Paper Thick

[Juvencio Parise]

I get a bit annoyed at 3D printer instructions that tell you to set the extruder height by using an undefined piece of paper as a feeler gauge, because the thickness of a piece of paper varies from .002" (.05mm) to .006" (.15mm).

I'd bet that if you measured 100 brands of "standard" printer paper, the median thickness would be close to .075mm, and with quite a spread of values. Paper manufacture isn't that closely controlled a process.

I'm thinking of going that route because even with a feeler gauge, I just can't get the feeling right. Sometimes the feeler is tight or lose or feels the same. And any pressure on the bed can allow the feeler to go under the head and add in compressible blue tape and I find it very inconsistent.

I guess if comes down to consistency. If you know that 10.7 cm under the pressure of the gauge works for the front and 10.5 for the back then at least you can repeat prints without fussing around with the first layer or two.

But to achieve success you need to know how to use it. It should not be used a tool to determine the grip or resistance of the hotend pushing on it. A feeler gauge is a smooth metal tool that will not exert much or any resistance under pressure.

The correct way to use it is to measure if the tool "fit or don't fit" in a gap. Thus, you need to slide the tool under the hotend, if it "slides under" it means the gap is either accurate or to big. So you adjust the gap slightly smaller, and try again, until it does not slide under anymore. Then you back out as little as you can, and test again, and repeat this until the feeler gauge slides under.

Now to ensure you have to backed the hotend out more than your tolerance you need to select a slightly larger feeler gauge (if your tolerance is 5% and your gap is 100 microns, you need to select a 105 microns gauge) then if that does not "slide under" it means you have not overshot your tolerance, if it does, it means you did and you need to try and make a finer adjustment.

Pro tip: To help you make small adjustments, use one hand to compress the spring that pushes against your adjustment screw. Then you can easily adjust your screw and then let go with the other hand to let the plate return to the adjusted level.

I do the leveling (UM2 non-plus) the "gr5-way". First adjust the nozzle until the plain white laser A4 printing paper has a bit of resistance, but not too much. Yes, it is very subjective and not standard indeed. But at least you can get about the same calibration on all three spots.

Then print a test model with a lot of skirt lines. And manually adjust the three leveling screws to get the most even distribution. Because sometimes when the corner is perfect, an area halfway is not, and is 0.05mm or less off. It is not much, but it is visible in the first layer when using low layer heights (0.1mm or 0.2mm). So the easiest way to level this out is is visually.

Edit: just realised that I hadn't answered your original question. A piece of plain white paper is 0.11mm here. This is standard "80 gram" A4 laserprinter paper. I measured it on about 20 papers of different brands and batches, which were laying around here, mostly printed (thus having been through the printer's heater and rollers).

Measured with good quality professional digital Mitutoyo calipers with 0.01 mm resolution. Thus theoretically the result could be between 0.10 and 0.12mm, but since the calipers were zerod well, and since the final size was displayed very stable (no blinking last digit), and since it are small values close to the zero-point calibration, we can safely assume the value is between 0.105 and 0.115mm, thus averaged and rounded to 0.11mm. This was for all papers I tried.

Windows 10, with all updated drivers.

Have recently switched from using 24# paper in this printer to 28#, and we are experiencing occasional (not frequent, but certainly more than when we were using the lighter paper) jams and misfeeds. It strikes us that we are perhaps not specifying the correct paper weight to the printer?

1. Microsoft 365 Word print setup offers many choices of papers. We have been using "Plain paper." We see that there's a setting called "thick plain paper." What weight paper would that correspond to?

In terms of feeding, paper selection is not likely to reduce jamming in my opinion. Most likely dirty rollers coupled with media that can be a challenge for reliable feeding are the cause. Surface of paper can also plan a big role, with glossy or ultra smooth surfaces causing roller slip.

Thanks for the input.

Well, let me ask you this: When printing from Word, I have to select my printer and I am also offered a link to "Printer Properties" - are these available properties those that the printer driver supplies to Word? Where are such properties more precisely defined/documented? For instance, the paper type "Plain paper" and "Thick plain paper" doesn't provide much information regarding the difference between the two.

