Archive for the ‘toner cartridges’ Category

If you’re lucky then some cartridges are so well made that they can keep being refilled easily.  I know a local business that has been using a tried and tested Epson Aculaser C1100 for years now.   Which is pretty impressive for a business as it’s not a terribly expensive printer.

Of course they had that initial shock, we all do, when the first cartridges ran out of ink and they found out the cost of Epson replacement cartridges.  But luckliy for them and their local landfill site they managed to find a company who provided a replacement compatible toner cartridge kits for a fraction of the price.

Cartridges for the Aculaser C1100 are easily refilled

Well they managed to refill the cartridges without any dramas and kept printing until the toner ran out again.  The owner decided to keep refilling until she noticed the print quality deteriorating, and then to purchase a new cartridge.

Well the owner kept refilling these cartridges and when they got to 5 they decided to buy a new toner cartridge for their trust Epson.

The cost savings had already been huge and although the quality was as good as the original, you sometimes feel you shouldn’t push it too far.

Although I have to say there us little reason to not keep refilling the printer cartridge as much as you can.  So if you’re lucky enough to have an Epson C1100 toner cartridge, then do your wallet and the environment a favour and try refilling the cartridges!

It can’t go on forever you know, although it’s simple to refill the vast majority of toner cartridges eventually you’ll have to buy a new one.   Although your cartridge initially will just run out of ink, eventually other components in the cartridge will begin to fail.

For those of us who have got used to refilling our own cartridges, the final arbiter of when a toner cartridge is no longer refillable is really down to each of us.  You might think it’s a bit of a nuisance having to monitor the quality of each print out but lets face it we all do that anyway without a second thought.

So what’s likely to be the signs that it’s time to stop refilling your cartridge and face  that bill for a new set?  Well if you’ve already refilled the toner a few times, it’s probably best to keep a closer eye out – the number of times you can refill will vary hugely from cartridge to cartridge and indeed between different manufacturers.  I can’t give a figure but my record is 4 refills before needing to get a new cartridge for an older HP Laserjet model, I know many people feel happy with refilling once or twice though and then buy a new cartridge automatically.

Even if you have only refilled a cartridge once with compatible toner then you’ve helpded the environment considerable and your pocket too.

But anyway the great thing is that when the toner cartridge is starting to fail completely the very first signs will be on the printed page.  Spots, dots or dark areas on the printout are a common sign, also void or completely blank areas.  These will often be repeated in a pattern down the page, another common sign is razor thin line appearing down the page.

When you start to see these signs then I’m afraid it’s time to order a new cartridge either new or remanufactured.  The choice is yours but I have had problems with cartridges that have been remanufactured and will normally buy a new cartridge and then repeat my refilling toner process.  The amount of money you will save is quite staggering, especially if you’ve refilled a few times.

Of course there may be unused toner left in the cartridge when the other components start to fail.  If this is the case you can reclaim the ink and reuse that in your next cartridge, be careful though it’s sometimes trickier to get the toner out of a cartridge.  I have to say I rarely bother to reclaim any toner, if you don’t try and reclaim any ink from the waste compartment of the cartridge as this toner colour will be contaminated.   All in all it’s pretty easy to tell when it’s time to stop refilling your cartridges, just look at the printouts – simple really.

So can you refill toner in the HP 2600?   Hewlett Packard printers used to be some of the easiest printers to refill anywhere, which was good news for companies who had the sturdy laserjet models printing all day.

Toner refill for HP2600

But alas of course HP realised that huge profits were being wasted by allowing people to refill these cartridges easily, sure it’s the green thing to do and reduces the environmental impact but that doesn’t mean much to the shareholders !

So the usual trick of adding a little chip to the cartridges happened, the HP 2600 had a little killer chip fitted to the toner cartridge to stop you refilling.  Imagine it’s like a car company fitting a device that stopped your car working after 50,000 miles so that you had to get a new one.  Incredible that this practice is even allowed as frankly it’s disgusting faced with the environmental issues of the world.

So Refill Toner HP 2600 – YES or NO

Well yes fortunately it is still quite simple, if you want to refill the HP 2600 cartridge you can buy little kits that allow you to refill it.  These usually have a little tool for creating a refiller hole, a little stopper and a small chip to replace the one HP puts on the HP 2600 cartridge.

It takes a few minutes to do, no real skill involved and if you buy a kit with proper compatible toner , no difference in print quality.  You can actually do without the chip on certain models as the chip can be overridden but check with the experts for that.

Not sure  how much the cost of new toner cartridges for the HP 2600 but refilling should save you between 50 and 80% of the cost each time you refill.  Remember though refilling your toner is simply replacing the ink, if the cartridge doesn’t work too well or there are printing problems – you’ll still have them after refill toner HP 2600, so buy a new cartridge in that case.

A question that is often asked, can you refill laser printer cartridges.  Now you’ll get different answers from whoever you ask, ask a printer company or someone who sells laser cartridges and you’ll get lots of answers.  There will be talk of voiding warranties, damage to printers and poor quality – all of which are simply not true.

To start on the warranty void, In Europe and in US you are not allowed to make the condition of warranty dependent on purchasing specific (i.e. their) toner cartridges.  Mind you when you start looking at the exorbitant cost of some branded laser cartidges it becomes fairly irrelevant – it is not uncommon for the cost of a replacement set of toner cartridges to be well in excess of the cost of the printer.

