Epson R200

[Jake802]

Ok! I am on my 2nd Epson R200 and once again it does not want to accept the cd tray and print to the cd. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting it to work, or is there an alternative to using Epson? Is there another US CD Printer? Thanks for your time and help!

[gadgetguy]

Are you using the CD/DVD print software that came with it?
In the US Epson holds the patent on CD/DVD printing so it's either Epson or modifying someone elses yourself. But I have never had a problem with my R200 so I have to wonder what you mean by "won't accept the cd tray".
How about providing more information on the procedure you're following to try to print.

[psx_pirate]

Make sure the arrows are correctly aligned on the tray and printer ... i also find that my r200 sometimes wont pull the tray in ... solution .. give it a hand by gently pushing the tray in when it starts to print

[Jake802]

Yes I am using the Epson Software. I line up the little tray with the arrows hit print. It goes through the machine. Comes all the way back out and the little red light starts flashing. I have even tried the Epson Interactive thing on the website. This is the second printer I've tried. I at first thought it was the tray design and even ordered the new updated one. I am now awaiting a response from Epson! Thanks!

[rfielder]

Ok! I am on my 2nd Epson R200 and once again it does not want to accept the cd tray and print to the cd. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting it to work, or is there an alternative to using Epson? Is there another US CD Printer? Thanks for your time and help!

I have the same issue. Now on my second tray, which helped, but did not eliminate the issue. When new, the printer worked fine.

First problem - the clear plastic at the tip of the tray gets bent. That has an effect. Straightening the plastic helps.

Second problem - I suspect (JUST GUESSING) there is a design flaw in these printers. Some printers get to the point that they need a bit of a push to get the CD tray moving through the printer. Others don't. I think it is a matter of mass production manufacturing tolerances and normal wear - after time, some printers don't quite grab the tray as well as they should.

I have printed a LOT of CDs and DVDs on my R200 since it started acting this way. A bit of a pain, but it works.

When it comes time to replace this printer, I will look at the R220, see if maybe Epson has redesigned the printer to overcome this. Unless I win a lottery and can afford the R800.....

[gadgetguy]

After it spits the tray out, put it back in and click Continue on the screen. It should work then, and for subsequent prints in the same session, without having to re-insert the tray. If you leave it set without printing for a while (a couple days or so), the first time you try to print it will eject the tray and clean the print heads. Wait for the cleaning to complete and then put the tray back in and click continue.

[Rich86]

Ok! I am on my 2nd Epson R200 and once again it does not want to accept the cd tray and print to the cd. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting it to work, or is there an alternative to using Epson? Is there another US CD Printer? Thanks for your time and help!

I expect the cd tray handling mechanics of my R320 are basically the same as your R200.
The cd tray must go all the way through the printer, so you must make sure the path for the cd tray is clear - both front and back - with plenty of extra room. Make sure no wires are in the way also. I actually slide the roller shelf out that the printer sits on to make sure the path is completely free and clear in the back.
Make sure your printable media is firmly snapped into place in the tray. When you first load the tray into the printer, make sure it is positioned correctly - under the tab and rollers provided in the front. I used to try to line up the arrows exactly - but find it doesn't do much good. I now slide the tray gently under the tab and rollers until it stops. Then I print using the Epson print module provided. It should click twice moving the tray back towards the front, then proceed to print. Sometimes it will click twice - pushing the tray back out the front - and then proceed to push it farther out. That means it has rejected it for some reason. I have never determined what causes this or how to avoid it. If you try to realign the tray while this is going on, it will just shove the tray out the back of the printer. Just let it finish the cycle, click cancel when it errors out on the screen, and then push the tray back in until it stops. Then print again. It always works for me the 2nd time when it rejects the tray the first time.
And the print quality on good inkjet printable media is great.

[Jake802]

Thanks guys! I have done all this already, like I said it's not my first time with this printer. I guess we'll see what epson has to say! Thanks everyone for the help and ideas!

[darkwunder]

I have had my R200 for just over a year now, and it has never accepted the tray on the first try, no matter how carefully I line up the arrows. But it always takes it on the second try. Once the program notifies me that the tray is not aligned properly, I simply line up the arrows again and press the button with the flashing red light. The printCD program automatically detects that the tray has been reset, and starts printing.

[Jake802]

Thank you everyone! After speaking with Epson, it appears I didn't have enough room in the back of the printer. Thanks for everyones help! I can't believe it, what an ass I am I forgot I had moved the printer around. Hence the space missing in the back. Thanks Again!

[garryheather]

If it ever does appear to just be slipping, you might like to check out this post too - I solved (well, improved) my problem with some masking tape:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t275454.html

Epson do seem to have a few reliability issues with these printers, one of their support guys told me the disc printing function was not intended for anything more than light duty which hacked me off because that's why I bought it... I have a perfectly good printer that gets used for general day to day stuff, and the R200 that I bought for it's disc printing.

Until then I've alway sworn by Epson - now I swear AT it, and would probably not buy another Epson based on my experiences to date with this model and the lack of resolution / support from the manufacturer.

[p_l]

If you want to try an alternative to the Epson R200/300 series, try the Canon Pixma tray mod. I have both.

