Epson R200/R300 Inkjet Printer

I picked up an Epson R200 photo printer ($100) this week for printing on CDs. I was wondering if anyone else is using one of these printers.

So far I've only printed on a few discs but I'm very impressed with the print quality. It isn't marketed as a photo printer for nothing! I'm printing on Taiyo-Yuden matte white discs at 1440dpi. These discs are sold as "matte" but appear more satin than matte and look very nice. My initial impression was that the means for feeding the disc into the printer is a little Mickey Mouse but it seems to work ok. At least the disc remains perfectly still while the print head moves over it. There is a narrow border (1/16" to 3/32"or so) on the outside and inside of the label layout but I don't really mind it too much, especially considering the price of this printer vs. the more expensive alternatives. I expect to have occassional trouble with clogged jets, a seemingly chronic problem with Epsons. Since I already own a C80 and an 820 I'm used to it and have resigned myself to wasting my share of ink running cleaning cycles from time to time.

I really enjoy replicating vintage record labels on my compilation CDRs and this is a big step up from CD Stomper! No more worries about dried out adhesive causing disc jams in CD players a few years from now!

Before I made the purchase I searched the web for reviews that specifically covered the printing on CDs. I didn't find much info. Hopefully my information will be useful to someone else!

 

I'm using the 300 and I love it. The only problem I have is with the first disc printed. Sometimes it grabs the tray and pulls it through the printer and then will shoot it back out. After the initial problem it works great. By the way... you can adjust the inner and out diameter under "file". You can use the cds with small diameter center and just aboout completely cover the face of the disc. The other problem is the price of the replacement ink. The lowest price I have found is $42 for a combo package of all 6 carts.

 

Thanks for the tip about adjusting the inner and outer diameters. I'm sure there are a lot of little things like that that I will learn over time. $42 for all six tanks isn't that bad, relatively speaking. They virtually give you the printer and then rob you blind on the ink! And unfortunately it isn't just Epson...