HP Photosmart D5160: ink stains inside printer?

[stantheman1976]

I've had the printer for about a week and printed around 70 discs in color. I lifted the lid tonight and noticed ink on the top of the main lid and around where the ink cartridges are. Now I'm noticing some smudge lines on a few discs. Has anyone ever experienced this? Should I send the printer back immediately?

[RickA]

I have only printed black text on disc with my printer. Plus only a couple full color pictures on paper just to see what they look like. The inside of my printer looks pretty clean after almost a year and a couple hundred prints.

I can understand some splash effect from the printing. If the smudges are starting to get bad then I would definitely be concerned. Not sure if there is some way to clean the part that is causing the smudges. Sorry for not being more helpfull, maybe someone else can chime in.

Cheers,
Rick

[stantheman1976]

I was told by a printer guy at work that printing on the harder less absorbent surface of the disc will cause more overspray than normal. I cleaned out the inside with paper towels and windex and found the cause of the light smudging on the disc to be a roller that had gotten a bit of something stuck on it. Once I cleaned it thoroughly everything seems to be fine. I printed almost 100 discs in about 4 days and still have about 50 more to print so the printer is definitely getting abused.

I also Googled and found another person who said the same thing happened for the first few cartridges he ran through it and abated after that. So I'm going to hang onto the printer and just make sure I give it a regular cleaning if I'm printing a bunch.

[classfour]

I've seen a little of this with an Epson R200 (or R300). Check your settings to ensure that you're not applying ink onto the non-printable surface of the disc. Clean the rollers thoroughly - that's usually what is repeatedly smearing the ink. AND, Use a lint free item to perform the cleaning.

I did have one that repeatedly traced a line along the disc: I eventually found a small scrap of paper (from a misfeed) hanging beside the roller, wicking the ink from the jets and causing a smear.