[Riderz Ready]

Curious if anyone has found an lower cost alternative to Beaver paper in the large format world? We have several large projects and we need to reduce our cost and paper is the number one sore spot. We tried WingWing paper which prints great and is half the cost of Beaver but it is a thicker paper that causes issues in unattended printing.

 

[JYA]

Mark, I am using two different types of Beaver and am very happy with it.

As far as problems with unattended printing, I've found some with the Beaver tacky when running long prints of dark color, like black or navy.

I'm generally happy with the Beaver, but, I'd be interested to see what else is out there...

 

[Riderz Ready]

The issue with Beaver is cost. We have several test rolls coming and will report back. One small suggestion a paper manufacture brought to light that makes me want to kick myself is the simple fact that you should match your paper width not by the size of your printer but by the size of your prints. For us we could have been using 36" rolls instead of 44" rolls.

 

[JYA]

Funny you say that, I made the move from 44" to 36" earlier this year on my tacky product and have been happy I did.

I found it to be a penny per square foot cheaper than the 44" with nearly no waste, which puts $10/roll back in my pocket right off the top.

Next, you have almost 55 sq ft of paper going UNUSED on a 44" roll (if you have a 42" printer like I do), which adds up to $5.78 per roll wasted.

Finally, there is a $35 difference in the cost of the rolls which unless you are going all the way out to 42" on every print, that is more waste. I've found that 95% of my prints (jerseys, logos, etc) all fit with no problem on the paper and that the 44" would yield a ton of waste.

Maybe you can find a show special on Beaver at NBM?

 

[cprvh]

I have tried a Jetcol 2000 (70gm) paper from Westar...150 meter roll instead of 100m. It does transfer nicely. It is quite a bit lighter than Beaver. You really have to pull your ink limits down. It also does not dry nearly as quickly as Beaver. I was even having drying issues printing with a 9600. If you are running a Mutoh I doubt there is any way it will dry quickly enough.

We also tried the paper from SubliTrans from AW Papers, but transferred just horrible. Very splotchy.

I like Beaver. Very consistent.