Canon MP970 disc printing

[NOTS3W]

Hi. I cannot find an answer to this, so I hope it's not been addressed before.

I have an MP970 that's been modified to print on DVDs. Yesterday, I printed a couple of DVDs for the first time using downloaded images and Canon's CD-LabelPrint software. The images look fine in the editor and preview but when printed, they come out off-centered vertically and shrunk. The image is still round, but it's smaller than the disk by about 4 or 5mm. It's centered horizontally but vertically, it's aligned with the bottom edge of the disc. I hope that makes sense. By "bottom" I mean the edge that enters the printer first. Of course, the hole in the image isn't lined up with the hole in the disc because the image is shifted down. In CD-LabelPrint, I have the outer size maxed out at 118mm and the inner size minimized to 17mm.

This isn't merely an alignment problem. If it was, then the bottom edge would print off the disc.

Has anyone encountered this before?

[CDan]

1. When you click “print” you open a dialog that has alignment adjustments. Once you set these, they are remembered.

2. You must have the correct dimensions for your media set in the program. Click the button for “select paper”, click “new”, then enter the correct inner and outer diameters. Save this with the name of your choosing and you have a template for that media type.

3. Instead of adding your label image as an image, use it as a background and it will auto-fit to the label dimensions you set above.

[KetchupKid]

[QUOTE=NOTS3W;2007202]Hi.

… I have an MP970 that’s been modified to print on DVDs.

[KetchupKid]

All the instructions I can find online about modifying USA Canon printers to print CDs and DVDs are very old and do no include instructions as to how to remove the solidly entrenched wall of plastic and the parts it is attached to. How did you do your MP970?

[NOTS3W]

Hi. I have an MP970. YMMV. First of all, there’s a hinged plastic door inside the printer that folds down. Not the big outer door, but a second door inside. It doesn’t get removed, just opened. You have to have the door closed to print on paper (the printer will tell you if it’s not closed when you try to print) and open to insert the tray to print on a disc. Behind that door is a plastic plate that blocks off the tray path. It wasn’t terribly tight on my printer but it was tricky to get out. As I recall, I used a pocket knife to get under the edge and pried the plastic out. Be careful to not scratch up the insides of your printer. It just snaps in or out. The plate came out intact so I could put it back if I wanted to, but I’ve never had a reason to do so. That’s all that has to be removed. Once that plate’s out of the way, you can buy a tray (I bought mine on ebay for about $20 I think) that will slide right into the printer. It glides on rollers that were already in my printer. I’ve seen instructions for making a tray, but it seemed like a lot of iffy work to get everything just right. Be sure you buy the right tray for your printer. Mine has the letter F in a square molded into the tray plastic. You also have to follow a set of cryptic steps to get the printer to recognize the tray. Look here. You only have to do it once. When everything is setup, just snap a disk onto the tray, open the inner door and a window will pop up telling you when to insert the tray. I did all of this to my printer a couple of years ago and it’s worked great ever since with no problems whatsoever and I love the results. I use Canon’s CD-LabelPrint software that came with the printer and it works fine. You may have to try a few discs and make some alignment adjustments in the software to get the image to print perfectly centered, but again that’s a one-time thing. Good luck to you.