New From Epson: The SureColor T3170 Large-format Printer

Issue #990

 

reviewed by Ralph Grabowski When we think of large-format printers for CAD drawings, we tend to think of brand names like HP, Oce, and maybe Canon (which now owns Oce). Epson is also in the market, but is lesser known, perhaps because it's been four years since they last released a series. It was time for an update.  To get ideas of what functions make large-format printers attractive to CAD users, the company spoke with engineering and architectural firms about their needs. It turned out that users are interested in a simpler printer that would do line drawings primarily, and a large printer that would look good in the architectural office -- matching the Apple design aesthetic. See figure 1. Figure 1: Epson’s new SureColor printer sitting on a desk (image source Epson) The result is a pair of printers named the SureColor Tx170-series that print with CYMK (cyan, yellow, magenta, and large black) cartridges. Both models hold a single roll of paper with built-in rotary cutter, with a feeder for office-size paper, like letter and 11"x17" sizes, to act as an office printer. SureColor T3170 ($995) prints 24" wide -- up to D-size (24” x 36") SureColor T5170 ($2,395) prints 36" wide -- up to E-size (36” x 48") Long output, like banners, is handled by the included Layout Manager software utility.  (Epson sent me the 24" model upon my request, as my office would not have room for the 36" one.) Epson product manager for SureColor T-Series Matt Kochanowski told me that the T3170 is the fastest printer for under $1,000, doing a D-size print in as little as 34 seconds – timed in draft mode from when the printhead begins to move on plain paper; my benchmarks start earlier. He adds that there is a natural trade-off between lower price and faster printing. The outside case of the Tx170-series was designed by an automotive designer, and I'd have to agree that for a large-format printer it looks good.The design features a flat top for a laptop and other items. In the weeks the T3170 sat in my office, I certainly made use of its large, flat top for a tablet, books, and so on; I resisted the natural urge to also park my tea mug on it. I found that the top is large enough to lay out C-size drawings but not D-size ones. The top is not so flat, however, when you use the cut sheet paper feeder but is flat when using rollfeed paper. You can use the single-sheet feeder at the same time as the roll paper. Rollfeed paper does not fall to the floor, as grippers hold the last printed-page in place after it is printed and cut; when the next drawing is printed, the earlier print falls to the floor. If you were to get the optional stand, it would collect the large prints. (See figure 2.) Figure 2: SureColor printer mounted on optional stand with paper catcher (image source Epson) Epson says the Tx170-series has the smallest footprint of its class. I don't know how the "class" is defined, but this 24" printer is 39" (99cm) wide and 18" (45cm) deep. The cut sheet receiving tray sticks out another 15" (38cm); you remove it when printing with rollfeed paper. You will apparently be able to buy these printers online, with no special shipping needed. Mine was delivered by Purolator Courier, whose truck driver needed my help to dolly the 82-pound box to the front door. I decided to unpack the 4'-long cardboard shipping crate outside the front door, and then on my own was just able to lug the 60-pound printer to my office. (See figure 3.) Figure 3: Unpacking the newly-delivered Epson printer   Set Up and Connections At first I had little idea of how to set up the printer. It was a pre-production model, so new that it came with no documentation. How new? Serial #000001, I’m proud to say. When I turned it on, I was pleased that the 4.3" touch screen displayed a visual guide on removing the shipping protection material, inserting the ink cartridges, and loading the print heads with ink (an 18-minute process that occurs just once). Sometimes sensors in the printer told the tutorial when I had completed certain tasks; other times I had to tap Next. The touch screen has good sensitivity, unlike some other printer screens where I have had to jab them hard. It takes about a half-hour to set up the printer in total. Meanwhile, Epson made available to me a beta copy of the device driver for downloading. Installing it was the same as any other driver. The only catch came when the driver wanted to know which model of printer I had, and I wasn't sure; the hardware was so new, the model number sticker was not yet affixed! The printer offers you four ways to connect (see figure 4): 100 megabit/1 gigabit LAN (wired network cable)  Option connector (connects to the DS-530 scanner; I