Baumfolder 2020 - general info/advice for consistent folding on Heavy Stock

[TheBushyBeggar]

I'm new to the print and bindery world but I'll cut right to the chase. I am expected to use this machine with very little training and no one to ask advice of short of calling the repair guys. I've been using it a few months now but I cannot get it to fold heavier stock consistently evenly. The manual seems to suggest that some heavier stocks need scoring prior to folding, we also have a tri-creaser which I have used with some success.

My question is essentially this, is text stock the only thing I am expected to fold without first scoring?

 

[jwheeler]

Yes...you need to crease heavy stock before you fold it.

You should also understand there is a difference between creasing a scoring. Both will help it fold more consistently, but creasing is superior. Creasing actually uses a male die line that presses into a female groove, which creates a hinge for the fold, and prevents the paper from cracking. A score typically uses a narrow wheel to just indent a bit on one side and is not as effective in preventing cracking. You also need to make sure the creasing is done on the correct side for best results. The attached image shows the correct side. (The title says scoring, but it should say 'creasing')

In a perfect world, you would use a Creaser-Folder for cardstock, however many shops don't have enough cardstock folding work to justify the cost of one. We crease on our AeroCut (which is a slitter-cutter-creaser) then run through our folder.

 

[TheBushyBeggar]

Thank you. I realize there is a difference between scoring and creasing I just haven't run into use cases where scoring would be preferable to creasing. I've been making heavy use of the tri-creaser since I read the that section of the manual, and it seems to do the job very well. Thanks for the diagram, I will be printing that out and putting it next to our folding station!