Cartridge
Choose the right toner cartridge for your laser printer
On the other hand, we recommend you to select OEM cartridges if you have high expectations on the printing results and primarily print in full color. For example, if you are a graphics designer producing samples of your work to show clients, you should probably buy a genuine inkjet cartridge. This will give you the best chance of producing high quality graphics prints. Besides, you are not price sensitive. Please also remember that the quality of the compatible ink or toner please remember that it is not the only factor affecting the print quality. The capabilities of the printer and the quality of the printing paper also have significant impact on the end printing results.
What about remanufactured toner cartridge?
Huge savings can also be done on printer cartridge costs by buying remanufactured cartridges instead of OEM ink cartridges. Remanufactured cartridges are together with compatible ink cartridges the cheapest alternative to go with. Besides, when buying remanufactured ink cartridges you support the reuse of cartridge parts for environmental sustainability. If you are interested in reading more about the environmental benefits of using recycled printer cartridges, read our Toner Cartridge Recycling Guide! Some printer manufacturers, like Lexmark, even have a prebate recycling program for used-up printer cartridges. Read our Return Program Toner Cartridges to learn more about having a significant discount of toner cartridges.
Should I buy a low yield or a high yield toner cartridge?
The high yield inkjet cartridges are obviously more expensive but are cheaper on a page yield basis. Your choice will depend on the number of pages you expect to print per year and the expected coverage of toner per page. The rated capacity of a toner cartridge is based on 5% coverage of toner on a Letter or A4 page. If your coverage is 10%, you will use twice as much toner and get half as many printed pages. Cartridges do deteriorate over time, usually of 2-year shelf life. You should choose a cartridge that will last you two years or less; if you do not do much printing, buy a low yield cartridge.
How is Refilled Cartridge Compared With OEM Cartridge?
HP conducted a study on ink cartridge refill last year, comparing the performance of refilled inkjet cartridges with that of OEM cartridges. Not surprisingly, the results showed that original HP cartridges outperformed refilled cartridges significantly. We will look at the results to see how big the difference is and whether the study itself helps consumers to decide what to buy in their next purchase.
Original HP cartridges are manufactured by HP licensed partners while refilled ink cartridges are either branded refilled cartridges or cartridges from refill service providers. The research was conducted on these original HP cartridges: HP 92A, 93A, 98A, 95A, 21A and 22A. A range of branded refilled cartridges (Elite Image, Innovera, Nukote, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Rhinotek) and refill service providers (Cartridge World, OfficeMax, Walgreens) were used for comparison.
HP claimed that the original HP cartridges produced 46.6% more pages than the branded refilled cartridges and 85% more pages than cartridges refilled by refill service providers. Original HP cartridges were also more reliable. None of them failed in the tests while 27.1% of branded refilled cartridges and 41.1% of cartridges from refill service providers were dead on arrival (DOA) or had early end of life.
HP considers cartridges that cannot print or have substantial visible ink spilled in the bag or on cartridges as dead on arrival (DOA). Early end of life means that the cartridges produce less than 75% of the mean page yield of original HP cartridges for the same model. HP also included defective cartridges (DOA or early end of life) in their calculation of page yield (a protocol different from ISO standard). Therefore, if some refilled cartridges were dead on arrival, they produced zero page, the average page yield of all refilled cartridges would be reduced. HP did not report the performance of individual brands of refilled cartridges either. It is not known whether some brands performed better than the others.
Usually, cartridges sent for refill are not emptied completely, this can avoid drying out of the print head and the ink chamber. It is possible that some refilled cartridges are not filled up to full capacity in order to avoid overfilling and ink spillage. This may lead to lower ink volume and reduced page yield.
Although HP study proved that original HP cartridges are more reliable and print more pages than refilled cartridges, it is unlikely to stop consumers from using those cheap replacements. The protocol of the study was designed to exaggerate the differences between refilled and OEM cartridges. In addition, those who use refilled cartridges are usually environmentally concerned as they believe refilling is good for the environment. Some of them have a limited budget and they may not have high demand of the replacement ink. Refilled cartridges also take up a small percentage in the market of discount ink cartridges. The real competitors of OEM cartridges are the compatible or remanufactured cartridges. It will be more interesting if the printer manufacturers can conduct research to compare the page yield and the reliability of these discount cartridges with those of OEM cartridges.
What are the Benefits of Compatible, Remanufactured Toner / Ink Cartridge?
What do we do with the used cartridges? It goes to the garbage bin instead. When you are into business and use cartridges very often, then you are certain to increase your expenditure if you spend on new cartridges every time. Thinking what to do? How to decrease the expense?
