Build your own CD printer?

[AmeliaK]

Where it the Guide and how did the printing go?

Cheers
Amelia

[The village idiot]

The guide is in the guides section. And I don't have any printable media yet, so I can only refer to pictures it has printed in the past. It has the same resolution as the early EZCD printer, in 4 colors. It will be nearly photographic on the right media. I'm not sure how good the coating on the disks is going to be. Most of what I see suggests that the coating is really only good for about 720x720. But I'll find out soon. And it is so cheap that satisfaction is guaranteed. I could see being unhappy with a $300USD printer that has only average quality, but $30 printer is a whole other story.

Here's the link:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=640931#640931

[The village idiot]

I just tried my really expensive inks on a non-printable CD. And before you start by saying that it won't work.... How many of you have tried it?

Well, how many? I know you thought about it, but how many have tried it?




Well I did try it. And the results were an extreme failure! But at least I tried, and this ink might have done the job. Oh well, nothing really lost.

Now you can go back to saying it won't work, with confidence that it has been tried with the best the inkjet world can muster up for ink.

[AmeliaK]

Good on you for testing it.

The reason this whole project started for me, was when I labelled a DVD of mine it wouldn't play on some (most) DVD players, and when I went to buy another spindle of Princo I had the choice of $90AUD for Standard ones and $95 for Blank Printable Inkjet ones then when I got home I had the need to print . . . . you know what its like.

Cheers
Amelia

BTW: Good Guide, guess its my turn next

[gmatov]

My congrats to both of you.

I think you should do the entire job yourselves rather than tell others how to do it, not to keep the intellectual property to yourselves, but because too many people would not have the least idea what you are talking about.

Most people are not even going to understand the part about sticking a screwdriver into the seperation of the case and the base to get the cover off.

Hell, I am a mechanic, and I had to probe and pry to get the cover off an HP and a Canon to repair them. At least those brands are a bugger to get apart.

Get this down to a simple mod, and start selling them yourselves, or modding them. Probably better to sell, as mod would require shipping both ways.

I don't have an Epson, or I might have joined in.

Cheers,

George

[iooi]

Time to dig that old epson 400 out of the loft and have a go me thinks. Even though i have a 900 this looks like fun...

[The village idiot]

The big reason to chose the Epson is the piezo printhead. The thermal printheads (all the others) Are great for a lowcost printhead. But they limit the kinds of ink that can be used!

The Epson I modded is a very cheap device. You can get them for a few dollars, and since you will not be able to print onto anything but CD/DVD's again, it makes sense to use an old machine.

As far as selling the mods. I prefer the free flow of info method. The only reason I did this project was to have something to give back to this community. Also to get my mind off some problems. It semed ike a worthwhile project. I hope people are ordering this series of printer from Ebay or elsewhere. For about $30USD you can get one of these that works, and for no more money (except ink) produce a CD/DVD printer. The software I use is posted above, and is free. You can customize the templates to fit your disks, etc....

I also checked out some of the new HP printers. Here are links to the models:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho/WF06b/18972-236251-64340-15100-f12-305336-305338-330924.html

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho/WF06b/18972-236251-236261-14438-f13-305967-305...69-305971.html

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho/WF06b/18972-236251-236261-14438-f13-305946-305...48-305950.html

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/ho/WF06b/18972-236251-236261-14438-f13-304534-304...36-304538.html

I think one of these is the one Amelia is modding.

What sets these printers aside is the way they feed the paper. It has a front mounted paper supply. Which means that the paper must make a complete direction reversal in the printer. Bad you say for CD's as they do not bend. But upon closer inspection, I found that there is a cover on the back of each printer. This cover is most likely to help you clear the common paper jam. It pops right off. You may now have a straight through paper path. The big problem with the HP's is their inability to feed thick paper! Notice the Epson required NO shims to bring the heads up high enough! SO if these HP printers can be modified, there are many choice for a new printer. And it might retain the ability to print onto paper after the mod.

I also looked at the Epson C62. It will take some MAJOR changes to make it feed CD's. This is not a project I want to attempt! The media path is very small. Epson does not want you feeding media more than about 0.5 mm thick. The caddy for a CD printer must be about 1.5mm thick. The disk is about 1 mm plus you need a backer to keep the disk from being scratched.

