It’s Your CD Printing Guide!

Your CD is 1.2 mm thick disc of almost pure polycarbonate plastic, approximately weighing 16 grams. Often, your CDs carry aluminum layers that make their reflective surfaces, which are protected by lacquer films. Gold is but rarely used for data longevity, such as in some limited-edition audiophile CDs.
Your CD is 1.2 mm thick disc of almost pure polycarbonate plastic, approximately weighing 16 grams. Often, your CDs carry aluminum layers that make their reflective surfaces, which are protected by lacquer films. Gold is but rarely used for data longevity, such as in some limited-edition audiophile CDs.

Your CDs normally have directly printed lacquer films, not adhesive labels. The process of directly printing the lacquer films on CDs is often termed as cd printing. Usually, the lacquer films on CDs have ability to absorb ink and are printable. Normally, the methods used for cd printing are – INKJET PRINTING, THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTING, SCREEN-PRINTING, and OFFSET PRINTING.

INKJET cd printing uses CMYK Inkjet printers to put tiny droplets of liquid ink onto specially-coated CD surfaces. The CMYK Inkjet printers are usually automated robotic systems that load and deposit CDs automatically after some initial manual setups. The inkjet cd printing results are amazing in high resolution and vibrant colors. Inkjet cd printing is ideal for small runs with photographic quality print, or when you desperately need fast results. However, in Inkjet cd printing, your “per unit prices” do not drop, and thus you may find inkjet cd printing uneconomical as compared to silkscreen cd printing, or lithographic cd printing.

THERMAL TRANSFER cd printing is the process based on melting a coating of colored ribbon onto the surfaces of your CDs. The thermal transfer printers contain two ribbons – one containing panels of cyan, magenta, yellow and black, and each color is printed individually onto the second ribbon- the transfer ribbon. This cd printing is cost effective for small runs and offers you superb finishing superior even to lithographic cd printing. Offering quick and excellent results, the thermal transfer cd printing has grown very popular for small runs.

SCREEN cd printing a printmaking technique that creates a sharp-edged image using a stencil. SCREEN printing is also known as silkscreening, or serigraphy. The screen cd printing is a cost-effective method for larger quantities of CDs. It is most effective with simple designs of few colors. The screen cd printing offers fine finishing results in vivid colors. Your “per unit” cost becomes pretty frugal, when you order over 1000 units in screen cd printing.

OFFSET cd printing is a widely used cd printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. It is often called Lithographic (Offset) cd printing, when used in combination with the lithographic process. This cd printing has become the most common high-volume commercial printing technique nowadays. This cd printing technique offers fine results in highly detailed photographic images. This is the perfect option if you need upwards of 1,000 units based on highly detailed artwork, producing a superior finish to silkscreen printing at a relatively comparable price.

You can choose your cd printing and cd printing services, according to your need and requirement. You may find your cd printing service at your local area, or you may hire your cd printing service online. Of course, you can find lots of cd printing services online, but you should choose the most favorable one.