did not test this) USB v3.0 (B-style T-shaped connector) Figure 4: Connectors at the rear of the SureFire printer Left to right: power, LAN, Option, USB WiFi (I was unable to test this, as the WiFi was not yet certified for this pre-launch model) Direct WiFi for computers and tablets to communicate direct with the printer, without going through a router (also untestable by me) A nice touch is the set of open clips at the back of the printer, which act as a cable tray to prevent one of my pet peeves: the unsightly mess of dangling cables. I tested the printer with the wired network and USB v3 connections. I installed the driver twice, one for each type of connection. WiFi is handy because it lets you place the printer anywhere there is an electrical outlet, so that its location is not constrained to the length of a USB or network cable.   Pigment Ink and Printheads It's been a real pain that inkjet ink for the most part is not waterproof, because waterproof inks of the past were deemed to be carcinogenic. Epson says that their new pigment ink -- named UltraChrome XD2 -- is archival quality, unlike dye-based ink. This means it is water- and scratch-resistant. When I put water on a print and then scratched it, the ink gallantly resisted my efforts in defacing the image. The printer includes a set of four half-filled cartridges meant primarily for setting up the printer (priming it) and doing a few test prints. New cartridges cost  26ml - $25.95 50ml - $43.95 ($6 savings) 80ml (black only) - $59.95 Epson provided me with two extra sets of the 50ml color and 80ml black cartridges. The printer uses Epson's PrecisionCore MicroTFP [thin-film piezo] printheads to spray ink at a resolution of up to 2400dpi. A piezo system produces electricity by applying pressure to materials like crystal and ceramic. It ejects ink droplets by contracting 1-micron piezoelectric elements. This is unlike the thermal technique developed by Canon (and licensed by HP), where electricity heats the ink, forming a bubble, causing the ink to spit onto the paper.  Epson says its piezo system is more precise and wastes less ink than do thermal printheads, and can fire up to 50,000 droplets per second. You can learn more about this technology at global.epson.com/innovation/manufacturing/ The print width is 1.33" (3.3cm) for each pass. The printhead detects nozzle conditions, and so adjusts itself when a head gets clogged. The first remediation step is a head cleaning; if that does not work, then the printhead moves nozzles to make up for gaps. A cubbyhole at the back of the printer is a maintenance box that collects the ink used during the cleaning process. A hatch at the front accesses the rotary cutter, for when it comes time to replace it.   Paper and Physicality Epson provided me with a 100-foot (30m) roll of single-weight enhanced matte paper. This is a paper that good for photographic prints and impressing clients with project presentations, but probably too good for general CAD plotting. Lower-quality paper costs less and plots more quickly. Again, the front panel instructed me step by step on how to install the paper on the steel roll. The only tricky part was feeding the front edge of the paper into the printer; I found that I couldn't do it until I stood at the back of the printer; then feeding the front edge became easy.  You can order Epson roll paper from suppliers like Amazon; this roll cost $60 (at time of writing) with free shipping. Many other kinds of 24" roll paper are available; see amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss. A 100-foot roll produces about... 30 D-size prints at about $2 each for the paper (not including cost of ink) 60 C-size prints at $1 each The printer driver reports the number of feet of paper left on the roll. Once the paper was in, I ran several maintenance tasks, as hairline gaps had appeared in the first print I made using a digital photograph. It covers the page with 100% ink -- unlike CAD drawings. I found the touch panel's instructions vague at first, but with the second round of head alignment instructions I caught on to how to select the best pattern printed out for me. No more gaps.  For CAD programs, you use use the driver provided by Epson. No separate PostScript driver is needed, as PostScript documents are rasterized by the computer. No scanner is built-in, so you would need to buy a separate one for scanning paper drawings or making copies. You can plug in specific models of Epson-brand scanners directly, but the document width is limited to 8.5". You would need to purchase a higher-end printer model with a built-in scanner to process large documents.   