Well after seeing loads of people complain about their epson cd printer trays going bust etc, i sent them an email asking epson if they had fixed the problem on their latest printers. I bought an epson R340 and it turns out that it might just not be any better off than say the r220. This is what I asked them:

"I would like to know whether the problems that I heard about Epson cd printer trays is still occuring in the epson photo printers? i have just bought an epson R340 and am a bit worried because I heard that the cd tray feeder would have problems after approximatley 200 cd's have been printed, Is the problem still there or has it been fixed?"

and this is what i got:
"In reply to your query regarding the CD tray, please be advised that the primary function of the printer is a photo printer. It has the added function of CD printing, this is for archival purposes and not the main intention of the printers use. Due to the nature of the CD printing system wear to the tray will occur hence this item is seen as a consumable."

Has anyone with an epson photo/cd printer gone past the 200 cd mark without any problems? Discuss.
-Gtr

That is a total load of crap. If it is a consumable then it needs to be avalable to people in stores, not from the few online sellers that epson can provide you with (and they are sold as replacement parts from parts sellers, not as consumables from general sellers). Have you ever seen someone selling a 5 pack of epson trays? They just don't want to admit that they cannot design (in this case at least) for shit. They have replaced trays for many people under warranty, which is not something you do with consumables.
There is a little bit of good news though. They redesigned the tray and people are reporting the new tray works beter. I got a refurbished epson r300 about a month ago for cd printing at it came with the new style tray.
In all honesty, it looks like they took a printer and tried to do a home made mod to it. They are trying to print a cd as if it were a piece of paper rather than actually designing the printer to feed a tray. Same thing with canon though the canons are suposed to work beter than the epsons (though they still screw up too).
Unfortunatlly, they are our only options (dedicated inkjet disk printers cost a fortune) and it all honesty, when they work, the disks do look very good.

This is what the tray looks like with the R340, is this the same as the R300's?
I think im a bit confused about this, when 200 discs are up, does this mean the printer will have problems printing onto photo paper also?? Or is only the cd tray that came with the printer going to be for throwing? If printing onto cd;s with my printer means that after 200 discs I wont be able to print photos or stuff anymore then I might as well not use the cd function

Looks like mine on the r300.

Not that it's relevant, but I've printed about 300 in my Canon with no problems. The only issue is with over-spray when printing discs, it really trashes the tray and the inside of the printer. Cleaning the reflective spots on the tray helps. The feed rollers in the back also get pretty crappy. I wonder if this grunge might be part of the problem with the epsons?

Greg what country are you in? This is relevant for consumer law.

I've never had a problem (200+ discs) if i go into (Epson) printer settings before i print a DVD and change to CD/DVD settings. If i don't it freaks out if i just use Epson CD Print and leaving it default to 8 1/2 by 11 in printer settings. It spits the tray out.

My tray has plastic end and is Epson R320.

@gregtherotterius, from the pictures that I have seen, that is not the old style tray. It has the same white markings as mine, which is how you can tell the newer tray, but yours seems to have some diffrences (just little things like shapes of holes and such). Maybe it is just the picture, but yours looks thicker than mine. I wonder if they redesigned it again on the newer models to get it to work beter? While epson doesn't want to admit fault about the older models not working, I would guess they are trying to fix the problem (it cannot be good for sales).
Beyond that not being the older style tray that had the most problems, I'm not really sure.

I also passed 200+ CD/DVD prints with my R200 (almost 2y old).

From time to time my tray "races" thru the printer and falls out on the other side...
Got new tray from Epson (warranty replacement) 6 months back, still the same "problem". But what the heck, now I'm prepared it can happend and it's not that annoying anymore (or better said, maybe I got used with this odd behavior).

I can't believe that EPSON w*nker who gave you such a reply by e-mail

First of all, I have an EPSON R200, believe it or not I use it heavy duty - I have contracts for big companies to produce media DVDs and require printing - I print well over 500-700 DVDs a month using this printer and now I have done over 2000 and I swear to God not a single problem. I use special, easy to refill cartridges and a special mod with the waste tube coming out of the printer to a waste container.

Yes the tray is fragile because of the plastic end on earlier models, BUT, it all depends HOW you handle it. If you FORCE your tray in too far, or do not handle it properly, with time that plastic edge will wear out (usually warp or bend) and you will not be able to use it. If you handle that tray properly and leave sufficient space at the back of your printer, your tray should outlast your printer.

This thing about printing 200 cds is absolute rubbish - I personally know many people who have printed thousands with the same tray.

That's why I am still trying to find out which country he is in. Here in the UK Epson recieved a telling of for saying using compats voids the warranty, when infact it does not and was illegal for them to say so.

The tray would not be classed as a consumable and under the CPA it would be classed as being a replacable item under warranty as it is not fit for the purpose it is designed for.

I'm in the UK, :/ Just to clarify, if the tray does end up biting the dust, I will still be able to print photos etc with it right?

sufficient space at the back of the printer?? How do you mean?? Could you get a snap shot? My tray gets pulled into the printer, the cd/dvd gets printed on, then the tray is fed back out.

Is the R340 tray compatible with the R300 printer as mine has done a lot of dvd,s and every now and then i get an error that its not loaded right when i know for sure it is...
My thinking was contact epson and try and get a R340 tray which i would think will be the newer style...

Then what they have told you is illegal under the Consumer Protection Act. It is better to phone than e-mail. If they kick up a fuss just tell them that you will see them in small claims court. Then found out how to contact your local consumer protection department, usually through the town hall.

