Tip Sheet #3 - Card/Text Stock Weights & Measures

If your printer's 'platen gap' isn't set for the correct paper thickness you will get less than perfect results and may even damage the machine. This applies to both giclée and laser printing machines. To avoid that, clip and save these two handy reference charts.

CARD STOCKS (Cover Stocks & Pasteboard)

Card stock weight (also called 'grammage') is the weight of 500 sheets of 20 by 26 inch (508 by 660 mm) paper.

Card stock thickness is measured in thousandths of an inch and referred to as 'points' or 'mils'. For example, 10 pt. card stock is 0.010 in (0.254 mm) thick (approximate weight = 250 g/m2)

Note that there is no absolute conversion from points (pt) to pounds or grams per square meter (g/m²) because paper densities vary slightly between brands and types.



TEXT STOCKS (Bond, Writing & Letter)

While card stocks are measured by thickness, text stocks are measured by their weight calculated one of two ways:

1.) weight of a ream of untrimmed paper ('basis weight')
2.) grammage of 500 sheets of 25 by 38 in (635 by 965 mm) paper

This chart shows conversions for 17" x 22" paper. These are are not necessarily accurate and should be used only as a guide because the densities of papers vary slightly.


Caliper is measured in 'micrometres' (µm) and also in 'mils.' (1 mil = 0.001 inch = 25.4 µm)