Epson R300 Tray Problems (Epsons words of wisdom?)

[edo]

I've been having the common problem of 'DVD tray spit out' that seems to be a feature of the R300 (&200).
I emailed epson tech support and thought I'd share their pearls of wisdom.
Maybe I'm biased but it seems that they are saying that the R300 should not be used to print discs!!!!

-------------------
From Epson:
e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre
The R300 is advertised as a basic home/office printer which has the ability to print on CD's as a side feature. This is just a warning for future use, as if you use the printer for CD printing as it's soul purpose then a fault will ocuur.
-------------------
From me to Epson:
Thanks for your reply.
I have enough operating room around the printer, as
I said, it does work half the time.
Are you seriously suggesting that the R300 should not
be expected to perform it's advertised functions?
It had only printed at most 15 DVD's when it started to
malfunction. This can hardly be thought of as the 'duty
life cycle' under any circumstances!
The problem as I see it is that the DVD tray is not of
a suitable standard. The rest of the printer is fine.
I understand that this is a known fault and that a
revised 'fit for purpose' replacement tray is available.
Your further views would be appreciated.
Many Thanks,
---------------------
From Epson:
Thank you for contacting EPSON e-mail support.
Please be warned that the unit you have is not a CD printer. Although it
has the ability to print on to CD's it is not as I say designed to mainly
print CD's so you will continue to experience problems should you print out only CD's/
How much room do you leave at the back of the printer? you will need to
ensure there is about 11 inches at the back spare for the tray to feed
through.

Regards,

e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre

[adam]

That is a ridiculous answer. My DVD player isn't designed to ONLY play VCDs either, but it is advertised as supporting VCDs so that's what it has to do.

If you look at those printers on their website it says, "Prints directly on ink jet printable CDs/DVDs." If the printers cannot do this then they do not comport with their advertised function. This is a clear example of a deceptive trade practice.

I can't imagine this is actually Epson's policy, it sounds more like a mistake on the part of one of their customer support members. I'd ask to speak with a manager. Luckily I haven't had any problems with my tray yet.

[p_l]

From Epson:
Thank you for contacting EPSON e-mail support.
Please be warned that the unit you have is not a CD printer. Although it
has the ability to print on to CD's it is not as I say designed to mainly
print CD's so you will continue to experience problems should you print out only CD's/[...]

Regards,

e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre

[Choptop]

My R300 has constantly spit the tray out the back since I bought it.
I have found that if you hit print WITHOUT the tray in place, wait until it says "error no tray" then put in the CD tray and push the little grey error reset button, it has worked for me every time.

[DeadLily]

This is just a warning for future use, as if you use the printer for CD printing as it's soul purpose then a fault will ocuur.

"It's soul purpose?" (literally translates to "it is soul purpose")

Do Epson printers have souls? When they break, do they go to heaven or hell?

Sounds like Epson's reps didn't quite get a very good high school grammar education either....

[hiptune]

I've been having the common problem of 'DVD tray spit out' that seems to be a feature of the R300 (&200).
I emailed epson tech support and thought I'd share their pearls of wisdom.
Maybe I'm biased but it seems that they are saying that the R300 should not be used to print discs!!!!

-------------------
From Epson:
e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre
The R300 is advertised as a basic home/office printer which has the ability to print on CD's as a side feature. This is just a warning for future use, as if you use the printer for CD printing as it's soul purpose then a fault will ocuur.
-------------------
From me to Epson:
Thanks for your reply.
I have enough operating room around the printer, as
I said, it does work half the time.
Are you seriously suggesting that the R300 should not
be expected to perform it's advertised functions?
It had only printed at most 15 DVD's when it started to
malfunction. This can hardly be thought of as the 'duty
life cycle' under any circumstances!
The problem as I see it is that the DVD tray is not of
a suitable standard. The rest of the printer is fine.
I understand that this is a known fault and that a
revised 'fit for purpose' replacement tray is available.
Your further views would be appreciated.
Many Thanks,
---------------------
From Epson:
Thank you for contacting EPSON e-mail support.
Please be warned that the unit you have is not a CD printer. Although it
has the ability to print on to CD's it is not as I say designed to mainly
print CD's so you will continue to experience problems should you print out only CD's/
How much room do you leave at the back of the printer? you will need to
ensure there is about 11 inches at the back spare for the tray to feed
through.

