THANK YOU!!

Or draw the fold line with a ballpoint pen and some firm pressure. It's a little easier than the light touch needed with a knife. Or use an actual scoring tool.

@@KeithJDavies I agree. I always use dried ballpoint pen for scoring.

@@babak_barati think a round (ultra dull by design) edge butter knife would work well?

Israel Lazo good idea

In Adobe Illustrator you can import a PDF page, then apply a 'mask' on the image to hide part of it, like cropping it.

I think this is his tutorial on that - it has the same logo kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pMVopJeHmLqlqpc.html

It's not a problem I've had with the 3M glue that I usually use. I did have a bit of peeling with a cheaper brand that I tried once (I'm afraid I don't recall particularly which one - probably the own-brand option from a local shop) but that happened after about a day, so it was pretty obvious! I have some cards I've made with this method (and good glue!) a few years ago, and they're still fine.

Glad to have helped - and yes, it is indeed a Graphgear 1000! I went through dozens of cheapo mechanical pencils before I got it, and kept leaving them places and losing them. Having one that's actually quite decent seems to have broken the habit and I haven't lost it once. ;-)

It can be! I didn't for this demo because I wanted to show it as a pretty easy method that doesn't require any extra bits and pieces, but spray-lacquering your printing will generally make it more resilient whichever method you use. It's always worth testing the particular spray you're using out on a non-essential print on similar paper first, just to be sure.

Printing double-sided rarely works well because almost all printers have slight (or significant) registration issues. That is, even though you get content on both sides of the page, the won't line up perfectly. Even the really good printers I've used can be 1/32" (about 2 points, or a little less than a millimetre) misaligned. Less good printers can be misaligned even more.

Really appreciate the detail you went into describing not only that it was 3 mil total, but split into the two 1.5 mil sides. Very much going to try this idea. I really haven't liked the idea of super thick decks of cards, and you can see his (with the note of using 210 gms at kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jd99ibV72pvdgWg.html) looks rather thick for the full deck at kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jd99ibV72pvdgWg.html are simply monstrous.

The linen paper I use is 100gsm Zanders Zeta.

3mm

Louis Cubillas I got one of these cutters for Christmas. However, aren’t standard cards 6mm? Seems pretty small.

For the first method, I printed on regular 80gsm copier paper; it doesn't matter so much what you use if you're just going to be sleeving the result alongside a regular playing card, so just use a paper that holds an image well - if anything you specifically don't want anything too thick or it'll make the whole sleeved card pretty thick! For the second method, I used regular full-sheet labels - probably from Staples or Rymans, the kind you might print shipping labels on. Generally this is good enough if your card designs have a coloured or patterned background - but you can get high-quality labels that block the card face from showing through if you're printing cards with predominantly white backgrounds, or if you just want a higher-quality image. For the third method, I used 210gsm cardstock ('art card' from Rymans in the UK) for the core, and a 90gsm linen paper for the outer layer (Zanders Zeta - it has a watermark, but you can't see it once the card is glued together). The linen texture helps prevent there being too much friction between one card and the next, and feels nicer to the touch. There's nothing wrong with using a smooth paper if you prefer for this method, of course - but it's worth using a high-quality paper that prints an image well, since you're putting so much effort into the rest of the card! For spray glue I tend to stick to 3M glues; they're more expensive than a lot of competitors, but reliably high-quality. If you want to be absolutely sure that the glue sticks you could use Super77, but I find that "Craft Mount" and "Photo Mount" are just as good for playing cards and cheaper per can. Just make sure that you buy 'permanent' as opposed to 'repositionable', and be careful of what kind of glue you get. Some spray glues (like the 3M products I use) spray a fine mist of glue that coats a thin layer on your paper; other types of spray glue spray out a thick liquid that foams in place and makes a mess. You can generally avoid the latter kind by not buying anything that says it's good for sticking carpets down.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay So once you're done glueing all the sides on 210gms cardstock with 90gms linen paper, you have cards with aprox. 390gms. Is that too much or is it perfectly balanced?

@@DiningTablePrintPlay I've read all the comments as far as this one, looking for this comment. Great info, should be pinned!

Hey thanks for the reply ! I was thinking about the knife and using something round to cut them, but was worried about the result. That said they do not need to be perfect and it doesn't matter if they are not all the exact same (it's not for playing). Thanks for the tutorials I'll try that as soon as I can :)

It's a game called Machination, from a design contest on BGG years ago, by the user Londonien/Simon McGregor. My wife and I did a redesign (she the illustrations, me the graphic design) for a PnP Secret Santa a few years back, and that's what those cards are. Unfortunately I don't think Simon ever actually created a game entry in the BGG database for his game.

