Laser toner refills

[kellys_eye]

Anyone still do this?

Anyone had any problems doing it? i.e. compatibility, b*gg*ring up your printer etc?

 

[Bluejets]

I use $15 elcheapos off Ebay for mono HP1102w and Brother HL-2130 with no problems for the last few years.

 

[Ian]

Do you mean refilling them yourself or buying the compatible ones from a 3rd party?

I've not refilled toner cartridges for a long time, as the powder is nasty stuff to work with and "compatible" toners are quite reasonably priced for popular models. I get get a full set of CYMK toners for something like £20 delivered on Amazon . They work really well for me, no difference to the originals.

Which printer model do you have?

 

[shrtrnd]

Yeah. The model may be important.
Some of the toner manufacturers put chips in the cartridges to identify their products, and when they read 'empty'.
Savvy refillers over-ride the signal when they refill the cartridges.
I don't remember hearing of any particular problems with the vast majority of manufacturers when you refill their
cartridges, but I'd Google your model and see if anybody has any specific complaints about particular models.
A lot of people exchange cartridges here with commercial companies that refill them. Those companies are still in business, so there must not be much of a problem using refilled ones.

 

[Hopup]

I wonder does the refill toner compare to the original when storing papers long term, does the toner fade much faster?

 

[kellys_eye]

My printer is the HP4025C and I've just taken delivery of a toner refill bottle for it (yellow) as a test. I have a full set of empty cartridges to work with so can practise on this one to get it right!

Replacement chips are also available (£1.50 each!) but you can over ride the chip in the printer software anyway - all you lose is the ability to display the cartridge fill-level on the built-in LCD, it doesn't stop the printing (phew!).

I'm not particularly concerned over the refilling process but curious to know if there is any marked difference between TYPES of toner i.e. if I ordered toner for a Canon would it be the same 'materiel' as that for the HP? Somehow I think the manufacturers 'claim' they are different but in reality they'd all be the same????

BTW a full set of genuine cartridges will set me back around £700. After market versions £250.......

 

[Ian]

Oh wow, those are super expensive even for the "compatible" cartridges . Here's some from the same place that does mine:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prestige-Cartridge-Compatible-CE260X-CE263A-Replacement/dp/B00977FSOU/

Still £137 though (£20 for mine, but they are quite small in comparison).

Refill bottle sound like a much better idea at that price . Let us know how it goes and what you think of the quality afterwards . I'm not sure if the toner powder is identical between refill kits, but I suspect it often will be, even if it's not optimal (same for the compatible carts too).

 

[kellys_eye]

That's a good price - thanks for finding it. Fortunately - depends on how you look at it - we can offset the cost against our business expenses/tax. Most printing we do is for the businesses that me and Mrs k_e run from here and (one) of my businesses (takeaway curries believe it or not!) takes massive material costs for leaflets, menu's, flyers etc....

But since the printer only cost £50 and came with full cartridges when we got it (about 3? years ago) we reckon we're still breaking even!

 

[Hopup]

If you just need to print lot of grayscale stuff old HP's are by far best printers when it comes to price. I can print about 6500pages for 12euros or if using genuine about 60euros. For color I prefer ink since its superior to lasers.

 

[kellys_eye]

We've used an old Kyocera mono laser for years, refills are (figuratively) 10 a penny. Used to have a big old HP4a before getting the Kyocera which was part of an eBay sale I won - a pallet full of mono and colour laser printers (must have been around 15 of them) for 99p one time!

Some you win.....

 

[Bluejets]

Originally used an old hp to do toner transfer for pc boards, worked great every time.
Printer eventually died so bought a Brother to do the transfer jobs. More strife than Flash Gordon, simply just a pia.
Found out Brother toner was not refusable and different melt temperatures.
Passed it on to my wife and bought a modern mono hp, no more problems.
So appears toner between manufacturers can be different.

 

[kellys_eye]

Found out Brother toner was not refusable and different melt temperatures.

Interesting to note. I suppose, given the manufacturers propensity to extract every pound of flesh they can from consumable prices, they have to have SOME form of wriggle-room.....

 

[FuZZ1L0G1C]

I suppose the refill quality is directly proportional to how reputable the service company is.
My Samsung's Yellow toner cartridge was refilled a few years ago by a small business, where the guy installed a 'reset' chip.
Sadly, the cartridge would not work, giving "unknown or invalid product" errors.
I now prefer to spend a bit more and buy new - more cost but less hassles.
The strange part is, if you calculate (in our currency), a new toner costs around R1000-R1200 minimum.
Yet a M/F CMYK can be bought, with toner installed, for around R3500-R4500....