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Post by dgwhite87 on Sept 7, 2020 22:47:34 GMT
I get a lot of PDF's or stamp club news letters sent to me electronically. Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to be able to hold physical copies of all of these.
Do any of you use any online printing services? If so, what do you recommend?
Thanks,
Dan
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 8, 2020 0:46:49 GMT
Hi Dan,
Ummm, not to be Mr. Obvious here, but... wouldn't purchasing a printer be more cost effective? I also prefer hardcopies for everything so I picked up a color laser for something like $300, and in the first year I easily got my money back out of it. Now I use it for everything - including DIY album pages.
Andy
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
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What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Sept 8, 2020 13:59:09 GMT
Another point to add, is a commercial printer may not be willing to print anything that is under copyright (unless you are the owner)
The cost of color printers has come way down
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tomiseksj
Moderator 
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385 
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on Sept 8, 2020 14:43:23 GMT
I used Best Value Copy to print and bind copies of the Forum's Newsletter when APS was still running their Newsletter competition and multiple copies were required for submission. The quality of their work was quite good and there are multiple options to choose from (binding type, cover material, page quality, etc.). They were the most reasonably priced entity that I was able to find. |
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ameis33
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What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet
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Post by ameis33 on Sept 8, 2020 17:14:36 GMT
I can't suggest any site, but about a own printer is less expansive, i'm not so sure...
You have to consider the cost of the printer, the cost of the paper and the cost of the ink.
The last paper i've bought 160g/m2 cost me around 10 euro for 200 sheets, so 5 cent each. Of course, i use this paper for my albums, but normal 70/80 g/m2 paper cost less, ok, make your own calculation.
A couple of ink cartridge black and color cost around 50-60 euro and i can print around 300 pages (depends of the complexity of the pages, but i usually add the stamp image on my albums). So again 16-20 cent.
Then the cost of the printer.
This is more difficult to calculate, but i guess a printed page could cost around 20-30 cents each.
But, the quality of the printing will be the same? The packaging? Holes?
I still prefer to print pages at home, but for other reasons... Maybe, all calculated, the cost is not so convenient...
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angore
Member
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Post by angore on Sept 8, 2020 18:23:21 GMT
If you purchase a new printer, then you have a printer at the end.
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Post by dgwhite87 on Sept 10, 2020 1:42:31 GMT
thanks for the replies all. Between Best Value Copy and purchasing a new printer, I now have two good options to weigh.
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angore
Member
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Post by angore on Sept 10, 2020 15:59:32 GMT
There is always an excuse to buy a new tool (like a nice color laser printer).
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 13, 2020 13:08:28 GMT
sigh So, a couple years ago I bought a couple nice binders from Archival Methods (with very nice slipcases and pulltabs) but was disappointed because they're so darn deep (made for photography) - 8.5 x 11 pages left a lot of room unused on that right side. After reading this thread, however, I started thinking "yaknow, if I just got a wide format printer I could make use of that extra inch and a half." It's a bad thought to have: Yesterday, I priced out a printer, replacement ink carts, and paper: HP 7740 hi-res color inkjet, delivered - $280 Replacement high volume ink cart packs (10, 4 bk and 2 of each color) - $110 Paper (11 x 17 acid free 65lb Bristol per pack of 250) - $40 Paper cutter - $40 Reasonable expectation for 5,000 pages of custom sized album pages - .25/page Today I ordered the printer, and expect it to arrive within 7 days. Assuming its print quality is up to par (if not, you'll see the printer on Ebay), I'll order the rest. I'm thinking this thread has doomed me to 10 years of re-doing my entire stamp collection. Thanks, guys!  |
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brightonpete
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Post by brightonpete on Sept 13, 2020 13:22:13 GMT
ajkitt, you'll have to let us know how the printer works out. I too have been thinking of a wide format printer too. Maybe you kick start the plan for me!
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 13, 2020 15:06:35 GMT
ajkitt , you'll have to let us know how the printer works out. I too have been thinking of a wide format printer too. Maybe you kick start the plan for me! Ohhh, I certainly plan to. I also expect I'll be contributing more to "Whatcha been stampin'" and "DIY pages" within a few weeks... |
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Sept 14, 2020 9:18:38 GMT
Hi ajkitt
I use blank pages, with a light quadrille, exclusively. I had some printed on 55# paper. I must say a filled 1" binder weighs a "ton". In retrospect, next time I would probably use a little lighter paper. With 65# a binder will be a lot heavier. Something to think about before buying the paper.
