I want to buy a CD printer.
I've seen a few samples that other people have made and the quality is
rubbish!
AND... the print rubs of when touched!
That usually means that you're either using the wrong kind of blanks
(printing surface might not be intended for inkjets) or you're not
letting the discs dry long enough. Recommended dry time for inkjet
printable blanks is 24-48 hours (minimum is 6, but isn't totally dry
at that point).
Are there specific printers that would be recommended?
The Epson R series printers or the Primera inkjet printers generally
get good reviews. They give you photo quality printing with the right
media surface. Keep in mind that it's still an inkjet though, so the
ink will take a while to dry, and won't be waterproof. If you touch
it with moist fingers or get it wet, it *WILL* smudge.
If you're looking for something that looks and feels like silkscreened
commercial discs, you'll have to either have the discs silkscreened,
or buy a thermal CD printer. They print with wax or a similar
material, and as such are pretty smudge resistant and the print
quality is pretty sharp. However, they're expensive, and typically,
you'll be limited in the number of colours you can print with (the
"reasonably" priced ones aren't multicolour like the inkjet models).
Here's an example of one. I'll leave it to you to find the retail
price on it (warning: it's going to be at least 4 digits). The
consumables (ribbons or wax "crayons") are going to be considerably
more expensive than inkjet ink (which is already considered pretty
expensive stuff).
http://www.primera.com/inscripta_cd_printer.html
The cheapest way to get reasonably good quality on CDs is to buy the
stick on plastic film type inkjet labels (like the ones from Neato)
and print them out on a regular printer. Then you can stick them on
with a stomper type device. Whether the print quality is adequate for
you or not depends on your own preferences. Whatever you do, do NOT
put these on DVDs, as stick on labels can alter the "natural"
heating/cooling characteristics of a DVD enough that they'll be
unreadable.
