Edge Printing on Round

Round spinero books look premium and open nicely. You often see round spines on thicker books or vintage-style books. But for edge printing, there is one challenge. The fore edge is not perfectly flat, so we cannot print it the same way as a flat edge book. If we print straight onto a curved edge, the ink hits the high spots first, so coverage can look uneven.

To make it work, we often use a 45 degree setup. We clamp the book block tightly, then angle it so the fore edge faces the print direction at about 45 degrees. This exposes more page edges evenly and helps create a flatter printing surface.

Even with that setup, the edge is still slightly curved, so we usually print in multiple controlled passes. The machine is computer controlled. It prints the first layer to cover most of the area, then adds the next layer, and so on.

For round spine books, simple designs usually look best. Solid colors, gradients, and clean patterns are more predictable. Very detailed images or small text can be harder to control on a curved edge.

This photo demonstrates how the book edge is bent to about 45 degrees to create a flatter surface for edge printing.