Pictures and CAD I took advantage of the printer to push out some large prints of photos I've taken with my cell phone. One photograph, taken inside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, consisted of large areas of black. The printer handled them perfectly. Another, of a shoreline off the West Coast of Canada at dusk, had subtle evening shades, which the printer's four inks handled very well. See figure 5. Figure 5: One of my photographs used to test the SureColor printer I then printed several complex CAD drawings. (See figure 6.) The print quality is superb -- so much so that mistakes in the CAD drawing can become visible. When you draw with object snap disabled, your sin will be found out! Figure 6: One of the CAD drawings used to test the Epson printer (drawing source Hayner/Swanson Inc.) I did not find the printer driver particularly intuitive to use, but that might have been due to its beta status. It includes a number of default settings, such as for monochrome CAD and vibrant color GIS, but I would like to see it easier to produce non-D-size prints effortlessly, such as C. (A- and B-size prints would be made with the cut sheet feeder). Epson tells me they will be improving the workflow.   Useful Utility Software The Epson Print Preview utility appears after the CAD software has finished outputting, but before printing begins. It lets you make sure that the print will occur correctly -- a final check for color/monochrome, orientation, size, paper source, and so on. (See figure 7.) Figure 7: Previewing (background image) and monitoring (foreground) the print process During printing, the Epson Status Monitor utility reports ink levels, feet of paper remaining, and so on. Epson Layout Manager is a utility that lets me place several smaller drawings on the 24"-wide paper, so that less paper is wasted. The included help file was useless at describing how to use it, but I found instructions at files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd4/cpd41370/\ The process is a bit awkward: 1. Open the program, such as a CAD or paint program. 2. Open two or more files. 3. Click Print to print the one file. In the Print dialog box that appears, choose Properties.   4. In the Epson Properties dialog box, choose Layout Manager, and then click OK. The program "prints" the file to the Layout Manager. 5. Switch to the next document, and then click Print again. Repeat this step for each additional document you want. Once all the images have arrived in the Layout Manager, you can interactively move and resize the images, as well as rotate or delete them. (See figure 8.) The layout can be saved for later recall.  Figure 8: Using the Layout Manager to print several drawings and images on the same sheet The Layout Manager mixes'n matches files, but does so awkwardly: drawings output from the one program are placed on a different page from images output from a second, but then I found I could use Ctrl+C (copy) and Ctrl+V (paste) to move drawings and images to the same page.   Benchmarking Speed, and Cost With the quality of the output established, the question turns to speed of output, especially when lots of drawings need to be generated for a project's deadline. Before benchmarking a printer, you need an understanding of how a CAD drawing becomes a printout, to identify bottlenecks. After you hit Print, the CAD program converts the vector drawing into raster dots or printer-specific vector lines. Rasterization is where data, such as the text in a document or a vector drawing in a CAD program, is turned into the millions of dots the printer needs to reproduce the words and lines. A D-size print requires just under five billion dots.  The operating system's spooler software feeds the raster or vector data over the communications link for further processing by the printer and eventual printing. I benchmarked this printer under a variety of conditions to see which one(s) made a difference to the print speed. In summary, is it faster to... •    Print in monochrome instead of color? No.  The print speed is the same, because the printhead holds all four colors and moves at the same speed, whether using one cartridge (black) or all four.  I noted that the amount of data the computer sends the printer is the same for color and monochrome, even when I set the CAD software's print style to plot all colors in black. This is perhaps because the CAD software sends color data and instructs the printer to map colors to black. •    Change the size of the print? Yes.  C-size output prints in half the time as D-size, as expected, because there is less area for the printhead to traverse. But A-size was not 4x faster than C-size, because of the time the printer takes to set up the next print job. •    Change the type of media? Yes.  