Matching a matching commercial playing card completely at home is always going to be a difficult prospect - you have to worry not just about the printing, but also the 'feel' of the card - how elastic it is, how stiff it is, etc. - and the thickness. Unless you can get hold of some of the stock that regular playing cards are made of an print directly on that, which will likely require a flat-feed printer that doesn't curve the paper through rollers as it prints, you're probably out of luck. However! If you're willing to use sleeves, it becomes a lot easier a task. It'll still require some trial and error because the specific papers that you have available locally may well be different to the ones around here, but I've definitely had success matching the cards FFG used for Android: NetRunner to fill out some pre-built decks for friends. (I have a pretty extensive ANR collection, but not enough duplicates to build several decks at once!) Using opaque-backed sleeves means that you don't have to worry about the back face of the card, and have a little more leeway on the thickness; I found a particular combination of high-quality label paper and cardstock that left me with a card that - once sleeved - was pretty indistinguishable even in feel from an FFG card.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay First of, i'm amazed and grateful that you answered my comment so fast even when the video is 4 years old! Reading your answer made me realize that i only want the cards to feel good and to not be able to be recognized by looking at the card backs (same colours and quality and type of glossiness). My approach at the moment when i wrote the original comment was from a perfectionist angle, which I now know is not really that necessary. Sadly this cards have such an unconventional measure (60x112.5mm) that the only sleeves i have found to "fit" are pretty rare, at least in my country, and these are transparent . Leaving that aside, you have encouraged me to try and test things instead of looking everywhere in the internet for the perfect method to achieve the result on the first try. Thank you!

I'm afraid here in the UK all paper is sold in gsm weights, so I'm not sure for certain what the corresponding lbs weights are since US paper uses some confusing system of four or five different classes of paper! I use 100gsm linen paper (apparently equivalent to 27lb Bond, according to the Internet) for cards like the ones in the third method here; specifically the Zeta line, which is made by Reflex in Germany*. However, paper weight isn't the only relevant factor, and this 100gsm linen is as thin and flexible as most 80gsm copier paper. I've used other linen paper in the past which was 90gsm but stiffer and harder to work with. * If you try and find this particular brand: the box I have is branded "Zanders Zeta", which might make one assume it's made by the Zanders paper company... which shut down in 2021 due to a dramatic drop in demand through the pandemic. However, news articles around the time note that the Zeta line is made by Reflex, and the box I have also notes that it's made by Reflex; looking around today I don't find reference to "Zanders Zeta" but "Zeta by Reflex", so maybe they licensed the name and have re-branded since Zanders went under or something.

This is awesome info, thanks! Glad to hear I’m not the only one that finds the US system confusing!

If you *have* a local printer who can do professional card printing with a good turnaround, then that's absolutely the best option! But it's not an possibility for a lot of people - around here, for example, the only local printers who take short-run jobs only do booklets, flyers and binding, so I'd have to rely on online POD places which are typically an order of magnitude more expensive than the process presented in the video and have a much, much slower turnaround.

If you fold a sheet of linen card back on itself following the third method in this video you'll have super-thick cards! It's also harder to fold cleanly as it's quite stiff. Some people have success with one page of linen card and one page of linen paper back-to-back, for which you'll ideally want to print cards in a 3x3, faces-on-one-sheet, backs-on-another layout and line them up on a light box or against a bright window. One tip for this is to trim a bit off the long side of the paper and use some masking tape to stick the paper down to the back of the cards once lined up, so you can open along the tape fold, apply glue, then fold back into place still lined up. (This is a bit easier with US 'letter' paper than international A4 paper, as the page is wider; it's preferable to hinge the longer side as it reduces the maximum distance from the fold, which reduces error, but it'll work with a short-edge hinge if you don't have space on the long edge.) In theory you can print on both sides of the linen card, but it's hard to get double-sided printing to line up properly with a home printer, and one of the benefits of gluing multiple sheets together is that the lamination gives the card a bit more of an elastic spring.

It's a "bypass cutter" because the blades pass each other by - as opposed to an "anvil cutter" where one blade descends onto a receiving surface. But yes, the example in this video is indeed spectacularly rubbish! It's the most common kind of thing people get sold if they go into a art and craft shop and ask for a corner rounder, unfortunately, so it's worth mentioning just to point out the problems. If you mean the "Kadomaru Pro", it is indeed much better than the one in the video, but it takes forever to get delivered and I didn't have mine at the point I shot this video. I still prefer the Oregon Lam cutter at 38:45, but that's not only just as hard to get hold of over here in the UK, it's much more expensive!

@@DiningTablePrintPlay yeah. People that just discovered print and play rounder cutter, google it and get sold crap. There is actually 1 (!) good bypass variant that is good and only $3 but the trouble is finding it. There is a video that compares all of those in great detail and after that I got a good one. But still - you don't want 5cm corners off every card version. You want 2 or 3 like professional products do. I don't remember any shipping delays from japan but that was over a year ago. Things were different then. The heavy duty cutters are outside my budget but they do seem they last forever. However they are for big things like boards. If you want to round off chits or small stuff you need other tools.

