Mind the gap

Understanding the blanket gap on a web press

On a web press there is a small gap where the image plate is bent in and attached to the rotating drum, this gap is a non-printable area. Ink cannot be transferred due to a physical gap in the surface. To accommodate this gap a design can be contained entirely within the printable area of the image plate (our templates are built to size), or a design pattern can incorporate the gap in to every repeating instance of the pattern. Note that the 1” gap is split in our templates with ½” on top and bottom. A blank background is necessary to completely hide the blanket gap, we recommend only using the logos or graphics as a repeating pattern.