DVD glossy cover insert sticking to inside of plastic, HELP!

[njnj]

I like the look of printing my custom covers onto DVD glossy cover insert paper, but it keeps sticking to the inside plastic sleeve forming sticky/wet looking spots all over the cover. Did anyone have this problem? I am using Meritline's Photo Gloss DVD Case Insert, could this brand be the problem? Any other suggestions ASAP would be much appreciated.

[adam]

I've had this happen but only with large solid blocks of color. Mainly it happens on very black covers. A sort of work around is to sprinkle a fine layer of baby power, or any kind of power, on the cover then blow it off. It won't be visible but should help the sticking.

Other then that its a combination of your paper and your printer. You may want to print at a lower quality level so that it uses less ink, if the quality is still acceptable. Other then that try different paper.

[jimmalenko]

Even just let your printouts sit in the paper tray of your printer for a couple of minutes longer instead of putting them in straight away. You need to make sure that the ink is dry before you put them in.

[disturbed1]

That's a known problem with the Meritline glossy paper and some printers (My Canon's and Epson's are some of the victoms). Even if you allow a drying time of 48 hours, the paper is still sticky. Like Adam said, it's a combo of the ink and paper.

Not all paper is made the same. I've found that Staple's, Office Max, and Office Depot branded glossy paper have the same problems. Epson, Kodak, and JetPhoto don't have that problem with my printers.

Meritline was suposed to have changed the paper type to a "soft gloss" to fix this problem. Contact Meritline and ask for a refund.

[overloaded_ide]

ALot of the stuff I have read up on say that some inks have a 2 part drying basically. First the ink appears to have dried, then it becomes tacky again and actually dries. Mostly black inks I don't think many color inks do that.

Some of the glossy papers I use occasionaly even say that on a sheet in the package. Don't know if that could be part of your problem or not.

Also of course humidity will increase the drying time for some inks. We are VERY humid here somtetimes and it wil seem as though some things stay tacky forever, but other times the same stuff seems to be totally dry in a few minutes.

That is alot of why you should not let glossies stack up as they come out the printer, even if the seem dry already.

As for a dry print sticking to the plastic, I won't know much about that, I don't use much glossy stuff for that. Most of mine are paper or card stock.
The baby paper trick sounds like a good one maybe if you make sure it is really dry first. I like that trick and may try it an a couple things myself.

[mccoady]

I was just getting ready to order either some glossy or matte dvd inserts from Meritline, if you are having problems with glossy should I order matte instead? What is the difference in appearance between the two (hope this isn't a dumb question)?

Mike

[njnj]

i would also like to know how the matte DVD cover inserts look too. if it still looks professional & not cheap i might as well go w/that. do other ppl have any other suggestions for glossy paper that doesn't stick, preferably the ones that are perforated made especially for DVD cover usage.

[adam]

Matte is just like regular thick paper and glossy is, well glossy. It reflects light a little bit. Glossy paper does look more professional but matte isn't bad either.

I use the peforated inserts from Rima, but I wouldn't be suprised if they were identical to those of Meritline. I use glossy for everything except for almost totally black covers. For these I simply cannot get the ink to dry on any of the glossy paper I have ever tried. I just chalk it up to my printer because I've tried various brands of ink too. Even matte paper looks great if you print in high quality, and once its in the case it does gain a little bit of that glossy quality from the plastic anyway.

[mccoady]

I still can't decide whether to order matte or glossy, I guess I could order some of both. I've never made dvd inserts before so I've been experimenting using regular printer paper but I must be doing something wrong since the covers don't quite cover the whole front and back of the dvd case (about 3/8'' too narrow on the front). I'm using CoverXP and EZ Label Express, will I still have this same trouble when I buy the dvd inserts to print on? Or is it that I just don't know how to use the software to print covers?

I have a HP printer, any suggestions on printer settings whether it be matte or glossy? Is there any reason not to order glossy from Meritline? Any suggestions are most welcome since I've never did this before.

Mike

[adam]

There's not much reason to avoid glossy paper except that it may stick to the plastic, but there's no way to know what your results will be until you try it.

On most printers regular paper won't work even though its physically large enough to print the cover on. The reason is that there isn't enough paper at the end for the feeder to grab on to. Usually what happens is that the end of the cover gets cut off. A trick is to tape a little piece of paper to the end of yours. Nothing prints on this, it just helps it feed the paper better. The better alternative is to just use legal sized paper.

But if your edges aren't getting cut off then it just means that you aren't formatting it correctly. I never had any luck at all with CoverXP. I use the perforated paper and simply made myself a Photoshop template by measuring the size of the paper and the size of the area outside of the printable area, which I set to the margins. Prints perfectly everytime.

I found alot of different templates online for the perforated paper I bought, and none of them worked at all. Its best to just do it yourself.

[Mr. Orange Pants]

I usually just find the best deal going on glossy paper. I recently bought 100 sheets of very thin Kodak glossy from BJ's (wholesale store) for $9.99. I was spending more on thicker stuff and realized that my inserts were thicker than the actual professional made ones, so I figured I'd go cheaper and still get great quality. I say go with glossy and try it out on a buddy's printer. I've used 4 or 5 different types of glossy paper and the only time I had a sticking problem was when I didn't allow the ink to dry long enough. Other than those 2 or 3, I've done 300+ other covers and not had a problem.

[mccoady]

I think I'll just order some glossy from Meritline today, (they're perforated) 50 for $17.50, plus some cases. That is, unless someone recommends somewhere else to buy them from. Is there an advantage making sure you get perforated dvd inserts? I guess I'm not sure what these look like, does that mean that you won't be printing on one whole paper insert where the finished product looks like a manufactured front/ back/spine insert?

Mike

[adam]

Its one whole image, you can just peel away the unused paper from the edges instead of having to cut it off. Once you get your paper and margins set up, you just print, peel off edges, and slip it in the case.

[mccoady]

Gotcha!