Modern laser printer toner refill kits

[MicrocomputerSolutions]

When you buy a new laser printer, it comes with starter cartridges, which are toner cartridges with just a few pages of toner inside them. The Laser Printer Manufacturers took this idea from the ink jet printer manufacturers who give the printers away, then hose the printer owners for full capacity cartridges. This is a scam, like the counter chips on ink cartridges, a scam now used by Laser Printer Manufacturers as well. When you buy replacement cartridges, make sure that you buy the full cartridges, and NOT THE STARTER CARTRIDGES with often sell for the same amount as the full cartridges.

The inexpensive color laser printer that sit on your desktop and use those cute little toner cartridges are a moneypit. They will not last as long as the older color laser printers that cost more, and the toner cartridges are often close in price, although the toner cartridges for older laser printer will be available for less money on Evilbay and Craigslist. Look on CraigsList for some local looking to sell a used HP color laser printer, and make sure that it has good cartridges. Odds are you can find an older HP Color laser printer that cost $3500-$6000 available for between Free and $100.

Somehow the idea that the cartridge has to be replaced when there is still toner inside the cartridge offends me.

A long time ago, I tried refilling ink jet cartridges and toner cartridges. The problem is the quality of the ink and toner in the refill kits. It's mostly trash. I can tell you from working on and selling used laser printers that many of the printers that come in for service, or I buy as non-working (for parts or repair) work fine after I remove the aftermarket toner cartridge, and them them up. Sometimes, a pick-up roller kit is required, and on overhauled printers I'm going to sell I usually replace the roller kit whether it needs it or not.

Not worth buying refilled cartridges or refill toner and counter chips. There are other parts that go bad and need to be replaced inside the cartridge, like the fuser or developer drum. I've found that commercially rebuilt cartridges ofter don;t replace those parts, and what you get is inferior copies.

I find it easier, and more reliable to buy new, original toner cartridges at swapmeets and on Evilbay. My limit is $20-$30, including shipping. Last year I started using a HP 2420DN (30 pages per minutes, double-sided, networking, and only 25K pages through it), that I bought for $20. I put a couple thousand pages on it, and it needed a roller kit (which cost me about $20).

I have purchased a couple more of these printers for $10-$15 each, and some genuine toner cartridges for $10-$15 each. The starter cartridges are about 6K pages, and the full cartridges are about 12K pages. It takes a while sometimes to get cartridges at this price, so I try to stay one or two cartridges ahead of my use.

[KC9UDX]

Some people actually buy those spensive multi-blade razor cartridges.

[Dsuar2]

I'm sorry for posting here but I want to thank you because your posts really helped me out if to speak about refill kits for printer, thank you very much

[DeltaDon]

Many Brother printers have a drum that is not part of the toner, but needs to be replaced after 3 or 4 toners. So a toner cartridge is cheap compared to some other brands that has the drum in the cartridge.

A lot of laser printers count the copies and tell you that the toner cartridge is empty long before it really is empty. Doesn't matter if a page is all black or one dot, both are counted the same. Neat trick that sells more cartridges. My HP laser did that until I did a RTFM and turned that "feature" off. When a cartridge does get low a small shake or two gets me an extra couple of pages and lets me know it's time for a new cartridge.

I also used to sell both ink and toner cartridges coming in from China and the mark up at the big box on OEM branded stuff is crazy. After market toners can be just as good, if you get the right supplier. Most have gotten much better than a dozen years ago too. I also had refill kits, but most people made a mess trying to use them. In all cases if you wish to refill a cartridge yourself it is easy, but don't wear a white dress shirt and or any other clothing item that you like a whole bunch. If you do spill toner vacuum it off of your stuff and do not wash it in a machine as an attempt to get rid of it or it will be there forever. Do always get the correct toner type for your printer, there are several processes and so the toner does vary. Some Canon's use graphite as part of the process that needs to be mixed with the toner. I've found that a decent after market toner cartridge was better for me than a refill job since it also had a new or serviced drum and no mess to dispose of. I think the last two I bought were $19 for the pair.

I have always suggested buying Brother ink printers vs. others that have chips in the cartridge that screw the end user. Again after market ones are dirt cheap on the web. Don't keep up on new ink printers and so don't know what new tricks the makers are using to force you to spend your $$'s on $400 bottle wine prices on what amounts to being $0.10 fountain pen ink.

[Chuck(G)]

I recently purchased a third-party toner+drum unit for my Brother that costs less than the same toner-only cartridge at the local Staples.

On the other hand, I have a Xerox Docuprint laser that handles 11x17 duplexed. Gives great copy and has an internal hard disk. The cartridges are freakishly expensive, however, due to the chip limiting their use. I picked up a batch of chips from China for less than $20, so I can refill the toner, but haven't done it yet. The toner cartridge holds a bunch.

Truth be told, I don't print as much as I used to.

[exidyboy]

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.

Up to and including the LaserJet 4 series HP used a Graphite/Carbon Toner which is better for repro work such a screen printing and PCB making than the later plastic toner.

[Dsuar2]

Thanks for sharing guys, it really helped me a lot

[Dsuar2]

Thanks for sharing it helped me a lot