Printer toner

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Anyone use non-genuine toner in their laser printer? I can buy 4 non-genuine cartridges for the cost of one genuine cartridge. Even if they only do half the number of pages and I'd still be well ahead. I figure that, so long as they don't harm the printer, this is the way to go. Any cautionary tales before I order?

[dannat (Daniel)]

Laser toner is usually ok, got some refilled with nomproblems, its the generic inkjet stuff which doesn't seem so god,

[w0mbat (Ian)]

Hi,
I have a different story to tell. I have a Fuji Xerox CP305D colour laser printer which performed superbly with its original toner. I then tried "guaranteed compatible toner" and it was a disaster. Toner would peel off the page, double sided printing became impossible and toner ended up stuck all over the fuser film which made it necessary to replace the fuser. I then bought original toner and the machine gradually recovered over several weeks of use. I have just accepted that I have to wear the very high price of original toner to get good results. Mind you, I do a lot of full A4 page colour prints which are a severe test. Perhaps those with better stories do only text printing which is much less demanding????
I advise extreme caution here. Maybe there are good compatible toners but how would you know until it is too late?
Ian

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

I use and have previously used Brother LASERs (current is HL2270DW) and have previously and still do refill my toner from fleaby, cheap toner. Costs ~ $8 per refill. Works great, even for printing PCBs via toner transfer absolutely no difference in print quality on paper.

But I chose the Brothers carefully as they (well the units I've used) use a variable corona voltage because they return un-used toner back to the cartridge. Thus the printer needs higher voltage for attractive charge, meaning it'll works fine with elcheapo toner.

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I have generic toner on my laser printer and has been quite fine.

[PCH (Paul)]

Originally Posted by wasyoungonce

I use and have previously used Brother LASERs (current is HL2270DW) and have previously and still do refill my toner from fleaby, cheap toner. Costs ~ $8 per refill. Works great, even for printing PCBs via toner transfer absolutely no difference in print quality on paper.

But I chose the Brothers carefully as they (well the units I've used) use a variable corona voltage because they return un-used toner back to the cartridge. Thus the printer needs higher voltage for attractive charge, meaning it'll works fine with elcheapo toner.

Hey Brendan,

I don't suppose you have a link for your cheap toner outlet do you? I already use reman toners for my brother laser, but $8!!!! - that IS cheap!

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Hi Paul

Toner stop is one place. $32 for 5 refills of 2600 pages ea. Some starter or low volume cartridges need a flag gears to convert them to higher capacity (many Brothers use a flag gear to indicate toner remaining, these need reset when refilling and also you can reset the printer counter memory). Also some need a plug (although my carts already had this).

Refill procedure is on the net, Uninet is best place for instructions, but...sorry I don't have a link for printer memory reset, just do a net search. I did buy some toner from Uninet, it was good but more expensive. Just be careful with the toner...it is so fine it spreads everywhere, so I do mine outside wearing a mask and empty into plastic bags, carefully.

Looks as if I can also rebuild my Drum cheaply as well....these brothers are cheap to run.

edit:
Don't get your fingers on the toner rollers or Drum!

[AstralTraveller (David)]

Thanks for the comments. I went with a non-genuine as it will only be used to print text. Time will tell whether it was worthwhile.

[PCH (Paul)]

Thanks for the info Brendan

Originally Posted by wasyoungonce

Hi Paul

Toner stop is one place. $32 for 5 refills of 2600 pages ea. Some starter or low volume cartridges need a flag gears to convert them to higher capacity (many Brothers use a flag gear to indicate toner remaining, these need reset when refilling and also you can reset the printer counter memory). Also some need a plug (although my carts already had this).

Refill procedure is on the net, Uninet is best place for instructions, but...sorry I don't have a link for printer memory reset, just do a net search. I did buy some toner from Uninet, it was good but more expensive. Just be careful with the toner...it is so fine it spreads everywhere, so I do mine outside wearing a mask and empty into plastic bags, carefully.

Looks as if I can also rebuild my Drum cheaply as well....these brothers are cheap to run.

edit:
Don't get your fingers on the toner rollers or Drum!