Guillotine Issues
 
When your project has been printed, it may be sent to a guillotine to clamp and cut a crisp clean edge.  Whether business cards, or a booklet - virtually all print jobs at some point meet a guillotine.

Using precise computer controlled settings,  every printed item can be cut on exactly the crop marks that are put onto the design.

However occasionally, through human error, the printed job is not cut as accurately as it should be.   To overcome this potential problem there are two rules of thumb about designing close to the edge.

 


 

 

 

 

 

Polar 137 Programmatic Guillotine


Rule 1. Avoid putting a graphic border within 5mm of the edge of paper, as it would show up any differences of cut, ie the edge may not be perfectly parallel to the border - even if it's only .5mm out!

Rule 2. Avoid putting text too close to the edge of the paper, as in worse case scenario, it is partly cropped.  Generally allow 5mm gap between the edge of paper and the text.