The "little things" often separate a great job from a good one. One such little thing is creasing, which can significantly reduce or eliminate cracking at the fold for digitally-printed work. One of the problems with digital printing is that the toner-based process tends to show cracking when folded if you're not careful. And Doc hates toner cracking. But according to the good folks at Finish On Demand, there is a right way and a wrong way to fold digitally printed material. The "little things" often separate a great job from a good one. One such little thing is creasing, which can significantly reduce or eliminate cracking at the fold for digitally-printed work.
What is Creasing?
Creasing is a process that prepares the paper for folding by creating two parallel folding points. It is recognizable by the bead created on the inside of the fold. A score only creates one stress point for the paper to fold. Why Creasing? Many folding jobs are susceptible to cracking and scoring often isn't enough to ensure crisp, accurate folds that eliminate this problem. Digitally-printed products stand an even greater risk of cracking at the fold because the process involves heating the sheets to fuse toner to paper, which tends to dry the paper out. Dry paper is more likely to crack. A crease creates double fold points that reduce the stress on the fiber at each point. The paper folds a total of 180 degrees, but each stress point folds to a lesser degree. This seemingly small difference will reduce or completely eliminate cracking on most digitally printed jobs. So next time you need to send a job out for folding, be sure to ask for a crease, not a simple score. You'll be able to see the difference.
By Doc for The DocuMentor | September 21, 2011 -- 06:55 GMT (07:55 BST) | Topic: CXO
