Bed is the foundation upon which forms are supported when printing by letterpress.
Beds are tools used in printing that consist of flat, horizontal surfaces on which text and images can be placed before being transferred onto paper or another substrate.
Various kinds of beds are used for printing, each serving its purpose. For instance, specific beds are optimized to particular forms, such as photo paper. In contrast, others excel at transferring images onto surfaces like fabric.
Bed sizes also differ depending on the type of printer used – desktop printers generally boast much smaller beds than commercial printing presses.
Material used to construct beds varies depending on their intended use. Some beds are built from metal, while others utilize glass or plastic materials.
Beds play an integral part in the printing process, and their selection can directly influence the final quality of an object printed by any method.
Bed printing presses utilize a large flat surface called a bed to support the printed paper or fabric material. They may be horizontally oriented, and printing typically involves passing it under several rollers that apply the ink or another printing medium onto it.
Printing presses typically feature cast iron or steel beds precisely machined for flatness. At the same time, their rollers also benefit from being precision machined for even application of printing medium.
Printing beds provide an even, level surface on which material can be printed for accurate reproduction and high-quality finished product.
A printer’s bed is one of the critical elements of its printing process, serving as the surface that paper sits upon during printing. A good bed ensures superior print quality. If not level or smooth enough, warped or moved paper could result in poor print quality, demonstrating why an effective bed must exist to achieve that objective.