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Matte Photo Paper weight


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I want to try my hand at a Scalescene kit and see that a lot of people recommend printing onto matte photo paper. I have done a quick search and found a company that sell it on line but they offer two weights; 120gm and 170gm. Which would be best, I will be printing to 00.

 

regards and thanks

 

Tony

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Hi Tony,

 

I have a habit of ignoring the recommended paper weights and going of the next heaviest paper....

 

Call me awkward if you want - but it works for me!

 

Yes - It takes more work to achieve the results.

 

Yes - the resulting models are more resilient to handling.

 

Your choice I think?

 

Thanks

 

ps - I advised John previously of my tendencies!

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I model "N" gauge and use half the thickness recommended for "00" gauge,if the recommended thicknesses for "N" gauge are used the card speciffied is too thin in some cases,especially the light card for which 80 gsm weight is specified in the instructions.

80gsm card is around normal printer paper thickness and there is very little stiffness in that, also I've never been able to locate any card in 80gsm thickness.

 

I only print on ordinary paper and cardstock and don't know if going to the cost of photographic paper would benefit,I use a laser printer and that tends to produce shiny images that need a coat of matt varnish anyway.

 

Allan

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I model "N" gauge and use half the thickness recommended for "00" gauge,if the recommended thicknesses for "N" gauge are used the card speciffied is too thin in some cases,especially the light card for which 80 gsm weight is specified in the instructions.

80gsm card is around normal printer paper thickness and there is very little stiffness in that, also I've never been able to locate any card in 80gsm thickness.

 

I only print on ordinary paper and cardstock and don't know if going to the cost of photographic paper would benefit,WI use a laser printer and that tends to produce shiny images that need a coat of matt varnish anyway.

 

Allan

Which Laser printer do you use Allan?

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Which Laser printer do you use Allan?

Hmmm......bit of a sore point at the moment,I did have Canon LBP 5050 and it was such a rubbish printer and extremely frustrating to use that I gave it away about three months ago.

 

I then purchased a Samsung CLP 325 laser printer but found I was having to do a couple of prints first before the colour came right and it needs new cartridges now because three of the starter cartridges are about to give up the ghost.I was going to go the toner refill route but found out that if the firmware had been updated the refills would not work,of course I'd updated mine so had to cancel the refill order.

 

So I decided to try a different printer again and putting the money that new toner cartridges would cost towards it.

 

I decided I would get a decent workgroup printer this time and treat myself to a Christmas and early birthday present,so I duly ordered on OKI C531 dn laser printer.

It came on thursday afternoon and I unpacked it, plugged it in,connected the USB cable and put the set up CD in my iMac. My iMac could not read the disc because it could only be read by a Windows OS,anyway I phoned up OKI support and the chap there is putting a readable disc in the post to me.

 

Meanwhile I switched to the Windows partition and opened the disc only to be confronted with a list of literally dozens of PDF files with numbers alongside but no actual name to show what it might contain.

OK I thought, I'll download the setup instructions from the OKI website,which I duly did and got it all working.

 

So on Friday I'm busily printing some A4 Scalescenes brick papers to get the colour I want and after a few I noticed that the image was not parallel to the edge of the paper,normally perhaps this wouldn't matter,but I cut all my stuff out on a Silhouette Cameo and the cut lines need to be on the edge of the image,a skewed image would not be useable.

I then phoned OKI support again and they're sending a new printer out which I should get Tuesday and collecting this one on Wednesday.

I've now drawn a large rectangle and some parallel lines in a CAD programe to use as a test print,if the new printer isn't any better it'll go back and I'll have a refund and buy a different one.

 

I bought it from Printerland who have been very pleasant to deal with and quickly put me through to OKI support who were also as helpful as they could be,it's just the printer itself that's the problem.

 

I might add that the Canon support was useless and when I had a query about the constant recalibrating I was sent a standard reply about an inkjet printer although my query was about a laser printer.

When I sent a query about the banding I was getting on the Samsung printer I was informed that I needed to put new toner cartridges in because the starter toner cartridges are only to set the printer up,silly me thought you could actually use them to do some printing!!! At the time the starter cartridges were nowhere near empty.

 

So to answer your question I am printerless at the moment.

 

Allan

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OK, well sorry to hear about the hassle you are having, but it is useful to me as I was considering buying the Samsung. I am a bit surprised about the response from Samsung, are they saying that the quality of the the toner is below standard?

 

The skewed printing problem is interesting, I have the same problem with an HP5510 inkjet and, judging by the reviews, so do a lot of other people. I wonder if it is because of the pressure to keep selling costs as low as possible that quality is a casualty?

 

I am going to wait and see how you get on with the OKI. Would you be kind enough to update me with your findings please?

 

Edit: Just seen the price of the OKI - my interest will be purely academic now!

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I want to try my hand at a Scalescene kit and see that a lot of people recommend printing onto matte photo paper. I have done a quick search and found a company that sell it on line but they offer two weights; 120gm and 170gm. Which would be best, I will be printing to 00.

 

regards and thanks

 

Tony

 

The choice between the two paper thicknesses is really up to you, but remember that when folding the paper through openings it will make them slightly smaller. Only slightly mind you.

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The other thing to watch out for with the thicker paper is that it can crack at fold lines, showing the white of the paper through the print, that's why I tend to only use standard 80-100gsm paper most of the time.

 

If you use thicker card,180gsm available from good stationers in small packs,(we have Colemans in northampton),print out,mark the score lines with a nick of the blade,turn the sheet over,using the back of a Stanley knife blade,score down between the knife marks & fold.This way,there is no break in the print.Laser prints may crack though because it`s a thermally heated plastic,can be brittle.

 

Ray.

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