Elongation & shrinkage

Elongation & shrinkage
Difficulty	Beginner
Duration	10 min.

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Based on the way stencils are made in the risograph, if certain test modes are not properly calibrated, printed images can be elongated or shrunk by 0–3 mm. This comes from two places:

1. The speed of the write roller when making a stencil—if it is faster than it should be, the image will be elongated; if it is slower, it will be shrunk. This is a physical property of the changing properties of the depleting stencil roll (so it changes over time, based on how many stencils remain on the roll). On two-drum machines and full-featured one-drum machines, compensation for this often happens automatically, but on older and lower model-number machines, this will regularly need to be calibrated for 1:1 printing.
2. The speed of the scanner head (when scanning)—if the head moves too fast, the image will be shrunk; if it is too slow, it will be elongated. This is a more stable setting, so it rarely needs calibration (and should only be calibrated after correcting elongation/shrinkage in the write roller).

Overview

Calibration can be performed if the dimensions of the printed image do not match the dimensions of the original (this is often measured between registration or crop marks). What needs to be calibrated depends on how the machine is used on a regular basis.

• If the stencils are made both from the scanner bed and sending files from a computer then both the write roller speed and scanner head need to be calibrated.
• If either the scanner bed is used exclusively or files are sent from a computer exclusively, then only the write roller speed needs calibration (though both can be calibrated if desired).

On older and lower model-number machines however, pursuing perfect calibration can be a wild goose chase. It's only really necessary when miscalibration is detected between layers, or when perfect scale to the sheet is needed (to match fold lines, for example—as in a magic zine).

Calibration procedure

Both calibrations can be made by comparing a measured (printed) distance against a goal (original) distance, along the left/right axis of printing (along the feed direction of the paper).

Printing and measuring

The means of making a print and measuring it are different depending on whether the calibration is for the master making unit or the scanner bed, and if the duplicator can print digitally (from a computer/driver).

Master making (driver)

1. For duplicators with digital printing as an option, make a stencil from a computer that has a measurable distance on it. This could be a specially made sheet for calibration, with just a line on it, or any file with a measurable distance (like between crop marks). This is the goal distance.

1. Measure the actual print distance on the sheet. This is the measured distance.

Master making (test pattern)

1. For duplicators which cannot print digitally, make a crossed lines test pattern from test mode (with paper in the feed tray and a drum in the riso).
   • On machines this is test mode 119.
   • On Z+Any machine released after the RZ, i.e. RZ/RV/EZ/EV/SF/SE and MZ/ME/MF/MH machines. machines this is test mode 81.
2. The resultant grid will either have (relatively) square cels (for machines with square aspect ratio, i.e. 300 × 300 or 600 × 600) or rectangular cels.