Are trifold bleeds cut before or after trifolding?

Are the long edge (top and bottom) trifold bleeds typically cut before or after trifolding?

 

We always trim before folding - to be honest I've never heard of trimming the job after folding...but you learn something new every day. The only thought I have against it - wouldn't it take a lot longer to trim folded work? You'd be trimmimg once landscape then again to top & tail.

 

Thank you for the reply Richard. Honestly our folder probably needs a rebuild -- about 1 of every 100 trifolds is slightly off; I don't notice it on the opening side since that overlaps slightly so you can open the trifold, but it's sometimes annoyingly visible on the top or bottom if the inside color is different than the cover.

Wanted to make sure I wasn't missing an obvious better way to do things. Suppose the thing to do is to focus on getting the folder to 100% rather than trying to cut after folding, as it would probably take too long to load the trifolds with each lift would only be 1/3 or less as tall as prefolded.

Thought I'd ask though if anyone was doing this to see if I could find an excuse not to put more money into the old folder

 

Hi Shane

we had similar issue with a Morgana UFO 1 - we had a exchange set of rollers for around 300 gbp - that's after 7 million thru it! It's worth doing IMHO.

 

It it better to trim prior to trifolding as the build up of material on the folds during guillotine operation means extra time spent aligning the pile for trimming. Also the baggyness of the middle area (between the side folds) may tear the fibres in the material rather than cut clean if the knive is dull.

Also one tip I have for trifolding is to leave the cover slightly wider (fold to edge) then the middle section (approx 1/32" or 0.5mm) to enable the end user to open the document easier.