Epson R300 dying? Recommend replacement?

V1N

V1N

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Joined
29 Jul 2006
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Location
Cornwall
Hi there.

I've spent the day getting more and more frustrated with my Epson Stylus Photo R300.

I've had it for years, never had a problem with it.

Now, when I try to print on DVDs, it makes a mess of them.

If I watch it load, the tray loads as normal, the print head comes across (before printing) and must make contact with the cd tray, as a long, think, black (and wet) line gets drawn down the cd tray, and across the disk while it's still loading. Then when it starts to print, and smears black ink left and right across the disk.

I've tried 20-30 disks today, none of them are acceptable.
I replaced my still nearly full black ink cart, with another brand new one. same problem. I tried setting the driver to "thick paper" and manually setting the printer to Platen Gap wide.

It's driving me insane.

If I feed a few pieces of paper through afterwards, to clear the ink off the roller, it prints on paper perfectly.

Put another disk in there, it starts to feed... while the tray is loading, the print head once again comes across, and smears ink down the tray and disk again.

If the printer is knacked, I'm jolly annoyed, as I just cracked open a fresh pack of 6 inks today, and ordered another set yesterday!
I also, after googling and reading about people having problems with the CD/DVD tray, and without thinking (due to being fully stressed out with it) ordered a new replacement cd/dvd tray. So, if the printer is borked, then that was all for nothing too. (CD tray was only £5 mind, so worth a try)

I've read other people with the exact same problem. The ink smears down the CD tray and disk, before printing has even started. Sadly, the googling didn't come up with any solutions.

So, brassed off is an understatement, as I had a HDD fail yesterday, as well as some other stuff.

So, can anybody recommend how to get it printing disks again, which it's done for the past few years, in fantastic quality?

Otherwise, I need to get it replaced asap.

What is the current model of HQ photo quality printer, that can print at least as well as the R300 on printable disks?

I'm truely gutted, as the R300 has been perfect for me up until now.

Oh... and whatever new printer I replace it with, as well as being able to at least match the R300 in terms of print quality, but also be able to run on compatible ink (JetTec have served me well for the past two years)

Do printers still use these awful, manually load tray mechanisms to print on disks?

Anyway, if possible, please advise. I'm tearing my hair out here.

Many thanks,
V1N.

EDIT: OK looking at the R360 if I do need a replacement. Another £82, let alone the two packs of ink I just bought for the 300. :'(
I can't see how DVDs load into it from the picture though. Do they still use the tray feeder system?
 
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epson_stylus_obr6_r360_front2_UPR.jpg


Looks very nice.
 
Yeah I had a R300 for printing out wedding DVD's I created.

I'll never go for Epson (printer) again though.

I opted for the canon Ip5300 and haven't regretted it.

There's probably a better spec one now though as I've had it a while.
 
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