Views: 50 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2019-10-26 Origin: Site
Printer manufacturers usually do not instruct or even encourage customers on how to refill a toner cartridge in hopes that you will simply buy a new replacement cartridge. However, adding toner to a laser printer on your own is an inexpensive and easy alternative to purchasing a new toner cartridge. Learn how to add toner to your cartridge to help save you money.
(This article is about the fancy integrated toner and drum cartridges for small laser printers and copiers. Big free-standing ones often take separate toner containers that could be refilled but may not be nearly as overpriced to begin.)
There are several types of toner, but not separate ones for every single printer model: most differ on features, not basic technology. In a pinch, a toner from a very similar model of printer will probably also work, but research or ask first. And if the seller hasn't promised compatibility, don't blame them in the unlikely but possible event it doesn't work properly or even damages the printer. (The risk may well be worthwhile for an obsolescent printer otherwise needing replacement or an expensive original equipment manufacturer cartridge.)
If you're going to need to use a "burn tool" (a soldering-iron like device for melting holes in plastic), work over a heavy, hard to burn surface such as a plate to not scorch your table directly or through a few sheets of paper.
Wash and dry your hands (or the gloves) often when working with toner to keep other things clean. It's not dangerous, but it can stain.
In a pinch an ordinary small electric soldering iron can suffice as a burn tool. But things will get messy as you will have to melt and burn away all the unwanted plastic, rather than melt only the edges of a hole through it with the special tool.
If the "burn tool" has a tip screwed on, make sure it's screwed on tight for efficient heating, before you heat it up (or after you let it cool).
Just make a hole into the holding tank big enough to admit the toner bottle nozzle. Do not stab so far in as to damage other parts from behind.
If you raise a lip of melted plastic around the hole, trim or melt it off (you may need to periodically and carefully wipe the tool tip) to ensure tape will fit well around the hole to seal it and not be vulnerable to bumps, and to ensure that the cartridge will still fit well into the printer. This is especially important for cheap color laser printers' cartridges, whose entire bodies are rotated inside the printer to each line up in turn with the printer's imaging system for each page--a process which can dislodge stray tape.
Other cartridges require that you make your own fill hole, and corresponding toner refill kits typically come with a burn tool and heavy-duty aluminum "flue tape" to close up the hole after you finish refilling a toner cartridge. Follow the instructions provided with the toner refill kit if you are required to use a burn tool. The instructions will show you where and how to burn the hole.
