Double Sided Printing

Hello I’m getting ready to print my RSVP cards on a C&P 6x10 tabletop press. I’ve already done my two color invitations and they came out great. I was wondering if anybody had any helpful tips on lining up a double sided print. My RSVP cards are two sided, one side has a bleed in one corner and the other side is just the return address that would be mostly in the middle of the final print. The finished size is 3.5x5” to mailed out as a postcard, I had my cutter at work cut them with an extra inch all the way around for printing and then I will cut them down after printing. Just any great suggestions for lining up two sided printing would be great! Thanks

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Sure- First, establish which sides of your sheet form your guide corner; In other words, the locations on the sheet that rest against the guides, both at the head of the sheet and the side guide whether it’s left of right; note these points with a pencil.
You should be able to flip the sheet across, leaving your gripper guides in place. This will require you to remove the side guide because when you flip the sheet across it’s width, it will position everything with the side guide on the opposite side of the previous run/side. remove the side guide you were using, and place it on the opposing side/correct side for the new print run.

It’s that simple; now, if you were previously feeding with the side guide to the left, you’re feeding to the right instead.

I advise- don’t rely on light tables or anything to do with looking “through the sheet”; rather, with the sheet face up, locate a good accurate impression and stab your crops with a razor carefully and you should be able to duplicate the other side’s location judging against the marks. Make sense? As you feed sheets through the press, it’s important to stab a couple crops from the start and finish of the pile to make sure your register isn’t drifting, especially across long runs if you’re hand feeding.
Sometimes people can be a bit heavy handed and the guides seem to move, and so you’re left with a situation where you didn’t see it but the location changed from side to side.
The only way to assess is to stab and check.

Thanks HavenPress I definitely get it. I’m printing at a community print shop and have been letting each run dry over night so I’m a little worried about not getting my marks right. Is there any ink that will let you do the second run right after the first without any smudging?