worst paper ever.

[fixthecopier]

In 15 years I have only been able to prove it was the papers fault 3 times, and 1 was today. After putting fusers in an HP 9050 and 5550 that sit side by side, I made some test prints off of the 9050. All was going well. Then I heard that awful sound. The sound of wrinkleing paper going through the machine. It looked as though it had tried to go through the machine sideways. I opened the tray and saw about 10 sheets trying to go through the rollers at once. An inspection of the ream showed that the blade that cut it, was so dull it meshed or bound the paper together in bunches of 20 to 30 sheets. And to make it worse, it was being stored outside in a storage building, soaking up humidity. Prints that made it through, had terrible curl.

No big finish to this, I just thought it would only interest other people in the business.

[blackcat4866]

Re: worst paper ever.

... An inspection of the ream showed that the blade that cut it, was so dull it meshed or bound the paper together in bunches of 20 to 30 sheets. And to make it worse, it was being stored outside in a storage building, soaking up humidity. Prints that made it through, had terrible curl ...

I've come across a few of those over the years. Most recently the company that was supplying our paper had a bad batch or two. That particular company always sold us the cheapest paper available. We bought three truckloads. Every twentieth sheet had a Z-fold and a wrinkle. That's 25 per ream, 250 per case ... all three truckloads. We had no shortage of paper for in-house work.

Before that, the paper they supplied was 216mm x 280.5mm. It doesn't sound like much of a difference does it? Except most Konica Minolta LCT's do not have a size adjustment for the width of letter paper. 1.5mm oversized caused jamming on every LCT.

What a bargain. =^..^=

[slimslob]

Re: worst paper ever.

I've come across a few of those over the years. Most recently the company that was supplying our paper had a bad batch or two. That particular company always sold us the cheapest paper available. We bought three truckloads. Every twentieth sheet had a Z-fold and a wrinkle. That's 25 per ream, 250 per case ... all three truckloads. We had no shortage of paper for in-house work.

Before that, the paper they supplied was 216mm x 280.5mm. It doesn't sound like much of a difference does it? Except most Konica Minolta LCT's do not have a size adjustment for the width of letter paper. 1.5mm oversized caused jamming on every LCT.

What a bargain. =^..^=

I had encountered the Z-fold once. It was at the administration office of a hospital. It was only one ream, but the Z-fold was every 10 sheets. We were called because it was jamming.

[KenB]

Re: worst paper ever.

• I had encountered the Z-fold once. It was at the administration office of a hospital. It was only one ream, but the Z-fold was every 10 sheets. We were called because it was jamming.

Similar situation here.

At one time we sold Canon "plain" paper, for their liquid machines.

We once had a few skids of it (all letter size) where every 6th sheet was cut about 1/2 inch short, so it measured only 8" wide.

Needless to say, it caused just a few jams.

[drwevil]

Re: worst paper ever.

we get bad/damp paper all the time ..... fairly easy to prove just open a fresh ream....

but there are bad batches out there I've seen one that absorbs moisture like a sponge and turn slightly pink after its been through the copier.

Years ago there was a bad batch out of brazil that was confiscated by customs then sold off cheep. It wasn't 80gsm as on the wrapper, it would not feed out of the trays and from memory it wasn't even white more grey.

[NeoMatrix]

Re: worst paper ever.

How does the erasable toner MFD from Toshiba pan out with it's questionable 5 times erasable/reusable paper ?
I would like to see if the paper can truly handle upto 5 write-erase recycles through the fuser unit.
Surely this model of machine must use chemical-bond or some sort of thermal paper to assist the erase of toner off the paper.

[theengel]

Re: worst paper ever.

Seems like today's machines are a lot more forgiving than they used to be. I remember having paper calls just about every time it rained. Come to think of it though, I was working on a lot more wide format machines then.

I did have one customer who cut their own paper. We had told them over and over again that it wasn't going to work for them. Jams kept coming up because the paper wasn't exactly letter or legal.

[CompyTech]

Re: worst paper ever.

