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  1. anybody have any luck with modding an epson stylus c84?
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  2. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by axionjaxon
    anybody have any luck with modding an epson stylus c84?
    If I do, it will not show up here! Just found something that looks very similar to the Epson mod for sale. Had a nice newer model Epson that was going to be seen, but it will not now. I will not let others profit from my hard work.

    The only models that might be seen, are ALL of the models that other people sell! Fair for the goose is fair for the gander!

    Updated both guides, get 'em while they're hot!
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  3. I've got an old Lexmark 5700 kicking about.

    Is that similar, and could it be converted?
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  4. Got some 1mm plastic from a craft shop and had problems getting enough friction to pull the caddie through. So final and totally successful version. 1mm plastic cut CD hole as usual but use very very fine wet and dry sandpaper for the bottom and 100% success. Every disk perfect, What a brilliant and fun conversion. Many thanks again.
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  5. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by dp124
    Got some 1mm plastic from a craft shop and had problems getting enough friction to pull the caddie through. So final and totally successful version. 1mm plastic cut CD hole as usual but use very very fine wet and dry sandpaper for the bottom and 100% success. Every disk perfect, What a brilliant and fun conversion. Many thanks again.
    Good tip. Thanks.
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  6. What kind of DVD media should I print this on (good media with blank top)? Any suggestions or recomendations?
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    I found the Lexmark Color JetPrinter Z23 for $11.99 on-line on
    http://half.ebay.com/cat/buy/prod.cgi?cpidEQ1061595020AMPdomain_idEQ20AMPmeta_idEQ5

    I myself can't do this type of mod. Due to not having full use of my left arm. But for those who can. Maybe this will help..
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  8. Thanks for the link, I will check it out too.

    The Z23 is $19 at wallmart in my area, it does not have a black cartrig included or any extras, just the color cartrig.

    The Z25 is $35 at Wallmart, it has both the color and black cartriges included and also some 8.5x11 photo paper (maybe 10 pack kodak, forgot) and a disk for some program.

    Basically as far as I can see that's the only difference. Inside all parts are exactly the same to look at. You can't tell which is the Z23 or Z25 once you take it apart.

    So the question is, is the black cartrig and paper worth $15 to you?

    I have seen that if there is any color, then the colors are also mixed to make black instead of actually using the black. SO you don't need a black cartrig anyway.
    Even my Expensive Xerox printer does the same thing! Docuprint M750 Xerox, great print quality, but mixes color to make black! The printer was not working and I have it apart, just fixed it. This was the first time I actually saw what was being printed as it printed, and sure enough 3 colors make black!! No wonder the Black always lasted so long, I thought it was just becuase it was so much larger, but no, it's because it's seldom used! 90% of my printing has color on the page so it mixes them to make black too.
    So that should not be a problem that a cheap Lexmark mixes color, the Xerox was about $100 a few years ago when I bought it!

    I am building more Lemarks now. I need one for the office, home, and maybe give the kid one for her cd's too
    Every time she gets a new CD I make her create a backup and put away the real one. She doesn't get many, unless used or closeouts, but still! This printer mod isn't much more than the cost of a toy anyway, might make a good gift for those that can use one
    overloaded_ide

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  9. What kind of DVD media should I print this on (good media with blank top)? Any suggestions or recomendations?
    Better late than never I geuss

    I have printed some nice stuff on Silver toped Cd's and White Top DVDs, they must be inkjet printable disks of course. Not sure what brand the cd's are, but the DVDs are Ritek G04 and G03 white top inkjet printables I bought from rima.com

    And I have tested just to see what happens, and no you can't print a plain glossy white top disk, for anyone interested
    Basically it never dried, or if it did the pigment just sits on top and wipes off like sticky dust. I had a couple coasters I didn't care about so I tried just for the heck of it
    Ink beads up like a grainy looking image and wipes off with your finger after a month still!
    overloaded_ide

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    Do you know if CD labels made with Avery software could be used with this printer & software?
    Thanks Mike.
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  11. Member tweedledee's Avatar
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    Hey Village idiot, Are you any relation to McIvor? only he could do that.
    BTW if that's an idiots guide, I'm a moron.
    "Whenever I need to "get away,'' I just get away in my mind. I go to my imaginary spot, where the beach is perfect and the water is perfect and the weather is perfect. The only bad thing there are the flies. They're terrible!" Jack Handey
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  12. i just got hold of a Lexmark Z25 for £4 and got given a black ink for free so am going to try this

    where did the epson one go to as i have a epson siting here that mite be done its a 700


    ah well wish me luck and if you can think of anything that mite help me please tell in here he he


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  13. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by mike1061
    Do you know if CD labels made with Avery software could be used with this printer & software?
    Thanks Mike.

