Overview of the gel printer Ricoh Aficio SG 3110 DNw
Have you ever heard of gel printers? So I heard out of the corner of my ear, but in life I have never encountered them. But last week it happened not only to personally see such a device, but even to work a little with it. Speech about the Ricoh Aficio SG 3110 DNw printer. Actually, his 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, only instead of the usual ink, a special coloring gel is used here, which has high viscosity and allows you to get good quality prints at the output. In addition, due to its viscosity, the gel dries instantly upon contact with paper and, as a result of a chemical reaction, 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 is that everything you need (feed tray, paper exit slot, controls and information screen) is located on the front panel printer. This allows you to place the device in any niche if necessary and work with it without interference.
The printer connects to a computer for personal use using 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, incidentally, is indicated by the letter “w” in the model name.
The cartridge compartment is also accessible from the front of the printer - a small cover opens to the right. From the cartridges to the printheads go special tubes through which the gel flows. Installation and replacement of cartridges is done elementarily and will not cause difficulties even for the user who saw the printer for the first time in his life. By the way, it is possible to hot swap cartridges even during the printing process itself. The fact is that there is still enough gel in the tubes, and the printer can continue to print regardless of how many and which cartridges you replace.
The cartridges themselves in the printer 4: black, cyan (cyan), magenta (pink) and yellow. Black is designed for 2500 sheets, color - for 2200. Quite resource-intensive compared to inkjet cartridges, calculated, as a rule, for 600-700 copies. True, there is one subtle point: since the technology is new, they still do not know how to refill cartridges with gel, at least with us. Therefore, you will have to purchase new consumables. Cartridges cost approximately $ 46 for black and $ 43 for color cartridges. On the other hand, the cost is approximately comparable to the inkjet printer consumables. The life of a gel cartridge is approximately equal to the life of an ink cartridge, taking into account three refills. Moreover, in the case of an inkjet cartridge after 3-4 refills, you still have to buy a new consumable.
Gel tubes
In addition to the standard paper feed tray, you can hang two more additional trays from the bottom of the printer. In addition, you can install a direct-feed tray on the rear panel, which allows you to feed high-density paper up to 220 g / m (duplex printing through this tray is not supported).
The printer is controlled using a special panel consisting of navigation buttons and an information monitor. By default, the monitor shows the status of the printer - the capacity and availability of each of the cartridges, as well as the amount of spent gel. In the menu you can see counters of printed documents, paper size and type, configure system options that control the behavior of the printer. In addition, the monitor plays the role of a kind of information board that responds to errors in a timely manner and notifies the user about them.
Now about the press itself. The printer can print in four modes: High speed, Speed priority, Quality priority, High quality. The high-speed mode is quite suitable for most working documents, the resolution is 300x150 dpi, the characters are readable, and the print speed is up to 29 pages per minute. In high quality, the resolution is 3600x1200 dpi, the print quality is comparable in appearance with a laser printer, and 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, there is a special Economy Color mode for color printing, which reduces gel consumption. The prints in this case turn out to be paler, but the color is retained.
Here are the scrapped scans for the meticulous.
For the test, after printing, I poured paper over water - ink did not flow.
Proof video:
Leaf after water:
Well, of course, paper. Aficio SG 3110 DNw supports a huge number of paper types: different sizes, weights, glossy and matte, it even provides the ability to print envelopes (which I personally have never seen in other models). By the way, as they explained to me, 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 drip up to three drops of gel at one point.
The operation of the printer is almost silent, since the device does not heat up even under heavy printing loads and does not emit any sounds, and also does not emit any odors, such as ozone when a laser printer is operating. In addition, the Aficio SG 3110 DNw has reduced power consumption and also allows you to enable a special mode in which power consumption is reduced to 0.71 watts.
Printing is possible through the PCL driver on the local network and through its own RPCS driver (analogous to the usual GDI) if connected to a PC via USB. Setting up printing through these drivers is approximately identical, perhaps a little more options are available through PCL. But RPCS has a more friendly and intuitive interface, which will be convenient for inexperienced users.
The driver settings allow you to select the print mode, paper type and quality, layout, specify the tray from which printing is performed, etc. In addition, a separate item is the maintenance of the printer. Here you can carry out automatic printer maintenance - cleaning heads, checking nozzles, etc.
The device will do everything on its own and ultimately display a test print. By the way, it is worth noting that at the time of service, the printer consumes more gel than with simple printing.
In general, the impressions of the Aficio SG 3110 DNw were quite pleasant. In fact, the model is an office printer with the ability to color print.
Naturally, you need to understand that this is by no means a designer or a photo printer , however, it prints in high quality enough - comparable to laser printers, and at the same time it’s closer to inkjet in speed and price.
