Our family laser printer recently started flashing the "Low Toner" warning. I did the usual trick of rocking the cartridge, and then allowed the Geeklings to print out their essays and assignments for a while, but eventually things faded from carbon black to ghostly grey, and it was time to face the fact that the cartridge was empty.
Now, the price of a home laser printer has steadily fallen for the past decade or more until you can now pick up a decent model for under $200. Unfortunately, the price of the toner cartridge at the heart of these wonderful little machines has not seen a similar decline in price. In fact, it's not at all unusual for a name-brand toner cartridge to cost one-quarter or even one-third the price of a brand new printer. All of the above is certainly old news to most of you, as is the fact that there is a huge business in toner cartridge refilling -- both as a service and in the form of do-it-yourself kits.
I was a little hesitant the first time I refilled a toner cartridge using one of the do-it-yourself kits, but it turns out to be incredibly simple. How simple? Well, let me show you.
At this point, it was simply a matter of pouring the toner into the refill hole, taking care to not spill the toner powder during the process. Toner powder is messy stuff, and if you happen to dump it all over the floor, I can guarantee that your significant other will never let you hear the end of it. (Trust me on that last point -- I speak from experience.)
After the toner has been tidily poured into the refill chamber, it's simply a matter of reversing the disassembly steps. Once the cartridge is reassembled, rock it a little to distribute the toner evenly, then return the cartridge to the printer.
Now, in my case, the toner cartridges for my printer include a small chip to track page counts and toner conditions. Unfortunately, this means that even when I refill the cartridge, the printer still displays a "Low Toner" warning. I can continue to print anyway, but eventually the printer is going to dig in its laser-sharp heels and refuse to cooperate. Thankfully, it's possible to reset the page count of most toner cartridges, either by resetting the embedded chip or replacing it completely. For my cartridge, the available solution was a replacement, as shown below. Unscrewing and replacing the chip was easier than refilling the toner itself, and once done, there were no more annoying "Low Toner" warnings.
So, there you have it -- a relatively easy operation to restore the bold, carbon-black printouts you expect from a laser printer. And best of all, I saved myself about $50 in the process. Not bad for 15 minutes work, huh?
