CD printing on US Pixma 3000, 4000, and 5000

  • Thread starter Thread starter Burt
  • Start date Start date
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Burt

http://pixma.cjb.net/

I just ran across this link on the Nifty-Stuff forum (
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/ ) describing a simple modification of
the US printers to print CD's directly. There have been lots of posts about
this issue and I thought it would be of interest to anyone who wanted to try
it. I can not attest to its reliability, but Steve's Forum has a good
reputation.
 
There have been lots of posts about
this issue and I thought it would be of interest to anyone who wanted to try
it. I can not attest to its reliability, but Steve's Forum has a good
reputation.
Click to expand...

I'm on a hacked epson tray and the ip3000 my self. Works just peachy
save the fact my alignment is a tad off, but that can be adjusted in
software.

What is presently missing is information on the canon mp750/760/780 and
the only service manual I have on the subject is deutch. Very hard to
read but I think I found out what a SPCNT-Karte is, but I can't wrap my
head about the line that says if your CD drucken toboggan gets
expelled one more let cows graze on it! (Ok, I know what it means, but
this translation is funnier)



http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=36631&forum_id=40
Huge thread
http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=58907&forum_id=40
my attempt at a faq

http://pixma.cjb.net/
Simple 5 step which I know I reconize some of the writing on :P
 
Burt said:
http://pixma.cjb.net/

I just ran across this link on the Nifty-Stuff forum (
http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/ ) describing a simple modification of
the US printers to print CD's directly. There have been lots of posts about
this issue and I thought it would be of interest to anyone who wanted to try
it. I can not attest to its reliability, but Steve's Forum has a good
reputation.
Click to expand...

I looked into this and found it easier to just buy the press-on labels
and an applicator to make sure they are centered on the disc. If the
trays were more readily available and cheaper I would consider doing the
conversion. They have a few trays on ebay but they are going for
$30-$40. That is almost half the cost of a new iP4000 for a part that
costs Canon almost nothing. It would be a nice feature though.
 
The instructions on the link show how to make a cardboard tray. If it would
work it would be easy to make out of plastic. We have a company called TAP
plastic in San Francisco that will fabricate anything you bring to them at
very low cost. Looks like an easy do it yourself project if you can get the
right thickness of materials from a plastics house. No moving parts. Just
a printing "jig" to insert the CD and keep it stable while printing. As
someone already posted about the press-on labels, they can degrade the
digital recording as the magnetic material is actually on top of the disk,
and even if they are as well centered as you can make them they may put the
disk out of balance. Personally, for the few music CD's I rip for friends
I use the CD Stomper to center a glue on label if I feel like duplicating
the original.
 
That is almost half the cost of a new iP4000 for a part that costs Canon almost nothing.

That depends on your perspective. Not including them in the US might
save Canon a good deal more per unit for the silly license fees.
They're paying £75ish/$136ish in the UK for their printer not
including VAT where the US model well I paid £36ish/$65ish for mine.
In terms of the actual part, yeah I wouldn't pay $40 for one.

Those press on labels are no fun when they come loose in your slot
loading car deck.
 
Michael Johnson said:
I looked into this and found it easier to just buy the press-on labels and
an applicator to make sure they are centered on the disc. If the trays
were more readily available and cheaper I would consider doing the
conversion. They have a few trays on ebay but they are going for $30-$40.
That is almost half the cost of a new iP4000 for a part that costs Canon
almost nothing. It would be a nice feature though.
Click to expand...


I've got a IP4000 and live in the UK but towards the end of the year I will
be spending time between the US and UK. I'll have a look for them in the Uk
nearer the time and if the trays turn
out to be cheap in the UK, i'll buy 50 and stick them on ebay at a sensible
price, although by then you may have a new model which gives you cd priint
anyway :/
 
I've got a IP4000 and live in the UK but towards the end of the year I will
be spending time between the US and UK. I'll have a look for them in theUk
nearer the time and if the trays turn
out to be cheap in the UK, i'll buy 50 and stick them on ebay at a sensible
price, although by then you may have a new model which gives you cd priint
anyway :/
Click to expand...

I've heard rumors they plan to release a CD printing model, but they
are just rumors. Let's face it, how happy would you be if a perfectly
good £35 printer jumped up in price to £75.00. I can hardly find
printable media in our shops.

Also keep in mind the fact that even if we get models that will print
on CD, canon isn't likely to keep up with demand. Hell epson can't
keep up with demand for their trays and they sell them with the printer
here. I almost resorted to ordering one from e-bay for $15.00, an item
epson gives out free on demand.

Fair warning about getting them in the UK. From my understanding you
can only buy them from service shops, and their supply is limited to a
handful. The max i've seen people order them is in units of 10. If
you're interested here are the part numbers

QL2-0605-000 - CD/DVD tray
QM2-1239-000 - CDR tray base unit (rollers) € 1.99? (Netherlands)
QA4-1117-000 - 8 cm adapter for pocket size media

I've seen quotes that ordering them in units of 10 and shipping them
cross the pond costs USD$24/unit total. I'd hazzard to guess that
would make just the tray a sub £10.00 item. $24 was said to include
all three trivial pieces where only the tray is the nessicary one, tray
and adapter are nice for those who print on tiny discs, rollers are
those too lazy to push in the tray manualy. Easy enough to find
service centers form the canon website, just painful for Yanks trying
to order them when they require cheque transfer from a local bank, COD,
and don't accept credit cards or ship overseas without a £50.00
processing fee, which is more than I paid for my printer in the first
place.

