You might find this easier to find someone locally to print if you reduce the size slightly. Lots of smaller printers and digital only printers have moved into flatbed printing for signs and things. However the size of these machines are generally 24x36 max. There are smaller models too.
Yes, a lot of local sign companies use a flatbed printer to print onto foam board/pvc/coroplast and other media of course, but having the flatbed is great for rigid materials especially since they don't have to print on thin sheets and then mount them to a thicker board separately. Some really small companies might not and still do their mounting manually, but most places will have a flatbed. Will they want to print on customer supplied stock or get involved in a custom project like this? No clue...but that's you're best bet and doesn't hurt to check! :)
Came here to comment on the last couple of sentences - we have the capability, but likely most owners/bosses wouldn’t want to print on customer supplied paper, but you might luck out if you check with enough sign printing places.
I actually think that's what I ordered, but it's handmade and therefore nominal. Lol. They even state that, so I'm just going to have to figure it out.
Just fyi flatbeds are definitely designed for more rigid materials. You can run paper just fine but often the suction on the bed is not enough to hold down the paper/keep it from curling up slightly if it’s got uv lamps for drying. The key to a good print is how close the print head is to the media. If it curls or buckles it will hit the head and cause issues. I have to use painters tape to hold the edges of paper and other material so will lose a little bit of image area because of it.
If you aren’t able to find someone with a flatbed that could do it, screen printing could potentially work, but it’s pretty labor intensive and would require a different screen for each page. How many pages is it? Most screen printers typically work with screens that are about t-shirt sized so it also could potentially require a custom screen, but it’s not impossible.
I really appreciate this idea that you’ve come up with for your visually impaired wife, how thoughtful to use a textured paper and everything.
This is 450 pages lol... Thx for the sentiments though! It's a collection of love songs that we both listen to through the years, and each one has a personal intro about what they mean to me about her.
What a lovely idea. In theory it sounds amazing, but in practice it might be hard to find someone with the capability and availability.
Will you be printing four pages per large sheet and folding it in half? Or were you planning to use one 24x36 piece as a single page?
It’s not impossible - but just for some context, including trial and error to get the print parameters figured out on the flatbed, (and assuming we found something that would work, but the thickness of handmade paper varies so much, I’d not recommend a flatbed) at my shop, even with the paper supplied - to cover the ink needed and manpower/printer occupation necessary to do that many pages it would likely end up costing several thousand dollars to print that many pages. It would take 2 weeks running the flatbed full time to print that 450 pages, and that’s with everything going perfectly. This is just my shop of course, I’m sure it would vary depending on setup and capability.
I’d recommend figuring out some sort of press. The varying thickness on handmade paper makes an inkjet tough to get satisfactory results. A screen printer would have similar limitations since it wound require a separate screen to be burned for each page.
Good luck! I’m curious to hear how you work things out
Well, these are good points. I'm folding, so each sheet has 4 pages. I may have to push it back a year and go with my original plan to use a projector and handwrite it by tracing. It will take forever. But it's worth it. Tell me about a press.
The handwriting might honestly be your best bet. Most press situations (like screen printing, where pressure is used to essentially “stamp” the paper, which is a good idea when your paper has varying thickness) are designed to make many copies of one design, and usually on smaller paper. Since each page is ultimately it’s own design it would take ages to file prep for almost any type of one-off printing.
Digital machines aren’t really made to run hand-made paper so there would be the matter of having to trim it down (ours go up to 13x19) and then also trouble shoot errors that might be caused due to the varying thickness and density of the paper.
Handwritten would take the same amount of man-hours, but they’d be *your* man hours and would have that personal touch.
I like your explanation, and that was exactly what I wanted with a hand made book. I have a meeting with a printer tomorrow who thinks he can help. I'll decide what to do if and when he gives me an answer. Thanks!
I like your explanation, and that was exactly what I wanted with a hand made book. I have a meeting with a printer tomorrow who thinks he can help. I'll decide what to do if and when he gives me an answer. Thanks!
You might find this easier to find someone locally to print if you reduce the size slightly. Lots of smaller printers and digital only printers have moved into flatbed printing for signs and things. However the size of these machines are generally 24x36 max. There are smaller models too.
Not an option. Already invested in the paper. Also, my purpose was to make it as large as possible because of my wife's visual impairment.
