Printing Questions, Answered

Star flex at 340gsm is 12 rupees per square foot and heavy 440gsm is 18. Backlit flex is 28 and laminated vinyl is 35. Those are our rates in Palakollu and they include eyelets, hemming and rope. A 6 by 4 foot banner is 24 square feet, so 288 rupees on standard flex.

One thousand cards on 300gsm art card with matte lamination is 1,400 rupees, both sides printed, design included. Five hundred cards cost 850 and one hundred cost 250. Spot UV, textured and PVC cards cost more and take two to four days longer.

An 8 by 12 inch MDF frame is 399 rupees and the same size in acrylic is 649. A 12 by 18 inch acrylic frame is 1,199 and 16 by 24 inch is 1,899. Delivery is free across India and the price includes the fixings.

About 1,650 rupees for a 6 by 3 foot standee including the aluminium stand and a padded carry bag. An 8 by 3 foot standee is 2,400. If you already own the stand, a replacement graphic is 650, which is why the stand is worth keeping.

Backlit glow boards are 210 rupees per square foot, acrylic faced boards 260, and acrylic letters lit from behind 320. An 8 by 4 foot backlit board is 32 square feet, so about 6,720 rupees plus the frame. Electrical connection is separate.

A backlit glow board is 210 rupees per square foot in Palakollu. That is the flex faced version, which is what most medical shops and hotels use. Acrylic faced boards cost 260 and give cleaner light without the slight texture of flex.

From 350 rupees for two duplicate books of 50 sets each, and 500 for triplicate. Five books cost 800. Serial numbering and your GST details are included in the price rather than charged extra.

Six hundred rupees for 500 sheets on 100gsm maplitho and 1,000 rupees for a thousand sheets. Bond paper at a thousand sheets is 1,500. Order a thousand rather than 500, because the price per sheet drops sharply and letterheads do not go out of date unless your address does.

From 25 rupees each for a printed two fold card to 300 for a box card with a sweet compartment. Traditional Telugu cards with an insert are 45 rupees and are the most commonly chosen. Matter setting in Telugu and English is free.

About 3,200 rupees for a thousand A5 pamphlets printed both sides on 90gsm. At five thousand copies the same job is 7,500, which is 1.50 each, because it moves from digital to offset printing. Newspaper insertion is 0.35 to 0.55 per copy extra.

A3 posters are 40 rupees each, A2 is 95 and A1 is 180, on 170gsm art paper. Ten or more brings A3 down to 32. A laminated vinyl A1 for outdoor or wet areas is 320 rupees.

One hundred and fifty rupees for eight passport size copies, ready in about ten minutes. Visa size is 250 rupees for six copies. A digital copy sent on WhatsApp is 100 rupees, or 150 if it needs sizing to a particular online form specification.

A 12 by 18 inch canvas is 999 rupees, 18 by 24 inch is 1,699 and 24 by 36 inch is 2,999. That is printed on 380gsm cotton canvas and stretched over a seasoned pine frame by hand, ready to hang.

Forty five rupees each with a printed lanyard under one hundred pieces, 38 between one and two hundred, and 32 above that. A PVC card without a lanyard is 28 rupees at volume. The rate includes printing the individual name, photo and number on each card.

Door nameplates start at 349 rupees for 8 by 4 inch, 599 for 12 by 6 inch and 899 for 16 by 8 inch. Premium royal nameplates in thicker acrylic with raised lettering start at 799. There are over forty designs to choose from.

Two thousand five hundred rupees for a complete logo, which is three concepts, two revision rounds and the vector source files in every format you will need. Redrawing an existing low resolution logo into clean vector is 300 rupees, done once.

Sixty five rupees each for an A4 laminated both sides in small quantities, dropping to 52 above two thousand. An A3 folded and laminated menu is 110 rupees each. Menus are priced per piece because they are ordered in twenties rather than thousands.

A single sheet A3 wall calendar is 45 rupees each at five hundred copies, a twelve sheet is 110 and a spiral desk calendar is 98. A thousand copies brings the single sheet down to 36. Telugu panchangam dates are included at no extra charge.