Regards,

e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre

This is interesting. I just read a hundred posts looking for something on this exact problem. I have almost used up my first batch of ink cartridges. And now I wonder if I should junk this machine and get a R200, rather than waste the new ink on a printer that may continue to jam 60% of the time, and perhaps get worse.

I just printed 100 discs for a professional job. And on the lasy 30 or so discs, the printer would glide the tray in too far out the back and then post error. I got the job done, but it was not easy. It was only black text on white discs.

Does the R200 get better marks for this tray issue, or are they the same exact design? I may toss this son of a bitch in the trash and get a new R200.

[RickTheRed]

Does the R200 get better marks for this tray issue, or are they the same exact design? I may toss this son of a bitch in the trash and get a new R200.

I am afraid they share the same tray/design.
I thought that the R300 has fixed this.

I've printed hundreds of cds/dvds and it spits out the tray once in a while, on the first disc when the printer was off for a week or so. There is thread on this with a few suggestions on how to fix this...

[Bodyslide]

My brother has an R200, he was having the issue. He called Epson and they sent him a replacement tray for free. With the replacement tray he has no issues with the new one. I have been using my R200 for about 2 months and have burned well over 400+ DVD-R's and it hasn't happened to me yet. Hope my luck continues.

[DEMEN]

I did a "Head cleaning" every time I had a problem with the tray (spit out), and it worked!... Please note that if you don't use R300 for a week, you have to do the "Head cleaning" task first before printing and you'll have less chance to get the tray problem. And one more tip is never turn the R300 off (to me, I always leave it on all the time), if you do, you will notify how much ink that you'll loose every time you turn off and on and off the R300..... I have 2 R300 printers and printed more than 1000 DVD-R and yes I did have that problem once for a while...

[DEMEN]

Oops I forgot to mention that the R300 and R200 used the same engine.... R200 has less features than R300 and you can't take the "USED" R200 ink cartridges (not the empty ones) to put or to use for the R300 and v... v.... Otherwise, ink will be ripped out off the cartridges....

[mikel]

The only problem I've had with the tray was that it would spit out (or through) when the pliable clear plastic front edge was bent down a bit too far.
(esp the front left corner) A light-handed bending of it, back upward,
would fix it.
note: if you hear a clicking soung when inserting the tray, to align the
triangles, this is prolly the problem.
Hope this helps.

[DVWannaB]

I agree that the customer service person has not a clue.

I too have had intermitten probs with my R300. First was becuase I did not give enough room in the back of the printer (11 inches). Then, after I fixed the space issue, from time to time it would just not print and give an loading error.

It has the really strange operation (like a tango dance routine) where it slides all the way through the back, then all the way to the front, then half way in, then back again to get in position to print. Its weird. All that back and forth movement is not very ingenious and seems to be a waste of motion. Why not click print, then have it go right in position to print. I guess nobody thought of that (KISS)

My suggestion to all, and I do this, is to slide the tray in very slowly until it gets to the marker point......... and then cross your fingers.

[harley2ride]

I've printed dozens of photos and CD/DVDs on my R300, and have not had a single problem. And mine sits for weeks between uses. Am I just lucky?

[hiptune]

A few dozen is nothing, the problem begins after you have printed more like a hundred or so. And this does not concern photos, only CD/DVD discs through the R200 or R300.

Thanks for comments.

[Bodyslide]

On my first tray, I removed the plastic fingers. When I use that tray, I have to push the tray all the way into the printer where it rests just up against the inside rollers.

[hiptune]

On my first tray, I removed the plastic fingers. When I use that tray, I have to push the tray all the way into the printer where it rests just up against the inside rollers.

Yes, but dosent the machine back the tray out a bit when it first begins? And that tray works some of the time? Or was this a good try that solved nothing?

[Bodyslide]

On mine I place the tray into the rollers and press print and it pulls it in with no issues.

[dun4cheap]

My R200 has been replaced already. The first one epson sent out was cracked. So they sent me another. I kept both sets of cartridges and sent it the broken ones back.

As for the tray, I push the tray in all the way until it stops. Hit print and it does the rest. I don't even bother aligning the aerows up. I let the epson do it. So far no problems with this one. I have printed about 500 DVDs.

