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

lumafield.com

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

#171

Post by ska »

lancesells wrote: post #136
ska wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any indicator that tells you when a consumable needs I'm not a fan of the blinking reminders either, but it's not a monitor it's just a flashing version of the "remind me in the months" wheel or whatever. The problem they face is a hard one. There are really two timelines you care about, one is how long it stays effective, the second is how long it is safe. The first one especially is highly affected by both usage…

Instead of a timer you could have a counter. The Brita filter looks to last 40 gallons. My Brita pitcher holds 10 cups. 10 cups equals 0.625 gallons. Which means my filter lasts for ~64 fills of the pitcher. So using a counter until 64 would tell me to refill. All you need is a plus sign and some way to reset. Now that I've done the math I might start writing this on a pad next to my refrigerator because I never have…

That definitely works better than a timer, but still has to be adjusted for the water quality in your house.

But it also assumes you go fill-to-empty. In my limited experience they are often refilled from partially empty, whenever convenient. If you are doing this on paper, maybe you should count output instead of input? More work though.

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

#172

Post by ska »

bewaretheirs wrote: post #155
lancesells wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of a timer you could have a counter. The Brita filter looks to last 40 gallons. My Brita pitcher holds 10 cups. 10 cups equals 0.625 gallons. Which means my filter lasts for ~64 fills of the pitcher. So using a counter until 64 would tell me to refill. All you need is a plus sign and some way to reset. Now that I've done the math I might start writing this on a pad next to my refrigerator because I never have…

At one point Brita distributed a spring-driven mechanical ratchet counter that would sit on top of the filter cartridge; it had some sort of diaphragm arrangement that would sense the water level and "tick" once per refill cycle and tell you when it was time to swap in a new filter.

I wonder why they go rid of it. Was this shipped with every filter or was it a think you reset and put on again? Do you recall if it could tell the difference between a partial fill and full fill?

What you really want is to measure the volume through the filter, but I can't think of a way to do that cheaply and mechanical only.

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

#173

Post by zelon88 »

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.

Make no mistake, they can be refilled. By the manufacturer.

Most times a company will lease several multi-function printers from a manufacturer like Ricoh. These lease agreements come with a certain quantity of toner replacements included or discounted. Most also include service agreements, because they don't want you servicing a unit you do not own yourself.

When you have one of these agreements, you are supposed to send the empty toner back to the manufacturer. I have no doubt at all that they refill these and sell them as brand new units. Honestly, it would be an absurd waste if they didn't.

So think of it as a "Blue Rhino propane tank" which are notoriously not filled to capacity from the factory either. They don't give a crap how much product is in the container to begin with or when you return it. They only care that you return it as that increases their profit margins.

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

#174

Post by Dylan16807 »

chaostheory wrote: post #150
dexzod wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is outrageous. Only a small percentage of owners know this kind of tricks. Imagine the environmental damage created by thousands of users throwing away perfectly usable cartridges. I always feel bad about throwing away laser printer cartridges, they have so many components that are working just fine, there should be a way to just refill the toner and reuse it.

If you think Samsung is bad, HP is much worse. Stay away from HP printers including laser

> Stay away from HP printers including laser

Do you think that applies to the Neverstop models? They have an internal toner tank that refills with syringes, so this kind of nonsense isn't really possible.

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

#175

Post by bewaretheirs »

ska wrote: post #172
bewaretheirs wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At one point Brita distributed a spring-driven mechanical ratchet counter that would sit on top of the filter cartridge; it had some sort of diaphragm arrangement that would sense the water level and "tick" once per refill cycle and tell you when it was time to swap in a new filter.

I wonder why they go rid of it. Was this shipped with every filter or was it a think you reset and put on again? Do you recall if it could tell the difference between a partial fill and full fill? What you really want is to measure the volume through the filter, but I can't think of a way to do that cheaply and mechanical only.

It was reusable. You would turn it back to the start to reset it when you'd pull it off the top of the old filter and stick it on top of the new one.

