PVC ID Card Tray for Epson R280, Artisan 50, R260, R265, R270, R290, R380, RX580, RX595, RX680, P50, and T50

I purchased this item to make novelty ID cards (little league, etc) The item is made of sturdy plastic construction. I own both an R380 and R290 and the tray works perfectly in both printers. You will need to purchase inkjet printable cards for use with this tray. After printing I would say that the cards do not smear. I have not tried to get them wet however. You can also coat them with an inkjet UV Protectant spray in either gloss or matt finish. Here is a link to one of the products to get you started: Krylon Preserve-It Digital Photo and Paper Protectant, Gloss 3 OuncesYou use this tray in the same way you would use the CD/DVD Printing tray which comes with these printers. It is recommended to place two blank cards in at a time even if you are printing on only one card. My tray came with instructions - which was helpful. However there are many U-Tube videos showing this tray in action. I would also search for a template that will work with the program you wish to use to create the card. I have found MS Word, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator templates on the internet. The cards do not need to be laminated, however you can purchase clear overlays with or without a Hologram. I think the Hologram provides a nice touch to the card since the kids really like it, and it makes them look like an official Private I or any other Official you can think of.Be sure to follow the directions which include setting the correct paper size to A4 in up to 2 places as well as setting the printer to print on CD / DVD Media.The tray itself is also an inexpensive way to make company ID cards without having to buy a dedicated printer. Keep in mind you will need to buy the right type of cards and have the necessary equipment to encode the cards and read the cards, (I.E. Swipe Cards versus Card Readers Where You Press the Card to a Plate)There are other types of trays being sold that work with other printers - however this seems to have been a solid buy for me.Here is a link to some blank cards:100 Blank Inkjet PVC ID Cards, Double Sided Printing

This tray works great with my Epson R280. Just set the printer tray to the CD position, slide the ID tray in until the arrows line up, and then print using the A4 standard settings for printing CDs. (Select "Best Picture" printing in the settings as well.) You can print one card if desired, but you will need to have a PVC card in each slot. (The printer checks surface area whereas it is designed to print on CDs and will not print unless that surface area is correct. It will spit the tray out if two cards are not inserted.) For printing to cards, download a template that shows you where your image needs to be for proper alignment with the card location. A simple search such as "Epson R280 ID card template" will give the results you need. The cards will have great image quality comparable to thermal ID printers..... BUT, the surface will feel tacky whereas ink is on the surface of the card. It won't readily smear or wash off, but you will need to apply a clear overlay in order to get a smooth surface and protect the image. Also note that you will need "INK JET" PVC cards (30 mil). You cannot print on the PVC cards designed for thermal printers because they don't have a printable surface.

Worked perfectly in my Epson R280. Very easy to use. Just insert it as you would a cd printer tray and use it. There was included a link to the vendor's web site with good instructions and a Word template that I used to set up the id cards.Cards came out great. Just be sure to always load two blank cards even if you are printing only one per the instructions.

I've always wanted to make professional looking membership cards for my club, but with less than 600 members it was just too expensive. The cheapest card printers are nearly $1,000.00 - well outside our budget. This product changed that. With an $150 inkjet printer and this magic tray, I was able to get my cost down to less than $0.35 per card. There is a small downside. Large jobs will take a lot of time. Some of that is probably my fault, as I still haven't figured out how to print two cards at a time. But now that the main project is done, I will only need to print a dozen or so per week - so this is perfect for us. When you design your card, make sure to leave the very bottom corners blank. The printer thinks it is printing on a disc, so that small radius at the bottom of the card is not a printable area.

The tray works fine in the Epson Artisan 50. Though there are issues with the default template supplied on their website. Since they use Word template with a table and color the background a color, the color actually prints directly no the tray itself (the area between the two cards) if you do not clean this area, it can and will smear colors over the next set of cards. We keep a wet paper towel to wipe this off prior to printing the other side or another set of cards. This can be corrected with a template that does not have one solid table for both card areas. See my photos. The unit does work, just don;t think you will be printing hundreds of these an hour.. It is more for a small batch now and then

This tray does not work in my Epson Stylus Photo R680.I can print CDs in my Epson Stylus Photo R680, but despite hours of trying, I have not been able to print ID cards. The printer always returns the message "The CD/DVD tray is set incorrectly. Please correct, then press the Start button". Regardless of where the tray "arrow" is aligned, the printer returns the same message,