Two hundred and ninety nine rupees for a white ceramic mug, 399 for inner colour and 449 for a magic colour changing or heart handle mug. Bulk rates start at ten pieces and reach 199 rupees each at fifty mugs with the same design.

A 6 by 4 foot birthday backdrop is 24 square feet, so 288 rupees on standard star flex. Most birthday banners we print are 6 by 4 or 8 by 4 feet. Design with your photograph on it is 200 rupees extra.

Twenty five rupees each on 250gsm under one hundred pieces, 20 between one and two hundred, and 18 above that. A certificate with a gold foil border is 45 rupees. Individual names are printed on each rather than left blank to be handwritten.

A 16 page A5 booklet is about 15,000 rupees for a thousand copies, which is 15 each. An 8 page version is 15,000 at a thousand and 9,500 at five hundred. A 24 page A4 product catalogue is quoted per job because paper and binding drive the cost.

Yes on flex banners, photo prints, mugs, passport photos, digital printing, binding and rubber stamps, if we have your approved file before 12 noon. Visiting cards, bill books and t shirts need at least one full working day. Offset runs and laser cut cards cannot be rushed at all.

Five to seven days for a simple printed card, seven for a traditional Telugu card with an insert, ten for foil stamped and twelve to fifteen for scroll or box cards. The longer ones are finished outside Palakollu, so they cannot be pulled forward in season.

Fifteen days before you want to start distributing for a printed card, and twenty five days for laser cut, scroll or box cards. In peak marriage season add a week, because the finishing houses outside Palakollu get booked solid.

About twenty minutes of printing and pressing, plus fifteen minutes to cool before it can be packed. A mug ordered in the morning is ready the same afternoon. Courier orders across India dispatch in five to seven days.

Six to twelve months on 340gsm star flex and two to three years on laminated vinyl. Near the coast, direct salt wind shortens that noticeably. For anything meant to stay up past one season, use 440gsm with wind slits cut across the lower third.

Same day if you come before about four in the afternoon. Cutting and mounting takes thirty to sixty minutes. Large and round self inking stamps and date stamps take a full day.

Yes in the standard sizes we keep mounted stock for, which covers 8 by 12 and 12 by 18 inch in the classic and matte ranges. Acrylic frames above 12 by 18 inch need a full working day, and extra large acrylics take seven to ten days.

Half a day for a standard shopfront board once it is made. Making it takes two days for flex on a frame, three to four for ACP with vinyl lettering, and seven to ten for acrylic letters, because each letter is cut, polished and mounted individually.

A press ready PDF in CMYK at 300dpi with 3mm bleed and fonts converted to outlines. If you only have a JPG or a Word file, send it anyway and we will handle the prepress. What we cannot fix is resolution that was never there.

Yes, and PDF is what we prefer. It carries the fonts, the colour space and the page size with it. A Word file repaginates depending on which printer driver is installed, so the layout you saw is not always the layout that prints.

Yes. WhatsApp the file to 98666 38967 or bring the phone in and we will copy it. One important thing: send photographs as a document rather than as a photo. The normal WhatsApp send compresses an image to roughly a tenth of its size.

Yes, and it is how most of our jobs arrive. Send it as a document rather than as an image. Tap the paperclip, choose Document, then browse to the file. Sent the normal way, WhatsApp compresses it and the print goes soft.

For a banner up to about 10 feet, a photograph of at least 1500 by 2000 pixels is fine at normal viewing distance, because you stand further back from a large print. What ruins banners is not size but compression, so send the original rather than a forwarded copy.

Design at one tenth scale at 300dpi, or full size at 30dpi. Both give the same result at the press. Keep text 3mm inside the trim, convert fonts to outlines, and place photographs from originals rather than from a WhatsApp forward.

Extra artwork extending past the trim line, usually 3mm, so that when the guillotine drifts slightly in a stack there is no white edge. Anything meant to run to the edge of the sheet needs bleed. Anything important should sit 3mm inside the trim.

RGB is how a screen makes colour with light and CMYK is how a press makes it with ink. CMYK has a smaller range, so bright greens, oranges and deep blues shift when converted. Supply artwork in CMYK and you see what will print.

A screen emits light and paper reflects it, so an exact match is not physically possible. Screens also vary between phones and laptops. We get close, and for a strong brand colour offset printing can hit an exact Pantone, which digital printing can only approximate.

