I need to pirate this book thats over 1000 pages. I already have the pdf but I really want a physical copy and the book costs too much for me. Even if I have to buy a bunch of ink (the book has no pictures) and even if I wear out the printhead before the job is done, it’s still going to be cheaper to do this. My printer has been blocked from the internet since before the pandemic so I can install all the 3rd party ink and replacement parts I want. I’m not worried about my printer situation.
It seems the biggest challenge I need to overcome is the paper. Cheap printer paper is going to otherwise work it’s just that it’s too thick. The same amount of cheap printer paper it takes to make the book is going to be more than twice as thick as the book I’m trying to “pirate”.
The 8.5x11in size just happens to be the exact size I need for this. Whats the cheapest paper I can get that’s still thinner than cheapo office printer paper?
So, I’ve never pirated a book but I do have some printing and binding knowledge, so some of this might be off base.
If the original book isn’t fully chungus it’s probably printed on a low weight newsprint, a low weight coated paper, or something weird like vellum or scritta. Problem is most of that is going to be specialty and only really available in rolls or large sheets through a distributor.
Most of the thinner stuff you’ll be able to find in sheets has become a thing with fountain pen lovers. Look for Tomoe River or Bank paper. They are in the 50gsm range and should be a bit thinner than normal 75ish gsm copy paper. It’s going to be way more expensive than normal printer paper but it should be thinner. The other issue is actually getting your printer to reliably print on thinner paper. Home printers, especially inkjets, really don’t deal with thin paper particularly well. Lasers usually do better since they tend to use a different paper pickup and path, but they can still have issues.
Your printer should have a thin paper setting to reduce the amount of ink that it uses so you don’t get as much bleed. The other thing you’ll have to look out for is that those papers will take longer to dry than normal paper, so if your printer has a drying time you’ll probably need to set it as high as it will go. You might even want to wait a day before flipping it over for the duplex print. Which you definitely should some that will literally halve the size of the book. It will probably be fine anyway since this is likely a multi day project just given how long it will take to spit 1000 pages out of an inkjet.
Unless you absolutely need to have the whole thing with you all the time, I would consider printing it in volumes. Even if you duplicate sections like an index or glossary or reference section or whatever, you’re still probably going to have a lot less trouble and maybe spend less.
If this is a textbook that you need to have in class. I would say go to the print shop and order couple of copies for you and your classmates (They also want cheaper textbooks). I think the biggest problem will be to have usable binding as loose or stapled paper won’t cut it. A print shop will have the machines and expertise to do it relatively cheaply.
I saw once pirated textbook in class and it was done like that. I think half the class had a pirated copy.
So a ream of paper is 500 sheets. You’ll be able to search better by looking for the weight of the paper per ream, rather than the thickness.
https://thomasgroupprinting.com/how-is-paper-weight-measured/
Copier paper is likely to be a bit thinner than letter paper.
Careful about going too thin, or your printer will just shred it and jam up. Tissue paper for example is unlikely to work. Newsprint paper might be okay, but you’ll need to look at the numbers.
Consulting the manual for one’s printer will usually reveal the minimum paperweight it is capable of handling.
Getting an e-reader that allows for sideloading is probably the easiest and cheapest workaround for this problem. You can often get them used for quite cheap. It doesn’t give the physical copy, but is more than likely a better reading experience than trying to print out volumes yourself.
Then you can also “borrow” digital books from libraries, among other things.
Or, for that matter, you could just go to a library in person.
if you go to a library, DONT STEAL THE BOOKS. Please. Libraries are the one of the few good, free, services we have left
i think they were saying create a drm-free copy of the ebook, your point still stands
I have no problem with creating drm-free copies of ebooks, and absolutely hard no on stealing from libraries.
But I wasn’t even saying that. I’m just saying borrow and read the books as per the usual method from libraries. Libraries are awesome and there to be used. I love that public and private funding still gets directed toward the free sharing of media in libraries, reducing (not erasing) the actual need for piracy through their existence, especially for books.
Now what I’m betting is that this is for an overpriced textbook, in which case by all means create copies and sideload them onto an ereader that allows this.
Single ply TP. Will look cool as a scroll.
Good idea. I can use the failed attempts to wipe my ass with so this method has practically zero waste.
Everyone else has given you good suggestions already, I was just wondering what the book was, out of interest?
And how expensive. Printing it yourself can be quite expensive as costs get more the less copies you make.
You may be able to find a cheaper service from india to print a book on demand, even one offs when providing just a pdf. Doing this on your own printer has too much risk for complications based on the number of pages involved, paper compatibility, and other items of notes here. A dedicated shop will have significantly lower costs for materials and execution so may offer you a reasonable price.