I had a call once where machine was jamming from the LCT.. I opened the tray, and up on checking the reams, discovered half the reem was glued together on the sides. I think they got over zealous with the glue at the paper factory when installing the over wraps.

[gwaddle]

Re: worst paper ever.

I've had a few over the years. Most notably, I drove 120 miles to a call for jamming in a fax machine. Sure enough it would jam on the first copy. Opened the drawer and found they had used some leftover tractor feed paper and had carefully torn off the sides, but didn't separate the sheets. Sent a big bill for mileage.

[JVergin]

Re: worst paper ever.

"Quality" brand paper. I will say it by name because this is the worse paper I've had to deal with. Visually, it looks great! nice packaging, very little pitting, and very white. But looks can be deceiving.

In an MFP: While going through the fuser, the paper will not only have a MASSIVE curl, but will also twist, almost like the grain of the paper is at a 45 degree angle or something. This may not jam in a very basic model with no finisher where the exit tray it right outside of the fuser. If you have a finisher, are duplexing, or have a transport unit that takes the paper from the fuser to an exit tray, it will jam and it will jam often regardless of when they bought the paper, how its stored, or if they just opened the ream and put it in that day.

In a duplicator (Riso): The paper is very slick. Misfeeds AND multifeeds are almost a guarantee. IF the paper manages to get from the feed tray to the exit tray (a straight paper path), more than likely there will be so much static buildup between each sheet that 1 sheet can hold 7 others just with the static cling, which will be even more fun when trying to flip it over and print on the second side.

I found this paper at many many locations. Luckily, the customers were understanding and trusted my judgement. I haven't seen that paper for a few years though so hopefully the "Quality" brand went out of business.

[Lagonda]

Re: worst paper ever.

I came across some 100% recycled, non bleached, not made from wood, hand made by one legged lesbians and all profits went to land rights for gay whales supposed bond paper. I think it was actually made from sugar cane trash and after the customer had put half a ream through the copier I had to strip the cleaning station out and removed at least a matchbox full of fluff.
Now I'm a bit of a greenie at heart but that stuff was appalling, its nice to help save the planet but sometimes you create more problems then you solve.

[ZOOTECH]

Re: worst paper ever.

...
Now I'm a bit of a greenie at heart but that stuff was appalling, its nice to help save the planet but sometimes you create more problems then you solve.

Which keeps us employed.

[slimslob]

Re: worst paper ever.

I came across some 100% recycled, non bleached, not made from wood, hand made by one legged lesbians and all profits went to land rights for gay whales supposed bond paper. I think it was actually made from sugar cane trash and after the customer had put half a ream through the copier I had to strip the cleaning station out and removed at least a matchbox full of fluff.
Now I'm a bit of a greenie at heart but that stuff was appalling, its nice to help save the planet but sometimes you create more problems then you solve.

I have a school print shop with a Pro 1357Ex and a Pro 1107EX. He orders 20# 8 1/2 X 11 paper by the truck load and get a very good price. According to him the paper is actually from a paper mill somewhere in Australia. Very good paper. The 1357 has around 10 million on it. I have only had to clean the paper lint trap on the registration roller once.

[blackcat4866]

Re: worst paper ever.

Seems like today's machines are a lot more forgiving than they used to be. I remember having paper calls just about every time it rained. Come to think of it though, I was working on a lot more wide format machines then.

I did have one customer who cut their own paper. We had told them over and over again that it wasn't going to work for them. Jams kept coming up because the paper wasn't exactly letter or legal.

I had a call on a PRESS C6000L for inconsistent/moving tri-folds. The real issue was the fact that the paper length varied from 10 3/4" to 12", and yes they cut it themselves. =^..^=

[Lagonda]

Re: worst paper ever.

...... According to him the paper is actually from a paper mill somewhere in Australia.........

The locally made paper that manufactured from plantation grown eucalyptus trees is very high grade stuff, also very expensive. Please make sure that it is plantation grown or you could be responsible for a koala losing his home.