I am a great supporter of the "mom and pop" print shops (not the office store print shops). Check you local print shop as a paper supply. You'll be amazed at what one can get. Not only that, you can get the pages hole punched, if desired, at a "next to nothing cost" (the paper may also be cheaper).
Jerry B
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vikingeck
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Post by vikingeck on Sept 14, 2020 10:52:20 GMT
Years ago as President of my local club and then as President of the Scandinavia Philatelic society I received many invitations from other clubs to display . I also got involved in Exhibiting Nationally.
Albums and binders became an inconvenience as it involved removing sheets and inserting them in transparent protective sleeves . Standard album pages were wider than an A4 printer and as I was constantly creating new pages I bought a wider carriage A3 Canon colour inkjet . This has served me well for several years.
My pages are a medium weight pale cream card and are kept in box files not in binders .
My decision with my tobacco and anti smoking social history collection was to switch to double size pages A3 landscape format which gives more freedom to display larger documents and ephemera , these can be easily handled with my current Canon iP8700 wide carriage inkjet.
Fortunately my budget allows me to be liberal with paper, ink and card and I have to confess I have never stopped to think of costing my printing, it is just part of the hobby I love for me , together with expenses travelling to shows, club meetings round the country helping to promote the hobby......
.............does a golfer ever count the day to day cost of his game? Transport, club fees, clubs, clothing, golf balls 19th hole etc. We just factor in whatever we are comfortable with.
so good luck with however you decide to print, home base or outsourcing, it is your hobby. we all have our own preferences, I accept that for some cost is critical and for others an indulgence. Just be comfortable with your choice.
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angore
Member
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Post by angore on Sept 14, 2020 11:18:06 GMT
vikingeck I am using all the money I save from all the other leisure activities I do not do for stamps! Unlike some activities, after I am done I have something tangible to show for it! By being forced to work from home, I have saved a lot on gas so add that to the savings.
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Sept 14, 2020 17:11:01 GMT
Hi
Just to give an example. I bought 500 sheets of 55# paper, had the quadrille printed (worked with the printer for that) and had the paper 3 hole punched all for less than $60 us.
Jerry B
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 18, 2020 19:53:26 GMT
Jerry B, I'm in New Hampshire. My "local print shop" is probably in Boston - an hour drive at least, on a Sunday morning at 2:00 am!  So, I make due with lots of mail order. Anyhow, printer arrived last night (2 days early) so when I got home from work I printed up a test page:  The only scanner I had that would accommodate 11 x 17 was the one on the printer, and (I must say) the scanner really isn't very good (my politically correct way of calling it junk) - it doesn't do the print justice. For an inkjet, it's not too shabby. No matter what the image shows, straight lines are straight and more or less crisp (those boxes are all 1/4 pt 1" x 1", and the misalignment of box 5 was my fault when I put together the test page). The apparent sloppiness in the scan are scanner/jpeg artifacts. Font remained easily readable down to 6 or maybe 5 pts, which is probably smaller than I would ever use. (It's pretty sloppy at 3 pts) Same page, cut down to 10" x 11":  Was it worth it? I think so. Once I dropped it into a binder with the other sheets lying on top, the extra inch and a half looks like a TON of room! Just a quick glance at my old pages I see I can now re-do my Germany Breastshield pages and condense them down to one page with ample whitespace still to appreciate them. And, of course, after making all those original pages I thought up a dozen ways to make them better. Now I have an excuse to do it. Tomorrow or Sunday I will probably do some image and color tests. |
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Sept 19, 2020 9:05:35 GMT
Hi ajkitt
Where in NH? I am from Bangor, Maine now living in Atlanta, Georgia. Are you near Nashua?
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angore
Member
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Post by angore on Sept 19, 2020 10:15:15 GMT
What printer did you get?