We do, and it is a real advantage over ordering a design online, because the person laying it out knows what the machine will do to it. Banner layout is 200 to 500 rupees, pamphlet design 500, visiting card design free with the print order.

Offset transfers ink from metal plates and carries a fixed plate cost before a single sheet prints, then each extra sheet is very cheap. Digital has no setup at all but every sheet costs the same. The crossover is around a thousand pieces.

Yes, and the gap widens with quantity. At five thousand A5 flyers offset is roughly half the price of digital. At ten thousand it is less than half. Below a thousand copies digital wins, because the plate cost has nothing to spread across.

A thousand pieces. Technically offset starts around five hundred, but practically the plate cost dominates below a thousand and digital is the sensible choice. Above a thousand, ask us to quote both and the difference will be obvious.

Star flex at 440gsm with wind slits cut across the lower third for anything above roof height or facing open wind, which is most outdoor sites here. At 340gsm flex is fine for a one day function. For permanent signage, laminated vinyl at 35 rupees per square foot lasts far longer.

Star flex is the coated banner material almost all outdoor printing uses here, and it comes in weights. The 340gsm grade is the standard and 440gsm is the heavy one. Heavier flex resists wind tearing and holds colour longer, at about six rupees more per square foot.

Three hundred gsm art card with matte lamination. It handles daily pocket use without softening and is what most businesses here use. 350gsm textured linen feels more premium but scuffs more visibly on dark colours.

Gloss is punchier and shows every fingerprint. Matte is calmer, easier to read long text on, and does not reflect under a shop tube light. On anything folded, use matte, because gloss lamination cracks along a fold and shows a white line within a fortnight.

One hundred gsm maplitho as standard, which takes a rubber stamp and a ballpoint without bleeding. Bond paper feels considerably better in the hand and costs about fifty percent more, which is worth it if the letterhead goes to customers rather than into a file.

Two hundred and fifty gsm, usually with a light texture. Below that a certificate feels flimsy in the hand, which defeats the point of giving one. A gold foil border adds 20 rupees per piece and is what most schools and training programmes choose.

Polyvinyl chloride, the same material as a debit card, printed and then laminated on both faces. It is waterproof, does not soften with handling and lasts years, which is why schools and factories use it rather than a laminated paper card.

Acrylic in black, gold and glossy finishes for most door nameplates, and thicker acrylic with raised lettering for the premium royal range. Acrylic is chosen here rather than wood or MDF because it does not absorb coastal moisture and will not warp.

A4 or A3 art card at 300gsm with matte lamination on both sides, so it wipes clean and survives being handled all day. Matte rather than gloss on anything folded, because gloss cracks along the crease within a fortnight of daily use.

One hundred and eighty gsm biowash cotton for anything people will wear again, because it is soft and shrinks less than raw cotton. Polyester dry fit for sports jerseys, and it is the only fabric sublimation works on. Sublimation on cotton is not possible.

A thin plastic film bonded to the printed sheet to protect it and change the finish. A4 lamination is 25 rupees per sheet. On visiting cards and brochures it is included in the price. Matte and gloss cost the same, so choose by use rather than by budget.

Eighty nine by 51 millimetres in India, which is 3.5 by 2 inches. Keep text and logos 3mm inside that edge, because cards are cut in a stack and the blade drifts by a millimetre or two. Text at the very edge looks off centre on some cards in the box.

Six feet by three feet is the common size and eight by three is the larger one. Design so everything important sits in the top two thirds, because the bottom third disappears behind a reception desk or a queue in almost every real installation.

A5, which is 148 by 210 millimetres, for newspaper inserts and general distribution. A6 handbills are cheaper for very large runs and A4 is used where the offer needs more space. A5 on 90gsm is what most shops here actually order.

A3, A2 and A1 as standard, on 170gsm art paper. Larger than A1 we print on the flex machine instead, which is quoted per square foot rather than per sheet. Laminated vinyl posters are available in any of those sizes for wet or outdoor areas.

Fifty one by 51 millimetres for the Indian passport itself. PAN, Aadhaar and most other documents use 35 by 45 millimetres. Tell us which document it is for, because the specifications genuinely differ and a rejected application costs far more than the photograph.