But is damage to the printer possible, if you have a look at any printer cartridge for a laser printer you’ll notice that it is fairly self contained.  The unit contains all its own internal mechanisms, think logically how could that actually damage the inside of your printer.  The main risk is inserting the cartridge in incorrectly, a danger that could happen with a brand new cartridge

Most laser printer cartridges refill kits don’t touch any of the working mechanisms, they simply refill the ink in the cartridge.  Of course the printer companies have made this more difficult on purpose – by removing the refiller tab, and appallingly placing a chip on the cartridge so you can’t reuse it.  But fortunately most laser printer cartridges can still be refilled relatively easily.

So can you Refill Laser Printer Toner Cartridges

The simple answer is yes,occasionally there are technical issue with a few cartridges so it’s always best to ask and expert and get a specific guide to refilling your particular toner cartridge.  But in general it’s fairly simple,

1. make hole in cartridge
2. refill toner through hole
3. put stopper in to seal cartridge
4. replace computer chip if required
5. carry on printing

It sounds simplistic but for most cartridges, that’s all there is to it.  You are stopping the totally unnecessary production of a new cartridge – and the associated carbon cost, saving the landfill of the old cartridge.  Plus you also will generally save between 40 and 85% of the cost of buying new cartridges – savings that are potentially hundred of dollars.

It takes a little effort, sure but if you buy a kit, it’s very simple to do and only takes a few minutes.  Of course I’ve missed out one element in the question of refilling laser cartidges.  Is the print quality as good, as long as you buy the correct compatible toner – there will be no difference.   When the other components in your laser cartridge start to fail then you will begin to see an affect on the quality but then it’s time to buy a new cartridge hopefully by then you’ll have refilled that cartridge several times and saved yourself a small fortune.

Here’s the company I recommend for Europe and UK (they do USA but you have to watch the shipping costs obviously)   – Toner Topup

They have a product selector which you can check to see what is involved with refilling your laser printer cartridge.

I used to think my Lexmark C530 was a fantastic printer, the colours were superb, the printing fast and quiet, but my opinion has now changed because of the cost of the Lexmark C530 toner.

Many people buy a laser printer because they think it is the economical choice when you are doing a lot of printing, however my experience of this printer was entirely the opposite.   the costs to keep this printer running were simply ridiculous, particularly if you used Lexmark C530 Cartridges.

If you’ve found yourself in the unfortunate position of checking out prices for replacement cartridges for the Lexmark C530 then let me give you some advice.  Manufacturers like Lexmark deliberately discount the cost of their printers for one reason, they make much more money on charging you a fortune each time it runs out of ink.

When the Lexmark C530 runs out of toner you are expected to return it in some Pseudo Green Recycling scheme, when in reality the green option is just refilling it with replacement toner.  Not they’d ever admit this of course, even the bags you return your old cartridge are covered in pictures of trees to reinforce their point.

Well do yourself and the environment a favour, save some serious money and just refill the toner inside your old C530 cartridge.

Refill Lexmark C530 Toner

So it is hard to replace the toner in a Lexmark C530 cartridge, well to be honest it is actually very easy. First time you do it, it might take 15 minutes to be careful but it really is a very quick job.

So what’s actually involved?

Well I bought a kit from Toner Topup to refill my cartridge. I checked on their printer selector tool and I got a kit specifically for refilling the Lexmark C530 including compatible toner. The kit included a little soldering iron with a special end which creates a hole in the cartridge, a little plug to seal the whole and a set of colour toners.

All you do is make a little hole in the cartridge with the soldering iron tool, shake the replacement toner and refill the cartridge. A spare stopper then seals the toner cartridge and you’ve finished.

I’d never used a soldering iron in my life and it was extremely easy just touch it to the side of the cartridge and push gently – ermm that’s it. there’s really nothing too it, the toner ink refill is like liquid and easy to pour, although I reckon it would make a mess if you spilt it. It took me a little over 30 minutes to replace the toner in all the cartridges, that was being very careful.

The amount of money I saved by refilling my Lexmark C530 Toner, rather than buy new cartridges was over $300 (yes you read right), mind you the huge saving was mainly due to the huge price of the replacements. It might have fallen now as the printer is a couple of years old and the prices have fallen slightly I believe.  

the environmental benefit is not insignificant either, I refilled one toner cartridge four times, before getting a new one, and that’s saved lots of new cartridges being produced and old ones ending up in landfill or being remanufactured. If you need to replace your Lexmark C530 Toner – try and refill it makes sense in every way.

By the way you’ll often hear horrible reasons why you shouldn’t do this. they’ll always be from someone with an interest in you buying a new toner cartridge instead of refilling.

Here’s a few -

• You’ll damage your printer – the cartridge is a self contained unit, how could it damage the printer. Mind you in my case – I could have bought a new Lexmark C530 with the savings from replacing one set of cartridges !
• You’ll void your warranty – rumours of voiding manufacturers warranty by not using their cartridges are false. This is illegal in USA and UK and most of Europe
• The Print Quality will be worse – it is true that eventually the quality of the printout will begin to worsen as other parts of the cartridge fail. But often you can refill the cartridge many times before this happens, and then you just get a new one!

It’s not just the Lexmark C530 toner that can be refilled, almost all modern printers can with a little effort in exchange for huge savings both monetary and environmentally ! try it , you won’t regret it.