The printer prints more carefully with high-quality media. Using enhanced matte paper is about 3x slower than plain paper. •    Use a different type of communications connection? No.  I had expected ethernet to send data faster than USB 3, but the print speed was the same. Perhaps the effective throughput for both types of connections is the same, or perhaps the speed of the print head is the limiting factor, with the printer accepting data as fast as the computer can send it. I could have examined whether the speed of the computer and the brand of CAD software makes a difference, but I feel sure the printhead is the rate-determining step. The other criteria to owning a large-format printer is the cost of ink and paper. I was unable to measure how much ink is used per print, using identical drawings made with different print sizes and colors. I presume less ink is used when line weights are turned off. For A-size, the Epson spits out drawings 4x faster than my admittedly aging LaserJet, and 6x faster than my brand-new HP Envy inkjet printer. The increased speed is due to the wide swath size of the Epson.   Not Out to Pasture Epson is keeping on its older printers, and adding enhancements. They offer two roll feeds, so that the printer can output to cheaper plain and higher-quality matte paper, with optional scanners. The Tx270-series (priced at over $3,000) is updated with a gray-color cartridge, larger 700ml cartridges, and an optional PostScript processor (which off-loads the rasterization from the computer).   What Ralph Grabowski Thinks The quality of the output from the T3170 inkjet printer pleased me, for both CAD drawings and digital photographs. When you consider that $1,000 smartphones are the new normal, then $995 for a moderate-speed D-size printer is a bargain. (Heck, the first two monochrome laser printers I bought were $2,500 apiece.) You would give this printer a miss when you need high-volume printing and/or large-format scanning.  Nevertheless, the rollpaper feed lets this printer print and cut 60 C-size drawings in about 90 minutes, unattended. For the small engineering office, a self-employed designer, or even a commercial photographer, this printer makes sense. www.epson.com   ARES KUDO: MODERN DWG EDITING IN THE CLOUD   ARES Kudo is the only online CAD solution offering a full set of 2D features to read, create, modify, and share DWG and DXF drawings. Nothing to install. It runs in your Web browser and your files follow you on any device. ARES Kudo is integrated with cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business -- and industry-specific solutions such as Onshape and Trimble Connect.  Visit www.graebert.com/areskudo to learn more and activate your own free trial at kudo.graebert.com Redo "Part of the Siggraph show flow (or did you mean floor?) in Vancouver, Canada"     - H Grabowski - - - Xenon == Xeon (weird Intel branding)     - Don Strimbu The Rest of the News Graebert Gmbh will hold its Graebert Annual Meeting 2018 at the Humboldt Box on 7th and 8th, November, "...although @upFronteZine pre-announced the location already earlier this month" - @graebertcad. (I plan to attend.) - - - As Dick Bourke brings Bourke Consulting Associates to an end, he becomes senior advisor to vdR Group, as headed up by Martin van der Roest. http://www.vdr.com/ - - -  Kubotek3D launching its K-Display View software to view, measure and print CAD files on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android: SolidWorks, AutoCAD, Creo, NX, CATIA V5/V4, etc IGES, STEP, Parasolid, ACIS, STL, etc Free 3-day trials available late Sept thru https://www.kubotek3d.com/products/kdisplay/view - - -  BobCAD-CAM is next month shipping BobCAD-CAM V31 CAD/CAM software with: New user interface 20 changes to the CAD component 5 dynamic cut patterns, such as Morph Spiral Control tool starting location, and more https://bobcad.com/bobcad-cam-releases-new-version-31-cad-cam-software/  - - - Tech Tips for beginners in Teigha-based 3D modeling: Modifying 3D Models with Open Design Alliance's SDK opendesign.com/blog/2018/august/how-3d-models Also, C3D Modeler for Teigha is a version of C3D Labs' 3D solid modeling kernel for members of ODA Teigha. For 2018, it gets two more functions: Construct bodies with sections Slice bodies by planes c3dlabs.com/en/news/items/?news=2756 - - - Autodesk continuesits multi-year losing streak in Q2, this time losing $24.7 million. news.autodesk.com/2018-08-23 - - - The Looking Glass is a 3D volumetric (holographic) display using 45 simultaneous views displayed at 60 frames per second, with interactivity thru sensors like Leap Motion. Unfortunately, it is at the Kickstarter stage. