The Vault
Troubleshooting guide
Colors won't stay in register station-to-station (register drift / web tension problems)
Posted by the SuperPrinters team · 7/26/2026
Color-to-color register wanders by fractions of a millimeter and will not hold steady, showing as fuzzy edges, color fringing, or drifting register marks — often worsening with speed changes, splices, or passage through the dryers. Most often caused by fluctuating or incorrect web tension stretching or shrinking the film between print units, among other possible causes — a full step-by-step diagnostic and fix follows below.
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