Getting your template dialed in is the foundation of a smooth event workflow. This walkthrough covers everything from measuring your punch to calibrating your printer so every magnet comes out crisp and perfectly sized. We'll use a 63.5 × 63.5 mm (2.5 × 2.5 in) square magnet as our working example throughout — the same principles apply to any size or shape you use.
What You'll Need
- Your graphic punch
- A ruler (millimetres preferred — more precise than inches)
- A printer that supports borderless printing
- A sheet of photo paper (plain paper works fine for test prints)
- A computer with access to Fridge Candy
1 Measure Your Punch
Punch a blank sheet of paper and measure the cutout from edge to edge with your ruler. Write that number down — it's your punch size. For this guide we'll use 84 mm as the example.
Note: most "square" punches actually clip the corners at 45°, creating a slight octagon. Measure the flat edges, not corner to corner. If your punch is rectangular, measure both width and height separately.
2 Know Your Three Zones
Every template is built around three concentric areas:
| Zone | What it is |
|---|---|
| Cut Line | The outer edge — matches your punch size (84 mm in our example) |
| Bleed | A buffer band that wraps around the edge to prevent white borders if the punch isn't perfectly centred |
| Image Area | The visible face of the finished magnet — what your customer actually sees |
With an 84 mm punch and 10.25 mm of bleed on each side, the visible image area works out to 63.5 mm (84 − 10.25 − 10.25).
3 Enter Your Dimensions
In the Fridge Candy template editor you enter two values: magnet size (the image area) and bleed per side. Calculate bleed like this:
bleed per side = (punch size − magnet size) ÷ 2
Using our example: (84 − 63.5) ÷ 2 = 10.25 mm
Enter 63.5 mm as the magnet size and 10.25 mm as the bleed. The system automatically applies that bleed to both sides — you only enter it once.
4 Print a Test Sheet
Before printing a full run, do a single test print. Set your printer to:
- Paper size — match the sheet loaded (e.g. 4×6 or 5×7)
- Borderless printing — on
- Scaling — Actual Size / 100% / None (never "Fit to Page")
- Expansion — No Expansion if available; Minimum Expansion as a fallback
5 Check the Alignment
Place your test print in the punch the way you normally would and check whether the cut lines line up:
| Result | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect fit | Print matches the punch exactly | No adjustment needed |
| Too big | Printed area overshoots the punch | Apply negative compensation |
| Too small | Printed area falls short of the punch | Apply positive compensation |
Measure how many millimetres off it is — that number guides your compensation value.
6 Calibrate
Open Advanced Options in the template editor and enter a compensation value to scale the output up or down to match your specific printer's behaviour.
The loop is simple:
- Enter a compensation value
- Print another test sheet
- Measure against your punch
- Adjust if needed and repeat
Most printers only need one or two rounds and land somewhere between −2 mm and +2 mm. Once it's set, it stays consistent for that printer.
You're Ready to Print
Save your calibrated template and you're good to go. Every order printed with this template will come out the right size for your punch — event after event.