    Wow, somehow I missed this one, sorry.

    If you make your cady by printing form an avey template, then yes this will work with avery software. This will work with any software you wish to use, so long as that is the software you use to make the original caddy. You could of course change software after making this, but then you would have to mess around aligning the printing.
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  14. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by sc00terx
    i just got hold of a Lexmark Z25 for £4 and got given a black ink for free so am going to try this

    where did the epson one go to as i have a epson siting here that mite be done its a 700


    ah well wish me luck and if you can think of anything that mite help me please tell in here he he


    The epson guide has returned in its new and ugly form. Thank the rotten scum who would profit from other's work!
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  15. Hi,

    just wanted to mention THAT YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!
    I converted my Lexmark Z11 to a CD/DVD printer and the steps were very similar compared to the original guide. I was just sick and tired to pay so much money for these Z11 cartridges and got a Canon i850. Well - for this purpose the Lexmark is just right!

    Thanks again - and f... all these bastards that have stolen your idea.

    Vid
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    Thanks to this guide, I decided to see if I could pick up the Z25 cheap. Sure enough, Target had it for $34.99 + Tax. I've gotten tired of trying to get the alignment correct on the CD Stomper Click 'N Design template in my HP99Cxi. I've been contemplating getting the Epson CD printer but really didn't want to pay that price for only printing CD labels. I'm now glad I spotted this guide.

    I'm going to have my father-in-law help me with the mod this weekend - he should get a kick out that being he's just recently retired.

    Q: What software/template do you use to actually do the printing?
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  17. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    I normally use Photoshop for the images. But the nice thing is, you can use nearly any software that you want. Before you cut the hole in the caddy, you have to mark the spot to cut. So you simply need to make some kind of image that is the same size as the disks (12cm). Then you print that image onto your "blank" caddy material, and cut the hole. Now you have your own template to print with, so just fashion the artwork accordingly.

    If you cut the printer all the way across, you could use full letter size caddies, and then use an Avery template. If using an Avery template (the 2 disk at a time templates), I suggest only using 1 disk in the caddy. The second might get out of place, and jam the printer or atleast not align with the artwork. The circle outline I have pictured is the easiest method to define the edge of the disk. I use it as a layer in photoshop, and then just hide or delete that layer before printing. I also have another layer with a smaller circle for the inner hub. This circle is filled with white so that it doesn't print, and I make sure it is on top before printing. If you forget this step, it will only spray ink onto unprintable areas, which you will have to clean up before playing the disk.

    Over all, this Lexmark is slightly less consistant than the Epson 900 for alignment. But for the price it is hard to beat!

    I'll be printing some tests this weekend, and I'll put the results in the "true inkjetprintable" media post in the media forum.
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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    Thanks
    Mike.
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    Two things......

    I have a Canon BJC-4300. I thought I saw a post with instructions on how to convert it to print CD's and DVD's? Has anyone had any luck converting the Canon printers?

    Second......try the second hand stores to find these printers. Today I saw several that I have read could be modified. Older Epsons with the ink and several Canon and Lexmarks, most with the ink. I bought two today for $5.00 a piece and just refilled the cartridges, they both work perfect!

    Now I just need some direction on the modifications. The Canon seems to be the best to modify based on the rear feeding.

    Thanks everyone!
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  20. You should seriously think about buying and reselling these as CD/DVD printers. I'd bet you could get at least $100/each...especially for people like me who would love to do it but don't want to bother.
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  21. Member The village idiot's Avatar
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    Thought about it, but with the Epson 900 coming down to around $100, which would you rather have? The Epson 9XX and better are more reliable, and easier to operate. There comes a point of diminished returns. To make the sale worth the effort, you would need to make a $50 profit, and that brings the price up to about 90-100 dollars after you work in shipping and stuff. I can't see how companies like SuperImage can sell any of their modified Canon printers at the prices they are asking, I think the lowest price is more than $200.00. That's why using a more expensive model is pointless. I'm sure I could make a caddy to print about 15 or 20 disks in one pass for use on an Epson pro9500, but why?

