Choosing the Right Paper for Digital Printing
Digital printing has come a long way over the years, and is now becoming increasingly popular for both colour and mono print jobs.
Digital laser printing users a dry toner substance instead of ink, hence it is also known as toner-based printing. Toner is largely powder-based with organic compounds and polymers making up the majority of the material. When printing documents, an electrically charged drum picks up the tiny particles and rolls them onto the page according to the pattern being printed. A laser then fuses these particles to the page with heat.
Due to the heat and speed involved in this process, it is important to choose the right paper for using in your digital laser printer.
The paper properties to look out for when buying paper for digital printing, are:
- Smoothness: the evenness of the surface of the paper
- Formation: uniformity of the sheet
- Whiteness: the visual appearance of the sheet
- Moisture: amount of water content in sheet
- Curl: when a sheet takes on a curved quality, losing its ‘flatness’
These have significant impact on the print quality you can achieve from your digital laser printer.
A very smooth surface and consistent formation will have superior runability, especially with the high speed, compact nature of digital laser printers. High smoothness and excellent formation is also important for ideal toner adhesion, enhanced conductivity and reduced wear and tear of your machine’s fusing unit.
A high whiteness will achieve better contrast printing, with brilliant colours and bold blacks.
Paper for offset (litho) printing will often appear to run ok through a digital laser printer, however this will in fact harm your machine over time because poor toner adhesion will result in a significant build up of dust in the machine.
One paper which ticks all of the right boxes for digital toner-based printing is PRO DESIGN.
PRO DESIGN is an industry-leading digital colour laser paper offering a balanced high whiteness, super smoothness and excellent formation.
PRO DESIGN paper brand has attained a 99.99% jam free guarantee accreditation across the entire range. This further highlights the product’s high performance standards. Thanks to supreme sheet formation, smooth surface and optimal stiffness, PRO DESIGN guarantees 99.99% jam free runnability – confirmed by multiple, in-depth tests conducted on leading manufacturers’ print machines, and validated by customer feedback.
At Clyde, we are proud to be stockists of this flagship PRO DESIGN range in SRA3, A3 and A4 sizes, available in 90, 100, 120, 160, 200, 250, 280, 300 and 350gsm.
Click here to view the full range.
Free samples for trial are available – simply contact us today.
Tel: 0141 445 1199
Email: sales@clydepaperandprint.com