thermal printers?

[terramir]

I have been reading some threads and I have a question are thermal printers able to print directly to all media?
I mean the meadia is plastic or in case of my orange ritek it's darn paint already on there will a termal printer just print to that.
also another question how much is on that can print thew whole surface with different colors or is there no such animal yet?
terramir

[disturbed1]

You should have a smooth surface for a thermal printer.

The casio disc printer is a single color thermal transfer printer, it only prints one section, one color at a time. Best suited for putting a title at the top and a track list at the bottom (like audio CDs). If you're creative and have enough fonts installed, you can get fantastic results. Logos print fine, graphics are another story. You can edit the image and flatten the colors to make the image look ok, but it's better just to use fonts and small logos. Ribbons come in black, silver, red, blue, and green. The text output and logo detail are second to none. Sharp crisp and clear down to the smallest fonts. Much better than any inkjet printer, and rivals most expensive lasers. It is sold as a Title Printer so keep that in mind. Ribbons cost $6-$10 each, and will get you 20-25 (top and bottom) prints.

Full coverage, full color thermal printers run $2400 and up.

[energy80s]

I also have a TDK thermal printer and agree that it does produce excellent results.

[terramir]

what options are avalible in the lower priced thermal printers and does anyone know how it works what sort of ink/dye is used. And what process the machine uses etc.
let me know I need some more info. I use labels now but they are troblesome and if you put them on wrong the dvd is fried
I lost a few last night with air bubbles and such which really sucked My cd-labeler 2from hp doesn't really do a good job with the clear labels I have but with the paper one's it's of I might have to get myself another labeler for the other ones. But if I could use a thermal printer it would be great it's just sort of a bummer that you just have like two strips avalible I wish I could get more coverage

terramir

[chaseru]

I owned a Primera Inscripta thermal printer. It will print the whole disc in one pass but with only up to two colors (unless you swap out the ribbon cartridge with a different color). These printers can be had for about $1,000 on ebay used or as refurbs.

As mentioned earlier, full color thermal printers are >$2,000.

I'm not sure how thermal printers work exactly. But the thermal printers use a ribbon of film that is applied to the disc with some sort of heating process "thermal". The printed surface is very durable and not subject to smearing or problems with moisture like labels or ink-jet printed discs are.

I sold my Inscripta as I have no need for a high volume printer any longer. My Casio works fine for me now.

I haven't found a disc yet that I couldn't use with a thermal printer, either the Inscripta or the cheap Casio. Branded discs that have an uneven surface can cause problems if you want to print on the entire disc - but I usually can find a portion of the disc that is smooth enough to print a title at least.

For low cost thermal printers I am only aware of the Casio CW-50 and CW-75. The 50 can be found for under $100. The 75 has a keypad so it doesn't need to be attached to a PC to work and its about $50 more.

[OmegaSupreme]

Inkjet printers like the Epson R300 can print full color for under $200.00 with great results. You do need inkjet media.