Choose Dennis Maps for chart printing

Dennis Maps is renowned for its map printing, but did you know that we print charts too? “Whether you’re printing a hydrographic chart, a historical one or have something else in mind, we’re here to help”, says Roger Gilson, Operations Director at the company. Here’s everything you need to know about chart production at Dennis Maps.

What types of charts does Dennis Maps print?

Any! We’ve printed all sorts of charts over the years, from periodic tables to charts covering planning permission for city councils. We can print wall charts, or folded charts with or without a cover. You can choose a single or double-sided chart too. Get in touch to let us know your printing requirements.

Do you offer a variety of chart sizes?

Yes, we print wall charts up to 1100mm x 1500mm (flat trimmed size). We also offer different size options for folded charts with or without covers.

What paper options does Dennis Maps offer?

We hold uncoated and coated stocks from 70gsm up to 250gsm in our factory. Got another paper in mind? We can get hold of other papers from our merchants as well. All our stocks are FSC® certified too, so you can rest assured that your paper is responsibly sourced when you print with us.

What’s chart finishing and do you offer this?

This is the stage where a printed chart is turned – like magic – into the final product. It’s a technical process that requires specialist machinery and equipment, operated by a highly skilled team. Luckily, the Dennis Maps’ team have 738 years of service between them!

There are several stages to chart finishing. What are they?

The first stage is chart trimming, where we use one of our two large format guillotines – the Schneider Senator 155 TCV Guillotine or the Schneider Senator 137H CT Guillotine – to trim your printed charts to the right size.

After this, we move on to stage two – chart folding, if you require this. We do this using one of our four specialised folding machines. You can choose to have your chart finished flat, folded or folded with a cover. There are a huge variety of fold configurations, offering you lots of choice. Our factory’s two large format map folders are the only ones in the UK. The Stahl GD 142 T specialised map folding machine (2/2,5/5 + knife unit) and Stahl GF 142 BGL specialised map folding machine (2/2,5/5 + knife unit) are specialised machines imported from the Netherlands.

Stage three involves laminating your chart cover, if you’ve chosen a chart with a separate cover. Choose from a matt or gloss effect finish, which we’ll carry out on our Billhoefer 102 machine.

Then it’s on to stage 4 – die-cutting and creasing the cover to its finished size. We do this using our two Heidelberg SBG Cylinder machines. Once this is done, we attach the covers to their charts – the most exciting part of the process. The covers are attached with the help of our CMC Map Finishing Machine. It’s one of only two in the world.

Finally, there’s the option to encapsulate your chart if you like. This is a great choice if you want it to be waterproof. We apply a protective film to both sides of your chart and its cover using one of our two encapsulation machines – the Galaxy 1100 Map Encapsulation Line or the Galaxy 1100 Map Encapsulation Line. They make the final product both tear proof and waterproof – ready for whatever the weather may bring.

And what about delivery?

We offer several delivery options, so you can choose the best one for you. We deliver both within the UK and internationally, to one or multiple addresses. Quality takes time but we’ll deliver your charts as quickly as possible, in around 2-3 weeks. Need your charts sooner? Let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

“Dennis Maps is the perfect choice for chart printing,” says Roger. Every project, big or small, is important to us. We’re skilled at printing quality charts, whatever your requirements may be.”