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 19, 2020 21:52:46 GMT
Hi ajkitt Where in NH? I am from Bangor, Maine now living in Atlanta, Georgia. Are you near Nashua? I'm in Rochester now. I was in the Stratham/Greenland area for quite a while. Bangor, eh? It is definitely on the edge of the wilderness, yes?  |
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 19, 2020 21:59:21 GMT
What printer did you get? HP 7740 My opinions on it are pretty mixed so far... I've had lasers for years and years, but inkjet was the only really affordable option for what amounts to be a hobby printer, right? It feels slow, I can see the dots, yadda yadda it's not a laser. But I will be keeping it. Page size for my stamp albums is king right now. Between springbacks and photo binders, 8.5 x 11 just wastes to much possibility! |
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Sept 20, 2020 6:23:16 GMT
Hi ajkitt Yep we are up "nawth" I see you are on the southern Maine border and Portsmouth is close. There should be "mom and pop" printers there. Jerry B |
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 21, 2020 3:07:22 GMT
Hi ajkitt Yep we are up "nawth" I see you are on the southern Maine border and Portsmouth is close. There should be "mom and pop" printers there. Jerry B Or... I could just use the printer I just bought It seems I'm always a day late and a dollar short!  |
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 21, 2020 3:09:45 GMT
btw, Jerry... whereabouts in Atlanta? I lived in MAY-retta for a bit maybe 30 years ago?
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Jerry B
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Post by Jerry B on Sept 21, 2020 6:56:29 GMT
Hi ajkitt
We are in East Cobb. The "mom and pop" printer is mainly for paper supplies, etc.
just a heads-up: There is one major problem with HP printers. They are excellent printers. However, as my cousin found out, if something goes bump the service may not be so great. My cousin dumped her HP and went to EPSON, who also makes great printers.
Jerry B
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 21, 2020 17:27:02 GMT
Hi ajkitt We are in East Cobb. The "mom and pop" printer is mainly for paper supplies, etc. just a heads-up: There is one major problem with HP printers. They are excellent printers. However, as my cousin found out, if something goes bump the service may not be so great. My cousin dumped her HP and went to EPSON, who also makes great printers. Jerry B Ah yes... better Cobb than DEE-cobb, right? I just Google-mapped Marietta to see if I could remember where in town I lived, but when I clicked on satellite view all I could say is "I remember a LOT more trees than that!" Or maybe it was just all kudzu. Epson is always my first choice, particularly when dealing with anything related to graphics and images. But I couldn't find anything 11" x 17" by them in my price range (under $300), so there it is. Also, I do like HP laptops very much (I've been buying Envys since before they did the 360 degree screen rollover thing) so I'm hoping the HP-HP connection works in my favor. The laptops only seem to be good for a couple years, but they're bordering on obsolete by then anyhow. Printers, on the other hand, should go for a while. HP lasers did - I had couple last reliably for 10 years. But their inkjets... not so much. I had a 20 y.o. Epson ink for emergencies that I only finally trashed last year when I moved to Rochester. I *will* say this, though... I had to print up 158 pages of test materials last night and buzzed them out on the 7740 (only because it was on and my other printer wasn't), and it was FAST. 30 pages a minute for an inkjet at "normal" quality... who knew? My stamp album page tests (high quality 11x17) take more like a minute per page. |
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clivel
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Post by clivel on Sept 21, 2020 23:44:36 GMT
Looking for an alternative to the standard Letter size pages I have been using, I came across SAFE "Classic Stamp Albums". Not only are the pages a reasonably sized 10-5/8" x 11-3/4", but the 14 hole pages are much more rugged than pages punched to fit the standard office 3-ring binder, besides which they also look a lot more professional. SAFE offers the binders in various grades and colours, along with a diverse array of pages including stock, single country, and more importantly for our purposes Classic 14 ring blank pages. I was thinking of ordering a few pages to try out, but unfortunately they are currently out of stock so I will have to wait. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with these pages?
Also, I would of course need to print or have the pages printed. The local printer isn't interested in doing the small number of pages I would need, so that probably means looking for a large format printer. There is of course the HP 7740 as purchased by ajkitt another alternative is the Epson WF-7210 which only being a printer , without the all-in-one functionality is even cheaper - has anyone had any experience with this printer?
What is not clear from the sales blurb for most of these printers is whether they only can only print on fixed size paper e.g tabloid or A3 or can be adjusted to print on any size page within their range.