Re-use, remanufacture…… You can re-use your money spent on these cartridges and re-using the money means saving the money. Remanufactured cartridges are the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cartridges that have been used and remanufactured (recycled) and refilled with ink. Original cartridges are disassembled, cleaned, refilled and repaired again before they come to the markets. Remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges work the same way as the original ones. Remanufactured ink cartridges give splendid print results and are compatible to your printers. These cartridges are as good as or even better than their original counterparts.
Compatible Ink/Toner cartridges are the ones which are not manufactured by their original manufacturers. Compatible Ink/Toner cartridges come in two of the types. They are new cartridges as well as recycled ones. Although these cartridges are priced at half or one-third the amount of original OEM cartridges, they may be recycled cartridges or even new ones. The purchase of these cartridges help you save some additional bucks to your pockets at the quality of original cartridges.
Compatible, remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges have various positive facts. These are listed below;
Cost Effective. Compatible remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges are priced at almost half or one-third the rates of original cartridges. The prices of these cartridges fit the size of your pockets easily. Hence, you save lot of money on printing while maintaining the same standard of the print when you buy remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges. So, why pay double the amount when you get the same quality print at a much cheaper cost. Head to remanufactured and compatible Ink/Toner cartridges……..Now
Quality Oriented. Remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges promise to maintain the standard of printing. These cartridges are of the best quality, built to the highest standards. The printing quality of these cartridges sets a standard which goes much ahead of original cartridges. Remanufactured Ink/cartridges come with warranty and 100% satisfaction guarantee. These cartridges never damage your printers as they become compatible to your printers when they pass various tests before they are sold to end consumers.
Environment Friendly. Remanufactured Ink/Toner Cartridges are recycled cartridges made from reusing the original ones. Remanufacturing is the process of renovating used products in order to make them equal in quality as per the original ones. Remanufacturing Ink/Toner cartridge puts less pressure on the environment than turning parts back into raw materials for input into the manufacturing system or reusing parts in other products. By purchasing a remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridge, you save the environment from the long-lasting, non-decaying materials from which plastic toner cartridges are made.
Readily available. Today, compatible, remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges are readily available with almost all the companies. You name the company and they have it for you. HP, Dell, Lexmark, Canon, Brother, NEC……… all these companies have various ranges in remanufactured Ink/Toner cartridges. As the demand for these cartridges is increasing day-by-day, companies have started to produce them in big numbers.
How you can Recycle & Refill Brother Ink Cartridges or Laser Toner Cartridge
1. Place any absorbent material like a towel underneath before refilling the brother ink cartridges.
2. After filling ink in the syringe bottle remove the needle and put the cone shaped adaptor on it.
3. Find the hole in the cartridge through which the ink flows out and turn the exit port down facing your lap.
4. Slowly inject the ink from the syringe bottle into the cartridge until the ink starts coming out of the vent hole and is not foamy.
5. Now turn the cartridge the other way round so that the vent hole faces you and the exit port is towards your lap.
6. Put the needle back into the syringe bottle and inject the needle into the vent hole. Continue injecting till the ink comes out of the exit hole and stops foaming.
7. Leave the cartridge in this position for about ten minutes. Then repeat the 6th step and let it rest for another ten minutes.
8. Install the cartridge in the printer. If it has to be transported then an electrical tape can be used to cover the exit and vent holes but must be removed before printing.
How to Recycle & Refill Brother Ink Cartridges or Laser Toner Cartridge
The refilling of this cartridge is messy therefore it is advised that gloves should be worn and the place where refilling is done should be covered with a newspaper or some other absorbent material.
The following steps can guide you to an easy refill of your brother printer cartridges. The different models have little variations in the procedures other remaining the same.
Brother printer cartridge LC01C, LC01Y, LC01M and LC01BK (MFC 7000 series)
1. Place any absorbent material like a towel underneath before refilling the brother ink cartridges.
2. After filling ink in the syringe bottle remove the needle and put the cone shaped adaptor on it.
3. Find the hole in the cartridge through which the ink flows out and turn the exit port down facing your lap.
4. Slowly inject the ink from the syringe bottle into the cartridge until the ink starts coming out of the vent hole and is not foamy.
5. Now turn the cartridge the other way round so that the vent hole faces you and the exit port is towards your lap.
6. Put the needle back into the syringe bottle and inject the needle into the vent hole. Continue injecting till the ink comes out of the exit hole and stops foaming.
7. Leave the cartridge in this position for about ten minutes. Then repeat the 6th step and let it rest for another ten minutes.
8. Install the cartridge in the printer. If it has to be transported then an electrical tape can be used to cover the exit and vent holes but must be removed before printing.
Brother printer cartridge for Brother MFC-7150 and MFC-7160
There is a sponge inside the cartridge which makes the refilling procedure sticky. The first step remains the same.
