DIY CD/DVD inkjet labels... OK to use or not?

I'm giving some CDs to a client but I want to make them look a little more professional, in addition to putting my print release right on the CD. I have no experience with these so I'd like to get some opinions. Are these OK to use? Are there any reliability/longevity issues? I read one review where it was recommended to NOT use these on DVDs. Is there a difference?

Any help is appreciated.

You need a printer that prints directly onto printable cdrs/dvds. Epson has a few and I'm sure others do as well. The labels can cause problems when the cd/dvd gets warm they can seperate from the cd/dvd and gum up a player. If you are wanting to do it as cheaply as possible the Epson Artisan 50 is probably your best bet. and if you want to make them waterproof/smear proof you spray the finished printed cd/dvd with a acrylic clear gloss coat.

That Artisan 50 looks pretty nice. Have you used it? How waterproof/smearproof are the printed CDs sans-clear coat?

or I could mod a Canon Pixma iP6600D...

JDubya wrote in post #10192586
That Artisan 50 looks pretty nice. Have you used it? How waterproof/smearproof are the printed CDs sans-clear coat?

or I could mod a Canon Pixma iP6600D...

I highly agree with the suggestion to use an inkjet printer rather than attempting to use adhesive labels. You can go with one of the Epson pigment printers or one of the lower-end dye Epson or HP printers that print CDs.

I've found the Epson printers to have significantly better image quality than the HP printers.

The dye inks are not waterproof on discs (regardless what they say about being waterproof on paper). There is a brand of Taiyo Yuden disks that is water resistant, but otherwise you need to lightly spray the disk with an acid-free fixative to make them waterproof. I personally like the Taiyo Yuden silver inkjet dics--the silver finish gives the labels a very nice 3D effect.

Also, I'd recommend going with a third party disc printing software rather than what comes with the printer. These low-end printers work well, but you're not buying them for life. I recommend Acoustica CD Label Printer (www.acoustica.com). It's inexpensive, very powerful, quite intuitive, and kept rapidly updated to every printer on the market (even LightScribe). That way, when you change printers you won't have orphaned file formats.

Is the Artisan 50 a "dye" or "pigment" printer? I think I'm going to get it.

I have an Epson R280 and print directly on printable media. It is rather inexpensive, too. You can print on a label and present if you must, but it IMHO looks amateurish. However, label printing is infinitely superior to just writing on a disc w/ a Sharpie.

JDubya wrote in post #10192586
That Artisan 50 looks pretty nice. Have you used it? How waterproof/smearproof are the printed CDs sans-clear coat?

or I could mod a Canon Pixma iP6600D...

RD summed it up pretty well. I personally use an Epson Artisan 50 for printing CD's and DVD's. I got it specifically for that purpose as I use either WHCC or mpixpro for my prints. I will say though that using Ilford's pearl galerie paper it prints a mean 4x6 (I haven't tried anything bigger as, like I said, I send my work prints off to a lab).

I normally burn what I need to burn on the printable cd or dvd then I print the label directly onto the cd/dvd with the Epson. Then (after waiting about ten minutes for the ink to dry) I put the finished cd/dvd onto this little spindle thing I made out of a used cd spindle where I can spray the clear coat over it to make it waterproof/smudgeproof (the spindle thingy prevents any overspray from getting on the bottom of the cd/dvd. The gloss finish takes less then 5 minutes to dry and voila finished.

I recommend using the white label printable cd/dvd's as I have tried both white and silver and white looks better. That being said there may be some uses where you would use the silver label but since my print covers the entire cd/dvd I haven't had to use them (I have a small stock of the silver printable cds and dvds which I haven't used yet except to test).

Now RD mentioned the Taiyo disks and I had checked them out... haven't tested them personally but the reviews I found say that while they are nice, they tend to scratch easily (the print, not the cd itself). I was still going to pick up a few to try personally but since the disks I am using now are working pretty well with my clear coat finish I haven't gotten around to ordering them.

JDubya wrote in post #10192964
Is the Artisan 50 a "dye" or "pigment" printer? I think I'm going to get it.

From what I saw there are ink supplies that have both dye and pigment printer ink options for the epson artisan 50, both available in either the cartridges or a continous ink system.

That being said I use the stock Clarian inks that Epson makes for it and am not sure if they are dye or pigment. So far they are really nice and have worked well for me (I've had this printer for about 3 months now). So far I've printed about 30 cd's and about 50 4x6 prints on it maybe more. Ink levels show about a quarter full but that is off of the original tanks that came with it. I bought an extra set of the color and black but haven't had to break it out yet.

