Measure twice print once.

[JackB]

I thought I would warn every one before they make the mistake that I did.
We ordered some mens leather wallets from Xpress, which have one side white for sublimation, of course we wanted the design to cover so that no white was showing.
I downloaded the template for the wallet from the Xpres site Placed the image in and sized it to the template edges. Placing to wallets in the press at the same time to save time, when we took the paper off part of the image was over the edge of the wallet and so did not show, = 2 ruined wallets as it neede the whole of the picture to look right.
I decided the to measure the white area of the wallet = 84mm x 119. I then measured the official supplied template = 91mm x 121mm. So I have know made my own template the right size for future use.
This morning I have phone Xpres to explain the problem and the lady on the phone said she will have a word with the engineers to see about fixing the problem, and also have a word about replacing the now useless wallets as I would not even think of trying to pass then of on the customer as it could mean future orders lost.
I will keep you updated on the managers decision.

Jack.

[Paul]

99% templates i used was few mm biger then printable area. this is called bleedeng. is normaly good on blaks like mouse mats, coastes etc but i dont know about bleeding on the wallets...

[Justin]

If you don't use bleed you'll end up getting white lines at the edges. You need that little extra space around the design to ensure full coverage.

[JSR]

I think there's bleed and then there's bleed. I haven't done these wallets myself but the difference between the sizes gives you a 2mm margin on the wide dimension but a massive 7mm on the short dimension. That can't be right.

Xpres' template probably takes into account size variations and tolerances. The only one who knows for sure how big the actual item is, is the guy who bought it.

Whatever the reason, the OP highlights an important lesson. Measure for yourself. There's no substitute for making your own templates anyway, particularly for regular shaped items.

[Paul]

I always measure my blanks also I always got rules switch on in software so I am sure size is right...

[JackB]

I recieved a phone call from Xpres and the chap basically said the same as JSR, that it's bigger to stop the bleed and that some of the blanks vary in size. when I mentioned that I do not recall anything about this being said during the installation and training, he apologised for this and said 2 replacement wallets will be in the post tonight.
As people told me when I first joined the forum looking at what equipment to buy, quality eqipment and good service is worth paying the extra for, from now on the tape measure is on the desk as part of the basic procedure, and know to be extra careful when the whole of the design needs to be shown on the product.
Happy subling (mistake number 1, but at least I haven't burnt myself yet).

Jack.

[Paul]

yooopiiii! good you have this sorted! I always had great service from xpres too.

but at least I haven't burnt myself yet

dont worry! you will

[smitch6]

lol i have
t'was the 1 and only time i did a baseball cap and the corner sunk into my hand blast it hurt
it just melted through the skin ouch

[purpledragon]

heres a tip if you want an acurate template scan the item that gives you the exact size just make the image bigger. its great for getting templates for odd shapes