1. Locate the exit hole at the bottom where there is a large plug.
2. Also locate the vent hole at the bottom which exists on the same side as the large handle on the top of the cartridge.
3. Turning the exit port towards the lap place the vent hole to the right and vice versa. Seal the exit port with a black electrical tape.
4. Take out the handle on the top of the cartridge. Inside you will see two metallic seals, the smaller one round and the larger one rectangular. Either remove the seals or make holes in them.
5. To fill the syringe bottle with ink squeeze the syringe bottle and the needle be inserted into the ink bottle. Relax the grip and let the syringe suck the ink into the bottle.
6. Taking the syringe bottle slowly inject the ink into the sponge deeply through the rectangular hole till the sponge saturates.
7. Also inject ink in the round hole till the outer chamber is full. After injection seal the round hole with black electrical tape carefully. Also seal the rectangular hole with tape.
8. Put the plastic handle back on the top. Take the cartridge to a sink and remove the tape from the bottom. Let the extra ink drops flow out.
9. Printer should be installed now.
Brother printer cartridge LC41C, LC41Y, LC41M, and LC41BK
In this model the ink is retained because of the valve. The first step is the same.
1. Find the label saying LC41 with the letters such as C, M, Y or BK representing colors.
2. Holding the label side up, on the right side find a window towards the top of the cartridge. Make a hole in the window with a smoldering iron or some heated metal thing.
3. Fill the syringe bottle like step 5 mentioned above.
4. Inject the ink slowly with the syringe bottle into the window on top right of the cartridge. Fill the entire cartridge.
5. Seal the window with black electrical tape.
6. Install in the printer.
Brother printer cartridge HJ100 and HJ400
There is very difference in this cartridge. The first step remains the same.
1. Start with a screw in the vent hole which is opposite to the longest side of the cartridge which is opposite to the print head.
2. Draw the plug out with screw. Fill the syringe bottle half with ink and insert in the hole. Inject slowly and deeply into the sponge.
3. Expect some dripping. Tape the cartridge you have to transport it.
Laser Toner Cartridge
The refilling of a laser toner cartridge is very mush similar to adding petrol or gas to your car. The refilling of toner should be done at a place where there is no breeze. It can burn so work where there is no flame. Also do not inhale it as it is irritating.
The three basic types of laser toner cartridges are:
o Canister: a tube for holding toner
o Drum: a cartridge with gears and a drum which has a gelatin coating
o Toner and developer: similar to drum cartridge but using toner and developer both.
Canister Cartridge
1. Spread some absorbent material like a towel or newspaper. Locate a plug at the end of cartridge.
2. Remove the plug if you find it. If you don’t then create a hole which is away from the paper path (smooth plastic surface).
3. If you create a hole then carefully remove the shavings. 4. Shake the bottle of toner and pour the entire bottle into the cartridge with a funnel or paper funnel.
5. Put the plug back and seal it with a black electrical tape.
6. Install in the printer. The refilling of these cartridges can be done a lot of times.
Drum Cartridges
These are more complex cartridges. The ‘pretty’ drum can have three colored coatings: red, blue or green. Before refilling you have to find the toner hopper and the waste hopper.
o Locate the drum and imagine that it runs down to the end of the cartridge.
o Lay it down to that the drum runs from left to right in front of you. The side near to you is the ‘near side’ and the one far from you is ‘far side’.
o One of these sides is larger than the other.
o The largest side is ‘toner hopper’ and smaller one is ‘waste hopper’.
Now to refill follow the following steps.
1. Locate the drum but do not touch it. It may be under a shutter.
2. Find the toner hopper. You will see a translucent plug on one side. Remove it. If you do not find it then create a hole in the toner hopper away from the paper path.
3. Vacuum the drum of shavings but do not touch the drum.
4. Shake the bottle of toner and pour the entire bottle into the cartridge with a funnel.
5.Seal the hole with the pug or a black electrical tape.
Toner & Developer Cartridges
This cartridge is very much like the drum cartridge but it has two plugs. The larger one is for toner and smaller one for developer. You will need medium sized flat and cross headed screwdrivers.
1. Find the waste box at the end of the cartridge and remove the screws. There is a sliding door for the waste box.
2. Behind the waste box is a plastic plate held by a single screw. You are to arrange it in such a way that the green colored part is towards the upper right and screw towards lower left. Screw it open.
3. There is a clip above the green side. Push it with a flat screw driver to release the plate.
4. You will now see a large cap for the toner. Get off the cap or make a hole in it.
5. Fill the cartridge with toner and seal it.
6. Towards the left centre is a small plug for the developer. Make a hole or unplug it.
7. Fill the hole with developer and seal. 8. Place the plastic plate and the waste box.
9. Shake the cartridge softly.