Overview of the gel printer Ricoh Aficio SG 3110 DNw
Have you ever heard of gel printers? So I heard vaguely, but I hadn’t come across them in my life. But last week it happened not only to personally see such a device, but even to work a little with it. Speech about printer Ricoh Aficio SG 3110 DNw. Actually, its review is under habrakat.
To begin with - a few words about the technology of gel printing. The principle of operation of a gel printer is similar to an inkjet one, but instead of the usual ink, a special coloring gel with high viscosity is used here, which allows to get good quality prints at the output. In addition, because of the viscosity, the gel dries instantly on contact with the paper, and as a result of a chemical reaction, it becomes resistant to moisture and light. In addition, since the gel dries quickly, this significantly increases the speed of printing and allows you to immediately print in duplex.
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The model itself is quite compact and can fit almost anywhere - on a table, nightstand, etc. In addition, the convenience lies in the fact that everything you need (feed tray, paper exit slot, controls and information screen) is on the front panel. the printer. This allows you to place the device in any niche without interference and work with it.
The printer connects to a computer for personal use with a USB cable. There is also an Ethernet controller for connecting to the office network. In addition, the model is equipped with a built-in wireless Wi-Fi adapter - this, by the way, is indicated by the letter “w” in the model name.
The cartridge compartment can also be accessed from the front of the printer — a small cover opens on the right. From the cartridge to the printheads are special tubes, through which the gel flows. Installing and replacing cartridges is made elementary and will not cause difficulties even for a user who has seen a printer for the first time in his life. By the way, the possibility of hot-swappable cartridges is provided even during the actual printing process. The fact is that a sufficient amount of gel remains in the tubes, and the printer can continue to print no matter how many and which cartridges you replace.
The cartridges themselves in printer 4 are black, cyan (blue), magenta (pink) and yellow. Black is designed for 2500 sheets, color - for 2200. Quite resource-intensive compared with inkjet cartridges, calculated, as a rule, for 600-700 copies. True, there is one subtle point: since the technology is new, they are not able to fill the cartridges with gel, at least with us. Therefore it is necessary to acquire new consumables. Cartridges cost approximately $ 46 for black and $ 43 for color cartridges. On the other hand, the cost is roughly comparable to consumables for an inkjet printer. The life of the gel cartridge is approximately equal to the resource of the inkjet, taking into account the three refills. Moreover, in the case of an inkjet cartridge after 3-4 refills, you still have to buy a new consumables.
Gel tubes
In addition to the standard paper feed tray, you can “hang” two additional trays on the bottom of the printer. In addition, you can install a direct feed tray on the back panel, which allows you to feed high-density paper up to 220 g / m (duplex printing is not supported through this tray).
The printer is controlled by a special panel consisting of navigation buttons and an information monitor. By default, the monitor shows the status of the printer — the capacity and readiness of each of the cartridges, as well as the amount of spent gel. In the menu you can see the counters of printed documents, paper size and type, configure the system options that control the behavior of the printer. In addition, the monitor plays the role of a kind of information board that reacts to errors in a timely manner and notifies the user about them.
Now about the print itself. The printer can print in four modes: High speed, Speed priority, Quality priority, High quality. High-speed mode is quite suitable for most working documents, the resolution is 300x150 dpi, the characters are quite readable, and the print speed is up to 29 pages per minute. In high quality, the resolution is 36001200 dpi, the print quality is comparable with the laser printer, the print speed is about 9-10 pages per minute. Two “intermediate modes have speeds of 15 and 22 pages per minute respectively. In addition, for color printing, there is a special Economy Color mode that allows you to reduce gel consumption. Prints at the same time turn out more pale, but color keep.
Here are some unscathed scans for meticulous.
For the test after printing I poured water over the paper — ink did not flow.
Proof video:
Leaf after water:
And, of course, paper. Aficio SG 3110 DNw supports a huge number of paper types: different formats, density, glossy and matte, there is even the possibility of printing envelopes (which I personally have not seen in other models before). By the way, as I was explained, depending on the quality settings and the type of paper used (performed in the driver settings, which will be discussed later), a gel printer can drop up to three drops of gel at one point.
The operation of the printer is practically noiseless, since the device does not heat up even under heavy print loads and does not emit any sounds, and also does not emit any odors, such as ozone, for example, when a laser printer is operating. In addition, Aficio SG 3110 DNw has reduced power consumption, and also allows you to enable a special mode in which the power consumption is reduced to 0.71 watts.
Printing is possible through the PCL driver in the local network and through its own RPCS driver (similar to the usual GDI) in the case of connecting to a PC via USB. Setting up printing through these drivers is approximately identical, perhaps a little more is available through PCL. But RPCS has a more friendly and intuitive interface that will be convenient for inexperienced users.
Driver settings allow you to select the print mode, paper type and quality, layout, specify the tray from which you are printing, etc. In addition, a separate item rendered printer maintenance. Here you can perform automatic printer maintenance — head cleaning, nozzle check, etc.
The device will do everything on its own and eventually produce a test print. By the way, it is worth noting that at the time of maintenance the printer consumes more gel than with simple printing.
In general, the impressions of the Aficio SG 3110 DNw remained quite pleasant. In fact, the model is an office printer with the possibility of color printing.
Naturally, you need to understand that this is by no means a design or photo printer , but it prints in color quite qualitatively - comparable to laser printers, and at the same time, in terms of speed and price of printing, it is closer to inkjet ones.
It costs Aficio SG 3110 DNw - about $ 390. So if you need an inexpensive color printing, you can safely choose this printer.