    Used 900 printers should be showing up on Ebay any time now, and for less than $100. The only way to keep the price low enough is to find a sorce of the Z25 or Z23 for around $10 eack, then maybe selling them for $60-$70 would be OK.
    Hope is the trap the world sets for you every night when you go to sleep and the only reason you have to get up in the morning is the hope that this day, things will get better... But they never do, do they?
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  22. Originally Posted by The village idiot
    Thought about it, but with the Epson 900 coming down to around $100, which would you rather have? The Epson 9XX and better are more reliable, and easier to operate. There comes a point of diminished returns. To make the sale worth the effort, you would need to make a $50 profit, and that brings the price up to about 90-100 dollars after you work in shipping and stuff. I can't see how companies like SuperImage can sell any of their modified Canon printers at the prices they are asking, I think the lowest price is more than $200.00. That's why using a more expensive model is pointless. I'm sure I could make a caddy to print about 15 or 20 disks in one pass for use on an Epson pro9500, but why?

    Used 900 printers should be showing up on Ebay any time now, and for less than $100. The only way to keep the price low enough is to find a sorce of the Z25 or Z23 for around $10 eack, then maybe selling them for $60-$70 would be OK.
    Oh I didn't know prebuilt ones were that cheap.

    Nice hack tho.
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  23. Wow was I glad to fnd this post/guide.
    Thank you, thank you and THANK YOU!

    I was browsing/shopping for an inkjet DVD printer when I came across your guide

    And guess what?
    I just happen to have a Lexmark Z25 lying around that I don't use anymore!


    I'm going to give it a try.

    I only wish the pictures weren't watermarked.
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  24. This is an awesome instructional. I'm about 3/4 way done; I've hacked the frame - and havent done the print-head alignment yet.

    The lexmark z515 I got didnt come w/ cartridges, so I'm looking for waterproof black - I dont even need or want color - does anyone know if this printer will work without a color cartridge in there at all?
    www.RAIDGEAR.net -> Exotic camoflauge designs from video game environment to real life products. Wear them in the game, or for real!
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    Wow I just happen to have not one but two of these printers lying around in my pile of junk. I scored them as damaged goods from the freight company I work for but they both only had external scratches and otherwise worked fine.

    One problem I am having though is feed related. I find the only way I can get it to feed through properly is to push down on the top roller guide thingys witha screw driver slightly. I tried to increase the tension in the springs that hold them down but no luck. Ive also scored the cardboard that I am using for my caddy with lines to try and make it pull better. ANyone else get this problem and if so what did you do to fix it?
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    Thanks, Mr. Village. I ran across your “idiot's guide to making a Lexmark CD/DVD printer” while googling the net for reviews on CD/DVD printers. I recently bought a LightScribe CD/DVD burner but I’m not happy with the results from burning LightScribe labels. The 2 tone brown labels produced are hard to read and not very attractive AND it takes about 25 minutes to burn each LighrScribe label. I bought the LighrScribe burner because I didn’t like printing on label stock and placing them on CDs I always had alignment problems and I’m sure that some of my CD read problems on older CDs are caused by printed sticky labels. So after reading your article I thought I’d try modifying an old WORKING Lexmark Z43 my father-in-law gave me a few months ago into a CD/DVD printer.

    Thanks to your instructions and photos I thought I could make the required modifications even though my printer is a Lexmark Z43. I did have to read certain sections more than once to understand what & why certain modifications were being made and how it should be made to my Z43. To this point everything has worked great. I’m to the point of making the disk caddy. I’m making the first one out of cardboard from a cereal box like fellow modifier overload_ide.

    BUT, (yes there’s always a BUT) I must be missing something, because when I put the caddy blank into the printer so that about 2mm is seen past the pressure rollers, the paper feed light comes on and starts to blink. When the 12cm circle template is sent to the printer nothing happens. If I push the paper feed button, of course the paper feeds (caddy feeds). If I push the caddy up to just touching the feed rollers there is a switch that is activated and the paper feed light flashes. I tried de-activating this optical switch but then I get a paper jam error. I’ve tried many sequences but nothing seems to work. I’m sure I’m overlooking something and would appreciate ANY suggestions from anyone to help me resolve my problem. I can’t wait to get my CD/DVD Direct Label Printer working.

    Thanks for you efforts and I promise I won't sell MY CD/DVD Printer to anyone!
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