Epson R3000 CD Printing Problems?

[davidhunternyc]

Thank you, once again, for your help. I am using: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LUC8WW/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details
The included Epson software seems fine. I can adjust the printout in millimeters. When the CD is loaded into the printer, it is not "exactly" center and I wonder if this could be a problem. I just want the entire white printable surface of the CD's to be printed on without the white surface showing and the CD to look clean and presentable.

 

[jtoolman]

I find I have to set the outer diameter to 119 mm and the inner to 19mm. That plus adjusting so the image is printed centered should do it. I use a Primera Bravo printer to print all my DVDs and CDs but the process is the same as using Epson's software which I also use.

 

[stratman]

Thank you, once again, for your help. I am using: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LUC8WW/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details
The included Epson software seems fine. I can adjust the printout in millimeters. When the CD is loaded into the printer, it is not "exactly" center and I wonder if this could be a problem. I just want the entire white printable surface of the CD's to be printed on without the white surface showing and the CD to look clean and presentable.

TY Watershield is superb media, both for burning and for printing on. TY has a couple other surfaces for printable disks, each with their own unique properties when working with a given ink substrate. There are other water-resistant media on the market and each has its own print character. Each of these various brands may have slightly different dimensions of the printable surface.

You may be able to "fix" your issue by using a ruler and measuring:

1) the diameter of the of the "inner diameter" or "hole" - the entire central portion of the disk that has no printable surface. On my TY CD Watershields (CDR80WPPSB-WS) the inner diameter is 23mm.

2) the "outer diameter" - the entire printable surface from outer edge to outer edge. My TY Watershields measure ~118mm. There is a thin rim of whitish appearing rim beyond this Watershield coated diameter which may take up ink or may not.

IIRC, my first shipment of Watershields from Media Supply included a set of instructions on the measurements of the printable area (117mm or 117.5mm?) beyond which the whitish rim had no Watershield coating and was not for printing. I ended up printing the entire white surface, including the whitish outer thin rim, and was happy with the results. Superb glossy image reproduction (for a disk).

You will need to figure out what dimensions work best with your printer and software through trial and error. It should only take a couple disks before you dial in the calibration. Different media may require measuring and testing to get the proper dimensions to calibrate your printing software again. I don't know about your Epson software, but it can be helpful to adjust Right/Left and Up/Down to fine tune the calibrations in the software. Acoustica and others allow for this.

 

[The Hat]

I was going to give my two pence worth on CD printing but stratman seems to have covered all the bases on it before me.
His inner and outer dimensions are pretty exact as well and you wouldnt want to exceed them.

The last line in his thread is probably the most important of all

But it can be helpful to adjust Right/Left and Up/Down to fine tune the calibrations in the software.

 

[davidhunternyc]

O.K. I adjusted everything I could, many times, the inner and outer mm dimensions, ect. Here is a pic of my CD. You see the white flaking around the outer edges? Also, the inner edge isn't perfectly centered. I adjusted the center position too and it made it worse. Perhaps the problem is that I am printing a solid grey area on a white background. The white background is very precisely printed on the CD and the R3000 simply can not duplicate this precision. On a side note, I noticed how Apple keeps all of their CD's white with etched printing inside. Perhaps I should simply switch from grey to pure white with light grey type. It would be much simpler. Also, notice the subtle banding in the solid grey areas. This, even though the print settings were switched to high quality. I will call Epson today and I remember them telling me that they recommended a specific CD for printing. Perhaps other printable CD's do not have a white area so precisely printed all the way to the outer edge.

I guess another question I have that may help is, what printable CD's are out there where the white printable area does NOT extend so far out to the outer edge? Maybe there is a printable CD where the white surface area is inside the outer edge a bit more.

 

[jtoolman]

It is VERY dificult to get MICRO accuracy with the methods these printers use, ie, the disc tray. It will never be placed and lined up accurately enough so there will always be a tiny bit of missalingment. I have to print mine discs so they over print a tiniy bit as yours have done. Then the final touch is to carefully wipe the ink of the edges without getting it on the area you want to preserve. Even with my dedicated Primera robotic disc printer, that is still a problem.
The best I've seen on a consummer printer is the cd/dvd holder on the Epson Artisan AIO printers. The CD/DVD printing function is performed by a fixed dosc holder that takes the guess work out of the job. It automatically advances forward and you plkace the disc on it and press the button.

 

[davidhunternyc]

You guys, thanks for all of your help. I guess the majority of the problem is that I was using PK instead of the default MK. The MK is much more even and the banding issues went away once I switched back to MK. Also, I set the inner diameter to 22mm and the outer diameter to 119mm. When the CD is finished printing, I wipe off the excess around the edge, like you said. There is a thin white line around the CD but it is clean and presentable. I am now very happy with the results of the R3000. Kudos to you all.