The ink is not drying on my discs. What's wrong?
When printing to an inkjet printable CD/DVD the ink is not intended to dry at the surface of the disc. Instead, ink is actually being absorbed into the white or silver coating on the CD/DVD where it dries. Inkjet printable media should not smear if you allow a reasonable amount of time for the ink to soak in and dry. This amount of time will vary depending on the darkness of the image. (Black takes longer to dry/soak in since typically three layers of ink were used to print the image.) If the ink is not drying, it could be caused by the following:
1. Media. The CD/DVD does not have an inkjet printable surface so the ink is just a wet puddle on the surface of the disc. Solution: use an inkjet printable-surface CD-R or DVD-R. If you are sure you are using inkjet printable media, certain media holds the ink better than other media. White printable media tends to smear less than Silver (glossy white) printable media. We have tested and recommend Tuff-Coat™ media sold on our web store at www.primerastore.com
2. Ink Saturation. The ink saturation level is set too high for the surface of the CD so there is too much ink being sprayed. Solution: turn down the ink saturation level and/or the resolution in the printer driver.
The printed image can smear on even the best media if it is handled heavily or if water or oil from hands are introduced. If this is the case and you would simply like a more water resistant surface, see the following options:
3. Lacquer Spray. Some customers have used clear lacquer spray to protect the discs. This is only feasible for small amounts of media. The fumes from the spay are extremely strong and may be harmful if inhaled in an enclosed environment.
4. Optical Disc Laminator. If you would like to permanently protect large numbers of discs quickly and easily with no fumes we have recently developed the Accent disc laminator. This can be used alone, attached to an existing duplicator for automated laminating or connected to ADL100 for even faster automated laminating. For more information see this link: http://www.primera.com/accent_disc_laminator.html