Modern laser printer toner refill kits

[mbbrutman]

Does anybody have any experience refilling the toner on a laser printer cartridge?

In particular, I have a small collection of Brother cartridges (TN-650 and TN-660) here that I should recycle. But it looks like refilling them is not terribly difficult - get the plug out of the side, empty out the old toner, fill with new toner, install the plug and reset a gear/counter to indicate that the cartridge is full again. It seems easy enough, but I'm curious about print quality afterwards. (Is all black laser toner created equal?)


Mike

[mR_Slug]

I've a Minolta CF3102 copier, that I've refilled with raw toner before and it's been fine. I don't think all black toner is the same thought. I've heard there is different particle size, and there's positive and negative (not sure if this is BS). Years ago I had a B/W Brother that used laser jet II cartridges. I refilled it with toner scavenged from broken printers. It didn't work well, but it was filthy anyway. I'd just go with a refill kit.

[Chuck(G)]

I've refilled the toner cartridge on the brother sitting on my desk at least twice. No problems at all. I've done the same with my wife's Brother printer.

The toner kit vendors advise using a vacuum cleaner the first time to avoid mixing of two types of toner--and I've done that.

Note that if you buy a Brother laser printer new, it usually comes with a "short fill" (filled only halfway) cartridge, so refilling will get you a lot more play time.

Now, if someone can advise me about filling cartridges for my Xerox N2825, I'd be grateful.

[Unknown_K]

I hope your vacuum cleaner had a HEPA filter of you would have blasted toner particles all over the place.

I refilled an old NEC Superscript 870 many years ago and it was easy enough (pull the plug, fill, close it). The HP 4si I just purchased a new toner for it for $15 shipped, they are high capacity so not worth refilling the old ones that streaked anyway. The Pantum I currently have hooked up came with a starter toner I plan to refill when needed but I rarely print much anymore so who knows if I will get around to it or just buy a new printer. I can't remember if my Epson Actionlaser 1500 had been refilled or replaced but it did run out back when I used to print quite a bit.

I don't think there is a universal kit for lasers especially if you have older ones but ebay should have toner suppliers for pretty much all the popular brands cheap and there are kits to make a hole in the toner cart if it is sealed.

[Chuck(G)]

As a matter of fact, it was a little Hoover vac--about the size of a big lunchbox with its own washable filter. No problems at all.

Have you looked at the price of a remanufactured toner cartridge for the N2825? It costs as much as a Brother laser printer--if you get the Xerox-manufactured new on, it costs as much as four.

I think I still have a Panasonic 4455 laser somewhere--that requires that toner be poured into a hopper. Great printer for the time; built like a battleship, but messy as hell to refill.

[gslick]

Note that if you buy a Brother laser printer new, it usually comes with a "short fill" (filled only halfway) cartridge, so refilling will get you a lot more play time.

I have an HL-5340D. Must have been a TN-620 3000 page toner that it came with originally. I have a TN-650 rated for 8000 pages in it now. The printer settings page says I replaced the toner at a page count of 3516. I'm only up to 4127 pages now. At the rate I go through pages and toner I'll just stick with OEM toner. If I remember right when I bought the TN-650 it came with a postage paid label to ship the old toner back for recycling so I just did that. I suppose it makes a lot of sense for them to pay for the shipping to get the used toner out of the hands of refillers.

[KC9UDX]

I can say with certainty that there are at least two different types of toner. One type works with the PCB Fab in a Box process and the other doesn't.

Every HP I've used had toner that works. Every Brother I've tried had toner that didn't work. However I've been told that some Brothers do work.

[Agent Orange]

Very interesting thread on toner refills. But I can't help wondering: why go through all the mess and fuss with a refill when you can get a replacement cartridge fairly cheap? I've got a Canon b/w MF240 laser and a pair of refills was less than $25, each good for about 2300 copies. That's a lot of printing. I suppose if you're doing professional work, then maybe it might payoff to get a large tub of toner and roll your own.

[mbbrutman]

Very interesting thread on toner refills. But I can't help wondering: why go through all the mess and fuss with a refill when you can get a replacement cartridge fairly cheap? I've got a Canon b/w MF240 laser and a pair of refills was less than $25, each good for about 2300 copies. That's a lot of printing. I suppose if you're doing professional work, then maybe it might payoff to get a large tub of toner and roll your own.

I've been buying new cartridges directly from Brother, so quality is not a concern - those are always going to be perfect. And they'll take back the original cartridges with a prepaid mailer, so I really don't need to be accumulating them.

However, "refurb" cartridges on Amazon are damn cheap in comparison - 1/2 to 1/3rd the price. And it doesn't look like rocket science to refill a cartridge either. Hence the curiosity.

[Chuck(G)]

BTW, the reason the Xerox carts are so pricey is because of pulling the same trick that Lexmark uses--a non-reprogrammable chip in the cartridge that tells the printer that its time has expired. Fortunately, I see that I can pick up replacement chips on AliExpress for not a lot of money. Might be wise to grab a couple.

Note that the carts for the N2825 are 15K sheet cartridges, so it's long time between refills.