[jtoolman2000]

I have an Epson R300 connected to a CIS. I also had huge problems with the disc printing function. Since I use it to print on to discs that I sell, I decided to buy a Primera Bravo Robotic printer ( being repaired as I speak, but that's another story ) Back to the Epson. The problems I was having were, inconsistent aligngment of the image. No matter how careful I was with the pre positioning of the tray if would only print the image dead center maybe 1 out of 10 times. I was either too high, to low or shifted laterally to the right or left. I compensated by designing my label images to allow for the possibilty of them not printing centered. Then all hell broke loose one evening when the tray transport became jammed and I heard the gears jumping, sounding like a fifty caliber on a Cobra gun Ship. This happened several more times, each scaring the living crap out of me. After each of these events the aligment of images would go totally crazy by at least 1/2" in the vertical up or down direction. More than the Epson Print SW could compensate for. This is on top of the having to nudge the tray just about every time. So needless to say, I retired the Epson to only print from the paper feed.

Now that I have my Primera in the repair Shop, and having jobs I needed to print waiting on the bench, I decided it might be time to buy a replacement Epson. Yes It takes me a long time to learn.
Before I went out to hit the store, I decided to try my old Epson one more time just in case it MIGHT work as a disc printer again. By the way, I do not use the Epson Disc Print software any more. I am using another third party CD design and print software that I can't seem to remember the name of. I am at work right now. Anyway, believe it or not I have just finished over 300 perfect disc prints, perfectly aligned on that old beat up printer. No alignment problems. The tray still needs a tiny nidge to get going but I guess I can live with that. I don't have a clue what the hell happed between the time the disc print function had completely crapped out and now. Go figure!!!

[HillJack]

Make sure the arrows are correctly aligned on the tray and printer ... i also find that my r200 sometimes wont pull the tray in ... solution .. give it a hand by gently pushing the tray in when it starts to print

Whew, so it's not just me! Epson told me it was because my R200 is connected through a LAN (which is a load of crap). I think they're just avoiding the issue of crappy design and would rather blame the end-user.

I have been having this problem for ages now. My solution (that has worked for the most part) is to get some nasty-rough sandpaper and scratch-up the bottom side of the disc tray - the problem (for me atleast) is that the rollers that pull the tray in/out are having trouble gripping the tray, probably getting old/dusty/oily. Rough the under-surface of the tray up a lot and viola, works 99% of the time here - why Epson put a shiny piece of plastic through rubber rollers, which shows a lack of experienced engineering on their part, is beyond me.

[maldb]

I gave up on the R200 - the inconsistencies in the tray action, the nozzle-clogging, etc. I bought a Canon Pixma iP4200 (getting the tray for it) and 6000D (made the tray). You can "mod" the printer in 5 mins or less. very easy to do - even if you're not a tech geek.

FYI, if you decide to go the Canon route, try getting the older series such as the 4000, 5000, or 6000 as the ink cartridges are not chipped and you can easily get non-Canon carts whereas the 4200, 5200, and 6600 are chipped carts and you can only get the Canon carts - at around $15 per - no chump change.

Also, Outpost.com has the 6000D for $100 - super cheap (normally around $200+) - get it while you can. Good luck.

[classfour]

Two R200's, One R300 - same problem since new. I've always had to "nudge" them at the beginning of a print and pull them out at the end to avoid the "flashing red light of jam". Even the old SP900 that I had was a pain - it would feed okay, just couldn't hit the disc the same every time - see how long they lasted! I've become so used to the problem that I haven't bothered Epson with it - I'll either modify a Canon someday or upgrade to something else.

[Rich86]

All you guys are scaring me - but I am happy to report that so far, my Epson R320 has performed just fine printing to DVD and CD media. But I don't have the need to print high volumes of media either, so problems may be lurking off in the future.

[dun4cheap]

Can you explain in detail what it does exactly.

On mine I have both the new tray and old one. I push my tray in all the way. I don't use the guidelines. If I am using the new tray, I then back it off about an 1/8th of an inch once it is fully inserted. On the old tray when the printer goes to feed it in, I easily help the tray.

I have printed a atleast a thousand dvds with it. The new tray with the hard plastic feeds better and usually does not need the nudge.

[jtoolman2000]

Do the newer R Series printers come with the newer tray??? I would love to know before I buy a replacement.

[couchpotato]

Do the newer R Series printers come with the newer tray??? I would love to know before I buy a replacement.

Yes, they do. I used the R200 for the last year or so, but switched to the R220 last month. It is quicker than the R200 & works very good...

[SCDVD]

I suspect the tray handling varies from machine to machine but on my R200, I found that if I push the tray about 1/4" beyond the alignment arrows before I start printing, it works right every time. If I line up the arrows exactly, it will not work right 2 out of 3 times. You might experiment to see if you can find an alignment "sweet spot" on your printer.

[garryheather]

I'm beginning to think ebay is my printer's sweet spot...

[gwoiler]

I've got 2 of them. After 1000 DVD's I had to start the nudge thing. I took some heavy scotch tape and put 4 strips of tape under the tray right where the rubber rollers ride. That fixed it for a while. Using some rubber regiiuvinator liquid for printing press rubber rollers also fixed the problem for a while. I think I will try taping up the end plastic thingy and see wht happens. I am usually 2.5 minutes per disc to print. I wonder how much shorter it takes to print on a Canon printer?

glenn

[Supreme2k]

You may want to check out this thread.

[mowermanEd]

I believe my modded Canon ip5000 takes only 1min 30 seconds from start to finish to print a CD/DVD