I know some people in the kit modelling world do this, but my understanding is that hairspray isn't really all that resilient compared to acrylic, so on something like cards that gets handled a lot I'd expect it to wear away more easily. But I've not tried it, so I could well be wrong!

@@DiningTablePrintPlay Thank you very much. Any particular product you recommend to use?

It's textured to have a surface like that of linen, rather than being made with linen. The benefit for playing cards is that it reduces friction between one card and the next - if you use plain paper the cards are harder to overhand shuffle.

It's a can of acrylic spray lacquer - a protective varnish that will stop the printer ink or toner from being damaged.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay THANK YOU > ///

That's because KZfaq has stripped them all out! They were fine when they were first written in, but at some point over the last year or so it seems KZfaq had a period of not wanting people to link to particular points in video - I didn't find the timestamp option on the share button during that period either. It seems to be back, but the timestamps from the links in the description are gone. I need to spend some time (hah) going through all the videos, working out what they should be and putting them back.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay KZfaq's timestamp system now works by just merely typing in the time of the video in a two-digit, colon-as-separator manner, like how you would normally write the time, just in case you haven't figured it out (I assume you have done so though).

After more research, I found comments on the boardgamegeek web site that state the watermark won't show since the paper is glued to cardstock (so light won't show through). Here is a link to Jake's comment on the subject: boardgamegeek.com/article/14671370#14671370

You can, but if you're planning to fold the cardstock over to glue two halves together instead of folding a bit of paper around some cardstock, you'll end up with a card that's nearly twice as thick as the result shown. That's the main disadvantage - home-made cards are already thicker than commercially-printed cards! If you plan instead to just print double-sided, then you'll probably find that your printer doesn't line up the two sides very well - it's not something most domestic printers are really capable of doing to nearer than 10mm or so, and often you'll find there's a slight rotation as the paper gets picked up unevenly that means the two sides don't even get printed at the same angle. Also a single layer of cardstock won't have so much elastic 'spring' as a glued-together sandwich - the lamination actually adds a fair amount of elasticity.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay what if i use a lamination sheet instead of the card stock in between? which will feel better?

@@Didomah I've not had much luck myself using lamination sheets, the ones I've tried have left the cards pretty floppy - I prefer my playing cards more stiff. That said, there's several different kinds of and thicknesses of lamination sheet, so it's really a matter of trial and error - try what you have and see if you like the result! I know a couple of people in the Print and Play Gaming Facebook group swear by lamination sheets. One proponent, Rachel Bruner, explains her method in this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/es1-fdBy0LWVj4E.html - I think she says she's using 5 mil sheets, which is the US equivalent of 125 micron.

@@Didomah Personally I've not had much luck with lamination sheets - when I tried it, the cards came out pretty floppy, which I'm not fond of. That said, there's many different kinds of and thicknesses of lamination sheets, so really it's trial and error - try what you have, and see if you like it. I know several members of the Print and Play Gaming Facebook group use lamination sheets as the core of their playing cards, so it's obviously to some people's taste! One proponent, Rachel Bruner, has a good video on her method here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/es1-fdBy0LWVj4E.html - I think she says she uses 5mil sheets, which is the US equivalent of 125micron.

@@DiningTablePrintPlay great! thank you very much!

There's a link in the description

There are a large number of sizes, so really it depends on how big your cards are! The two common card sizes that you'll find in a lot of board games (and PnP titles) are called "Poker" and "Bridge" size. "Poker" sized cards vary around 2.5x3.5" or 62-63x88-89mm, depending on the manufacturer (for example, Magic: The Gathering cards are in millimetres because they were originally manufactured by a European company) - and you'll find most PnP files come in some poker size. If you look for "standard" sleeves that fit common CCGs like Magic, these will fit poker-sized PnP cards fine. If you're sleeving card fronts alongside a regular playing card, American "Bicycle" cards are poker-sized, as are "Royal Flush" cards found in the UK... and most CCG cards. Smaller cards are typically half of a poker card, and are often referred to by sleeve companies as "mini American" (for half a 2.5x3.5" card) or "mini European" (for half a 63x89mm card). "Bridge" sized cards vary a bit more in size in my experience, at around 2.25x3.5" or 59-61x89-92mm. UK Waddington's cards are Bridge-sized, but they seem to be less common in commercial board games - probably because the card face has a slightly smaller area, so you can't fit so much stuff on.

Perfectionism, really - I tend to find that scoring often isn't quite so accurate, but don't let me stop you doing whatever works for you!

I know some people in the kit modelling world do this, but my understanding is that hairspray isn't really all that resilient compared to acrylic, so on something like cards that gets handled a lot I'd expect it to wear away more easily. But I've not tried it, so I could well be wrong!

@@DiningTablePrintPlay thank you so much, any particular product you recommend?

In english - it is call a bone folder.... :)