I might buy an HP if I can get it cheap enough. And do a mod on it. That one would go for sale afterwards. How many printers do I need. I thought about selling modded printers. But that just seems to take the fun out of it. I hack this stuff for fun, if I do it for money, then it is just a job. Maybe as my back account dwindles in the coming months, I'll change my mind. Maybe Baldrick will cut me a break on advertising prices. Who knows. Maybe the Sharoie will continue to reign supreme!

If you are going to buy a printer specifically to print CD's, I really suggest buying an OLD Epson. It is the easiest conversion to be found! Next go with a new HP. I did not check the Canon printers yet. Look forward to my thoughts on those in the future! These printers are not meant to be an ALL IN ONE printer. You have to spend money for those. They are meant to be a CD/DVD/anything else that requires a caddy printer. They are meant to be additional to your normal paper printer. Otherwise I would suggest one of the new combo printers. Or if you prefer, one of the pro model Epsons starting with the model 1520 and working up from there to the Epson 9600 beasty. The 1520 will require some mods. I can help with those too, as I have one and the service manual.

Again, these are meant to be additional printing devices. Consider them like a poor persons Primera pro. If you want the highest quality, go buy a good CD only printer. If you want the thrill of making it yourself, these are the mods for you! I hope people will start working on these 2 mods. I know that many people out here will be able to accomplish these mods. And it is WAY CHEAPER than a $180USD printer that will do the EXACT same thing, with the same quirks. But maybe I'm just trying to find something that I can be the expert at. And maybe nobody is really interested. How much do you have to lose? How much are labels costing you? For the price of a good label starter kit, you could build one of these. As the popularity of printable disks increases, the price will drop. There have been many discussions about labels messing up your playback, this seems like a good homegrown, grassroots way to fix that problem. Again, it was something to do, now it is done. If anyone wants to join in, I'm more than happy to help as much as I can. If you want to mod a different printer, that's OK too. Just make sure you have a way to take pictures, and I'll help you to figure out what needs to be done. As many people have stated, they are bored with answering the same questions over, and over, ad absertium (sp?). Here is something new! No one has tried this before, and the only reason I beat Amelia to the finish, is I am out of work at the moment. So I had lots of time to throw at it. I think the Epson mod could be done in one weekend. I think it could be done in one night if you are mechanically inclined and have all the tools you would need. A dremel or other rotary cutter is key! That will make life very easy for you. I do think I will try one of the HP's. If I find one on sale I'll buy it. If someone wants to send me a printer, I'll work on it for you (no charge). I'm in the NorthEasten USA. But it must be a model that has not been done before, and you must be willing to receive a non working device when it returns. I make no guarantee that all the listed possibilities can actually be done I also prefer that you be a regular contributing member. Someone that is simply too lazy to do it yourself and wants it done for them cheap, I'm not going to do that. If I know you buy another name, and you use a different name here, we can do that too.

Treading new ground here. And I'll gladly lead, if anyone will follow!

What a rambling. Did anyone actually read all that?

[The village idiot]

Time to dig that old epson 400 out of the loft and have a go me thinks. Even though i have a 900 this looks like fun...

That printer should work just like the 640. The only difference was the resolution. The 400's were only 720x720. Still plenty for a disk. Do you have a camera? Would be most interested in helping out!

[The village idiot]

Updated some info about the caddy and the other models that this mod should work with.

[iooi]

That printer should work just like the 640. The only difference was the resolution. The 400's were only 720x720. Still plenty for a disk. Do you have a camera? Would be most interested in helping out!

Have a camera, but my problem is a time based one, more than willing to give it a go.
I will see how it goes. Will post pics if i get chance.

[The village idiot]

Mostly wanted to known about a camera because it is easier for me to trouble shoot if I can see the problem. No need for photos if everything looks the same, and you have no problems.

[iooi]

Looking good so far have removed all parts needed, will have to take back feed case to work to cut out as we have a dremmel which will do nicely. Height adjustment for print head is easy as there is already a height adjuster for paper which still had some movement to spare which allowed enough for it to clear caddy from epson 900.

Just been looking at my 900 and notice that when you lift leaver to allow caddy to enter printer it also lifts pizza wheels at front out of the way.

[The village idiot]

Just been looking at my 900 and notice that when you lift leaver to allow caddy to enter printer it also lifts pizza wheels at front out of the way.

