www.printingtips.com/glossary.asp
This site sums it up. Maybe the rules should be followed from actual printers that have already done the research, instead of coming up with a debate on what it should or should not be. If the card grading companies would follow the same standards that have been written longer than these companies have been in business, there would not be such a difference between them all. Since they are in business to make money, each grader will always make an attempt to change the rules into their own to be competitive.
Flop
Reversing a negative or transparency so that the image that was on the left side is now on the right.
Makeready
1.The process of setting up and adjusting a printing press for a particular ink, paper and specifications prior to printing. This includes adjusting the infeed, grippers and guides, adjusting ink for proper coverage, registering copy, and matching the printed piece with the proof to be sure everything is correct. Also referred to as set up. 2. The paper used while making all the necessary adjustments before printing the actual run. Also referred to as set up.
Proof
A copy of the artwork representing the finished product. It is used for review and approval.
Misregister
A problem in multiple color printing when the different color images do not line up properly as the successive colors are printed on the page.
Trapping
The overlapping of adjoining colors or ink to help prevent the possibility of a fine white area showing between colors due to misregistration of color negatives or due to normal variations on the press.
Make-ready sheets would be used for the printing press and then used for the cutters. Make-ready sheets would get mixed into the other sheets by mistake and cut and shipped. When you are cutting 4" thick blocks of press sheets, into 1" x 2" cards, the last thing you would want to do is go through the entire stack to check for a miscut card. If there were ten cards in that row, you would not want to take a chance on these stacks falling over and having to re-stack every card, especially when you're working with thousands of small cards. More concentration would be spent making sure your fingers are not in the blades and that your blocks used to hold the stacks, were actually holding the stacks up so they would not fall over.
Hand cut cards are NOT make-ready material and more than likely did not come from the factory. A printer would be proud of his/her product and would not take a pair of scissors and cut it up. Most likely, it was a child, at home, back when kids would actually do something constructive. If a card has been hand cut, instead of straight cut by a machine, it should be considered as "altered" or "trimmed", not make-ready or waste that was smuggled out in someones pocket. In my opinion, a hand-cut card should only be acceptable if the card had to be cut out from some other product.
A prepress proof is made prior to the product ever being printed in quantities. I worked in a printing company for years and had to burn images from four color separation negatives onto a sheet of paper and then rub different colored toners on each image until the final proof was obtained, laminated and approved by the customer, prior to ever being considered for printing. printwiki.org/Cromalin The four color separation would come from a camera shot and scanned to separate the four colors. You have four basic colors, Black, Cyan Magenta and Yellow. Each color has it own angle of half-tone dots, so you do not end up with a moire during printing. Besides these four main colors, there are several thousand other special colors that can be made. The majority of customers want to stay with the four color process to keep the costs down. instead of printing special colors and having to wash out the cylinders of the press for a special color run.
Prepress Proof
Any proof that has been made, using a photographical process opposed to a press proof that is an actual printed copy off the press.
Press Proof
A proof that is produce on the press using the inks and paper specified for that order.
Laminate Proof
A type of proof that uses laminate powdered toner to create a color image, such as Matchprint and CromalinŽ proofs.