CD Duplicators...

[rhosk]

Duplicators AND / OR CD laser printers, I guess the kind that actually etches the image onto the CD? I have no clues...Any experience/recommendations out there?

Thanks.

[Adam]

The printers that etch the image onto the disk is called lightscribe by HP. I have not seen a printed disk to date but I will take a guess that a printed disk would look better.

I have seen the Everst Rimage in action and I can say that these CD prints look amazing, better than screen printed fore sure:
http://www.rimage.com/products_detai...verest_II.html

Adam Kapilik

[eric_darling]

Lightscribe is a pretty limited technology, as I see it. It's not built for mass production - you can only do one at a time, and it requires use of a computer's disc drive, which means manually swapping discs constantly if you've got a lot to do. Furthermore, it's monochrome, which is good for only a limited number of jobs. I hear it's pretty slow, to boot.

Inkjet printing is the most short-term economical solution for most people.
Look at the Primera Bravo series of printers. They are robotically loaded, and can handle up to 100 discs at a time. They cost less than most competing products, and the quality of the print is very good. But, if your quantity goes over, say, 1,000 or so discs per month, these become expensive to operate since the ink cartridges are relatively small.

I have heard very good reports about the HP Print Factory II. In fact, I'm about to upgrade to one of those in the near future.

If you're just doing a couple of discs at a time, you might want to look at one of the Epson printers that handles the job of disc printing. I think the R200 does it, and I'm sure other models as well.

Thermal printers are cost-prohibitive for most situations. They're nice because the print is not water soluable. But, they're probably no cheaper than inkjet in the long run since ribbons are expensive and run out relatively quickly.

As for DVD/CD duplicators, you want to go tower. I don't use the burners in the Primera printers that we own - far too slow. I actually build our own towers from parts I compile from several vendors. I can generally save about 40% by doing it myself, and I can ensure myself of the components in each tower. Things like power supply, controller, drive model are all important considerations. I stick to Pioneer for the burners. The sweet spot is the 1-7 tower configuration since those cases are most plentiful. But I do have a 1-9 tower in operation too.

[Adam]

Thermal printers are cost-prohibitive for most situations

Yeah the ribbon is expensive and the unit is $4000+ but this produces the best results from a stand alone unit.

Screen print is another good option but it usually requires 500+ units to make it cost effective. The up side is that the image looks slightly better and is not water soluble.

I think that the single worst part of inkjet CD printers is that they are water soluble. So an oily finger can smudge it. I've heard of a coating that you can put over inkjet printed disks that will reduce smudging.

I actually build our own towers from parts I compile from several vendors

We did this as well and have had great results. You can generally fit 7-8 drives in a tower with a control unit and a hard drive.

Adam Kapilik

[eric_darling]

There are two options for coating an inkjet printed disc.

First, you can spray on an art coating. This is not recommended, though, since any of the sprayed material that gets on the data side of the disc would be bad news.

Second, you can invest in an Accent laminator from Primera. I hear very good things about it, and the cost per disc is pretty good.

[Corey]

Primera gear seems to have pretty good performance and a decent price point from what I hear.

[rhosk]

Thanks again everyone! I knew I could get some expert opinion here Print Factory II looks good so far. Although you have to purchase the cartridges seperately? Off to research. Primera next.

[Intrigued]

For sure! Some good information on CD duplicators!

*Eric... thanks from over here*

[longedge]

This question has come up before in this thread. We had an unhappy experience experience with a Primera duplicator and finally got a full refund on it and bought a Verity Systems unit instead which so far has proved 100% reliable. Obviously you can't draw much of a conclusion on a sample of 1 though

[rhosk]

Great, more links, thanks longedge!