MUK-Service - all types of IT repair: warranty, non-warranty repair, sale of spare parts, contract service
To begin with - a few words about the technology of gel printing. The principle of operation of a gel printer is similar to an inkjet one, but instead of the usual ink, a special coloring gel with high viscosity is used here, which allows to get good quality prints at the output. In addition, because of the viscosity, the gel dries instantly on contact with the paper, and as a result of a chemical reaction, it becomes resistant to moisture and light. In addition, since the gel dries quickly, this significantly increases the speed of printing and allows you to immediately print in duplex.
')
The model itself is quite compact and can fit almost anywhere - on a table, nightstand, etc. In addition, the convenience lies in the fact that everything you need (feed tray, paper exit slot, controls and information screen) is on the front panel. the printer. This allows you to place the device in any niche without interference and work with it.
The printer connects to a computer for personal use with a USB cable. There is also an Ethernet controller for connecting to the office network. In addition, the model is equipped with a built-in wireless Wi-Fi adapter - this, by the way, is indicated by the letter “w” in the model name.
The cartridge compartment can also be accessed from the front of the printer — a small cover opens on the right. From the cartridge to the printheads are special tubes, through which the gel flows. Installing and replacing cartridges is made elementary and will not cause difficulties even for a user who has seen a printer for the first time in his life. By the way, the possibility of hot-swappable cartridges is provided even during the actual printing process. The fact is that a sufficient amount of gel remains in the tubes, and the printer can continue to print no matter how many and which cartridges you replace.
The cartridges themselves in printer 4 are black, cyan (blue), magenta (pink) and yellow. Black is designed for 2500 sheets, color - for 2200. Quite resource-intensive compared with inkjet cartridges, calculated, as a rule, for 600-700 copies. True, there is one subtle point: since the technology is new, they are not able to fill the cartridges with gel, at least with us. Therefore it is necessary to acquire new consumables. Cartridges cost approximately $ 46 for black and $ 43 for color cartridges. On the other hand, the cost is roughly comparable to consumables for an inkjet printer. The life of the gel cartridge is approximately equal to the resource of the inkjet, taking into account the three refills. Moreover, in the case of an inkjet cartridge after 3-4 refills, you still have to buy a new consumables.
Gel tubes
In addition to the standard paper feed tray, you can “hang” two additional trays on the bottom of the printer. In addition, you can install a direct feed tray on the back panel, which allows you to feed high-density paper up to 220 g / m (duplex printing is not supported through this tray).
The printer is controlled by a special panel consisting of navigation buttons and an information monitor. By default, the monitor shows the status of the printer — the capacity and readiness of each of the cartridges, as well as the amount of spent gel. In the menu you can see the counters of printed documents, paper size and type, configure the system options that control the behavior of the printer. In addition, the monitor plays the role of a kind of information board that reacts to errors in a timely manner and notifies the user about them.
Now about the print itself. The printer can print in four modes: High speed, Speed priority, Quality priority, High quality. High-speed mode is quite suitable for most working documents, the resolution is 300x150 dpi, the characters are quite readable, and the print speed is up to 29 pages per minute. In high quality, the resolution is 36001200 dpi, the print quality is comparable with the laser printer, the print speed is about 9-10 pages per minute. Two “intermediate modes have speeds of 15 and 22 pages per minute respectively. In addition, for color printing, there is a special Economy Color mode that allows you to reduce gel consumption. Prints at the same time turn out more pale, but color keep.
Print samples scanned in DPI 300 (without Ph)
Speed priority
Economy mode color
High speed
Quality Priority
High quality
Font sample
Here are some unscathed scans for meticulous.
For the test after printing I poured water over the paper — ink did not flow.
Proof video:
Leaf after water:
And, of course, paper. Aficio SG 3110 DNw supports a huge number of paper types: different formats, density, glossy and matte, there is even the possibility of printing envelopes (which I personally have not seen in other models before). By the way, as I was explained, depending on the quality settings and the type of paper used (performed in the driver settings, which will be discussed later), a gel printer can drop up to three drops of gel at one point.
The operation of the printer is practically noiseless, since the device does not heat up even under heavy print loads and does not emit any sounds, and also does not emit any odors, such as ozone, for example, when a laser printer is operating. In addition, Aficio SG 3110 DNw has reduced power consumption, and also allows you to enable a special mode in which the power consumption is reduced to 0.71 watts.
Printing is possible through the PCL driver in the local network and through its own RPCS driver (similar to the usual GDI) in the case of connecting to a PC via USB. Setting up printing through these drivers is approximately identical, perhaps a little more is available through PCL. But RPCS has a more friendly and intuitive interface that will be convenient for inexperienced users.
Driver settings allow you to select the print mode, paper type and quality, layout, specify the tray from which you are printing, etc. In addition, a separate item rendered printer maintenance. Here you can perform automatic printer maintenance — head cleaning, nozzle check, etc.
The device will do everything on its own and eventually produce a test print. By the way, it is worth noting that at the time of maintenance the printer consumes more gel than with simple printing.
PCL driver setup
(Caution! A lot of screenshots) Screenshots without explanation, because everything is shown on them.Configure RPCS driver:
(Again, many screenshots - but all necessary)In general, the impressions of the Aficio SG 3110 DNw remained quite pleasant. In fact, the model is an office printer with the possibility of color printing.
Naturally, you need to understand that this is by no means a design or photo printer , but it prints in color quite qualitatively - comparable to laser printers, and at the same time, in terms of speed and price of printing, it is closer to inkjet ones.
It costs Aficio SG 3110 DNw - about $ 390. So if you need an inexpensive color printing, you can safely choose this printer.
MUK-Service - all types of IT repair: warranty, non-warranty repair, sale of spare parts, contract service
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/148739/
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