CD Printers - what's new?
Mikey
thru old posts on google, I'm just wondering if anyone has found
anything worthwhile in the under $500 market? I imagine thermal is out
of that range, but I'd like to know if any newer units have surfaced.
I would be doing mostly short-to-medium runs of probably a dozen or 2
up to 300 or so.
TIA,
Mikey
Steve King
news:526517d0.03092...@posting.google.com...
Well, I wouldn't want to hand feed 300 CDs/DVDs into the Epson Stylus Photo
900 ($199 or less) I recently purchased. However, a dozen or so would not
be bad. It is ink-jet. It has a special CD/DVD carrier that inserts from
the back of the printer. Its registration is better than I expected. The
type is crisp. However, it takes a lot of ink to use photo backgrounds that
are not essentially transparent.
Steve King
Troy
more money but will save you alot of money in the long run.We use Rimage
automated printers and while they are expensive new,you can buy them used
for some pretty good prices.It is more durable and costs about 2 cents per
print (black).Inkjet is to expensive.While some printers look good they are
not durable at all and the CDs are more expensive.
Base your desision on cost per copy over cost of the machine you'll be
better off in the long run.
--
Thanks
Troy Tremblay
Alternate Root Studio
www.alternate-root.com
Mikey <nova...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:526517d0.03092...@posting.google.com...
Dale Farmer
Troy wrote:
> This is kind of a pay now or pay later question.The thermal printers are
> more money but will save you alot of money in the long run.We use Rimage
> automated printers and while they are expensive new,you can buy them used
> for some pretty good prices.It is more durable and costs about 2 cents per
> print (black).Inkjet is to expensive.While some printers look good they are
> not durable at all and the CDs are more expensive.
> Base your desision on cost per copy over cost of the machine you'll be
> better off in the long run.
>
> --
> Thanks
> Troy Tremblay
> Alternate Root Studio
> www.alternate-root.com
Where would I find such used CD printers? I don't need one now, but
sometime do need one. E-bay or something?
--Dale
Troy
alot of great sellers that get these in all the time and know them
well.Don't bid unless it is tested and working and a DOA on it.If it's
untested and as is don't buy it as they are expensive to service.The
printheads are over $400.00 just for the part,and if you don't know how to
install it then it will run you at least another $400.00 to get rimage to do
it.Let me know when you are looking for one we get them in from time to time
used and sell them.
Dale Farmer <Da...@cybercom.net> wrote in message
news:3F6E38AE...@cybercom.net...
Mike Rivers
> Yes keep your eye on ebay for them but be careful who you buy from.There are
> alot of great sellers that get these in all the time and know them
> well.
I'm curious - how does this happen? How many people have a legitimate
reason to by, much less sell, a high end CD printer? If there were one
or two reliable and regular sellers, I could see that - someone who's
found a niche. But "alot" sounds suspicious.
> Let me know when you are looking for one we get them in from time to time
> used and sell them.
Ah . . one of the "alot" I guess. So where do you get them "in" from?
And what else do you get in?
--
I'm really Mike Rivers - (mri...@d-and-d.com)
Troy
of where to buy good equipment.I don't care to give out my contacts to
you.Anything I sell is in perfect running condition.
There are also alot of sellers on ebay that deal in used CD duplication
equipment only.There is nothing suspicious about it.You just have to watch
the auctions all the time and figure out who they are,and know what you are
buying.
You would be supprised how many out of business dot com companies auction
duplication equipment.I know a guy who bought a truck load of new rimage
duplicators at an auction dirt cheep.
Mike Rivers <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1064228919k@trad...
Mike Rivers
> I deal in used CD duplication equipment and I have lots of reliable sources
> of where to buy good equipment.I don't care to give out my contacts to
> you.Anything I sell is in perfect running condition.
>
> There are also alot of sellers on ebay that deal in used CD duplication
> equipment only.
No offense intended, but I would think that used CD duplication
equipment would either be pretty well worn out or come from a company
that went out of business. But if this is your business, I guess you
know the good from the bad, and you (unlike an individual user) can
buy a truckload of duplicators and resell them.
Mikey
After some of these replies, I'm just thinking... does anyone do their
own silk-screening? How hard is it? How expensive? Years ago a friend
of mine used to silk-screen t-shirts & it seemed to be work, but not
an incredible amount. I would hink there would be computer-assisted
screening processes. Most of the bigger replicators silk-screen.
Anyone know if they just farm it out or do it in house?
Mikey
Troy
companies are hardly used.They spent major money on alot of these machines
and were out of business before they were even finished installing them.Alot
of the "older" equipment (3 to 4 yrs old) is actually alot better than the
new stuff in some ways.Its not as fast but it was built in the day when the
prices of them were much higher and the companies didn't cut corners on
costs.Also machines like Rimage will run a long time,they are built like
tanks.
Mike Rivers <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1064257652k@trad...
Troy
offset printing on very expensive automated equipment.The process that alot
of them use is computer based.You can get small runs of CDRs printed from
some of these companies but its not cheap.You are better to go with a
thermal printer.
