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Michael Simpson Virgina
05-13-2009, 5:39 AM
I wanted to try this and it works. You have to experiment but I used a power setting of 7% at 100% speed at 600DPI.

The robot on the right was at 13% and it looks good but ruined the CD as it actually engraved the CD.

The Robot on the left was at 7% and was perfect. The key is to use enough power to activate the dye but not so much as to destroy the CD.

Would be cool if you could cut the images out but CD's are Polycarb and cut real nasty.

Richard Rumancik
05-13-2009, 11:14 AM
Thanks for posting this. I was going to buy a Lightscribe CD; I heard that the "marking" function on the drives reduces the life. I can't say this is fact or fiction but this gives me another option. Plus I know how to use CorelDraw. Not sure what the graphics program in the drive software is like.

(Has anyone actually used the Lightscribe CD drives and had any direct experience?)

Seems like you can sacrifice (and keep) one CD for set-up/calibration purposes and then go from there. I think I'll try this . . .

Steven Smith
05-13-2009, 11:48 AM
Thanks for posting this. I was going to buy a Lightscribe CD; I heard that the "marking" function on the drives reduces the life. I can't say this is fact or fiction but this gives me another option. Plus I know how to use CorelDraw. Not sure what the graphics program in the drive software is like.

(Has anyone actually used the Lightscribe CD drives and had any direct experience?)

Seems like you can sacrifice (and keep) one CD for set-up/calibration purposes and then go from there. I think I'll try this . . .I had two and gave up. On my Dell machine the driver was very buggy. The results took a long time to 'print' when it worked and didn't look all that great. Not worth the time effort IMO. This was a couple of years ago, so things may have improved.

Bill Cunningham
05-14-2009, 9:54 PM
A lot of the new inkjet printers have a printing slot for printable/whiteface CD's , and when printed, some look almost as good as the full colour screen or pad printed commercial ones.

Michael Simpson Virgina
05-15-2009, 12:49 AM
You have 5 choices if you want to mark a CD.

1. Use a permanent marker
2. Use a printable label
3. Us an Ink Jet printable CD or DVD
4. Use a Light scribe CD or DVD
5. Us a special heat transfer CD/DVD printer

Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

1. Marker
This is cheap, fast and easy. The problem is that its very unprofessional. It is said that some markers will degrade the disk over time but I have CD's that were written 20 years ago on one of the very first CD burners. They still are readable today.

2. User Printable label.
These can be cheap as well if purchased in quantities. They can be problematic as they have to be perfectly centered or the disk will wobble. Also some of these can also degrade over time ruining the disk. Again I have a couple 20 year old disks that have lables on them and they still work.

3. Inkjet printable Disk.
I have done several of these and they can look quite profesional. However I have found disks that have been printed on by the inkjet printer dont seem to be as reliable. Add the cost of ink and I think this option should only be used sparingly.

4. Lightscribe diskss
I have done several of these. They are reliable but do add a lot of wear and tear to the drive. Most CD burning packages have some pretty good software. There are two main problems with this system though. It can take up to 20minutes or more to burn a high quality lable. Also the disks are 4-8 times the price of non lightscribe disks.

5. Heat transfer printers
Canon had a small printer that you placed a disk into and it would print a lablel. These used normal smooth shiny disks. Which can be found at various stores. As long as they are shinny and have no writing they will work. The problem with this system is that the software was clumsy and the ribbons for the printers were very expensive.

For busness software I use the inkjet and printable lables. Lightscribe are too expensive for this. I have also had some success using the laser to burn into the Inkjet printable disks. The Inkjet coating is very thick.