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Silkscreening CD-Rs?
anonymous amateur silkscreener asks: "Here's a question for those Slashdot readers who fall into the intersection of Photographer /
Artists / Computer user. A comment
posted in response to the story on Sneaking Open Source Software Through
the Front Door led me to this company which
makes some cute silk-screened blank CD-Rs.
I send out CDs once in a while with photos or (occasionally) my own graphics. Now for a little
while, I've been thinking about making some home-screened graphics for them, and I wonder if anyone out there has already done some of the experimentation necessary. I have a silk-screen kit which I have successfully used to make T-shirts and other things (on paper and fabric, that is), but with CDs I'm uncertain about the results."
More generally, can anyone point to their own successes / failures / HOWTOs on creative CD embellishment? (and packaging for that matter!) I'd like to avoid the expensive 'buy our special CD-sized stickers' approach if possible, but there are probably things I've overlooking.
No Batik, please."
"I am uncertain for the following reasons:
- Disintegration of the graphic - I'm actually afraid to put the results in a drive, because I'm worried that the pigment will be spun right off the disk and foul the mechanism, and I don't have a dozen replacements sitting around. Is there special pigment I should be using for this? If I spray a sealant on a CD, will the result be too heavy, or too thick, or possibly damage the drive? Yes, I know there are factory-produced screened disks all over the place, but I don't know if they're doing anything special to protect / seal their graphics. They seem to have a nice smooth surface, and I've never seen one to separate graphics from disk from wear or anything.
- Balance: If I screen on an asymmetric design, will I unbalance the disk too much? I suppose not, because there are those wacky shaped CDs, too.
More generally, can anyone point to their own successes / failures / HOWTOs on creative CD embellishment? (and packaging for that matter!) I'd like to avoid the expensive 'buy our special CD-sized stickers' approach if possible, but there are probably things I've overlooking.
No Batik, please."
Those "wacky shaped CDs" still have their center of weight in the center of the mounting hole. If you're going to apply an asymetric design, you should either make sure that the weight of the paint is negligible or that the paint is distributed in a way as to keep the center of weight near the center of the disc.
CD printers
Have you ever silked a large batch of anything though? The only thing that can be said about it is that it can you put you in a state of zen, it is not easy work.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
It's not silkscreening, but what about trying to do some sort of heat transfer from a printed transparency? If you can do T-shirts, CDs shouldn't be too awful. I just think screening will be a lot of work for a small run.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
but have you tried labels?
I have one of these and the results are decent, even with my cheapish inkjet printer.
I've had stomps printed with a colour laser (at 300dpi) with great success. There's also a clear/glossy version that works very well, and looks great.
I'm not an expert but I think you're worrying too much. How could such small particles like pigments be damaging to your hardware if common dust is getting in it all the time?
I have one hell of a dusty house and my aging 2X cdrom works as good as my brand new CDRW. Plus I have opened it several times in the past. There were actual dog hairs in there, hehehe.
Also, the weight of the CD should not be that much of a problem. I have successfully used homemade CD-sized stickers which were rather thick, and had no trouble at all.
On top of all that, well, is there anything cheaper than a CD-ROM drive, if by means of some mysterious planetary alignment you manage to break something?
Not really. They may look to be "off" at first glance, but they're actually balanced around the center.
</i> here's </i> a </i> few </i> to </i> spare </i>
From the original post:
"...I'd like to avoid the expensive 'buy our special CD-sized stickers' approach if possible..."
In itself it's not directly addressing your issues, but it's definitely about one dude's adventure in trying to silkscreen CDs from scratch and I have pics.
Although I'm still waiting to get some of the chemicals to get my emulsion formula right, ie chromium tartrate, I painted silver CDRs (uncoated twenty cents a piece) with acrylic and had no problems with either damaging the CDs or drives.
Check the page if you want to see a down and dirty DIY effort.
There's also this earlier Slashdot thread that was supposed to be on automating CDR duplication but went into various other aspects of the job as well such as silkscreening and some debates about media pricing.
i have published some limited runs of indie music albums on printable cds (which have a matte silver finish and are meant for specialized laser / inkjet printers with cd tray feeding mechanisms) using:
;) of course, this may be limiting play...
(1) customized rubber stamps with regular inkpad ink -- these can be ordered online by submitting a graphic file for as little as $10 for a 5" by 5" stamp
(2) layered bicolor woodcuts with substantially heavier pigments -- these were a bit messy, but after the initial loose bits came off after drying, all seemed fine
i think you should be concerned about loose pigment as it must be more abrasive than dust. the sealant route, imho, is ill-advised, most i inspected contained serious solvents, which (again i presume) could harm the cd. if you must cover up the ink, a clear label might be better, but i realize you don't want labels, plus they are generally more expensive than the cd.
i have published roughly 600+ using the rubber stamps and 300+ using the woodcuts and so far the only complaints have been about the music
Im not taking a stance on whether or not the inking will upset the balance.
In the event that it does, would a clear coat of paint/acrylic that has the same density as the ink smoothed flat over the printing work? Think of using putty to fill in a bumpy piece of wood, or filling in potholes. The clear cote should fill in the low spots where there is less ink (lower weight areas) and not stick to the high spots.