At the same time, the Aficio SG 3110 DNw costs about $ 390. So if you need 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, only instead of the usual ink, a special coloring gel is used here, which has high viscosity and allows you to get good quality prints at the output. In addition, due to its viscosity, the gel dries instantly upon contact with paper and, as a result of a chemical reaction, 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 is that everything you need (feed tray, paper exit slot, controls and information screen) is located on the front panel printer. This allows you to place the device in any niche if necessary and work with it without interference.
The printer connects to a computer for personal use using 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, incidentally, is indicated by the letter “w” in the model name.
The cartridge compartment is also accessible from the front of the printer - a small cover opens to the right. From the cartridges to the printheads go special tubes through which the gel flows. Installation and replacement of cartridges is done elementarily and will not cause difficulties even for the user who saw the printer for the first time in his life. By the way, it is possible to hot swap cartridges even during the printing process itself. The fact is that there is still enough gel in the tubes, and the printer can continue to print regardless of how many and which cartridges you replace.
The cartridges themselves in the printer 4: black, cyan (cyan), magenta (pink) and yellow. Black is designed for 2500 sheets, color - for 2200. Quite resource-intensive compared to inkjet cartridges, calculated, as a rule, for 600-700 copies. True, there is one subtle point: since the technology is new, they still do not know how to refill cartridges with gel, at least with us. Therefore, you will have to purchase new consumables. Cartridges cost approximately $ 46 for black and $ 43 for color cartridges. On the other hand, the cost is approximately comparable to the inkjet printer consumables. The life of a gel cartridge is approximately equal to the life of an ink cartridge, taking into account three refills. Moreover, in the case of an inkjet cartridge after 3-4 refills, you still have to buy a new consumable.
Gel tubes
In addition to the standard paper feed tray, you can hang two more additional trays from the bottom of the printer. In addition, you can install a direct-feed tray on the rear panel, which allows you to feed high-density paper up to 220 g / m (duplex printing through this tray is not supported).
The printer is controlled using a special panel consisting of navigation buttons and an information monitor. By default, the monitor shows the status of the printer - the capacity and availability of each of the cartridges, as well as the amount of spent gel. In the menu you can see counters of printed documents, paper size and type, configure system options that control the behavior of the printer. In addition, the monitor plays the role of a kind of information board that responds to errors in a timely manner and notifies the user about them.
Now about the press itself. The printer can print in four modes: High speed, Speed priority, Quality priority, High quality. The high-speed mode is quite suitable for most working documents, the resolution is 300x150 dpi, the characters are readable, and the print speed is up to 29 pages per minute. In high quality, the resolution is 3600x1200 dpi, the print quality is comparable in appearance with a laser printer, and 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, there is a special Economy Color mode for color printing, which reduces gel consumption. The prints in this case turn out to be paler, but the color is retained.
Print samples scanned in DPI 300 (without Ph)
Speed priority
Economy color mode
High speed
Quality Priority
High quality
Font sample
Here are the scrapped scans for the meticulous.
For the test, after printing, I poured paper over water - ink did not flow.
Proof video:
Leaf after water:
Well, of course, paper. Aficio SG 3110 DNw supports a huge number of paper types: different sizes, weights, glossy and matte, it even provides the ability to print envelopes (which I personally have never seen in other models). By the way, as they explained to me, 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 drip up to three drops of gel at one point.
The operation of the printer is almost silent, since the device does not heat up even under heavy printing loads and does not emit any sounds, and also does not emit any odors, such as ozone when a laser printer is operating. In addition, the Aficio SG 3110 DNw has reduced power consumption and also allows you to enable a special mode in which power consumption is reduced to 0.71 watts.
Printing is possible through the PCL driver on the local network and through its own RPCS driver (analogous to the usual GDI) if connected to a PC via USB. Setting up printing through these drivers is approximately identical, perhaps a little more options are available through PCL. But RPCS has a more friendly and intuitive interface, which will be convenient for inexperienced users.
The driver settings allow you to select the print mode, paper type and quality, layout, specify the tray from which printing is performed, etc. In addition, a separate item is the maintenance of the printer. Here you can carry out automatic printer maintenance - cleaning heads, checking nozzles, etc.
The device will do everything on its own and ultimately display a test print. By the way, it is worth noting that at the time of service, 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.Configuring the RPCS driver:
(Again, a lot of screenshots - but all you need)In general, the impressions of the Aficio SG 3110 DNw were quite pleasant. In fact, the model is an office printer with the ability to color print.
Naturally, you need to understand that this is by no means a designer or a photo printer , however, it prints in high quality enough - comparable to laser printers, and at the same time it’s closer to inkjet in speed and price.
At the same time, the Aficio SG 3110 DNw costs about $ 390. So if you need 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