Printer Resetter Service Manual

OVERVIEW:  You know that old saying about “Things going in threes?”  Well that saying is not just all about gloom and doom. In Samsung’s case, the best things come in threes. The latest in Samsung’s ML-3560 trilogy contains the best of the first two, and adds 2-sided printing: Meet the Samsung ML-3561ND.

PROS:
The “D” in ML-3561ND is for “duplexing”. Two-sided printing is an economic and environmentally friendly way to save on paper. This feature, along with the options to print pages either Long Edge or Short Edge, enables the printer to be used for desktop publishing of bound booklets, catalogs, and calendars.

The ML-3561ND prints fast--be it single-sided or 2-sided. It does take almost 50 seconds for the printer to warm up from a cold boot, but once it’s up this laser starts chugging letter-size prints at 35 pages per minute. Even duplex printing of 19 double-sided pages a minute, the ML-3561ND is one of the fastest of the ML series. There’s an additional 9 second delay between print jobs and high-resolution printing.

This printer has some serious paper capacity. The ML-3561ND comes standard with a 500-sheet cassette tray, capable of holding an entire ream of letter or legal-size paper. The flip-door reveals a 100-sheet multi-purpose tray that can handle transparencies, labels, post cards, envelopes, 3” x 5” postcards up to 8½” x 14” legal paper of various bond weights.

At 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution, the ML-3561ND keeps text sharp--even at 6-point font sizes--and does a decent job with graphics. To keep from consuming too much toner, the printer has a 600 dpi resolution with a text-enhance or image-enhance switch.  The Toner Save feature allows for a 40% toner life increase while keeping images clear and readable.

The “N” in ML-3561ND is for “network is built in”.  The Ethernet 10/100 Base TX interface makes it ready to support networked computers in an office, department, or a classroom. You can choose between Parallel, USB, or Ethernet connectivity. So, no matter how old or new your computer is, the ML-3561ND can handle it.

This laser printer packs 32MB of memory. The ML-3561ND can easily handle workloads from multiple computer requests. An additional DIMM RAM slot is available to expand printer memory up to 288MB.

Understanding the printing needs of today’s businesses in providing support for the major software applications, Samsung has installed a full set for print emulators that should satisfy the most diverse office. Emulators include PostScript3, HP PCL6, IBM ProPrinter, and EPSON.

The control panel on the ML-3561ND has a multi-line LCD Display, plus buttons that make manual control of the printer relatively intuitive. Through the control panel, printer information, configuration, emulation, and network settings can be done. Administrators can also perform these changes remotely with Samsung’s SyncThru web application.

If you think this printer has it all, there are still more options you can add to the ML-3561ND. To reduce workload on the printer’s RAM, print jobs can be queued into a 40GB hard disk module. For laptop printing support, Samsung offers a wireless LAN card that supports a, b, and g-band standards. A second paper tray can be stacked under the ML-3561ND to provide 500 sheets of additional paper capacity.

CONS:
This is not a small, compact printer. At 40 pounds and a footprint that takes up just over a 2 square-foot area, the ML-3561ND will need a permanent and a sturdy place to stay.

The printer produces 55dB of sound printing, idling at 35 dB. To give you an idea of what that means: 60 decibels is the level of typical conversations and 30 decibels is a quiet office. You probably don’t want to have this network printer stationed in a conference room printing when a meeting is in progress. But when placed in the copy room or in the middle of a busy office floor, the noise is barely noticeable.

INK / TONER NEEDS:
The ML-3561ND’s toner and drum are integrated in a single cartridge, making it easy to maintain. Right out the box, the printer comes with the standard size toner, able to print up to 6,000 pages.  A 12,000 high-capacity toner option is also available to double the time between toner replacements. This is great for a department or an office with heavy printing demands.

SOFTWARE:
The ML-3561ND has one of the better software packages. Not only does it have the basic printing properties for Mac and Linux, but for Windows users there’s an advanced printing section that allows for booklet printing, creating a large poster mosaics, and watermarks.

The drivers also enable 64-bit and Microsoft Server operating systems to be able to use the ML-3561ND. This may be considered a no-brainer, but there are printers with software that absolutely will not install on Server 2003 & 2008.

To make network printer configurations and notifications easy, Samsung’s SyncThru Web Service allows printer changes to be made using your IE, Safari, or Firefox browser. The software is not part of the CD and has to be downloaded from Samsung’s web site.

The ML-3561ND is a serious printer for serious business workloads, with the ability for additional expansion for future longevity. – Mel Myers