But needless to say you'd be doing someone a favor if you can buy a sub
£10.00 item and selling it for £16.50. That's only a 1/2 tank of gas
these days, but hey will get you where you're going.
 
Burt said:
The instructions on the link show how to make a cardboard tray. If it would
work it would be easy to make out of plastic. We have a company called TAP
plastic in San Francisco that will fabricate anything you bring to them at
very low cost. Looks like an easy do it yourself project if you can get the
right thickness of materials from a plastics house. No moving parts. Just
a printing "jig" to insert the CD and keep it stable while printing. As
someone already posted about the press-on labels, they can degrade the
digital recording as the magnetic material is actually on top of the disk,
and even if they are as well centered as you can make them they may put the
disk out of balance. Personally, for the few music CD's I rip for friends
I use the CD Stomper to center a glue on label if I feel like duplicating
the original.
Click to expand...

You referenced glue-on labels. Are these better than stick-on labels?
 
zakezuke said:
That depends on your perspective. Not including them in the US might
save Canon a good deal more per unit for the silly license fees.
They're paying £75ish/$136ish in the UK for their printer not
including VAT where the US model well I paid £36ish/$65ish for mine.
In terms of the actual part, yeah I wouldn't pay $40 for one.

Those press on labels are no fun when they come loose in your slot
loading car deck.
Click to expand...

I've used very few stick-on labels. I haven't had a problem yet. How
do they apply them on the pre-labeled CD/DVD's?
 
Andrew said:
I've got a IP4000 and live in the UK but towards the end of the year I will
be spending time between the US and UK. I'll have a look for them in the Uk
nearer the time and if the trays turn
out to be cheap in the UK, i'll buy 50 and stick them on ebay at a sensible
price, although by then you may have a new model which gives you cd priint
anyway :/
Click to expand...

If the tray was reasonable I would have done it. Paying another $40 for
it is too much for me. Also, I don't really want the hassles of making
a tray. For now, the stick-ons work fine.
 
I only looked at the modification briefly, but I did see a template for
making a tray. Looked very easy.
 
I only looked at the modification briefly, but I did see a template for
making a tray. Looked very easy.
Click to expand...

To each their own. I'd also say modifying an epson tray is easy, esp
if you have a dremmel. you only have to cut 2mm off either side and on
one side there is an indent that is just about perfect. The front needs
be trimmed just short of the front center reflector. I white spray
paint and masking tape to make the alignment reflectors. Smooth with a
sanding block and 60grit paper and done. The cutting took well, not
much time at all.
 
OK. I thought there might be a better type than the sticky ones.

The ones i've used are Memorex. They say on the package they don't
reccomend their product for DVDs as they might result in dataloss and
to this end they reccomend using the hub labels only. you might enjoy
better results with what you got, and they might even work better on
inkjet printables which are a little more porous.

Inkjet printables have their disadvantage as well, but the only
alternative on the consumer market is lightscribe, a tad costly per
disc and only CD-R and DVD+R, and thermal ribbon printers which are
monochrome with your choice of ribbon color.
 
zakezuke said:
The ones i've used are Memorex. They say on the package they don't
reccomend their product for DVDs as they might result in dataloss and
to this end they reccomend using the hub labels only. you might enjoy
better results with what you got, and they might even work better on
inkjet printables which are a little more porous.

Inkjet printables have their disadvantage as well, but the only
alternative on the consumer market is lightscribe, a tad costly per
disc and only CD-R and DVD+R, and thermal ribbon printers which are
monochrome with your choice of ribbon color.
Click to expand...

I looked into Lightscribe and aside from the more costly discs it is
monochrome and if you want a detailed image it takes a long time to burn
it on the disc. Interesting idea though.
 
zakezuke said:
To each their own. I'd also say modifying an epson tray is easy, esp
if you have a dremmel. you only have to cut 2mm off either side and on
one side there is an indent that is just about perfect. The front needs
be trimmed just short of the front center reflector. I white spray
paint and masking tape to make the alignment reflectors. Smooth with a
sanding block and 60grit paper and done. The cutting took well, not
much time at all.
Click to expand...

I could make one but to be honest I just don't want the hassle. I'll
bought some labels and an applicator off ebay for $10-$15 so I'll try my
luck with the stick-ons. Plus, I have about 150 DVD's laying around
without labels that would otherwise gather dust.
 
No labels should be applied to DVD's except hub labels.

My Magnavox player spit a hub label out at me. I guess it didn't like
the taste.
 
Found this thread yesterday, and I've succesfully modified my IP6000D to accept CD/DVD printing.
Thank you all for your help.
I've contcted someone that has a laser cutter who is willing to manufature not less than 4 units of the cd/dvd tray.
I've seen the pics at http://pixma.cjb.net/ but I'd like to replicate the original.
Could anyone provide a close up pic of the original tray??
As I'll have to buy 4 units: Anyone interested in buying CD/DVD tray?
 
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