Scan an Offce CD and use the printed label option for ease. Take it to work and "safely store" the real Office CD and put this one in it's place. Be a good soldier and "help out" with the "boring" installs, and your good deed is done.
--
"we live in a post-ideological world..." - Billy Bragg.
I used to be a silkscreening squeegee-monkey in the day, 4 years of work years going from shirt folder to graphic artist in the summers between college years.
... then use that one until the quick-drying enamel started to close/clog the screen... then tape up the used/clogging one, untape another image stencil and use that until it clogged. you can usually get 10 good prints from an image before the screen clogs.
We used to print plastics and brass plaques, aluminum signs, all kinds of non-textile stuff.
It's totally possible but keeping your silk clear as you proint multiple copies is the problem, we'd burn as many copies of the image into a large frame and tape off all except one
The enamel inks are very different from the standard plastisol textile inks, as they are thinner (requiring less force w/ the squeegee and less clearance between silk and surface-to-be-printed) and air dry very quickly. Heat actually slows the drying process for a short time.
Enamel printing is also commonly mechanized (I bet you've got a few automated enamel prints on your PC gear around, I am looking at a Viewsonic logo that I am sure was screened right now) and I'd bet thats what they use for most CD printing.
The thing is, it's a pain in the ass to do by hand, and expensive. You need to use good silk but you pretty much toss it out after one use as it can't be unclogged as the enamel resists solvents after drying, the solvents are dangerous (Xylene/TOluene) as well as the fumes from the ink alone. They (well the shop manager) made me print on old plexiglass and brass scraps for days until they let have a go at the real stock to be printed - it's too easy to F-up, although the great thing about printing metals (except some plastic-coated brass on trophy plaques) is that if you f it up, a quick solvent-rag wipe allows you to clear the messed image right off the plate and try again. I don't recommend wiping plastic with enamel solvents, as they will definetly cloud the surface and possibly warp, disintegrate, and whatnot the plastic a bunch.
Issues:
One thing that most people don't realize is that the side you are labeling happens to be the same side that all your data is stored on. That's why they say to label with felt-tip only. A ball point pen would damage your data.
Various chemicals, particularly solvents and some paints, will damage the cd surface, corrupting your data.
CD's are spun at a relatively high rate of speed. If the CD's mass is not centered, you get a wobble effect that can damage your hardware.
All that said, you can buy printers that are specifically designed to print directly onto blank cds. They are a little expensive, but well worth the money.
A somewhat cheaper option is to go with those CD-sized labels. Their adhesive is designed not to damage the cds. I can buy them in 100-packs at Target for around US$0.20 apiece. (That price goes down to US$0.10 apiece when mail/web ordering in bulk.) A NEATO brand cd-labeler is around $10-$30, depending upon where you buy it. (It's an amazingly simple device that definitely was worth the patent and my money.) Their windows-based label-creation software is distributed freely, so you can download it / try it out if you so desire.
One trick when using the adhesive labels is, when removing the label from the backing, bend the backing, not the label! Otherwise the label curls and makes it harder to apply.
Caveat: Don't put them in front of air conditioners. The cold air temperature differential can cause the labels to buckle, rendering the disk unsafe for use.
And, as always, it goes without saying that it helps to put the label on the correct side of the disk.
I went to your site to check out what you've tried.
To be honest with you I couldn't figure out what went with what or exactly what the pictures were of. I am interested in what was done, but I cant read it. Any chance you could explain it a bit further.
Can I get some goatse man silkscreened CD-Rs??
So I can hand out my CV on them?
It would be my pleasure.
The first page there you have me making silkscreening frames that are suited for CDs. The frames you buy at silkscreen shops are usually square and made for T-shirts. So, that's where I cut my thumb.
The next shot is the pivotal step where you use a bright light to expose the emulsion and devlop it by placing a transparency that was printed on an ink jet over the pattern.
Finally, you see the finished product.
The next page is just talking about various formulas for emulsions ans showing pictures of emulsions settting up. If you're not a big chemistry fan, I'd recommend just buying a product called Liquid Light which I hear comes with instructions and you can also google it to find lots of T-shirt instructions.
My own technique was to purchase silver nitrate salts and experiment with different substrates and activators but it was partly for educational purposes that I went this route. If you just want the CDs done and done quickly then I'd recommend just buying a pre-mixed batch of emulsions.
When I do finally get all the details on the chemistry worked out so I can take someone from metallic silver to hardy silkscreen emulsion, I'll be sure to share with anyone interested.
In the mean time, you can also use a stamp technique and a few stickers with reflective backgrounds to get a pretty cool looking CD that you can kick out by the thousands at low cost.
This is what I use on a daily basis for my job:. html
Rimage Printer ($2500) http://www.rimage.com/Products/frames/FS_Thermind
MediaForm Duper ($3000) http://www.mediaform.com/3706p.htm
You can get full color printers and remote mastering creators (or remote mastering creators w/ full color printers as well)
I like the idea, but i'd be worried about it wrecking my drive too. Also, if a burn stuffs up, thats a nice looking CD you gotta throw away! ;)
Justin from Techhead Technology News