It would be great though just to have a dedicated auto loading DVD/cd printer.

[jaxxboss]

Cant believe they are stopping Cannon from using the cd/dvd print function because of patent issues. Maybe cannon can do it and claim it's not patent infringemnt because their tray works all the time!

[krupted]

for those who still have slipping problems-

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254955

[hiptune]

for those who still have slipping problems-

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=254955

I have read very very little about people having slipping problems. It has been disc is rejected, or the feeder pulls the disc too far in (and out the back), and needs to be reloaded again in front, over and over again until the printer finally will not print on discs.

The slipping problem must be rare.

[krupted]

hmmm, ive read numerous reports of slipping trays, try a google search.

[jaxxboss]

its everything. Slipping, goiung too far in , coming back out too far, slipping and stoppimg, etc..
I had the R200 for about 7 months and it finally went kapoop on me, so i broke out the r300 I had in reserves. a month into it and its starting to act up with these probs. I want the cannon!!

[nerys]

the plastic fingers are annoying (over 1000 prints here at LEAST) I cut them off I have to "help" the tray in initially till it "grabs" it but no poblems otherwise and I have never had it spit out the back (r200 and r300)

Chris Taylor
http://www.zodiacreview.com/

[mjmchase]

I too have been recently having problems with my R200, have made maybe 70 prints so far, today I tried the "print without the DVD tray loaded trick" and it worked well for me. Hit the middle button on the top of the printer when the printer icon started bouncing and it pulled it right in.

[Padre]

I've had my two R200's for a while now, and they both have the problem of not pulling in the tray - needing a nudge to get it going. One of them also has the problem of pushing it out the back, but only once in a while. I'm going to try the Taping trick tonight to see if that helps.

Great printed output, but lousy paper/cd path!

[Toaster]

I tried taping the edge of my cd-tray for my R300M, since it would not pull it back in without a manual nudge from me. Didn't work. Well, let me explain, it would pull the tray back in no problem, and no nudge from me- but would always push it out saying tray load error, re-load tray and press the maintenance button

I tried with 1 layer of packing tape, 2 layers of packing tape. Trimmed the tape to fit the edge perfectly, didn't trim the tape... no success from me.

[hiptune]

Re: R300

My only real concern is the question of replacing Ink Cartridges in this declining machine.

Since the print quality has not gone downhill yet, and the tray still works (just some glitches, not dead) so far. I did put a new black cart in. But the second the prints look anything less than perfect, I am pulling out all the ink, and tossing this unit into the trash. I mean I will try the head cleaning once, but basically, I feel its a good idea to have a new one in the box on hand. Drop the old ink into the new machine, and save the new ink for refills.

I sense Epson knows they have a good printer with short disc print lifespan, and must be working a new design that will assure buyers don't drift to other makers. Help will arrive soon.

Jeff

[george_alass]

I too have problems with my R300 tray. I had to cut the clear plastic leader off when it became so warped it stopped feeding entirely. Does anyone know where I can buy a replacement tray in Canada? I asked compassmicro and they said they were not allowed to ship to Canada. I can't find the tray anywhere on the Epson web sites, but perhaps I am looking in the wrong spot.

[nurvware]

Ive just spent the last 3 hours trying to figure out the cd printing feature on my R200.

I have miss-placed my cd so i don't know if there is an application for designing your cds, so, using trial and error, i have set up a photoshop template.

Here if any one wants it, i think ive got the positions about right. networxs.co.uk/epson_r200_cd_template.rar

All night i have been having problems with the printer sometimes printing and most of the time just spitting the tray out again and then the middle button light begins to flash, i then have to go through powering off, shut manual tray, power on, lower manual tray when ready, uncheck "use printer offline" in windows and load the cd & tray again.

Now to the point, i have noticed when you load the tray, select print on the pc, when the print head begins to move, it kicks the tray out slightly. This then causes the printer to reject the tray.

For the last part of the evening, i have been loading the tray, pressing print, as sson as you hear the printhead move, push the tray in again, before the printer starts to feed the tray itself.

Note, pushing to late may mess up the printer aligning the tray and reject the tray again.

So good so far.

Hope this observation may help.