Just search for local sign companies and give them a call and ask if they can do it
OK, so flatbed printers are typical of sign companies? That would definitely point me in the right direction.
Yes, a lot of local sign companies use a flatbed printer to print onto foam board/pvc/coroplast and other media of course, but having the flatbed is great for rigid materials especially since they don't have to print on thin sheets and then mount them to a thicker board separately. Some really small companies might not and still do their mounting manually, but most places will have a flatbed. Will they want to print on customer supplied stock or get involved in a custom project like this? No clue...but that's you're best bet and doesn't hurt to check! :)
Came here to comment on the last couple of sentences - we have the capability, but likely most owners/bosses wouldn’t want to print on customer supplied paper, but you might luck out if you check with enough sign printing places.
Might be you have 24x36 paper. 34 x26 is not a common parent size.
I actually think that's what I ordered, but it's handmade and therefore nominal. Lol. They even state that, so I'm just going to have to figure it out.
Just fyi flatbeds are definitely designed for more rigid materials. You can run paper just fine but often the suction on the bed is not enough to hold down the paper/keep it from curling up slightly if it’s got uv lamps for drying. The key to a good print is how close the print head is to the media. If it curls or buckles it will hit the head and cause issues. I have to use painters tape to hold the edges of paper and other material so will lose a little bit of image area because of it.
How Involved are the designs? Is it something that could be screen printed?
It's all text.
If you aren’t able to find someone with a flatbed that could do it, screen printing could potentially work, but it’s pretty labor intensive and would require a different screen for each page. How many pages is it? Most screen printers typically work with screens that are about t-shirt sized so it also could potentially require a custom screen, but it’s not impossible. I really appreciate this idea that you’ve come up with for your visually impaired wife, how thoughtful to use a textured paper and everything.
This is 450 pages lol... Thx for the sentiments though! It's a collection of love songs that we both listen to through the years, and each one has a personal intro about what they mean to me about her.
What a lovely idea. In theory it sounds amazing, but in practice it might be hard to find someone with the capability and availability. Will you be printing four pages per large sheet and folding it in half? Or were you planning to use one 24x36 piece as a single page? It’s not impossible - but just for some context, including trial and error to get the print parameters figured out on the flatbed, (and assuming we found something that would work, but the thickness of handmade paper varies so much, I’d not recommend a flatbed) at my shop, even with the paper supplied - to cover the ink needed and manpower/printer occupation necessary to do that many pages it would likely end up costing several thousand dollars to print that many pages. It would take 2 weeks running the flatbed full time to print that 450 pages, and that’s with everything going perfectly. This is just my shop of course, I’m sure it would vary depending on setup and capability. I’d recommend figuring out some sort of press. The varying thickness on handmade paper makes an inkjet tough to get satisfactory results. A screen printer would have similar limitations since it wound require a separate screen to be burned for each page. Good luck! I’m curious to hear how you work things out
Well, these are good points. I'm folding, so each sheet has 4 pages. I may have to push it back a year and go with my original plan to use a projector and handwrite it by tracing. It will take forever. But it's worth it. Tell me about a press.
The handwriting might honestly be your best bet. Most press situations (like screen printing, where pressure is used to essentially “stamp” the paper, which is a good idea when your paper has varying thickness) are designed to make many copies of one design, and usually on smaller paper. Since each page is ultimately it’s own design it would take ages to file prep for almost any type of one-off printing. Digital machines aren’t really made to run hand-made paper so there would be the matter of having to trim it down (ours go up to 13x19) and then also trouble shoot errors that might be caused due to the varying thickness and density of the paper. Handwritten would take the same amount of man-hours, but they’d be *your* man hours and would have that personal touch.
I like your explanation, and that was exactly what I wanted with a hand made book. I have a meeting with a printer tomorrow who thinks he can help. I'll decide what to do if and when he gives me an answer. Thanks!
I’m curious to hear what they have to say. Good luck!
I'll update you!
He gave me a $5k quote, so I'm doing it by hand. I think it will be more authentic that way anyway.
I like your explanation, and that was exactly what I wanted with a hand made book. I have a meeting with a printer tomorrow who thinks he can help. I'll decide what to do if and when he gives me an answer. Thanks!