How to stop the guesswork with printing business cards

Question

Hello everyone, when I print business cards I use one of those 10 blank business cards per sheet paper.
I scan the image of the blank business card template, then I import to Illustrator and then I make the business cards.
The problem is when I print sometimes I get some of the design cut and have to print again until I get it right.
My question is how do I get rid of the guesswork when it comes to printing business cards on a 10 card per sheet? (I believe the problem occurs because my scanner is not exactly 8 1/2 by 11 and therefore there is some margin for error)
I know I could use Indesign, but since I don't have Indesign (and may not have it in a future graphic design job) how do I do it in Illustrator?

Answer 1

There should be no guesswork if you set up your Artboard, guides, etc., accurately.
I never do this by scanning and tracing a card template sheet, by the way. It only takes a few minutes,to take accurate measures from the sheet and enter the dimensions for guides, etc., numerically. That way you are confident, for example, that you do, indeed, use consistent spacing between rows & columns of die cuts. And the question of any scaling/position/distortion from your scanner image becomes moot.
Then you simply have to design to accomodate the inaccuracy of the specific printer--which is almost certain to be the cause of the misregistration--just as one has to do for a printing press. Paper jogs somewhat as it proceeds through a commercial offset press, just as it does (albeit to a greater degree) on an office copier.
If you design graphic elements which are supposed to print all the way to the edge of the cards, make sure those elements bleed beyond the edges of the die cuts. For this reason, try to find card sheets on which the cards do not share edges, but have spaces between them. If you can't find such sheets, then limit yourself to designing bleeding objects which can span across whole rows or columns of cards.
What Scott says about availability of cheap printing online is true. You can also get short-run, on-demand, decent-quality, digital printing in places like Kinko's, Office Depot, etc. But often, the whole point of this excercise is to provide the client (or workgroups in your own company) the convenience of printing a few cards at a time on a desktop device or a networked office printer.
Delivering the card design as an Enabled PDF is great for this; you can create editable fields for the changing content (names, phones, etc.,) and the one document can work for the whole company. Any user can edit the fields in Adobe Reader, save the edits, and print the pre-cut sheets on a suitable office device, or at a quick-copy shop.
Also, consider the actual need for die-cut stock. Even a quick-copy shop running a decent digital press most likely has a paper shear also. Your real materials cost is much higher per card with pre-perforated sheet, toner, and inkjet cartridges, and you have to fuss over the suitability for inkjet versus laser devices. You're paying for convenience at the sacrifice of quality.
JET