Monday, August 18, 2008

How does a printer print to the edge?

Following on from the blog with the table of different paper sizes that are available, have you ever wondered how a printer can print to the edge of a piece of paper? The paper must need to be held or "gripped" from somewhere by the printing machine regardless of whether it is offset or digital, so how can the ink cover the whole page? The answer is that a printer will use one of the oversize paper types listed below. This allows the printer to print to an area larger than that final printed job and then cut it down to the correct size to give the desired look.

Name mm × mm in × in
DL 110 × 220 4.3 × 8.7
F4 210 × 330 8.3 × 13.0
RA0 860 × 1220 33.9 × 48.0
RA1 610 × 860 24.0 × 33.9
RA2 430 × 610 16.9 × 24.0
RA3 305 × 430 12.0 × 16.9
RA4 215 × 305 8.5 × 12.0
SRA0 900 × 1280 35.4 × 50.4
SRA1 640 × 900 25.2 × 35.4
SRA2 450 × 640 17.7 × 25.2
SRA3 320 × 450 12.6 × 17.7
SRA4 225 × 320 8.9 × 12.6
A3+ 329 × 483 12.9 × 19.0

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Origins of Printing

Have you ever wondered how printing has evolved. We found a great video on YouTube showing the original printing methods used by the early printers well before the days of offset printing, computers, desktop publishing, film, CTP and even digital printing. Movable type was originally developed in China as shown during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. This later advanced into Letterpress as shown in the video.


Sunday, August 03, 2008

Stationery

Don't forget, as well as being the nominated printer for hotels and restaurants all over the UK and some in Europe as well, we are able to provide a next day service on a catalogue of over 20,000 Stationery items anywhere in London. Your items will be delivered daily using our own fleet of vans.

Just ask for one of our new 2008 Stationery catalogues and we'll be happy to bring everything you need straight to your office.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Paper Sizes

We thought it would be useful to have a paper size chart to give you an easy reference to the different standard sizes of paper that are often talked about. It is always handy to be able to tell your printer what paper size you would like your digitally or litho job to be produced on as well as being a guide for Envelopes (C Series).


ISO paper sizes (plus rounded inch values)

Format A series B series C series
Size mm × mm in × in mm × mm in × in mm × mm in × in
0 841 × 1189 33.1 × 46.8 1000 × 1414 39.4 × 55.7 917 × 1297 36.1 × 51.1
1 594 × 841 23.4 × 33.1 707 × 1000 27.8 × 39.4 648 × 917 25.5 × 36.1
2 420 × 594 16.5 × 23.4 500 × 707 19.7 × 27.8 458 × 648 18.0 × 25.5
3 297 × 420 11.7 × 16.5 353 × 500 13.9 × 19.7 324 × 458 12.8 × 18.0
4 210 × 297 8.3 × 11.7 250 × 353 9.8 × 13.9 229 × 324 9.0 × 12.8
5 148 × 210 5.8 × 8.3 176 × 250 6.9 × 9.8 162 × 229 6.4 × 9.0
6 105 × 148 4.1 × 5.8 125 × 176 4.9 × 6.9 114 × 162 4.5 × 6.4
7 74 × 105 2.9 × 4.1 88 × 125 3.5 × 4.9 81 × 114 3.2 × 4.5
8 52 × 74 2.0 × 2.9 62 × 88 2.4 × 3.5 57 × 81 2.2 × 3.2
9 37 × 52 1.5 × 2.0 44 × 62 1.7 × 2.4 40 × 57 1.6 × 2.2
10 26 × 37 1.0 × 1.5 31 × 44 1.2 × 1.7 28 × 40 1.1 × 1.6