Eight copies at the standard size, which is what 150 rupees buys. Visa size photographs are larger so you get six for 250 rupees. Stamp size gives twelve copies for the same 150 rupees.

Eight by 12, 12 by 18, 16 by 24 and 24 by 36 inches across the main ranges, with extra large acrylics at 36 by 48 and 48 by 72. As a guide, a frame should be about two thirds the width of the furniture beneath it.

Six by four feet for a home function and eight by four for a hall. Measure the wall or the frame in feet and take off about six inches each side for tying. A banner that exactly matches the opening will not fit once it is tied.

Eleven by 5 inch and 10 by 4.5 inch for letters, and A4 document size for anything that should not be folded. Minimum order is 500. White wove and brown kraft are both stocked.

Fifty sets per book as standard. A duplicate book has 50 sets of two copies, so 100 leaves. A triplicate book has 50 sets of three, so 150 leaves. Most businesses order two or five books at a time.

Ink turned into gas by heat and absorbed into polyester fibre, so the design becomes part of the fabric rather than sitting on it. It cannot peel or crack, and it cannot be done on cotton at all. That is why sports jerseys are polyester.

Neither is better, they suit different fabrics. Sublimation only works on polyester and gives a print that cannot peel. DTF transfers onto cotton and dark fabrics, which sublimation cannot do, but sits on the surface so it is slightly thicker to the touch.

Not if washed inside out in cold water and never ironed directly on the print. Sublimated polyester cannot fade or peel because the ink is inside the fibre. DTF and vinyl prints on cotton last years with that care and a season or two without it.

Aluminium composite panel, which is two thin aluminium sheets bonded either side of a plastic core. It stays flat, does not rust in coastal air and lasts five to seven years outdoors. At 85 rupees per square foot with vinyl lettering it is the sensible default for a shopfront.

A glow sign is any board lit from inside so the face glows. An LED board is a glow sign that uses LED modules as the light source, which is now all of them. Older boards used fluorescent tubes, which drew more power and failed sooner.

Only lit boards. An ACP or flex board needs nothing. For a glow or LED board we fit the board and hand over the driver and a wiring diagram, and your own electrician makes the final connection and provides the point. We do not take on electrical work.

A translucent flex material made to be lit from behind, so light passes through evenly rather than bouncing off. It costs 28 rupees per square foot against 12 for standard flex. Printing standard flex and lighting it from behind does not work, the image goes muddy.

A printing ink that is lower in odour and less aggressive than traditional solvent, used on flex, vinyl and one way vision. It gives good outdoor life without the smell that makes older solvent prints unpleasant indoors for the first few days.

A perforated vinyl that reads as a solid printed image from outside while people inside can see out through it. Used on shop glass and car rear windows. It is 45 rupees per square foot, and it does reduce the light coming in.

Cutting shapes and lettering from reflective vinyl, the material used on vehicle markings and safety signage. It is not printed, it is cut, so the colour comes from the sheet. Used for number plates, hazard markings and anything that has to read in headlights.

Paper coated so that writing on the top sheet transfers to the copies underneath without carbon paper between them. It is what almost every bill book now uses. The sheets come in different colours so the original, transporter and supplier copies are easy to tell apart.

A stamp with the ink pad built into the body, so it re inks itself on every press. It gives about five thousand impressions before it needs a few drops added. At 320 rupees against 120 for a wooden handle stamp, it pays for itself within about two months of daily counter use.

A laser beam cutting or engraving acrylic sheet to a shape from a vector file. It gives a polished edge that a saw cannot, which is why letters for sign boards, awards, name plates and display stands are laser cut rather than machined.

Your photograph printed onto 380gsm cotton canvas and stretched over a wooden frame, so it hangs without glass. The texture softens grain and hides the softness in older scanned photographs, which is why we recommend it for grandparents portraits.

A pamphlet is a single sheet, usually A5, printed one or both sides, and costs about 1.50 each at five thousand. A brochure is folded into panels and carries more content, from about 9 rupees each. If you have one thing to say, a pamphlet says it for a sixth of the price.

