Production and printing process of short version of sample book (2)

Book block printing

The next task is to print the book block. The accuracy of digital presses currently used for on-demand book printing can reach up to 1200 dpi, and printing of black and white books is sufficient.

Before you print, you must first make an imposition based on the size of the book. Most of the books are 32 copies, the maximum output format for digital presses that are used for on-demand printing is the largest, and the economical method is to create eight-sided double-sided printing, so that one prints out four pages and is cut into 4 books. The digital printing system has a very convenient imposition function and automatic paging function. One command solves the problem. At first, they also did some sample books that didn't look like a real book. One important reason is the use of ordinary copy paper to print books. The problem with printed paper on copy paper is that the paper is too thick and too white, and it feels stiff when it is read. Unlike a real book, it can be easily rolled up. They also tried ordinary offset paper and writing paper, but these papers did not perform well on DocuTech, they were easy to jam, and they had many papers and poor print quality. The company found a suitable paper. It was thin, but it was quite good. It was suitable for DocuTech's high speed, no paper jamming, and the whiteness was not too high. It was a bit yellow and was the best book. The quality of the Chinese intellectual property publishing house using high-quality offset printing paper is also very good, so that it can be integrated with traditional books.

Cover printing

The cover is generally colored and printed with the DocuColor color digital printer.

They summed up some experiences in practice:

Handle the cover. The printed output of DocuColor is often brighter than offset printing, and it is easily scratched. It doesn't feel like the cover of a book. They usually do some special processing on the cover.

The color used in the cover design. Digital printing is less, time is tight, there is no opportunity to do fine work on the color when printing, and there is not much stretch for testing. Therefore, colors that are easier to print should be used to avoid weaknesses. This point is to communicate with the publishing house. For special requirements of the cover, take other ways to solve.

Spine alignment. When making a cover, consider the convenience of binding. The thickness and offset of the book block paper used today are different. The thickness of the book block must also be different. The width of the spine on the cover, including the size of the text on the spine, and the location of the color should be adjusted accurately. Adjustment is a very technical job, because often there is no original file, only one file, it is still a bit difficult, need to measure, explore.

Postpress

To make a digital printed sample book look exactly like a finished book, post-processing bookbinding is the most important.

DocuTech 6135 has automatic collation function, in accordance with the order of the pages of a book to complete a good page, if the book is 32 open, according to the economic method to spell eight open double-sided printing, this time can be printed out of 4 book pages, first cut Into 4 copies. China Intellectual Property Publishing Co., Ltd. uses a small semi-automatic perfect binding machine from Taiwan. It manually prints pages and automatically completes it by milling and backing → gluing → top cover, and then adopts Germany's ideal automatic single-side cutting book to carry out three-sided light. The professional sample book is completed.

The entire process does not look complicated and easy to operate. Some publishers may feel that they can accomplish these tasks with a desktop laser printer in their offices. In particular, color laser printers are now becoming more and more popular. The cover can also be solved by itself. This may not be the case in practice.

First of all, the small laser printer not only slows down, has no efficiency, and the print quality is not stable. The first and 100th inks may have different shades of ink, and the print alignment is also inaccurate. Not to mention that books are printed on both sides. Once the paper jams, the order is messed up. One book and two books may still be able to deal with. 30 books and 50 books are too much to eat.

Second, the choice of paper. A small laser printer basically can only use ordinary copy paper, and the results are far worse.

Again, bookbinding cannot be countered.

Source: Ke Yin Media - "Printing Technology"