Further, what difference does the choice of paper make to Word, and/or to the printer driver? Does it drive ink delivery? Is printer throughput speed a function of paper selection? Is a mechanical adjustment made to roller and feed settings to accommodate the thicker or thinner paper? Is there a downside to selecting an ostensibly heavier paper setting than the actual paper being supplied?

That said, the printer does care about paper selection and the Printing Properties / shortcut dialog lets you make choices based on what you know the printer supports (specs), the paper you are using, and the available choices in the print driver.

I can (and do) print on Premium paper (on my OfficeJet Pro 9025) without setting to "thick paper". That said, the two printer models are not the same and the 9025 is much newer (not worn after years of service, for example)

Codex binding with an exposed thread-stitched spine allows you to get the best from the thick paper.
Every page from start to finish opens out flat, so that nothing is distracting you when you write or draw.

As a unit of measure, GSM connects the wood pulp producers (who sell by weight) with the paper mills (who work on area). Generally, the higher the GSM the more wood pulp is required to produce the paper. For example, one square metre of 400gsm board will use much more wood pulp than a square metre of 100gsm paper.

Both paper thickness and weight play an important part in the look and feel of the final print result. The right GSM and Mic can create the right first impression before your customer even starts to read what you have to say. Although there is no direct correlation between the weight and quality of your paper, it should be an important factor in your decision about what to use for your print. Certain weights and thicknesses may be more suitable for brochures whereas others may be more suited to desk calendars.

(Please be aware that this information should only be used as a guide because relative gsm/mic can vary from one brand of paper to another and there can even be some minor variation in different production batches of the same type of paper).

There are many factors which affect the sustainability of your paper. If you want to reduce the environmental impact of your printed communications, you can choose paper with a lower GSM. This way you buy less paper because you get more print area per square meter. By using less paper, you are contributing to a lower environmental impact.

I am looking to invest in a printer for my work that can print on thick papers 200 gsm+ up to a3 size. It'll mainly be used to print graphic design related stuff. It'll mainly be used for internal work and not for resale purpose. So mostly 20-30 sheets per project(per 2 weeks). going to the printer for such small quantity is not productive

Absolutely opposite. Such a small demand of printed sheets means you have no reason to invest in your own equipment. Any digital print shop will be more than happy to have you as a customer. And because you need only one side printing, it's hard for me to imagine printshop, that could not help you with this task.

Check media you want to use. Take it with you when you are going to the printshop and discuss, is it possible that they have this media in stock all the time as usually they will like to have it in their climate before printing.

Take some sample jobs for test run. Nowdays there is 2 types of digital print used: toner (I add HP liquid toner also in this) and inkjet. Toner images will be more contrast, but they are not so rub-resistant so usually you would like to add varnish on top. Inkjet have problems with variation of media it can be applied on, but in the same time print will look more similar to offset.

Check all the color management settings with the printshop. You must provide files in the same way everytime and printshop need to have consistent settings on their RIPs and machines. Make one or two test prints to check the results.

Traditionally, rice paper was made from a batter of slightly fermented rice, water plus salt. The batter was steamed on top of fabric stretched over a pot of simmering water into thin rounds. The resulting rice sheets (similar to banh cuon) were dried on woven mats. The dried rice paper rounds could be stored and then rehydrated to soften and use. All of this explains the thinness of rice paper, the woven pattern on each one, and why you can eat rice paper as is!

Rice paper has changed a lot over the decades and the thick ones made of all rice were frankly, a pain in the butt to soften and use. Over time, manufacturers have added tapioca to the batter to make the result thinner, easier to soften, and more pliable. There's a balance though. Too much tapioca and the rice paper is super thin and plastic wrap like. There's a nice, slight tang from rice paper that's made with a decent amount of rice. The formulation is up to the maker and consumers choose what they want. All of this explains why tapioca is nowadays listed with rice in most regular kinds rice paper sold. (I avoid the all tapioca ones since they are too thin and tasteless.)

c80f0f1006