re-filling laser toner cartidges

[christopher]

Has anyone any experience of doing this.

I want to refill some Lexmark C530 ones.

are some supply co's better than others.

Hints and tips appreciated

parts

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I bought a kit off Ebay for my Samsung. Just followed the instructions and it was fine.

[A.Lee]

On a contrary view, I filled my Samsung, and it printed terribly afterwards, and I also got a coating of toner powder over the table when I did it, which was a pain to clean. I bought a refurb'd toner for it eventually, around £15 more than the refill kit, and well worth it for the hassle involved. Horses for courses.

Alan.

[Cicero]

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Use a small plastic funnel to get the toner in - saves spillage.

Cic.

[MM]

Where does one actually obtain the toner? I've never seen it. Always used replacement cartridges (non-HP compatibles work fine in the Laserjet).

MM

[Cicero]

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I get mine here:

[Lobster]

I've heard good and bad reports of using recycled cartridges but never seemed to be able to get a concensus on it... is the quality down to that of the recycled hardware? the way it's refilled? the quality of the actual toner used? Any/all of the above?

As a slight aside, does anyone know is it possible/usual for recycled cartridges to be sold with the sealing strips in place? Just that I once bought one from ebay, sold as genuine new HP, which was 'proved' said the seller, because the strip was still in place. Am I a bit naive? (not that I'm complaining particularly, as whatever it was, it was a good price and printed perfectly for ages).

David

[The Wanderer]

Well, plenty do it, but the powder *is* carcinogenic.....

[Dave Liquorice]

Toner is worse than soot for making a mess that is hard to clean up. Even the tiddly amounts that leak out when changing a cartridge can be messy. Let alone the stuff floating about as you drill a hole into a cartridge and pour in fresh toner.

I normally buy new branded (not refurbished(*)) and shop about on the 'net for the best price. It's easy to get new branded cartridges =A320 below the "high street" price.

(*) I'm wary of cheap and/or poor quality toner and my HP printer has the photoconductive drum as part of the cartridge as well. Now if some one can recomend a consitently reliable quality refurb I might be tempted.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Lobster writes

All of the above.

We have a lot of laser printers at work. Generally, recycled B&W cartridges are alright, but no more than that. Colour ones have been a disaster - they don't last long and leak toner inside the printer.

I specify that we now use original cartridges only. It's not my money, and they go in and Just Work until they run empty.

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Dave Liquorice writes

Don't drill it, melt it.

Some toner suppliers supply a widget with the bottle of toner which you heat up and apply to thte spot indicated by the destructions to create a hole. You then fill the cart and bung it up with the supplied plug.

As this is uk.diy, of course, you'll come up with your own.

[nightjar]

I'll back any on my web site with a 30 day no quibble money back guarantee of satisfaction. There are three different companies I buy from, as the availability of empty cartridges affects the availability of recycled cartridges, but they all guarantee they have remanufactured the cartridge, (i.e. stripped, rebuilt, replaced parts as necessary, refilled with good quality toner and inspected to the manufacturer's original specs) rather than just refilled them with a generic toner.

Bignell

[Bob Eager]

Yes...and a normal vacuum cleaner doesn't trap the fine particles, just distributes them in the air.

[nightjar]

They need to be properly remanufactured, which involves stripping down to the components, replacing anything that needs to be replaced, rebuilt, filled with toner that has been matched to the manufacturer's original toner and, finally tested to the original manufacturer's specifiations. That usually means you pay more for them than for cartridges that have been simply refilled or only partially remanufactured (e.g on cartridges with integral drums, just the drum being tested and, if necessary, replaced|) although price is not alway an infallible guide.

Colin Bignell

[jkn]

I'm keen to learn how to *dismantle* a Laserjet 4096A cartridge - I want to learn how to get access to the wiper blade. I have a few kicking around and don't mind destroying one to learn how. Any pointers over & above 'try it and see'?

Ta J^n

[Steve Walker]

prepare your work area carefully - fine black dust will go everywhere!

[Appin]

The message from [e-mail] contains these words:

Mixed results, but the best of them very good.

Regularly refill mine, colour included. Have helped in the development of at one refill kit.

Run unchipped cartridges until they really are empty. Vacuum (using vac with HEPA filter) the empty cartridge thoroughly. Outside the house.

HALF FILL the cartridge. Overfilling can be disastrous and is the cause of many of the complaints of noisy, jamming, leaking cartridges.

Be sure to remember that some printers require a counter to be reset.

[MM]

I'm on my third recycled one now. I had two with the previous Laserjet IIID that lasted 15 years and now I've got one (7000 pages) in the P2015D. I was dubious to begin with, but needs must when cash is tight.

Mine have always been just like the genuine article. No difference in installing at all.

Perhaps it's just that laser printers have been around now for a couple of decades at least and compatible-cartridge manufacturers know that they only need one batch of dodgy cartridges to lose customers in droves. The fact is that the genuine cartridges, e.g. HP, are significantly overpriced so a market is created for cheaper alternatives. When I saw the price for the genuine replacement cartridge for my old Laserjet IIID, then compared it to the compatibles, well, there was NO comparison! By the way, the brand I have used successfully is Inkrite, e.g.

[jkn]

Replying to my own question - found some info at last!

to

J^n

[nightjar]

I leave anything to do with dismantling toner cartridges to the specialists, so I regret I cannot help.

Colin Bignell