Measuring paper weight

Discussion in 'Offset Papers & Stocks' started by loveforvdubs, Mar 20, 2013.

  1. loveforvdubs

    loveforvdubs New Member

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    Hey all,

    I'm not a printer myself, other than some silk screening. But I manage a supply chain that does a fair amount of printing for our company. From time to time I want to verify the paper weight of the finished product, or find out what weight our competitor is using. What method is used to measure paper weight?
     
  2. ziggy33

    ziggy33 Senior Member

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    Micrometer then convert your findings into grams per meter squared then look at a chart it will tell you how many gm2 is 80# text and so forth just some simple math!! Gotta love math!!
     
  3. loveforvdubs

    loveforvdubs New Member

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    Great! Thanks for the help!
     
  4. rolandman

    rolandman Senior Member

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    The thickness of a Sheet has no correlation the the GSM of the paper. 100 gsm from one mill would most likely not be the same thickness as from the next mill. If you want to know the weight of a sheet you need to weigh a sqmetre.
     
  5. Taymour

    Taymour Member

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    CUT SAMPLE OF 100mm x 100mm take weight... this isthe most simple procedure.
     
  6. Adil

    Adil Senior Member

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    Cut a 10 cm² piece of cardboard then measure it using a very precise digital gold scale. So you can know the grammage per cm²
     
  7. Raf77

    Raf77 Senior Member

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    Can't believe what tricks you guys make:D
    It's so simple - let's take 150 gsm paper. If one square meter weights 150 grams, then one square centimeter weights 150/10000=0,015 gram.

    One A3 sheet has 1247.4 cm2, so it weights 1247.4 X 0.015 = 18.711 grams.

    Or there is another method:
    One A3 sheet is 0.12474 m2, so 150 (gsm) X 0.12474 = 18.711 grams.

    Bingo! Don't need to cut and weigh anything:D
     
  8. Adil

    Adil Senior Member

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    Hi Raf
    the calculation that you proposed is reversed, that means you have assumed that you know the weight of the put square however in reality in the graphic chain if I give you different size for example coated paper 500mm×700 bible paper 27.9×34mm paper to write 450mm × 350 gray back cardboard 450mm × 650 and I ask you what weight it is, you must proceed with the method that I proposed and that Mr Taymour also cited, and we use a precision balance because we have need a tolerance to the hundredth
     
  9. Raf77

    Raf77 Senior Member

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    Yes you're right, but the question was how to verify paper weight on finished product. So I assumed that if I'm ordering let's say A5 flyers on 130gsm, then I know the weight what product should have.

    And this method is actually working both ways. If you don't know what paper weight was used, you need to weight finished product, measure dimensions and calculate same way.
     
  10. Adil

    Adil Senior Member

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    He tol that from time to time he want to verify paper weight , the verification is like what i describ
     

  11. Raf77

    Raf77 Senior Member

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    Ok, Mr Knowbetter:D
    I'll stick to my method anyway ;)
     
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