Clive
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ajkitt
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Post by ajkitt on Sept 22, 2020 1:24:30 GMT
There is of course the HP 7740 as purchased by ajkitt another alternative is the Epson WF-7210 which only being a printer , without the all-in-one functionality is even cheaper - has anyone had any experience with this printer?
Nope, or I might've picked that instead! As Jerry pointed out, Epson is a great name. Or maybe not... for non-stamp-collecting usage, the HP works as a photocopier too. I've only had it for a couple days and already needed it for that. And the HP is more than twice as fast when I need to print volume, which I've also already taken advantage of. So, I guess the HP wasn't just a "hobby purchase" for me after all, eh? |
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mikeclevenger
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Post by mikeclevenger on Sept 22, 2020 8:34:12 GMT
Hi ajkitt I use blank pages, with a light quadrille, exclusively. I had some printed on 55# paper. I must say a filled 1" binder weighs a "ton". In retrospect, next time I would probably use a little lighter paper. With 65# a binder will be a lot heavier. Something to think about before buying the paper. I am a great supporter of the "mom and pop" print shops (not the office store print shops). Check you local print shop as a paper supply. You'll be amazed at what one can get. Not only that, you can get the pages hole punched, if desired, at a "next to nothing cost" (the paper may also be cheaper). Jerry B Hey Jerry, Can the print shops punch 16 or 18 hole? I never thought about using them to get the paper already punched.
Have a great day.
Mike.
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mikeclevenger
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Post by mikeclevenger on Sept 22, 2020 8:51:52 GMT
Also, I would of course need to print or have the pages printed. The local printer isn't interested in doing the small number of pages I would need, so that probably means looking for a large format printer. There is of course the HP 7740 as purchased by ajkitt another alternative is the Epson WF-7210 which only being a printer , without the all-in-one functionality is even cheaper - has anyone had any experience with this printer? Good Morning, Last year I wanted to print my own Lighthouse pages. So I looked for a good 11" x 17" printer. I found the Canon Pixma iX6820 (inkjet) which is $180 on Amazon now. It takes 5 ink cartridge, because it has 2 black cartridges. I can buy 3 complete sets of ink on Ebay for $15. That right, I get 15 cartridges for $15. These are not small cartridges either, they are the larger cartridges. It prints beautifully, and you can make any size page you want up to 11" x 17". I have had no problem with the cheap ink from Ebay so far, it has been working good. Hope this helps.
Have a great day.
Mike.
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mikeclevenger
Member
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Post by mikeclevenger on Sept 22, 2020 9:05:09 GMT
Looking for an alternative to the standard Letter size pages I have been using, I came across SAFE "Classic Stamp Albums". Not only are the pages a reasonably sized 10-5/8" x 11-3/4", but the 14 hole pages are much more rugged than pages punched to fit the standard office 3-ring binder, besides which they also look a lot more professional. SAFE offers the binders in various grades and colours, along with a diverse array of pages including stock, single country, and more importantly for our purposes Classic 14 ring blank pages. I was thinking of ordering a few pages to try out, but unfortunately they are currently out of stock so I will have to wait. I was wondering if anyone is familiar with these pages? I have several of the Safe albums, and they have nice pages. It can get expensive buying the name brand pages though if you make a lot of pages yourself. Remember, every time you mess up a page, or want to change one, after you print it, it costs you money, as I have found out. I print everything on a regular sheet of paper first now, to make sure it looks good, then I print it on a Lighthouse sheet. Ink is way cheaper than Lighthouse pages, LOL. I use Lighthouse pages mostly. Just because I have more Lighthouse albums and I have been able to get the Lighthouse a lot easier than the Safe pages. I bought the old Lighthouse Stockbook pages for my Ohio collection years ago, so I have just stayed with Lighthouse pages so they go together easier. You may look into those also. I calculated what it costs to buy your own paper to make the size pages I need, and to get it cut to the right size, it was almost just as cheap to buy the pages already done and I don't have to punch holes this way, and they come with that crease imprint where they fold over. I usually buy them from Ebay, they are cheaper there. The guy down the street owns a local print shop, so I may talk to him about making my pages for me, I will just have to see the cost. If you need to know anything else about the different pages, just ask.
Have a great day.
Mike.
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