section generally apply to all HP LaserJet printers but check the user documentation that came with your printer for product specific information.


Electrical surface resistivity 10^9 to 10^13 ohms/square.
Electrical volume resistivity 10^9 to 10^14 ohms - cm.

However, 40 LB

or higher grade paper has the stiffness to reduce likelihood of
jamming in the mechanism -- or at least that's the theory. The paper
path in inkjet printers tends to be straighter, but many newer lasers
also have a pretty straight paper path too, so that requirement might
not be such a big deal anymore.

General purpose office paper is generally white, with a brightness of
80 (don't know what that means, just that higher numbers are
brighter), with 40 LB grade. Laser paper is usually 40 LB or higher
with a higher brightness than 80. Not so much because that brightness
is needed, but because text looks sharper on brighter paper. I've
already covered inkjet paper. Whether modern specialty inkjet paper
is made the same way, I don't know. Aside from photo paper, I haven't
bought any specialty paper for my printer in a very long time.

--
................................


Keepsake gift for young girls.
Unique and personal one-of-a-kind.
Builds strong minds 12 ways.
Guaranteed satisfaction
- courteous money back
- keep bonus gifts

http://www.alicebook.com

 

[MCheu]

I was under the impression that there was an electrical resistance
requirement for laser printer paper.

Maybe that too is long ago dead as a requirement, but maybe not.

Jim

Dunno, I'd never heard that. Maybe that's why they use 40 LB paper as
a minimum. I always figured it was just for feed reliability.

 

[Elmo P. Shagnasty]

Laser printers don't really need special paper at all.

Um, technically that may be true.

But from a performance and image quality standpoint, nothing could be
further from the truth.

When you're passing paper at 150 or 200 pages/minute, you need paper
that was designed for and tested for something like that.

When you're using a color laser system, the paper is an INTEGRAL
component to the entire system. If you buy a nice color laser printing
system but cheapen out on the paper, you might as well have thrown the
money away. It's like putting Mexican gas in your Porsche. You'll get
crummy results.

So technically, a laser engine (more properly a xerographic engine) can
generally pass a sheet of just about the cheapest paper you can find.
Will you be happy with that overall? Only you can answer that question.
But if you're not happy with the results from cheap paper, don't blame
the printing system. Change paper and watch what happens.

You *do* get what you pay for.

 

[Joseph Sroka - 10.2.8]

Noticed at Staples yesterday, they no longer have laser paper or ink jet
paper, it is now called printing paper "good for both laser and ink jet
printers"
That begs the obvious question: is there really a difference in this paper
and how would one tell?

There have been a few replies already to your question. How helpful some
have been is questionable.

Here's some of my experience:

Almost all paper used in offices/schools is "20 lb." bond. Where one of
the other posters got that "General purpose office paper is generally...
with 40 LB grade." is beyond me, except to guess that maybe this is a
*European* system of paper weight measurement.

The primary office/school use for this 20 lb. bond paper is in Xeroxing
and laser printing.

Most of this paper works "okay" in my HP printer which takes the 51626a
black ink cartridge.

One particular brand of office paper that works better than most in my
inkjet printer is "Hammermill Copy Plus", 20 lb. 84 brightness.

This stuff is one of the cheaper papers at Staples, costing around $4.00 a
ream, and gave superior results compared to using HP Inkjet paper that
cost almost twice as much.

A few years ago I used a paper that was made in Brazil that gave the best
results that I have ever seen with my inkjet. I don't know the name of
that paper, all I remember is that it came in a plastic-wrapped ream with
a blue and white color scheme.

Hammermill Copy Plus works almost as well.

Here is what it says on the ream of that paper:

"For all copiers, plain paper faxes and office printers".

So, for the original poster, try some of this stuff, regardless of the
type of your printer. It's cheap enough, and if it doesn't satisfy you,
you can always use it for scratch paper.

--- Joe

P.S. Does anybody know of a source for cheap/free color separation
software for the Macintosh? I'd like to experiment a bit with separate
inkjet prints of the C,M,Y,K colors.

 

[MCheu]

The primary office/school use for this 20 lb. bond paper is in Xeroxing
and laser printing.

Sorry. You are correct about the 20 lb. Had a second look at the
packaging for some of the paper I have stacked under my printer. Some
of the packaging on the paper I've been using says 20 LB, and also
says 40M. For some reason, I typed 40 rather than 20.

 

[John McWilliams]

P.S. Does anybody know of a source for cheap/free color separation
software for the Macintosh? I'd like to experiment a bit with separate
inkjet prints of the C,M,Y,K colors.

The Gimp may be your best bet. I don't use it, as I have the full Adobe
Creative suite. Also, GraphicConverter may have that....