Let me tell you the following: I print custom (gaffed) cards as one of my main business. And at the moment it really sucks.

At the moment I have 4!!! different color laser printers at home and none of them prints to my full satisfaction on Bicycle cards. I am in a discussion with my laser printer vendor how we can fix my problem so that I will be back on track soon.

One printer is too old, he served well for all my cards but now his lifetime is through (earlier as expected) as the thick card stock harms the belt, drum kit etc.
The next one does not print well, the black is not completely applied to the card stock.
The third one should be my number one choice but colors come out incorrect, any color correction does not properly work. And the Bicycle cards are misprinted as they tilt away on the transportation belt and only get half way printed.
The last one is too big (DIN A3 oversize) for the small cards. They just "get lost" somewhere in the printer.

So in the end, every single laser and inkjet printer is different. I know what I tell you. Every toner powder is different, the same with the inks you use.

There is no perfect "How to do" for this job, you can be lucky and your printer does the job or you can have as much pain in the a...rmpit as me finding the right printer. No one can give you the advice what would work well.

And the advice "glue the card on a larger paper sheet" is - hmm, let´s say - dangerous. Good printers can handle up to 250 grams/m². Do not ask me what that is in US dimensions. Playing cards are 300 - 330 grams/m². If you stick the cards on normal paper (80 grams/m²) you are sticking too heavy card stock (approx. 400 gr) in your printer. That can work a few times. But it will destroy your printer sooner or later. So I would try to print only the playing card, not together with an additional sheet.

Btw, my first printer that I used was very good, I tested several others together to see which one was good at the beginning. All my other printers come from the same manufacturer but are all different in the printing results. Strange... This really sucks...

Thanks for those insights. I think the red that I've been able to achieve is really close and about as good as anyone can get.



The method I've used with good success is to print the outline of a card on the piece of paper and then cut that out. The playing card to be printed on rides inside the hole (attached with a little tape). That way it is not adding so much thickness. This also ensures that it is in the proper position so that I don't end up with it printing half on and half off the card.

My printer handles card stock, so it's no thicker than printing on a sheet of that. But I always warn people to attempt this method at their own risk, because not all printers are made to accomodate card stock and some could potentially melt the tape, etc.

Has anyone tried printing with a Kodak multi-pass photo printer? The type that can print directly from a camera.
It can handle thick stock, it only pulls the stock back and forth and doesn't bend it.
It can handle small sizes.
It prints in photo quality colors.
I have never tried to use it for cards, so I'm not sure if it will work, I'll repost after I (get permission from my wife to) try it.
Just curious if anyone else has tried, before I do it.

Another possibility (but a lot more work) if you are worried about the thickness of the card is to split the blank face card so that only the thin outer layer will go in your printer. Then re-glue it back onto the thick part of the card after it's been printed on.

Hmmmm...that's a good idea Magicbob.