Solvent Printing onto white newsprint?

[Banners Signs Etc.]

We are sharing a building with a newspaper press company...they recycle what they call butt rolls of 150+ft of newsprint paper because they are too small to use. We are attempting to print on them with the idea of selling to supermarkets and such for weekly specials...no material cost to us...we have a bulk ink system which makes the cost pretty low.

Has anyone tried this...reds look pink and we are trying to use as little ink as possible using versaworks..

I have set the colors all the way down thinking this might affect ink flow...what do you guys think...we also want to try to print overnight with each "copy" being cut when it is done..can versaworks do this, without having to have an individual file in the queue for each cut.

Also what preset would be good in versaworks.

Take any question you want or tell me its all a pipe dream.



:U Rock:

 

[J Hill Designs]

I would imagine its like printing to sponge...but hey its free so a few tests shouldnt hurt

 

[Sticky Signs]

solvent and news print don't mix. At least not in any of my attempts.

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

I mean it works...just looks kinda crappy and it is def putting down too much ink for the paper...I wonder if there is another media I can tell it that it is that uses less ink..

 

[NZDR-Payne]

In my opinion, newsprint paper is going to be nearly impossible to print on and get acceptable image quality. I doubt you are going to find a "canned" profile that works. The paper is just too thin. Your best bet is to create a custom media profile if you have the tools available (profiling software, spectrophotometer, etc.). Even then, I think the paper is going to be too absorbent. You're going to have so much dot gain that you likely won't get much detail in your images. Good luck.

 

[BigfishDM]

I bet it prints in the Latex

 

[BigfishDM]

If it doesnt burn up I should have added lol.

 

[randya]

I have seen it done with full solvent.
The paper fibers wick quite a bit, and the paper is thin so density and resolution wasnt all that great.
It took a custom profile and served the needs of a small grocery chain.

 

[Gino]

That's all I used to do when I started hand-painting. I did 18 to 20 - 38" x 50" paper posters an hour with relatively heavy copy. The paper cost was next to nothing, I used to get butt-end rolls of 80lb to 110lb offset paper. Newspaper print was totally useless. I tried it back then and tried it in our Roland years ago. It will never have the opacity needed to hang in a window that will be accepted by your customer daytime shift, let alone how horrible it will look at nighttime with lights shining out from behind in the store.

Either do it on the right stuff with the correct ink coverage...... or get run outa town for selling total crapolla.

 

[boxerbay]

solvent ink is too thin/watery. it has to be so it does not clog the jets. offset ink has a peanut butter consistency.

 

[Locals Find!]

newspaper is designed to be run on cold set web press machines. Its a whole different methodology.

 

[MikeD]

aqueous or latex inks are best for paper.
If the paper is free and you only have solvent, it can still be done. Design the layouts with the consequences mentioned above in mind; don't include small elements or fine print in the design. When it comes to choosing a profile, use one that is low resolution with low ink limits.
VersaWorks can print and cut an entire roll (50yds?) unattended. Try making a layout with print and cut data, and repeat the layout in the queue.
Good Luck!

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

Either do it on the right stuff with the correct ink coverage...... or get run outa town for selling total crapolla.

We certainly wouldn't want to get run out of town...thanks for all the responses...

I guess it comes down to now...where do you guys go to find cheap poster paper that will make this crazy idea work?

I know Nglantz has some cheap poster paper...I think they call it B-line

 

[MikeD]

I have used a low-cost coated paper product made by Sihl that accepts solvent inks well.
The product is called "TriSolve Premium Paper."

 

[Gino]

Unless you have a real 'IN' with someone, it's gonna be hard getting your foot in the door. For the most part, these grocery stores don't work independently of each other, unless it's an old 'Mom/Pop' corner store. Usually they are all part of a chain or a united company from where they buy their products. Most of them have an 'in-house' supplier and can do these signs for pennies, yes, literally pennies.

I did this for almost 20 years. As the companies got bigger and bigger, they started bringing these small cost items in-house and usually stayed to themselves and didn't try to do any outside work, because they have only a day or two to run the signs.

We used to get all the information for stores on a Tuesday morning around 5am. I would call all of the stores to see which specials they wanted for their particular store. We had to have them at the dispatch center by Thursday night. The local stores were by Friday morning. We handled stores all over PA, NY, NJ, DE and MD. We'd screen print some, hand paint most of them and have it all done in time every week without any computers, faxes or cell phones. This was in addition to our regular sign work, which we got done Friday, Saturday and Monday. We had a bunch of us knocking this stuff out every week.

 

[Locals Find!]

Why not just do the job right and sub out the work?

Posters are not expensive at all. You could do the job right and at a price your customer would be happy with while still putting money in your pocket.
If you need some help I would be happy to refer you to some trade printers. Just PM me.

 

[Banners Signs Etc.]

Why not just do the job right and sub out the work?
.

Cause we just got our new printer lol.

Actually we are in a semi-rural area and there is a grocery distribution center that we do have an "in" with...good ol boy stuff any whatnot. It supplies this area with these types of things...but using legitimate poster paper is a good idea...the opacity at night we did not think about

 

[Locals Find!]

Cause we just got our new printer lol.

Actually we are in a semi-rural area and there is a grocery distribution center that we do have an "in" with...good ol boy stuff any whatnot. It supplies this area with these types of things...but using legitimate poster paper is a good idea...the opacity at night we did not think about

I can understand the new toy thing, but better to use the new toy for what its best at and sub out for more money what its not best at. If I was bidding the job I would use it as a lead in for more work.

I would say well, if you will let me do "X" for you i will give you the posters at "y" price or if you just want the posters its "z" price. I do this a lot with my printing clients. I give em discounts on business cards to get the sign work that is worth far more to me.

Edit: wanted to clarify make a profit on it no matter what you do. Just wanted to make sure that came across clear. Don't give it away by any means.

 

[J Hill Designs]

Hexis has some good cheap poster paper - prints excellent on solvents