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M/s Sona Commercial Pvt. Ltd. is a leading supplier in India of digital paper and other imported papers. You can ask them for a catalog and price list before placing any order with them. You can contact Mr. Mukesh at his email – mukesh@sonacommercial.com for the eastern region. Their website is www.sonacommercial.com.

Posted under Paper

QUESTION

Hello Rob I ‘m a U.S national and I have a printing press based out of India but I want to expand it to the USA. I want to start to distribute/export Polyester laser plate. I was wondering if you would be able to help me out or give me any advice.

Thanks
Bharat

ANSWER

Hello Bharat,

There are some manufacturers of polyester plates in India. I am not sure of the others and I don’t remember their names also right now. The only ones that we use are from Technova. But I believe their plates are distributed in the US by Hurst Chemical if I am not wrong. Technova plates are suited for all types of laser printers and their cost is also quite cheap compared to ones such as from Xante. I believe it might help you if you contact Technova directly in India or Hurst Chemical in the US. I think it might be best to become a distributor of Smart Plates by Hurst Chemical.

Robert.

Posted under Pre press

Inkjet printers are expensive to own not because they are expensive but because the cost of the ink cartridges are usually very high and sometimes goes up to almost as high as 50 precent of the cost of the printer. The blunt fact is that most of the manufacturers of these printers make money not out of the printers but out of the ink cartridges. As a result of this high cost, there are many third party vendors who offer cartridges for as low as 75 percent the price of an original cartridge. Depending on the budget you may try these cartridges as they don’t cost much and if the quality is acceptable to you then you may be saving a lot of money in buying cartridges. You may try this site http://www.inkwarehouse.co.uk

Posted under Ink Jet Printing

A question from one of our readers

QUESTION

Good Morning Robert,

I am very sorry to trouble you again. Vendors here are not so clear with the explanation.
All they do is praise their brand name.

I tried to google but couldn’t get accurate information.
Some color laser printers print at 600×600dpi…some at 1200×1200 and
some at 2400×600 dpi.

I am unsure which one to choose to print proof for school books.
I also would like to print my own brochure, pamplets and visiting cards.
Kindly advice me on this. I’ll be happy with less pages per minute model.
Speed is not the criteria here.

• Xerox phaser 6125 says it can print upto 600×600x4 dpi.
  What exactly does this x4 mean? Can you please let me know?

Requests:

• What exactly is the print resolution in educational text books like CBSE/Ncert Books?
• What exactly is the print resolution in brochures of vodapone or any corporate stationery?
• What should be the print resolution on visiting cards?

Kindly educate me and resolve my doubts.
Thanking you once again…

Regards,
Vijay

ANSWER

Hi Vijay,

You can go for a entry level Konica Minolta Multi Function color laser printer which would cost under Rs. 4,00,000/-. The cost per A3 size page would be around Rs. 8 depending on the ink coverage. At 100% coverage the cost is around Rs.14 to 15 excluding paper and including wear and tear of the machine for an A3 size printout. The speed is I think around 25 pages per minute. I am not sure about the model but it is in the bizhub category. You can go to this website http://www.biz.konicaminolta.com/ to see the printers. These printers come under the category of business automation as the quality is suitable for everyday office printing. You can print fairly good enough quality with these printers. Visiting cards, brochures and pamphlets won’t be a problem. The only thing you have to keep a check on is your cost of printing. For higher copies it may be cheaper to outsource it to your local offset printer.

CBSE textbooks are printed in high quality offset machines and you won’t get that color quality in the machine I mentioned above. But mostly textbooks are not in color and any offset machine could give you a decent quality in one or two colors. Vodafone brochures are also printed in high quality offset printing. There are some printed through variable data digital printing too. But these are all printed in high quality machines whether they be digital or offset.

For most printing jobs whether they be digital or offset, 300 dpi pictures are sufficient. To learn more about dpi (dots per inch) and lpi (lines per inch) you will find plenty of material in Google.

Hope this helps.

Robert.

Posted under Resolution

QUESTION

Hello Robert,

Thank you very much for the information.
I’d request you to suggest me about paper stuff.
I am sorry, I am really dumb about printing industry. I’d like to go to another city and find out
information. But I’d like to have first hand information and tips from you on paper.
Kindly answer my questions.

• How much would a 11×17 paper would cost in India approximately?
• Are there any different qualities of paper? Can you please name them and price for each page?
• Do offset and digital printers use same paper or different?
• Which paper consumes less ink?

