Marcin Floryan scrisse:

Hi!

I was trying to look around but didn't find much info. Does anyone have any clues on what "Bond Weight # estimate" is? This is shown in the perfect-bound cover template extension.

Forwarded from John Bintz:

********** In English paper measurements, bond weight is one of several types of paper weight/thickness measurements. Unfortunately, those measurements are very subjective, unlike the Metric system of paper measurement, which is very simple and standardized. For *most* paper stocks, the bond weight measurement is the most similar across product lines. However, the thickness of one sheet of 20# bond weight paper for one paper stock, for example, can be completely different from another. After researching a lot of different common paper stocks here in the US, and throwing those stock sizes into a spreadsheet, I came to the formula that is used in the perfect bound cover generator as a decent "best guess" conversion of bond weight to paper thickness. If that's all you have, then that should be close enough for most tasks.

If you're printing a book with a serious printer, though, and you need to get the exact thickness of the spine for use in generating a perfect bound cover, you need a more precise measurement for paper thickness, with Caliper thickness or a derivative like Points being the preferred measurements. A lot of printers nowadays, knowing what paper stocks they'll be using for printing your book, can calculate the spine thickness for you once you give them number of pages. Here's one example from the comic PoD company Ka-Blam:

http://www.ka-blam.com/index.php?page=Calculator&op=36

I put together my research onto my Website, along with links to various paper companies and printers who have a lot more documentation on the subject:

http://www.coswellproductions.org/wordpress/2007/10/20/untwisting-the-spine-...

Sorry for the confusion, but paper measurements here in the US are very confusing. :/ If you have any other questions, feel free to send them my way. ***********

Ciao, Luca