Mikey <nova...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Justin Ulysses Morse
> After some of these replies, I'm just thinking... does anyone do their
> own silk-screening? How hard is it? How expensive? Years ago a friend
> of mine used to silk-screen t-shirts & it seemed to be work, but not
> an incredible amount. I would hink there would be computer-assisted
> screening processes. Most of the bigger replicators silk-screen.
> Anyone know if they just farm it out or do it in house?
I used to do a whole lot of small-run in-house CDR screenprinting. I
ran a small label out of my studio for a while, did a fair amount of
work for another small label, and a few indie jobs here and there.
It's not easy, but the results have the potential to look better than
any other CDR options, and rival the printing on regular CD pressings.
In some ways it looks better, but not as slick. We had a very hard
time getting decent registration on multi-color runs, so we tend to
stick with single colors. We also had a very hard time printing large
expanse of ink, or printing inside the stacking ring, so we don't do
that either. Though I've got some disks printed by a client of ours
who is a very skilled printmaker, and he did all these things with
results that blow the pants off anything I've done.
If you want details, we use InkDezyne Gloss Lacquer. I think the
screen mesh is 240. We use a medium-hard squeegie. Our local print
supply shop sold us some special CD-printing trays that look like
jewelcase trays, but they're low-profile so they don't interfere with
the screen, and they hold the CD rather securely by its spindle. Other
than that, the trick is to set up a printing station that's
specifically tailored for CD printing. And although I've tended not to
follow this advice, I think it's a really good idea to use "coated" CDR
stock, so that you have a protected top surface without having to print
a solid coat of ink.
Another thing my biggest client did was to order CDRs pre-printed with
his company logo. He bought maybe 1000 or 2000 at a time, and had 2
colors on them with his label name and copyright year. This was the
same kind of printing as on a pressed CD I think. Then he sent us 100
or 200 at a time to print the details of the particular artist and
album.
We always print 100 CDRs at a time. Less than that isn't worth the
set-up and clean-up hassle. More than 100 and we run out of places to
put them while they dry. We have a CD rack filled with jewel cases
with their tops removed, so we can quickly slip printed CDRs into them
to dry.
When you get to more than about 250 CDRs, it's more cost-effective to
just order a run of 500 pressed CDs. If you value your own time, it's
more like 175 CDRs. If you don't, then maybe 300. Of course it's nice
to be able to burn and print a run of 100 CDRs and then wait to see if
you'll need more. But if your album does well, you end up wishing you
would have shelled out from the get-go. I found myself wishing that on
maybe 2 or 3 of the 20 or so albums I've printed.
Oh, one more thing: Print them AFTER you burn them. They tend to get
dusty. Dust on a burned disk can be cleaned off, but burning a dusty
disc will get you a coaster. We use a fair amount of canned air.
ulysses
Mike Rivers
> Actually Mike alot of the used equipment out there from these dot com
> companies are hardly used.They spent major money on alot of these machines
> and were out of business before they were even finished installing them.Alot
> of the "older" equipment (3 to 4 yrs old) is actually alot better than the
> new stuff in some ways.
Kind of like older 2" analog recorders in a lot of ways. Great while
they last, but an inexperienced technician today can't fix one when it
dies. Probably the same with a printer. (I throw out PC printers when
they die)
Pity that those companies spent so much on equipment that they never
got to use, but I know it happens a lot. There's a store near me that
has a constant supply of brand new corporate-grade computers that were
over-bought or disaster-sold. Fancy chairs are another item like that,
so yeah, I guess there's no reason why you couldn't score a CD printer
now and then. But you gotta be watching, and in most cases, be ready
to buy (and dispose of, hopefully at a profit, or to find a use for)
some stuff you don't want in order to get what you want.
The "cocktail table" in my living room is built from some sort of
helocopter antenna that came in the same surplus lot as my Ampex
AG-445 tape deck. It sure looked too good to throw away and I couldn't
imagine finding a buyer for it (though admittedy this was before
eBay).
Mike Rivers
> After some of these replies, I'm just thinking... does anyone do their
> own silk-screening? How hard is it? How expensive? Years ago a friend
> of mine used to silk-screen t-shirts & it seemed to be work, but not
> an incredible amount. I would hink there would be computer-assisted
> screening processes.
I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't laser-printable screens
these days. Go to an art supply store.
The problem with doing this at home is that it's a manual process,
it's messy, and you need a lot of space to lay out the disks while the
ink dries. It's too much trouble for five or ten disks, and too time
consuming for a hundred. But then hobbies are for people who like to
do stuff and don't worry about how much trouble it is, so maybe it
would work for you.
Commercial silkscreening is a a different process, more like a
printing press with a continuous feed and drying line.
Troy
the ones who went into Enron and stripped out all the computer systems.They
were telling me that there were rooms full of high tech new computer systems
not even being used,just collecting dust.Just goes to show you how much
money big corporations piss away.
Mike Rivers <mri...@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
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