Single fold giving four panels, tri fold giving six, and Z fold or gate fold for more. Tri fold on A4 is the most common because it fits a standard envelope. Ask for a folded blank dummy in the real paper before approving, because a fold cannot be judged on a screen.

Fastening printed sheets into a book. For thin booklets the sheets are folded and stapled through the spine, which is why the page count must divide by four. Thicker books are glued along the spine instead.

Spiral uses a plastic or wire coil through punched holes, so the book opens flat and lies open on a desk. Perfect binding glues the pages into a square spine that can be printed on. Spiral is 40 rupees a book, soft bound with a printed cover is 120.

A mug with a black heat sensitive coating over the print. Cold it looks plain black, and when hot liquid is poured the coating turns clear and the photograph appears. It is 449 rupees and should be hand washed, because a dishwasher degrades the coating.

One large image made up of many small photographs, so the whole picture only resolves from a distance. It needs at least a hundred source photos to work properly. Below that the tiles are too large and the effect does not appear.

A single frame holding several photographs in separate openings, or several small tiles hung together as one arrangement. Our photo gallery set is the second kind, printed on individual acrylic tiles with a paper template so you can mark the wall before drilling.

Yes, and we set the matter in Telugu and English at no extra charge. You get a printed proof to read before anything is printed. Where a card carries both languages, check the muhurtham time in each separately, because that mismatch is what we catch most often.

Metallic foil pressed onto the card with heat and a die, giving a raised reflective finish that ink cannot reproduce. It adds about 40 rupees per card and eight to ten days, because the dies are made and pressed outside Palakollu.

Yes. Send the photograph on WhatsApp as a document and we print and press it in about twenty minutes. Landscape photographs work better than portrait, because the print area is wider than it is tall, and keep faces away from the handle.

Frames, mugs, keychains, fridge magnets, photo stands, illusion lamps, cushions, mobile cases, wallet cards, luggage tags, car hangings and name pencils. By what customers actually reorder, the mug at 299 rupees is first and the keychain at 149 is second.

Branded mugs, metal pens, diaries, mousepads, badges and polo shirts, usually delivered together as a set. Ten pieces gets bulk rates. We hold your logo file, so the following year is one message rather than a new setup.

Yes. Torn, faded and water damaged photographs are restored digitally for 500 rupees each, and black and white photographs colourised for 700. Bring the original print rather than a phone photograph of it, because a phone picture keeps every fault and adds glare.

Yes, and most business calendars we print use the shop and its products rather than stock imagery. Telugu festival and panchangam dates are included. Order by the first week of November, because everybody prints calendars in the same six weeks.

Yes, there is no minimum. One round neck cotton tee with a single colour print is 349 rupees, or 599 with a full colour photograph. The rate improves noticeably at ten pieces and again at fifty.

Yes. Gifting items improve from ten pieces and print jobs from five hundred. Send the item, quantity and deadline to 98666 38967 and you get an itemised rate the same day, with printing, material and finishing shown separately so you can see what each part costs.

Five hundred pieces for printed labels. Below that the setup dominates and the per piece cost stops making sense. Vinyl wall and glass stickers are quoted per square foot instead, so there is no minimum on those.

One. There is no minimum, though the rate improves at ten pieces and again at fifty. Embroidered polo shirts have a practical minimum of ten because the machine setup is charged once.

We deliver free across India by courier, and locally by auto within Palakollu town. Nearby towns get same evening bus parcel, and large flex jobs within about forty kilometres we bring by our own vehicle, because folded flex creases and the crease shows in sunlight.

WhatsApp the text, photographs and logo to 98666 38967 with the size in feet, width first. You get a design proof back in about an hour, you reply to approve, and it prints. Nothing goes on the machine before you approve it.

A5 on 90gsm at five thousand copies, which works out to about 1.50 each, inserted into the morning newspapers at 0.35 to 0.55 per copy. That reaches more households in this town than any digital campaign at the same money.

Five thousand for a town like Palakollu, which covers most households through newspaper insertion. Ten thousand for a larger town like Bhimavaram, and tell us which localities matter rather than treating the whole town as one area.

Letterheads that go to customers, invitation cards, and anything a business posts. Printed envelopes carry the business name and address on the flap or the face. Minimum five hundred, from 900 rupees.