OH..... When you get some time, I would love all of the pictures that you can find the time for of your Photo 900 and how it works. Don't take it apart or anything. Just all the observeable parts. You have a big advantage in that you have a Manufactured CD printer to compare with the mod printers. You have just become VERY valuable to the cause! Thank you for trying the mod, and for comparing the 2 printers. I find that a dremel with the large fiberglass cutting wheels works best. Try not to let the plastic melt, but some of that can not be avoided.

If your 400 works well enough, I would use it for the cd's and use a more expensive pigment ink in it. It takes a little extra work to get the colors correct. but the pictures will last longer. They are also then water proof.

ANyone have a non working photo 900 or EZCD model based on Epson printers they want to donate? I might be able to return it as a working machine afterwards. I'm itching to work on another.

[magicmycote]

Village..can you suggest a range of Epson printers that would work using the same modifications as you list in your guide? I've gathered from this thread that 400-640 would take the same modifications (and accept the required thickness), but what is the full range of working Epsons? tia

[The village idiot]

The full range is unknown. Any of them that look like they have the same case should work. But no guarantee. I have a repair book for the 600, and it seems to be OK. Also the old 900 should work. As far as I can tell, the 600,640,660 are 3 that share the same parts. The 400,440,460? seem to be the same printer with 720x720 heads. But again, not sure. Maybe a 610,620,630 also. If I find any at a used PC store, I'll check them out. You can get the 640 on Ebay for about $30USD after shipping, but of course Buyer Beware. Not everyone selling is up front about problems.

I would say that if you have an old Epson that looks the same, it's a good bet it will work. If it isn't the exact same, chances are good it will still work.

[The village idiot]

Looking through the Epson site, these models would be a good bet. All are older Stylus Color. There are a few models in the middle that will not work the same.

400,440,500,580,600,640,660,670,670SE,740,740SE,74 0i

Other than those, I can't recommend checking the others.

[magicmycote]

Thank you sir, you've given me lots of options when I nose around used computer parts stores

[The village idiot]

You might want to print the guide and take it with you for comparison.

I would try for the 6XX series if you have a choice. They have a higher resolution from what I remember. The 7xx would be good too.

The paper feed and the case are the 2 main concerns. The 8XX and 9XX have too much case to cut through. Again, this is all from pictures on the Epson site. The only model I guarantee is the 640

[The village idiot]

New poll in my signature. Doing research to see if this is worth while, or a waste of server space.

[snafu099]

Hi all. new to thread but have tried to read all the post regarding mod printers for cd/dvd. the guide for epson 640 seems beyond my abilities but curiosity peaked with ameliak post about using hp.

I have an hp810 which has the removeable back giving access to striaght thru feed and can feed disc using a "heavy paper caddy" without doing any mod to printer. Problem is of timeing the insert. did you find solution for this? if so what was it. I have not seen a follow up post other than that you did 4 great dvd's

[LittleMac]

I have a Canon BJC-4300 with a straight through feeder. I could have sworn I saw a link somehere to modify this printer. Can anyone help me find it?

Thanks everyone!

[EAO]

Thanks for the mod instructions. We've got a PC show in my area on Saturday and I intend to pick up a used Epson if available.

A somewhat related question. Since my current stack of DVD's (Memorex DVD+R) play just fine after I take a Sharpie to them... is there any reason to believe that they would not work after a dump all this ink on them? Or am I limited to the 'printable' media only.

I mean to test it anyway, but if someone already knows, then please share.

[The village idiot]

Test it if you want, but it won't work. I've already tried, and it just makes a mess. You will need Inkjet Printable disks.

[Andylitt]

First, my thanks to the Village Idiot for his excellent guide to modding an Epson. I have just finished the mods to an old Epson 600 I found in a dumpster and to an Epson 460 I bought in working condition for AUD $20. The plan was to practise on the 600, as it initially wasn't working very well, and then make the working 460 the final product, but as I ran the 600 the print quality got better and better til now it works fine. Toss in a set of ink refills, and now two working CD/DVD printers for 40 bucks!!I had to do a couple of extra things to the printers that weren't in the guide to get them to work well (I don't know how they could work without them), so if any one else is interested I'll post the extra mods I had to do. I am printing on inkjet printable cd-r's on the "Best" and "Photo Quality Inkjet Paper" settings, and am very happy with the results (although they can be a bit dark). Most of the fiddling around was with the disk caddies (mine are still heavy cardboard) and getting things to print in the right place, but as I said, two printers now for not a lot of work. How good is that!!