Hello bookbinders of r/! I have a fun [long] question.
I have a book comprised of 21 signatures, 8 pages each, laser printed on 50gsm A4 size paper that needs to be cut down to 203mm x 160mm. Here’s the problem:
I’ve duplex printed the 164 pages and noticed (because of print process) the paper cockles slightly. When it comes time to trim it down to begin sewing, this becomes a problem.
I’ve tried twice (!) to cut the paper using the HFS guillotine and each time, the cuts are wildly off. Cutting the pages before printing is easy-peasy, but once it runs through the printer, the stack gets caught in the blade or pages shift and become wildly uneven. I have no choice but to cut them down by hand—which is not fun at all.
So my question today is: are there any suggestions to successfully cut the pages down to size in the guillotine after they’ve been printed? Are there any other suggestions to save my wrists (and sanity) to get this smaller book to work?
Thanks in advance!
P.S. I did try to press the pages overnight and still, no joy :(