Faheem Agboatwala’s five mantras for grain direction
The Seekho Aur Samjho session at the GIPT in Mumbai was hosted on 2 September. The session in Hindi covered the Why and How of grain direction. Agboatwala with additional inputs from Nitin Shah of Award Packaging had an interactive session with a show-and-tell, videos and samples; and simple tips like ask for client drawings.
19 Sep 2016 | 7044 Views | By PrintWeek India
He mentioned that the grain must be parallel to the grippers of printing presses. This ensures accurate register and faster runnability of paper through the machine. And the thumb rule for paper grain: Paper bends/curls along the grain direction.
1. The correct grain or folding carton. Grain: Perpendicular to crease.
Reason: Carton will be stronger upon forming
2. Correct grain for folding leaflets. Grain: Perpendicular to first fold however complex the finished piece. Reason: Folding machine will run much faster.
3. Correct grain for wet glue labels. Grain: Parallel to direction of the turn of the bottle/product. Reason: Will not interfere with application.
4. Correct grain for books. Grain: Parallel to spine. Reason: Less strain on spine, lay-flat is much better - check with client if in doubt.
5. Correct grain for wall calendars. Grain: Perpendicular to wiro or spiral.
Reason: Prevents rolling up in time (will curl anyway due to humidity/temperature).