Thanking you…

Regards,
Vijay

ANSWER

Hello Vijay

11×17 inch paper would cost around Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 depending on the thickness of the paper which is known as grammage of the paper or gsm (grams per square metre). Paper cost also depends on the quality of the paper and may reach upto even Rs. 100 for an A4 size sheet. Sheets which can be run in digital machines depend on the type of printer you are going to purchase. Not all sheets can run on all printers. You have to check with the seller regarding this. The same goes for offset printing. Glossy paper will consume the least amount of ink and coarse paper like newsprint consume more ink. For offset printing the ink density is therefore adjusted in prepress before printing depending on the type of paper to be printed. For digital printing such adjustments are usually done by the printer while selecting the paper type before printing. Have a nice day.

Robert.

Posted under Digital Printing, Paper

A question from one of our readers

QUESTION

Hi Robert,
I’ve gone through your site “my printing tutorials”…
It is very informative.

I’d like to choose a color printer/copier to print school text books for kids.
I’d like to take your advice on this.
What is the best color copier that has lowest cost per page to print a color page?

I am thinking of Toshiba e-Studio2830c or e-Studio281c or Ricoh Aficio MPc3300 or MPc2800.

In your blog you mentioned few lines about Ricoh Aficio MPC 2030
“The drawback of this machine is the high cost per copy. An average A4 size page costs around Rs. 2.5/- at 10 percent coverage.”
Can you suggest any printer with low cost per page at 10 percent coverage?

I’d be able to think of  any machine around  7 lakhs or so. (15000$).

I’ll be too glad if you can spare sometime and reply me.
Thanking you so much.

Regards,
Vijay

ANSWER

Hello Vijay,

You will not get many printers with low cost per page at 7 lakhs. At this range you may get the xitron prism printer or some of the models from xerox. You can enquire with the xerox dealer for more information. You will get the konica minolta 6501c for around 30 lakhs which has a very low cost per page at around Rs. 5 for any coverage for a 13 x 19 size page with outstanding quality. Most of the xerox printers at around 7 lakhs will cost you around Rs. 8 to 10 per 12×18 size page at any coverage if you go for the company policy of charging per copy printed irrespective of coverage. The only feasible models according to my opinion will be from xerox. Ricoh printers have a very high cost per page compared to xerox though there may be a difference in quality. I am not very sure of toshiba.

Robert.

Posted under Digital Printing

As far as India is concerned, I feel that the only true competitor to Autoprint or Swift companies would be Gallantic from Gujarat. In some ways the machines produced by Gallantic is superior to the other companies due to their inbuilt automatic dampening system. The price of the machines is also very competitive especially compared to Autoprint whose machines are known for their high price. Gallantic has recently developed their indigenous dampening system even further with the introduction of Galmatic dampening system which is a copy of the world renowned Crystalline Dampening system. This dampening system further enhances their machine capacity especially with regard to four color printing in single color machines. But there are news that Gallantic is also planning to come out with a two color and four color machine in the near future. Gallantic single color machines cost under Rs. 3,00,000/- for the 15×10 inches; under Rs. 3,50,000 for A3 size machine and under Rs. 4,50,000 for their 15×20 size machine. All machines come with inbuilt automatic dampening system. There are many advantages with the automatic dampening system as there is no possibility of scum appearing on the printed sheets. The prints are also glossier and there is minimum wastage of paper. Ink consumption also comes down as the sheets are printed with a thinner coating of ink. Problem of printing solids in small machines is also removed and there are less problems in printing which the machines of Autoprint or Swift or any other company in India cannot provide. There is an exception to this as Autoprint does provide automatic dampening system as an option in their machines but you would have to pay a hefty amount of around Rs.1,20,000 extra for that. The reason being that their Kompac automatic dampening system is imported from USA  and not indigenously manufactured like Gallantic. The downside of Gallantic machines is the machine structure which is quite light compared to Autoprint. But if you have prompt service available from Gallantic in your region then there is not much of a problem.

Posted under Offset Printing

Recently we placed an order for the Konica Minolta LD 6501 digital color printer. The samples that were shown were outstanding and as good as the best offset printing available. The printer can print on a wide variety of sheets including non tear-able paper. The wide variety of paper it can print on is due to the low heat generated by the printer compared to other laser printers. The speed of the printer is 65 pages per minute and the maximum size that can be printed is 13×19 inches. The company offers a policy where it charges around Rs.5.5 per page printed depending on the region where the machine is installed. The Rs. 5.5 covers all consumables including ink and parts such as belts and rollers. The life of the machine is 6 million copies or 5 years. Some special paper that it can print on are golden and silver sheets which are very suitable for invitation cards. The price of the machine comes around Rs. 20,00,000/- including tax. If you have a UV coating machine then the quality of the  finished prints can be enhanced even further. A small UV coating machine from www.jonaphoto.com will cost around Rs. 2,00,000/- including the curing machine.

Posted under Digital Printing