Duplexing/Laminating

[Fools Gold]

Anyone know anything about getting paper duplexed onto chipboard? Have a job printing some record jackets (printed then die cut) and the client wants fancy paper, but will probably have to duplex/laminate it to a sheet of .20pt chipboard so it's not all floppy. 300 sheets, so not really something I want to do with a brush and weights.

[B-DROID]

Duplexing a heavier sheet of paper [like chipboard] to a lighter piecer will usually end up bowing the sheets because of the way the adhesive dries. As the sheets dry, one of the sheets (I cant remember if its the heavier one or not) will tend to absorb more of the adhesive and pull the toward it sheets towards it. That can make for difficult printing and die cutting, but if you have time you can just stick the paper under a bunch of weight and flatten it out that way, I guess...

[vrooooom]

Yah, it's better if you can print on a heavier paper to begin with. I've done dupexing in a patter by screenprinting elmer's glue and then sticking the sheets together as they come off the press. Works best with a partner to help speed things up.

You can also use spray adhesive to coat an entire sheet, but you need to have some bleed area rather than trying to perfectly glue two sheets together. If you try to do any post finishing after duplexing, like cutting down or what not, it can get messed up because it's hard to perfectly glue two sheets together.

Find someone with a potdevin hot glue machine!

[Fools Gold]

OK. Im not going to be doing this myself/DIY style. So I guess I'll place a call in the new year to the guy who assembles and glues the jackets and talk to him about using his fancy hot glue machine to duplex the paper. I should probably just talk him into printing on .24pt white board and be done with it . .. . but, you know, customers and their needs.

[crosshair]

I expect even .24pt will be way heavier than you need, especially if you are duplexing. The heavier the stock, the greater will be the likelihood of scores refusing to lie flat...on an lp sleeve, that will mean a tendency of the glue tabs to pull apart close to the spine. Having done this several times I (and my clients) have found 18pt (non-duplexed) quite sturdy enough for any diecut lp sleeve, and 24pt problematic. I know it's hard to convince a thickness-obsessed customer that the assembled product will feel way more rigid than the uncut, unglued sheet they are referring to, but it's wort trying. Nothing sucks more than the phonecall you get telling you the finished sleeves are pulling apart, due to the avoidable use of over-thick stock.

For lp sleeves, I've had good results with Carolina 18pt C1S blanks. You can print on the coated or uncoated side, but beware of using the white as neg space, as it does yellow with time.

What would be really cool, is if there were an economical way to wrap a thin, printed paper over a prefab thick chipboard form such that the wrap holds the whole thing together, and there are no overlapping glue tabs at all. Like lp sleeves were made back in the day.

[Fools Gold]

Southern Lord does a bunch like that, fold over chipboard, with a thin printed layer over it. Looks like 18pt to be the way to go. Thanks for the info.