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lookingglass - - -  1957, 1958, and 1959 Chevys. Imagine the the production tooling changes this required in the span of 2 years, with no computers. It boggles my mind more than the Moon Program. -- David Burge (@iowahawkblog) - - - Mosaic Manufacturing has figured out how to make "any" 3D printer print in color by manipulating four colored filaments before they are melted by the printer. More at techcrunch.com/2018/08/21/the-palette-2 - - - Stratasys is shipping its $70,000 Fortus 380mc 3D printer that uses composite carbon fiber-filled nylon 12. The price is significant, says Statasys, because its earlier composite-using printers were priced $200-350,000. The catch: new printer uses only two kinds of fulfillment. - - - LantekSMS introduces new software for sheet metal and fabrication: * Customer Analytics * Manufacturing Analytics * Metalshop for customers submitting quotes * iQuote App www.lanteksms.com - - - At one time in the past, CAD on the cloud was the future. With the regular 5% increases from Autodesk (up 21.5% by 2027, according to @SteveJohnsonCAD) and OnShape's increasingly restrictive license terms, cloudCAD may have peaked, to be one day spoken of the way we speak of 'central file servers' today. - - - For late-breaking CAD news, follow upFront.eZine on Twitter at @upfrontezine. Letters to the Editor Re: Siggraph is Back nTopology runs on a voxel kernel, as far as I understand. This way there is no “intersection and hole” problematics. Either there is one, or not. Very stable. Only for 3D printers does the data get sectioned. They also made some effort to port that into the 3MF format. We [at Volume Graphics] have the same type of data format. Stacks of pictures from Computer Tomographs get handled the same way, just like Stratasys Voxel Print, 3D Systems FREEFORM, and  3D-Coat from Pilgrim.     - Gerd Schwaderer, product manager, metrology & CAD     Volume Graphics GmbH, Germany - - - Ralph, FYI, your link to siggraph.com is incorrect, it’s www.siggraph.org.      - Seth (via WorldCAD Access)   Re: BIM/CAM workflows I enjoyed your book review last issue and always look forward to your Zine. I value your independent voice. I have a suggestion for future article: BIM/CAM workflows. I run an architectural millwork shop where a couple years ago we converted our shop drawing process to Revit to better integrate with our architect and customers. At this point, we schedule out Revit's family text values to populate our CAM process.  However, when we develop new or one-off families, we don’t have a slick way to pass them onto CAM. I’d be interested to learn about manufacturing workflows that start with Revit.     - Tom Morin      morinwood mfg. inc. The editor replies: I've put Mr Morin in contact with an architectural firm connecting Revit with other software.   This is how much more you'll pay for Autodesk software Just when you thought things couldn't get worse, it's now August 2018 and my Autodesk Inventor 2018 calls home EVERY TIME I OPEN IT. And you thought once a month was ridiculous.  It claims that I can operate offline but every time I open it, the license check is carried out, and the next time I DO go online, the checks better have been legit or you're done and only mucho time calling and e-mailing them will get you up and running again.      - Steve (via WorldCAD Access)   Thank You, Readers! Thank you to readers who donate towards the operation of upFront.eZine: Christopher Cleary: "Keep up the good work, Ralph." Jure Spiler, BASIC Should you wish to support upFront.eZine through PayPal, then the suggested amounts are like these: $25 for individuals > paypal.me/upfrontezine/25 $150 for small companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/150 $750 for for large companies > paypal.me/upfrontezine/750 Should Paypal.me not operate in your country, then please use www.paypal.com and the account of [email protected]. Or mail a cheque (US$ or CDN$ only, please) to upFront.eZine Publishing, Ltd., 34486 Donlyn Avenue, Abbotsford BC, V2S 4W7, Canada.   Notable Quotable "The premise that AI can free us from subjectivity or bias is also disappointing. We are creating intelligence in our own image."     - Osonde Osoba, Pardee RAND Graduate School.     techcrunch.com/2018/08/20/keeping-artificial-intelligence-accountable-to-humans/

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Comments

[AoJ]

Found this article while looking for information on the T3170. Neat that you got serial #1! I'm planning on using it for more artistic purposes instead of CAD. The limitation on paper thickness is most concerning to me, since most roll medias I want to use are on the thicker side (>8 mils). Have you tried pushing the printer's limitations, or has it already gone back to Epson? I wish Canon would try something sleek and petite like this, but their bulky and expensive Pro-2000 is the closest comparison.