Can anyone recommend me a printer to print on thick card?

Hollypop_2

Hello All,

I am making wedding invitation for my best friend who is getting married next year. :beer:

I have bought some Hammered Card (255gsm) which i was planning on printing the text on. My laser printer prints onto it, however with the surface not been smooth it smudges! :mad: so i tried the ink jet printer at work (a Xerox workcentre 7425) and the same thing happens except the ink actually dries smudged! :mad:

Can anyone suggest a printer i can go out and buy that will print on up to 300gsm textured card?

Its only text im printing so doesnt matter if it doesnt print photos!

I am doing a few other friends invitations over the next year or so, not just this one so think a new printer is a good plan.

Many thanks for any advice

Holly :money:

double_mummy

firstly have you tried messing around with the settings a little bit? try draft setting as it puts down less ink

this one seems to have good reviews and has a flat loader so the card wont get bent at all
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/peripherals/printers-and-scanners/multi-function-mfd/canon-pixma-mg6150-719361/review

the next one up from this has options for custom paper sizes and goes up to A3
http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Printers/Professional_Photo_Printers/PIXMA_Pro_9000_Mark_II/

this one has reviews boasting it will even print onto fabrics
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Photosmart-C7280-All-in-One-Printer/dp/B000WEZ7O8

Hollypop_2

Thanks Double Mummy, I'll take a look.

Id like to buy one that someone can actually tell me works, as the last thing i want it to spend money on a printer that doesnt do what i need it to.
so i thought there must be lots of people on here who make cards for a living that may be able to help me!

nuatha

I don't think any of the inkjets will cope very well with textured card.
I used to have an Alps Mircodry printer that used thermal ribbons that would cope with textures and heavy card weights, but these are only available second hand and are extortionately priced.
If the card doesn't have any surface finishing you could try it on a laser printer.
Look for a printer that has as flat a paper path as possible.
HTH

picklepick

I think you might struggle! Unless you pay silly professional printer prices.

Try taking the card with you to a printer shop, be specific with the sales assistant about what you need it to do and ask to try out the machines. That's the only way of doing it.

You need a printer that loads the card flat, ie, it doesn't have to go around a bend. The nature of textured card makes it difficult to print on and I'm yet to find one that will!
I print onto thinner card/paper and then stick it onto the textured card.

Most textured invites you see online are printed with a letterpress.

double_mummy

if you want actual experiences it might be worth asking on the special occasions board as there are loads of crafters there

lovecake

I asked the same question recently in correspondence with a card supplies company. They basically said don't bother as you won't get a decent result with any desktop printer. What I decided to do is to design the invitations myself and then pay a printing company to print them to a professional standard for me.

I ordered 25 save the dates, 25 evening invitations, 40 day invitations and 65 RSVP cards (so 155 cards all in) and it cost about £95 so I reckon 60p-ish per card (for the card and envelopes and the printing) is not bad at all and the money you would spend on the printer and cartridges this might be a better option - Although I realise this doesn't really help if you have already bought the card and obviously the fancier card you choose the more expensive it will be (I just went for a nice quality thick white card)

If you think this might be helpful I can pm you the company I used. They were recommended to me on here and quite a few other brides have used them. HTH

jacksma

I agree, in my previous job I designed and sent out hundreds of invites for events on a regular basis and it was cheaper for me to get the invites printed by an external printer than it was for me to buy the printer, cartridges, etc to print myself...

If you design your cards and then put what you need on a USB and then take your card and USB to a printer, they will do it for you - and you will probably find this a lot cheaper...

HTH?

moreofthegoodstuff

I bought hammered card... Put it through my brand new printer only for it to 'think about' accepting the card and then spat it back out.

I then gave it to my brother who had a really expensive printer but again it wouldn't do it, he then took it to his work printer which is supposed to be even better but again we had no luck. The card I bought was 280gsm (I had no idea of thickness so I even asked the seller if it would go through a normal printer and he said yes!) so basically get as good quality thin card as you can possibly find!!

catalunya

Hi OP - I dont know if you have tried this already but it maybe worth checking the settings on the printers you can get access to - I work in marketing so often need to print into card.

Check the 'paper type' option on your printer, for example here I get options such as plain, middle thick, thick etc so the printer knows what it is printing on and somehow adjusts.

Also it maybe worth trying to use a bypass tray which is usually a separate tray that folds out as it takes a different paper path to the tray that your normal paper goes through. If you find it you will need to change the input tray in your settings.

Hope that helps!