Oh and the CPA overrides a warranty and covers for 6 years, though wear and tear is accounted for in the law, the exception being a design flaw that is known to the company and the fact that they have changed the tray design points to a design flaw.

Yes you will be able to use standad printing if the tray packs up.

AS to space, don't have the printer too close to a wall as it needs space at the back for the tray to come through, look at the rear of the printer next time you print a disc you will see what is meant.

This is what I said to them;
"I assume that when you say 'this item is seen as consumable', you mean the
actual cd tray and not the printer itself? I would like to know if the
problem experienced by others with their printers is remedied by buying a
new cd tray from Epson or whether the printer is rendered useless from
'excessive use'."

and this is what they said:
"In reply to your e-mail it is the CD Tray that is classed as a consumable as it is subject to wear and tear. We can determind where the fault lies if you were to send the tray into me so I can test it here. The CD Tray has a warranty of 3 months and if you are outside the 3 month warranty period then there will be a charge of £10 for a replacement CD Tray."

As I said phone them don't rely on e-mail. I still have the box mine came in and nowhere on the box does it state that the tray is a consumable, and it does make a the fact that the printer prints on discs too. All of these would mean what they are telling you is against the law. I am currently on the phone to them.

Okay after speaking to them I now have the proper story, all of which I understand.

The printer is not a disc printer but a domestic photoprinter with disc printing abilities, this is stated on the box. If the tray stops working within waranty and you have used it for domestic purposes the try will be replaced for free. Now the old tray with the clear platic strip at the front is the one that caused the problems, which is the one I have and is no longer supplied, as the thin clear plastic strip at the front could warp. The new tray, the one in your picture, does not wear out in the same way as the old one and thus would last longer. The lady I spoke to explained it to me that the tray design was changed after a number of customers phoned up about the problem.

If it fails in the first 3 months they will replace it with out question. After that they will query how many discs you have printed on and it becomes a good will gesture on behalf of mangers and mentors. This is because as I have already mentioned it is a domestic printer not a dedicated disc printer. If you wish to go into the relm of printing hundreds of discs yuo will need to go into the relm of dedicated disc printers which are more expensive and are designed for such a purpose.

This is all legal under CPA.

The charge for the tray is actually £5 but Epson for cost purposes, and a number of shops do this including Tesco, Asda etc, have a minimum charge for orders and theirs is £10, so you can and sbould order 2 trays to make up the £10 cost. Therefore you have am extra tray for when the second tray wears out. Hopefully meaning your printer will die well before you use up the replacement trays, which is what the lady said to me.

Now you see I why said phone and not use the e-mail service. Because you can get the rep o speak to their manager while on the phone you can't force that with e-mail as they can fob you off.

thanks man, I have a thing about those numbers you call where they say 'if you...press one', 'if you...press 2' lol, thanks for clearing that up for me

It's worth the effort, I have always found the people I speak to on the phone to be alot more helpful, especially if you are polite when you stand your ground, than e-mail. Now all I have to figure out us how much that phone call cost me. To the point that I have had a printer replaced out of warranty because of the fobbing off people can be given by e-mail, the printer was a C64 so going back a bit.

I was advised to phone them and I did explained what happened the lady I spoke to at the time asked me to forward all the e-mails to her. Which I did an hour later she phoned me back and told me a replacement would be delivered to my door the next morning and it was.

Therefore the effort can pay off as opposed to just putting up with e-mails. I belive it is because with e-mails there is no vocal contact and so you can be easily put off whereas in the call you have the tone of voice to go on too which helps to determin if you are being fobbed off.

On the minimum charge issue most shops refuse to take the card payment if the value of good is below that which they set. Epson don't and that is why you were told £10 which is the minimum for any electronic order. I asked and the trays are only avaialble from Epson itself, they are not stocked at the repair centers.

I have a Epson stylus photo R800 and have printed well over 200 dvd's. The bottom of the plastic tray looks a little worn but i have had no jamming problems at all. Never turn your printer on or off with dvd tray inserted in the printer. Also try to never clean heads as it uses an enormous amount of ink. Rather keep printer off except when printing. This helps to keep heads clean and working.

I've had my R220 for a while now and have printed hundreds of dvd with no problems (knock wood). I'm not exactly sure how many but I know about a month ago I threw away at least 9 or 10 empty Memorex printable DVD-R 100 pack cakeboxes plus a few 50 pack verbatim's. So I've probably printed at least 1200 or more with it but after reading this post I doubt I'll be doing too many more LOL.

I'm hoping that the trickle of glossy, no smudge, no smear CD and DVD print-on media will become a flood and we will no longer have to worry about that aspect of the finished product.

As for the tray not holding up, that is kind of odd, but at least the replacements are not prohibitively expensive...

I live in the US and own the Epson R300. I've had it for a few years, and yes the print tray fails. I probably print discs every day. One solution is to put masking tape over the clear plastic on the tray. It works, but isnt pretty!

I've tried local stores, and none carry them. I did find a web site in Oregon that sells the trays fairly cheep. With shipping its about 10 dollars. This site says that the tray has been redesigned, removing the clear lip.

http://www.compassmicro.com/partsdet...648&backpage=1

Hope this is helpful

I have both a R200 and R300. I have had to reset the print counter twice on my R300, so I have printed cd/dvd's, photos and pages up to 4000 times. I was very frustrated with the dvd tray in that it would miss feed quite often. Until I discovered if I left the paper tray extension extended, it keeped the dvd tray aligned and I have had very few miss feeds.