Primera Bravo Disc Publishers
From Open Source Ecology
Basics
- A company that seems to be the main (if not only) producer of prosumer grade Automated Systems for Optical Disc Burning and Printing
- You put a stack of "fresh" unburnt CD DVD or Blu-Ray etc discs on one side, a gantry lifts them up one at a time, places them in 1-2 (depending on option) burning drives, then once done places them in a "print tray". Finally they are put into the finished stack and/or dropped out a slot in the front into a container or the "kiosk module"
- Would have utility for Publishing small runs of Discs (kind of what was planned for the GVCS way back)
- HOWEVER for Data Storage (Particurally in Archiving / "Cold Data" ) along with the slightly more vulnerable Magnetic Tape (Such as LTO Tape mainly, although modernized D-VHS would be interesting!), and the far more resilient but more complex Subsurface Laser Engraving based data storage in transparent media such as Borosilicate Glass , discs have the advantage of stability
- Short of a fire, or severe UV bombardment, or shattering, Optical Discs can be far more resilient compared to other methods:
- Cannot be De-Magnetized (unless you count odd Magneto-Optical Stuff) (Such as Spinning HDDs or Tape)
- Doesn't degrade link Paper or Microfiche/Microtape
- Doesn't require power to keep data long term (such as Flash Memory) (Minor nuance in that obviously SSDs can work without power, but long term data rot does occur)
- Recall Speed is an advantage of Optical over tape outside of longevity. You get recall similar to SSD, but stability of tape (LTO Tape requires essentially the same rewinding as a VHS but for moving through it's *giant volume*
- WORM Type Archival Grade Disks (Most are versions of blu-ray if i remember correctly) would be the main media of choice
- [[DVD-RAM] and modernized versions are a curiosity that may pan out
- Going to clean out the above later , but TLDR these things are neat and may still have a niche
Models
Nomenclature
- 4100/4101/4102 designates numbers of non-printing disc drives for burning if i understand correctly
- A prefix of 50 means it has a disc capacity of 50 supposedly (unsure on if this is per stack, or total (ie sneaky marketing talk similar to Electrical Power in vs Optical Power Out in Laser Diode Marketing
- "Autoprinter" means it is a version without any disc drives, as per the youtuuba video, it is faster for large runs to have it do the printing, take that stack, and put it in a larger stack of optical disk drives, or use a "disc cloner"
BRAVO 4000 Series
BRAVO 4100 Series
BRAVO 4200 Series
Ink Cartridge
- Which one is used, is it standard?
- If not can some janky Continuous Ink System / Supertank Printer type thing be done, that or Refilling Ink Cartridges with a syringe and bulk ink?
- It seems they went the opposite way and their new smaller model has some *combined system*, the older ones had your standard CMYK in (insert format here if it isn't just a custom one)
- Primera page for Bravo SE Inks (ie the new ones)
- The Primera Page for the 4100 Series
- $38.95 for Black Ink
- $29.95 for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow
- $117.95 for pack of all four
- Also replacement printhead (module) listed for $79.95
- Uncertain if this is one of the printers where the disposable cartridge is only for ink, not a tank-ink-printhead all in one unit, but either way good that they have it i guess? Quite Pricey (even considering the ink to be "acceptable" given it's probably highway robbery as well lol; injection molded part with foam square put inside and a little ink added)
- I can post some pictures, but yesterday/today i have been digging into the 4100 i got off ebay
- Looked fine, i got all the software/drivers installed, plugged it in (to wall power and usb), turned it on did a self check everything going well...
- ...aaaaand it's out of black ink. Let me just hit color only mode aaaaaaaaaaaaand
- So i'll buy a new cartridge, but i did some mild dissecting of the old one (the foam seems dry so it does indeed seem spent )
- Beneath the "Do not Look At the Man Behind The Curtain" esque sticker, there appears to be an ink fill port (ie what the machine making it probably not used, not something labeled FILL HERE, but a Dispensing Syringe etc should work (minor apostrophe in that Do Different Inkjet Printers use Different Inks ) and some sort RFID Chip looking thing
- I'm going to see if my RFID reader can see anything off of it
Pricing
Black Ink
Amazon
B&H Photo
Used Market
- Due to them being somewhat obsolete, there are a decent amount on the used market
- User: Eric here, i'm debating getting one i'll keep you posted (also probably lowest of low priority, but may be worth a glance Marcin? I don't know what all you have Publishing wise (one of those fancy "can print a pile of brochures" printers, etc), and if that is really needed in the paperless age / with print shops and all that but yeah
- A 4101 Selling for ~587 USD (or lower, given there isn't a PILE of demand trying to get it for lower potentially, granted some resellers being greedy may ruin things as per usual potentially)
- PRIMERA BRAVO 4051 DISC PUBLISHER 4100 SERIES going for 150 USD or best offer (Plus shipping, in my case 50 usd supposedly)
Disc Holder
- Some used modules posted have lost it, although it can be sold as an accessory for the front "dispenser" to make it a Kiosk of sorts
- Seems like it could be 3D Printed quite easily once a model is made (or improvise with a custom design)
- This Ebay Listing for the Kiosk Module (Going for 24.69 USD + shipping (8.74 USD Shipping in my Case)
- As per this timecode in the youtuuba video in the external links section , this can be removed and be used to safely grab a whole 50 or 100 stack at once
- Would be another benefit of multiples, have the refill pre-cued in it's own holder
DIY/OS Versions
- I was looking into this a while back, need to see if it's documented on-wiki
- This and Tape Libraries
- I might have a playlist on youtube?
- Definitely not too mechanically complex
- I do have a disc drive i want (it can do basically everything up to 4K Blu-Ray)
- Minor apostrophe for odd old formats and some others may have spun/written faster
Alternatives
- Burning a disc in a PC, or external optical disc drive etc, then putting it into a printer by hand
Internal Links
External Links
