Testing centering before submission

notowellint · March 30, 2005 11:56AM

What's the best way to know the centering of a card (besides just eyeballing it)? Seems like with a scanner there's gotta be a good way. Thoughts? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Allen · March 30, 2005 11:57AM

Cneter It is a handy device that does it for you- probably one on ebay.

ajmoeller81 · March 30, 2005 11:58AM

Scan it. Zoom in 800%. Count pixels. Good luck on your submission!

bowdowntome · March 30, 2005 1:23PM

I did exactly what ajmoeller suggests, and put it in an html document.

I made the white boxes a specific number of pixels across and up and down, and the same thing with the black inner box. Then I moved the black inner box in set amounts of 5% for each consecutive graphic, resulting in centering examples from 50/50 to 95/05 in 5% increments.

Here is one for left/right
Left/Right
Here is one for top/bottom
Top/Bottom

It should give a good onscreen comparison for most applications.

notowellint · March 30, 2005 1:33PM

that's cool bowdowntome...thanks for sharing that.

smallstocks · March 31, 2005 12:25AM

Can you make the borders colored? I tried to print it out but obviously white on white . . .

AndySomnifac · March 31, 2005 1:32AM

Or you could scan, count pixels and enter them into the spreadsheet I put together:

http://cards.somnifacient.us/centeringsheet.xls

I find this to be easier, hence the reason I put it together.

chicago111 · March 31, 2005 1:48AM

better question would be..how does psa measure centering?

AndySomnifac · March 31, 2005 2:26AM

I believe they have a loupe with with measured units to determine the width of each border. Though I could be wrong.

DS1991TOPPSCards · March 31, 2005 3:19AM

Cool, Thanks guys for sharing! HOOAH!

envoy98 · March 31, 2005 4:17AM

I use a fine measuring metal ruler. I typically use the "points" measurment, it's a bit more finite than 1/64" of an inch in measurement. 72pts/inch. That gets you pretty darn close.

The one I use has Picas, Points, MM and Inches on it and looks similar to this one.
http://www.alumicolor.com/images/product/pica-close.jpg

You can contact that other grading company with former ties to PSA and purchase the loupe with centering lines on it. It comes with a chart that gives you exact centering and it runs about $100 IIRC.

Hope that helps.

ejguru · March 31, 2005 11:36AM

I use a loupe with etched mm measuring notches on the base. Also refer to this frequently..

http://web.webound.com/~rbpuzzles/fb_cards/centering.html

jason045 · March 31, 2005 10:17PM

I use a dial caliper that measures in thousanths of an inch. Example: the left border measures .114" and the right border measures measures .141". Now just divide either the left or the right by the sum of the two to find the centering.

.114 divided by (.114 + .141)= .447 or 44.7/55.3 left to right.

The caliper is extremely accurate and you can usually pick one up on ebay for under $25.

softparade · March 31, 2005 10:21PM

go ahead and laugh my friends, but I use nothing but my eyes

They pick out PSA 9's like any loupe could. Have not let me down yet

Testing centering before submission

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