Yes, on the large format machine. A chart is quoted per square foot like a banner, so an A0 sized chart is a few hundred rupees. Bring the file on a pen drive or WhatsApp it, and it is usually ready the same day.

Yes, and laminated vinyl lasts two to three years outdoors. For labels going onto bottles or into a cold room, the material matters less than the adhesive. Standard adhesive lets go below about four degrees, so cold chain stock needs freezer grade.

We are on Peddagopuram Main Road in Palakollu, printing here since 2008. Flex, offset, digital, sublimation, laser and a photo studio all under one roof. Call 98666 38967 or walk in Monday to Saturday, 9:30 in the morning to 8:30 in the evening.

We do, at 12 rupees per square foot on 340gsm star flex and 18 on heavy 440gsm, with eyelets and hemming included. Files approved before 12 noon are usually ready the same evening from Peddagopuram Main Road.

We are open Monday to Saturday from 9:30 in the morning to 8:30 in the evening, and Sunday from 10 to 2. During wedding and festival season we often stay later. Call 98666 38967 before travelling if it is after 8.

Flex banners from 12 rupees per square foot, visiting cards from 250 per hundred, pamphlets from about 1.50 each at five thousand, photo frames from 399 and mugs from 299. Every service page on this site lists the full rate table.

At Peddagopuram Main Road in Palakollu. One hundred cards on 300gsm matte laminated art card are 250 rupees with design included, five hundred are 850. Approve the proof before 11 in the morning and they can be ready the same day.

We make sign boards from 45 rupees per square foot for flex on a frame, 85 for ACP with vinyl lettering and 190 for 3D acrylic letters. We measure the site ourselves within about forty kilometres.

Here, from 25 rupees a card for a printed two fold up to 300 for a box card. Telugu and English matter is set free and read back to the family before printing. Order fifteen days before you start distributing.

Yes, in the same building as the press at Peddagopuram Main Road. Passport photos in about ten minutes for 150 rupees, portrait sittings, baby and maternity shoots, and restoration of damaged old photographs.

We do, in Palakollu. Two hundred and ninety nine rupees for a white ceramic mug, printed and pressed in about twenty minutes, so a mug ordered in the morning is ready the same afternoon.

At our shop on Peddagopuram Main Road. A wooden handle stamp is 120 rupees and a self inking one is 320, and both are ready the same day if you come before about four in the afternoon.

We do, twenty six kilometres from Palakollu. Daily bus parcel for most work, and hoarding size flex we bring by our own vehicle because folded flex creases and the crease shows once it is up in sunlight.

WhatsApp the text and photographs to 98666 38967 before 12 noon with the size in feet. You get a proof in about an hour, you approve it, and star flex up to about 200 square feet is ready the same evening.

Nine eight six six six three eight nine six seven. The same number takes WhatsApp, and WhatsApp is faster than a call because you can send the file with the question.

Yes, we are open Sunday from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. Passport photos, digital printing, binding, mugs and photo prints all work on a Sunday. Larger flex and offset jobs are better placed on a weekday.

At our shop. Thirty 4 by 6 inch prints on genuine glossy photographic paper are 300 rupees. Upload from your phone and collect the same evening, or have them posted free anywhere in India.

We do, at 32 to 45 rupees per PVC card including a printed lanyard depending on quantity. Send the names as a spreadsheet and the photographs named to match the ID numbers, and the job takes two to three days.

Ours, on flex banners, photo prints, mugs, passport photos, digital printing, binding and rubber stamps, if we have your approved file before 12 noon. Visiting cards, bill books and t shirts need at least one full working day.

Here in Palakollu, from 350 rupees for two duplicate books of fifty sets. We print every field Rule 46 requires and the copy markings for goods, and we will check your existing bill book against the rule free of charge.

Yes. We run offset for anything above about a thousand pieces, which is where it becomes cheaper than digital. Send the specification and you get an itemised written quote the same day with plate, paper, printing and finishing shown separately.

We do, from 349 rupees for a single round neck cotton tee with a one colour print, and 599 with a full colour photograph. Ten or more brings it down. Sports jerseys are sublimated on polyester so the print cannot peel.