I don't recall whether it came with the pitcher or as a bonus item included in a filter-multipack. It just counted one "tick" on a ratchet per fill/empty cycle, no attempt to measure volume or fractional fills.

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

#176

Post by kipchak »

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've done this for a few office Brother laser MFCs. In my experience while you can get a couple hundred more pages out, pages may start being speckled and the cartridge will dust toner into the printer, even if there's still plenty of toner in the cartridge.

From what I can tell this is due to a rubber blade that cleans the toner cartridge's "drum" wearing out, which can sometimes (but not very easily) be replaceable. My guess is that while there's some encouragement of new cartridges going on, the print count is also at a lower number to prevent issues like it from cropping up.

I've also heard that as the cartridge goes through toner, some printers will increase voltage on the drums proportionally, which can be thrown off by resetting the toner level.

From a toner remanufacturing document: "When the printer senses a new toner cartridge, the bias voltage is set to a high voltage. As the cartridge is used, the bias voltage is reduced gradually down. This process is necessary because according to Brother, a new toner cartridge has a tendency to print light. As the cartridge is used, the density increases. To keep the density level even throughout its life, the density bias voltage is reduced accordingly. Each time a new cartridge is installed, the bias voltage is reset to the high voltage point, and the cartridge page count is reset to zero." [1]

Here's a visual of the blades if you're curious. https://youtu.be/UlB832MOUtQ?t=7

[1]http://www.uninetimaging.com/downloads/technical/TecArtWebAd...

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

#178

Post by shuntress »

lazide wrote: post #146
shuntress wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm OK with sleazy companies pricing themselves out of the market if that's what it takes to prevent rent-seeking "ecosystems" imposing vendor-lock-in by making their "too cheap to be true" loss-leader products require esoteric consumables.

Sure, but clearly it isn’t on legislators priority list.

Plenty of states have active Right to Repair legislation happening right now. It's definitely on some people's priority list and good legislators make time for important issues.

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

#179

Post by grishka »

dexzod wrote: post #119
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

This is outrageous. Only a small percentage of owners know this kind of tricks. Imagine the environmental damage created by thousands of users throwing away perfectly usable cartridges. I always feel bad about throwing away laser printer cartridges, they have so many components that are working just fine, there should be a way to just refill the toner and reuse it.

TIL people actually throw laser printer cartridges away instead of having them refilled for pennies multiple times over.

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

#180

Post by jemmyw »

yamtaddle wrote: post #140
jemmyw wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's crazy. You know the text is just as real if you read it from the screen? I've never owned a printer, they're Satan's own gift to the consumer electronics market. Paper is also annoying to deal with. I've had an e-reader for 10 years but the odd older book isn't available. You'd think based on comments online that a real book is some magical wonderful thing, but they're an ass to use, heavy, large to store. The…

> You know the text is just as real if you read it from the screen? It's not about the text being "real", it's about the UI of printed pages versus screens. You can use the space around you, and leverage spatial reasoning, better with paper. You'd need multiple really big, digital-pen-input-ready, high-res screens, plus some very nice specialized software, to come close to the same experience with computers—and still…

I understand your points, but, for all except "including things like thoughtful typesetting (especially noticeable with poetry)," I don't find them very compelling. For fiction an e-reader has been a great improvement, easier to handle, never lose your place, able to jump around the book and then back again, search, and probably most importantly ergonomics - larger text when I'm tired etc.

For non-fiction I do find it hard to understand how paper is better for you than on a monitor. Open 2 pages at once, yep, side by side is no problem, plus as many other pages as you like open at once with windows or tabs. Full text search AND the index, with clickable links to the places you want to go.

Jotting down notes in the margin - yes, I can see that would be an issue. But if its important I think I'd want to keep it separate anyway. I have one of those e-paper notepad things with a digital pen which I use for note taking or drawing freehand diagrams or music notation (and its nice because it has the templates so I don't have to go and search for the sheet music paper). The only feature I miss from real pens and paper is colour.

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