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CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

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Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#71

Post by Alupis »

bombcar wrote: post #3

I would like to see cartridges designed ecologically - refillable perhaps, or at least designed to flow as much out as possible - and allowing you to override the "toner low" warning and keep printing even if it's almost dry.

You can refill them. They typically have a plastic plug on one side, and some companies will refill them for you, or you can buy a refill "kit".

However, the internals of the cartridge will break down over time. Typically it's the "blade" that evens out the powdered toner that wears out, leaving too much toner stuck to the page and results in those gray-page prints and streaks/lines.

If you buy refilled cartridges, the blade seems to be the most common failure point long before you run out of toner.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#73

Post by chrisco255 »

bombcar wrote: post #3

I would like to see cartridges designed ecologically - refillable perhaps, or at least designed to flow as much out as possible - and allowing you to override the "toner low" warning and keep printing even if it's almost dry.

Epson has a line of printers that has refillable tanks rather than cartridges. The bottles that the ink comes in are designed so that they do not spill out when held upside down. They must be inserted into the tank to dispense.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#74

Post by Brian_K_White »

zaroth wrote: post #58
RobotToaster wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think eco tanks (and some other modern inkjets) will purge the heads regularly if left on, so it should be fine if left on standby constantly.

I have a Brother laser printer which is used for almost everything, and a Canon inkjet for the occasional color print. I’m pretty sure my Canon inkjet uses more ink when idle than when I occasionally use it to actually print something. Quite sad. I do wonder where it all physically goes tho. After years of seeing my cheapo cartridges just “evaporate” whatever reservoir the printer has for cleaning the heads and purgi…

huge sponges and felt blocks. not kidding.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#75

Post by tailspin2019 »

Somewhat related, I recently bought a Brita water filter jug which has a little led on the lid which glows red when the disposable filter cartridge has “expired” and needs replacing.

Before I even started to use the thing I knew what to expect. Sure enough it starts to glow red after a ridiculously short period of time of using a brand new filter cartridge.

I’ve been ignoring it for a few weeks now and checking for any difference in taste of the filtered water but haven’t detected anything yet. I’d recently been wondering about how to verify the filter’s effectiveness somehow as I’m sure this indicator is less than useless and essentially setup to “lie” for profit.

There should be laws against this sort of thing. Any indicator that tells you when a consumable needs to be replaced should have to meet some level of accuracy in order to be legal.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#76

Post by ck45 »

mc32 wrote: post #47
nuodag wrote: post #41

If you have a Samsung laserprinter with number pad and empty toner / imaging unit try menu # 1904 menu and reset the counter, then happily print thousands of pages more

Brother lasers also have a funky reset procedure (depends on model, but searchable on internet). It’s outrageous. You can get another 500 to 1000 pages out of it.

I have an older Brother HL-2035. It can be convinced to keep on printing by covering two holes on the cartridge with some duct tape.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#77

Post by aspectmin »

jmyeet wrote: post #19

Never, ever, ever buy a printer that takes cartridges. They’re discounted to at or below cost where they make the money back on cartridges. They use ink to clean the heads. They say empty when they’re not. The cartridges that come with the printer aren’t full. There is a constant firmware update war to defeat third party cartridges for obvious reasons. Buy a tank printer that you fill with ink bottles.

Any recommendations on a good tank printer?

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#79

Post by nsxwolf »

gnu8 wrote: post #61
pifm_guy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most are refillable if you follow an unofficial online guide. Beware that toner dust is really nasty stuff and gets everywhere, so however careful you are you'll still have clouds of toner dust escape and stick to every surface of your house inside and out... Top tip:. Never clean toner dust with warm water. It will stick and become permanent.

In any situation where you can see toner you want to be wearing an N95 mask. Inhale any of it and it is in your lungs forever. The best thing for cleanup is a 3M electronics vacuum which has a filter that will trap that stuff securely.

This makes these refill kits sound really dangerous.

Re: CT scan shows there's still lots of toner left in an “empty” cartridge

#80

Post by bombcar »

mrighele wrote: post #68
denton-scratch wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a Samsung printer a few years ago. A couple of months later, I discovered that Samsung's printer arm had been acquired by Hewlett-Packard - the company I least wanted to buy a printer from. My printer has no number pad. It has a horrible menu system you navigate with arrow-keys. The cartridge it came with was tiny - it lasted for less than a ream. But the replacement I bought is still going strong (I don't p…

Identical story here. The toner the printer came with lasted a few months. I refilled it in a local shop (the guy explained me that they had to replace the chip that counts the pages so refilling was expensive, but in fact it was a fraction of a new one). Still printing with that same toner after (I think) 6 years.

Most printers now explicitly call out that they come with a "starter toner" - which has many fewer pages than a normal one.
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