Which type of discs would you recommend to solve this stickiness issue? Or is there a certain manufacturer or brand that you would recommend that stick together less than others?
A: First, I'll address the question about which disc you should buy. You should always try to use the brand of disc that was recommended by your equipment manufacturer. Some discs are thicker or heavier than others – the difference in size can be measured in microns, but it can affect your results. For example, we've learned that heavier discs usually perform better than lighter discs in gravity-fed printers.
If you'd like more information on disc quality, you can check the reviews and forums on CDFreaks.com. Their content is concentrated more on data performance as opposed to the print performance of the disc, but it's a good source of information.
As for the stickiness issue, I did some research by reading some product manuals on the Microboards Web site. According to the documentation for the HCL autoloader, the most common problems when using an autoloader are disc static and "sticky disc" issues. Static charge is often the culprit. Not only is this frustrating, but it could shock the robotic arm and make your whole disc publishing system publishing freeze up.
Microboards recommends you try to eliminate static before loading your discs on the to autoloaders spindles. You can do this by separating the discs before you place them on the spindle or, if that doesn't work, use canned air to blow air around the edge of your discs. (The canned air trick can reduce static up to 90%.)
Many of our manufacturers also suggestion you "fan" your discs prior to placing them in your printer or autoloader. Fanning is lightly separating your discs the same way you would fan a deck of cards when performing a card trick. ("Go on…pick a disc..any disc.")
A third solution was actually provided by the person who originally posed this question. He later wrote back and reported that his autoloader has a setting that "shakes" the robotic arm to dislodge extra discs. And, sure enough, the HCL Autoloader has the same function. The manual said the HCL Autoloader has a "disc separator" function under its Loader Utilities. When you select this option, the robotic arm stops at the top of its travel and bounces one to three times to dislodge discs that are stuck together.
Responses from Our Readers:
01/09/2009 12:14 PM
Dean,
Interesting piece on "sticky discs". As a duplicator we run into sticky discs quite often. You can almost count on it
from certain brands. I've never run into a "static cling" issue. Most sticky discs we see are simply not adequately
dried or cured. I can tell by the strength of the fresh chemical smell when I open a new case just how sticky the discs
are likely to be.
Stickiness not only causes problems for robot arms, it also causes problems during thermal printing because the ribbon
cannot run smoothly over the top of the disc. It can get caught on the sticky edges of the disc.
A quick and easy way to un-stick discs from each other is to tilt them back and forth (10 to 20 at a time) while still
on the spindle. (You have to remove the top 20 or so first to make room for tilting.) This forces them to move
sideways relative to each other and breaks the bond between them. You can un-stick a whole spindle in about 30 seconds
this way.
Sincerely,
John Murphy
Access Video & Photo Services
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