LaserPrinterTonerRefill Query

[BruisedQuasar]

A lot of Do-It-your-Self people here so I figure many of us must refill ink cartridges & Laser Toner cartridges.

I just bought my first home office color laser printer (HP Color LaserJet CP1215). I plan to refill my cartridges. I have two questions:

1) My cartridges are not totally filled. Can I assume they are standard toner cartridges that I can refill?

2) What is the major online seller of Toner Cartridge refill kits?

--Bruised

[killer]

New printers rarely come with full cartridges. The manufacturers often make more money by selling replacements than they do by selling the printer.

I haven't tried refilling laser toner cartridges, and I can't imagine me doing it ... I'd probably end up with toner all over the carpet and the wife would have my guts for garters.

I buy (genuine) replacement toner cartridges from eBay.

[RealBlackStuff]

I wouldn't refill toner, one mistake and your carpet/floor is ruined.
A compatible toner cartridge is just as good, and not half as critical as ink.

I buy my toner from http://www.supermediastore.com/
They are one of the cheaper ones, and very good for my (black&white) printers (Brother HL5240 and HP LJ1012).

You must have picked one of the most expensive to run printers! Average $85.- per color!

[hausman]

I've refilled toner cartridges. I wouldn't recommend it because it's messy and you don't save all that much compared to buying OEM cartridges.

I've bought toner from TonerKits. They sell via eBay as well as direct. Customer service has been excellent.

For OEM cartridges consider Monoprice. They've just added cartridges to their product line. Compare their prices for a fully charged cartridge to TonerKits for just the powder. (Disclosure: I've bought lots of stuff from Monoprice and am very satisfied with product quality and customer service, however I haven't yet tried their toner. I will next time I need a refill.)

Hint if you insist on doing this at home: Do it in a shower stall or other confined area. That way you can easily wash down the mess. DO NOT do this outdoors or in a drafty area. Toner powder is very fine and light. It doesn't take much to scatter it.

[jdhurst]

Off topic - If you are in the market for a printer, I put a Xerox Colour Phaser printer at a client. It produces 95% less waste than a standard laser printer, and you can pick up the raw ink in your bare hands and refill the printer while it is printing. No mess. .... JDH

[GomJabbar]

Look at the bright side. Laser Toner cartridges need replacement much less often than inkjet cartridges. Cost per page is actually less for laser printers than for inkjets.

[skitty4gzus]

i think places like cartridge world or whatever that resells refilled cartridges isn't a bad idea at all. I used to work at a document processing place and we used them on our kyocera laser copiers and never ever had even the slightest problem with them and they are almost half the price of an off the shelf OEM piece.

[dr_st]

Look at the bright side. Laser Toner cartridges need replacement much less often than inkjet cartridges. Cost per page is actually less for laser printers than for inkjets.

This has always been the case. Although in recent years some inkjets managed to come remarkably close, and according to official specs even surpass the average laser printer. HP Officejet J4580 is one name that comes to mind.

Color laserjets are also not as economic as monochrome laserjets. I own some of these Xerox Phasers myself (the 3117, the 3210 and the 6110, the latter being color). All remarkable printers. Cartridges for the 6110 are smaller and cost more.

[killer]

I have a Xerox 6110n Laser Colour Printer. I have had it for a year now and I am still using the original toner cartridges. It is energy efficient, and the print out doesn't smudge in the rain ... and we get a lot of rain the UK ... especially when walking to the post box.

I dumped my Lexmark ink jet printer last year because all I ever had was dried up cartridges that cost a lot of money. I used to buy new cartridges and ten days later they were useless.

IMO, Laser toner is so much better. The cheapest replacement cartridge I bought on eBay UK cost just over £1 (USD 1.5) plus £2 (USD 3) postage. To date I haven't needed any of the replacement cartridges I have bought. Amazing value as far as I am concerned ... I have a cupboard full of replacement cartridges and no need for them.

Now that is irony.

[Kyocera]

Here is two cents from someone who has worked in the industry for many years, and finally broke out to work in a Data Center last month .

Don't refill, don't buy refills, spend the extra to get the OEM cartridges, why:

You will void your warranty if you use remans.

If you need service on your machine it is hard for a technician (been there) to troubleshoot print quality issues
with do it yourself refills or remans in the machine, the copy quality is never as good as the OEM cartridges. (Again, an actual technician can see things end users usually can't).

Remans tend to leak due to the fact that they are remanufactured and no new parts or refurbished parts are used , *seals, developing cylinders, bushings, OPC drums* are used, hence the cheaper prices.

You do not get as many page prints (based on 6% coverage) as an OEM so you are losing some of your savings there.
I have seen remans go sometimes 1/2 of the life of an oem cartridge, most people do not keep track so never realize this.

This is a short list, I could tell many True Stories of charging people hundreds of dollars to fix a printer that was damaged by a non oem or remanufactured cartridge.

If you need your printer to last and want good copy/print quality spend the extra for a Original Equipment Manufacturers
part for you machine.

Refilled InkJet cartridges are worse yet.

Like I said my two cents nothing more. Please don't beat up on me.

[JaneL]

and finally broke out to work in a Data Center last month .

Congratulations!

[Kyocera]

Thanks Jane, I am lovin life right now.

[BillMorrow]

hi mike..

nice to see you poking around from time to time..

good that you are working in a datacenter..

IRT the toner question..
i too would never refill a laser cartridge..

i just ordered one from the ecoupons site (one of the forioum sponsors, see above) and got a 10% off and free shipping on a6000 page capacity cartridge..
a reman or whatever but guaranteed and so forth..
i think it was about $55 total..

when the OEM's for this little h/p laserjet are all over $100..

[underclocker]

I have a Dell 1600n multifunction printer, which I love. For $15, I tried the kit (toner & reset chip) from http://www.tonerkits.com/

The refill was painless, but you do have to be very careful not to spill the toner. I just did the refill on old newspaper and was able to throw away the paper after the procedure. Toner is very easy to wipe up - I swabbed the cartridge case with a moist paper towel after closing it up.

I used the high capacity kit. The standard toner cartridge that came with the printer lasted for a couple of years and the refill has been going strong for another couple. The toner cartridge level indicator seems as accurate as the first cartridge, but this one is definitely lasting longer.

I am more than two thirds done with the refilled cartridge and I'd say the image quality has been excellent all along, but the images have begun to be lighter than when new. I do not know if this is 1) toner running out, 2) the toner drum being worn, or 3) a printer issue.

Since I bought a two refill package from the vendor, I will refill again when this one runs out and see what happens.

Bottom line, for $15 a refill, I think it was worth the effort and experience. And, since you can only refill a cartridge one or two times, every third cartridge I use will be new!