If I print each plate onto clear plastic using the same reference guides I can create independent references that show the relationship and variation between each image’s registration.

It took me quite some time to wrap my brain around this. The process is to print each image onto clear plastic. I can then tape all 3 images together with the best image overlay. This gives me a method to reference the registration difference each plate’s will need to give me the desired overlay. It’s a way to establish the spatial relationship and registration difference each image might have.

After I tape my transparent reference ‘keys’ together I locate the first image tabs on the registration pins, tape all of the keys to my table so they are entirely stationary, then move the registration tabs to the next image I want to print.

It’s kind of like saying, “If this image prints here, and the next one registers there, then I need to move my registration pins to there.”

It’s very much like a machining process to setup part origins using Cartesian coordinates. This is all about establishing a spatial relationship between features and compensating for the locational differences.

If I need to put a hole in the center of a 1 x 1 block and a hole in a 2x2 block I need to compensate for the extra material so the feature is still in the block’s center. If the hole is always created from a stationary point then I need to move the larger block and extra .5 to line up the hole with the center.