I just ordered an Artisan 50, I cant wait to see what it can do.

thebishopp, what kind of clear coat do you use?

for WHITE printable CDs and DVDs, is there a brand/model that seems to work best?


Thanks for the help, guys!

Good deal, I can honestly say it is the best 100 dollar printer that I ever bought. It has exceeded my expectations so far. I was originally looking for one of the older Epsons like what asysin2leads has (the r series) but they were discontinued so took a chance on the artisan 50 and so far I am happy. Keep in mind though that I only use it for cd/dvd printing and occasional 4x6 prints (to go in the little photo windows of my cd enevelope). Oh and I highly recommend the ilford pearl 4x6 galerie paper, best paper I've used so far.

I ordered hub printable ones (so you can print all the way on the hub of the cd/dvd) and I got them from Amazon. You may be able to find a better deal somewhere else but here is what I got:

http://www.amazon.com …/B002OOWC9C/ref​=pd_cp_e_2

http://www.amazon.com …ics&qid=1274065​814&sr=8-1

Note that they have both 50 and 100 packs available. I burn m ore cd's so I only got the 50 dvd pack (though I will probably order the 100 when I reorder - small note, for some reason the reviews on the 100 pack of verbatim dvd's are bad. Says the dvd's don't come on a spindle and arrive with damaged/unusable dvd's and something about the epson inks not adhering well to them... Odd as there is no problems on the 50 pack and both my experience and the reviews reflect this - I'll probably just order two 50 packs when I run out).

As far as the clear coat, I have used both the gloss and matte acryllic one from Krylon. I think the matte dries a bit more evenly as I can see some ripples in the gloss but I still like the gloss better. You will have to decide for yourself on that one.

Primera sells a tuffcoat watershield high gloss silver... It looks as close to stamped cd as any printable media.

You can also print through photoshop.. Your file should be 4.7"x4.7" @ 300ppi. Design with pure white for your silver.

thebishopp wrote in post #10193018
From what I saw there are ink supplies that have both dye and pigment printer ink options for the epson artisan 50, both available in either the cartridges or a continous ink system.

That being said I use the stock Clarian inks that Epson makes for it and am not sure if they are dye or pigment. So far they are really nice and have worked well for me (I've had this printer for about 3 months now). So far I've printed about 30 cd's and about 50 4x6 prints on it maybe more. Ink levels show about a quarter full but that is off of the original tanks that came with it. I bought an extra set of the color and black but haven't had to break it out yet.

The Clarian inks are dye. In terms of permanence, remember that CDs are not kept on display--exposed to light and gases--so that's not so great a concern.

One of the things I like about the Acoustica software is the ability to make minute changes (down to 0.01mm) to the dimensions nearly on the fly. Different discs don't have precisely the same dimensions of printable areas--the Acoustica software is easy to tweak at print time.

I have used a CIS for this purpose before, but for a printer dedicated to CD printing, the standard ink cartridges last quite a long while.

Update: The Artisan 50 is great!

I've read of many people using an aerosol sealer on printed discs. Patricia Nimock's Clear Acrylic Sealer seems to get the best reviews. Does anyone have any LONG TERM experience with this? I don't want to cause any damage to a DVD drive or ruin the disc somewhere down the line...

JDubya wrote in post #10259493
Update: The Artisan 50 is great!

I've read of many people using an aerosol sealer on printed discs. Patricia Nimock's Clear Acrylic Sealer seems to get the best reviews. Does anyone have any LONG TERM experience with this? I don't want to cause any damage to a DVD drive or ruin the disc somewhere down the line...

Glad you like it Jdubya. Like I said, it is the best 100 dollar printer I've ever owned.

I use krylon acrylic gloss and it is fine except for the strong smell for the first day or two lol. I saw a "low odor" acrylic clear coat at hobby lobby the other day and might try it out later but I have a two cans of krylon clear coat (one gloss and one matte) so I'm going to try and use them up first, might take awhile lol.

Not sure on the different brands, but I figure acrylic is acrylic. Just don't put it in the drive when wet

Acrylic paints for artists have been known to "gum up" a bit under very warm and humid conditions, but those are usually thickly applied coats built up for texture. I've never seen that happen with thin coats of spray in any application, including outdoor applications exposed to extreme weather. So I'm not worried about the very thin coats for this particular application.

Be sure to use only a couple of very thin coats. This is not like painting a tabletop...you're not trying to protect the surface from wear, you're only applying a fixative. I actually apply only two "half-coats."