Print Head

Print Head

How To Choose The Best Way To Print Your Cds

CD & DVD Printing in detail

There are 4 ways of printing directly onto CDs and DVDs, each has their benefits and are suited to particular requirements:

- Thermal Transfer Printing
- Inkjet Printing
- Screen Printing
- Offset Litho Printing

http://www.directcds.co.uk

Thermal Transfer Printing
The thermal transfer printer uses a horizontal array of many small heating elements to melt "ink" from a wax ribbon, which moves in tandem with the CD, past a stationary print head. The print head transfers those dots to the CD face to form the image.

There are 2 types of thermal transfer print on a CD - single colour and full colour.

a) Single Colour (usually black): This is the simplest form of CD printing and is ideally suited to two applications. Firstly, if the CD simply requires a description of the contents (e.g. software patches & bug fixes) then this provides a cost effective and time saving solution. Secondly, if your CD products need to have similar looking labels across different titles (e.g. to retain a corporate identity), costs can be reduced by screen printing the generic images and text in bulk, and then thermal printing in smaller batches the specific information, such as CD title and version number, onto a designated area of the disk. A disadvantage of this process is that the print resolution is quite low (about 200dpi) which means that images/logos and very small text can look a little 'fuzzy'.

All single colour thermal printing is done in-house.

b) Full Colour: The results produced on full colour images are excellent, however with all printing methods there are advantages and disadvantages. Text was quite 'fuzzy' and the smaller text (10pt and under) could become unreadable. Other disadvantages were that the unit cost of the CD is higher, and the flexibility for colour matching was not comparable with our current in-house print solution. Weighing up these points we felt that there would be no benefit to our clients in offering this solution.

Inkjet Printing
Using heavily modified inkjet printers, this is a digital print process, and with a great number of our clients, is the preferred method of print as the resolution is so high (1440dpi). If your artwork has a lot of fine detail, or you are using graduated tints, then the definition provided by inkjet printing provides a very effective result.

It is a very flexible printing process as it is relatively quick and the colours can be matched effectively to other printed material. Due to the fact that each CD is printed digitally, there is no need for plates or screens, so it is a very cost effective print method for low volumes - even if you want a proof before a job commences, one-off samples are not a problem.

All inkjet printing is done in four colour process (CMYK - Cyan / Magenta / Yellow / Black) which means that Pantone (or 'spot') colours cannot be accurately printed, .

As the ink is water based we always apply a protective spray lacquer over the disk which protects against accidental splashes.

Whilst inkjet printing is suitable for 90% of low volume print requirements, it is not the best solution where large blocks of heavy colour (e.g. dark blue) are required, as these can be left 'soft' or 'tacky' to the touch.

Like thermal printing, all inkjet printing is done in-house.

Screen Printing
Screen printing uses fabric stretched tightly over a frame (the Screen). Images are created by blocking parts of the screen using photographic techniques (the films). Ink is then forced through the open areas of the screen onto the CD face. Each colour printed requires its own film and screen, so a four colour process job will need at least four films and four screens.

The advantages of screen printing are that the CDs can be printed very quickly (about 2000 per hour), the resulting CDs are more scratch-resistant, and the silver/mirror surface of the CD can be used as part of the design.

The disadvantages are that whilst Pantone (or 'spot') colours can be matched accurately, colour matching four colour process printed CDs to other printed material is difficult because of the different substrates used. Also the resolution on four colour process screen printing is not as high as with inkjet or Offset Litho.

This is the conventional method for printing on CD-ROM - the music CDs you buy will normally be printed this way.

Offset Litho Printing
Offset is the process whereby a printing plate first transfers its inked image areas onto a rubber blanket mounted on a cylinder in the printing press and then the rubber blanket transfers (or offsets) the inked image onto the CD as it passes through the press.

The advantage of using the Offset Litho process is the very high quality of the print. Although more expensive than screen printing, many clients are willing to pay the extra to get the better results, however Offset Litho printing is best suited to larger quantities where the additional higher costs become less significant.

This is the conventional method for printing DVD-ROM - your movie DVDs will normally be printed this way.

About the Author

Based in the United Kingdom I own 3 companies and I am always looking for new ideas and help in growing and improving my companies. If you have any ideas or want to viw them here are there urls. http://www.directcds.co.uk  http://www.custom-id-cards.co.uk http://www.newsletter-printing.co.uk

Head $24.99 Head - Photographic Print

PRINT HEAD BC-1350 $605 PRINT HEAD BC-1350

THERMAL PRINT HEAD CLEANING PAD-25 $18.79 THERMAL PRINT HEAD CLEANING PAD-25

Canon / PRINT HEAD, PF-04,iPF650/655/750/755 / 3630B003 $448.84 Canon - PRINT HEAD, PF-04,iPF650/655/750/755 - 3630B003

Canon PRINT HEAD PF-04 3630B003AA $461.18 Canon PRINT HEAD PF-04 3630B003AA

Beer Head to Head $17.99 Juarez Machado Beer Head to Head - Art Print

Head, Probably the Head of Mausolus $49.99 Greek Head, Probably the Head of Mausolus - Giclee Print

Canon BC-1400 Print Head $484.99 1 x Printhead 8003A001 BC-1400 BC-1400 Print Head Canon Canon, Inc Inkjet Printhead www.usa.canon.com

Horse's Head $39.99 Horse's Head - Giclee Print

Head of Titus $49.99 Head of Titus - Giclee Print

Head of Livia $49.99 Head of Livia - Giclee Print

Head First $24.99 Head First - Photographic Print

Head of Nero $49.99 Head of Nero - Giclee Print

Head of Trajan $49.99 Head of Trajan - Giclee Print

Head of Zeus $34.99 Head of Zeus - Giclee Print

Head of a Bacchante $49.99 Head of a Bacchante - Giclee Print

A Bull's Head $34.99 A Bull's Head - Giclee Print

Head of Buddha $24.99 Head of Buddha - Photographic Print

Head of Artemis $34.99 Head of Artemis - Giclee Print

Head of a Woman $49.99 Head of a Woman - Giclee Print

EA in Head $49.99 EA in Head - Giclee Print