Web Press Print to edge of sheet

[kjacobson]

I am kind of new to the web press and I find it odd that our pressmen here print to the very side of the roll, they cut the bleed off on one side by printing on the very edge. Is this so the cutters don't have to cut this side of the sheet? Is this a common practice, not to center the image on the roll of paper? I would think that it would be a mess for the ink to run off the side of the sheet.

Can anyone fill me in on this?

[cjwworld]

I have never heard of that being done. Perhaps they need to print full bleeds for the customer

[Christian STG]

Put 30 to 50 % of each color screen in both side of WEB, this help to maintain the chemical emulsion.

[Erik Nikkanen]

I am kind of new to the web press and I find it odd that our pressmen here print to the very side of the roll, they cut the bleed off on one side by printing on the very edge. Is this so the cutters don't have to cut this side of the sheet? Is this a common practice, not to center the image on the roll of paper? I would think that it would be a mess for the ink to run off the side of the sheet.

Can anyone fill me in on this?

One thing I would be concerned about is the chance of web breaks. I would expect that if ink is printed right at the edge of the web, there could be an increase in the chance of the web tearing when leaving the impression nip due to the force to split the ink film. From what I have seed, webs tend to start the tear from the web edge.

[Rolf]

My reply might be a bit late. We are a web printer and it is not common practice. It can be done, but the ink build up will mess up the edge of the sheet. Another solution is to cut the blanket to the size of the sheet. It is a way to save on paper, but there will be quality issues. I would not recommend this practice.