Acrylic keychains, fan-chant signs, stickers, light-stick inserts… The quiet stumbling block in making your own fan goods is getting the size right. To fit a frame or an acrylic part exactly, you need to print the image at a precise size in centimeters. This article shows how to make fan goods at exactly the size you want.
Fan goods trip people up on size
DIY goods are built on parts with fixed dimensions: the acrylic frame of a keychain, the text area of a fan sign, a trading-card-sized card. Print the image without matching these, and you get "it spilled past the frame" or "too small, all margins."
Regular phone printing is count-based (like L-size), so it's bad at exact requests like "print this at 5.5cm x 4cm." That's where an app for adjusting print size in centimeters helps. The app we make, Perfect Print, is one of them.
Steps to print goods images at any size
Measure the finished size
Measure, in centimeters, the area of the acrylic part or backing where the image goes. That's your target size.
Choose a paper size
Open Perfect Print and pick a paper size. A4 works for goods paper or sticker sheets, and lets you lay out several parts at once.
Place the image at a cm size
Pick your image or design and enter the measured size in cm. Lay several parts on one sheet, or duplicate the same image to make many at once. Rotate and move to arrange.
Print and assemble
Save the image and print it at actual (100%) scale at home or a store. Then cut to fit the parts and set them into the acrylic or backing.
Goods you can make
- Acrylic keychains: size the image in cm to the acrylic frame
- Fan-chant signs: fit text and design within the allowed area
- Trading cards: print to card size (about 8.6cm x 5.9cm)
- Stickers / decals: mass-produce at any size on sticker sheets
- Light-stick inserts / name plates: sized exactly to the frame
Tips for a clean finish
- Always print at actual size: set the print option to "actual size / 100%." "Fit to page" throws off the size and won't fit the parts.
- Make it slightly smaller: a hair smaller than the frame is easier to seat and looks cleaner.
- Batch to mass-produce: duplicate the same image across an A4 sheet to make several parts in one print.
Available for iOS / Android · No registration required
Frequently asked questions
Can I print to fit an acrylic keychain?
Yes. Measure the acrylic part's width and height in cm and enter those in Perfect Print to print the image at a size that fits the frame. Making it slightly smaller helps it seat well.
I want to print many copies of the same image.
Duplicate the image across an A4 sheet to mass-produce several parts in a single print — handy when making lots of goods.
Can I print at trading-card size?
Yes. Enter the card size (about 8.6cm x 5.9cm) in cm to print at that true scale. You can also use any custom size.
Is it free?
Perfect Print is free to download and use, on both iPhone and Android, with no sign-up (printing and materials cost extra).