How to Save on Printing Costs? Cheaper Consumables NOT Reduced Print Jobs!

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Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) call for a more consolidated approach to printing by embedding print management solutions to its laser printer units by password protecting access to units; to networking a printer across a workgroup and to more sophisticated applications such as the “Follow Me” document technology.

This establishes leaner printing operations for most organizations which not only reduces hardware costs but more importantly toner and paper usage; as printing has become more restrictive given authorization to access, increased accountability per department and intensive tracking of print jobs. After all, according to Samsung in an article by Peter Judge, the cost of printing eats up at least 1/5 of the IT budget of most organizations.

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SAMSUNG CLP610: Budget Laser Printer Meets Compatible Toner Refill Kit

Color laser printers have ceased to be an equipment for offices and the affluent few. For as little as $300, a unit can already be purchased in the market. Being budget-priced however does not mean low-end because some models priced at this category deliver printouts at fast speeds, lower cost per page (CPP) and even higher duty cycle. This is the void Samsung CLP610nd color laser printer has endeavored to fill. A single pass color laser printer relatively intended for users with modest budgets, the printer promises to be both a performance wizard and cost miser that would help minimize color- printing expenses while delivering unequalled print quality.

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How the toner cartridge completes the laser printer imaging system?

Photo by Makenosound

The imaging system of a laser printer is a toss-up between the OPC photoreceptor drum and the laser scanning assembly. After the image is formed on the OPC drum, toner powder is introduced simultaneously. Through the action of static electricity, toner literally jumps into the paper media and the whole (paper and toner) thing moves into the fuser to permanently bind toner to paper. The laser printer component responsible for supplying a sufficient amount of toner to the photoreceptor drum is the detachable toner cartridge.

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Lexmark C770 Toner Refill Kit: Cuts Network Color Printing Expenses by 70%!

Depending on workforce size, a typical office layout might just need only a single network laser printer to serve intermittent color printing requirements. The Lexmark C770 is one such printer. Designed with a powerful 800 MHZ processor that directs the series of information coming from networked PCs, the printer is also supplied with onboard RAM of 256 MB. Should network complications transpire in line with limited memory status, RAM can be expanded up to 768 MB. And since a network of this magnitude regularly handles severe traffic information streams, the manufacturer included a 40GB hard disk as an option to increase capacity of its storage bank.

Nevertheless, the most important consideration in the aspect of network color processing is the maintenance of the color laser printer, particularly that of its consumables. The bundled toner cartridges designed for the Lexmark C770 laser printer is retailed at $1400. Each cartridge comes with a rating of 6,500 pages at the standard page coverage of 5%. Therefore, an office that requires monthly cartridge replacement would have an annual toner consumable expenditure of as much as $16,800. Despite the exorbitant pricing, one positive aspect would be the minimal Cost Per Page (CPP). CPP for OEM color cartridges is pegged at 12 cents and 2.6 cents for the monochrome cartridge. By industry standards, said CPP readings are already tolerable and much cheaper when compared to the charge of offset printers if print jobs are outsourced.

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In House Printing: Take the Xante Ilumina 502 and Toner Refill Kit Duo

As the US business climate is gradually showing signs of recovery, big name corporations are now working to rebuild their financial infrastructure. One important issue affecting any U.S. business entity involves corporate printing expenditures that could eat up a decent share of operational expenses. Corporate printing expenditures take a leap in the production of inter-office memorandum, reports, and marketing materials that would likely hit an astounding figure if not handled prudently. Before the economic downturn, print jobs such as marketing brochures, product packaging, and even business cards have been outsourced. But in line with reduced economic activity, companies are turning towards ‘In-House Printing’ as a way to manage printing expenses.

In-House Printing becomes necessary as businesses are just starting to rise from the ashes and could therefore not really afford to stock up on brochures, packaging and several other collaterals. Most businesses often produce printed materials on an as-needed basis. To this end, in-house printing becomes a sensible option. In line with this urgent need, the Xante Ilumina 502 Digital Color Press can effectively fill the void and deliver astonishing printouts on any medium of up to 502 gsm and along affordable cost parameters. This is a proven fact, because whether a print job involves 50, 100 or even 1,000 pages; the cost per page (CPP) stays the same with the Xante Ilumina 502 - unlike local printers where CPP drops only once a particular print volume is reached. This makes the total cost of the print job restrictive.Another approach that could drastically pull down printing expenditures is the use of Xante Ilumina toner refill kits. Compatible toner supplied with toner refill kits replenishes an empty cartridge's toner supply. The simple refill procedure can help extend the serviceable life of a Xante Ilumina cartridge by up to 3 print cycles.

The bundled cost of the OEM monochrome and color toner cartridges is a little over $1,000 for an expected yield of around 15,000 pages at the industry yardstick of 5% coverage. Meanwhile, the rainbow pack of a 100% compatible toner refill kit is available for only around $300. This cuts color printing expense by as much as 70% without sacrificing print quality and yield. Ultimately, the use of toner refill kits on an empty 502 OEM cartridge will prove beneficial for business entities shifting towards the use of the Xante Ilumina Digital Color Press.

In the end, shifting to compatibles such as the Xante Ilumina toner refill kit for in-house print jobs is one practical way of managing burgeoning business printing expenditures.

How SMBs can benefit from toner refill kits?

Small and Medium Business (SMB) entities cannot survive without a laser printer to back up their day to day print requirements. But unlike large businesses that belong to the top 500 corporations, SMB’s usually operate with a limited budget and could hardly cope up with escalating printing costs. And with OEM toner cartridges slowly eking up in costs, this puts undue pressure on the SMB unit’s budget for business printing. Luckily, they can now turn to the aftermarket for printer consumables for more affordable options.

One of the most practical consumable to be released by the aftermarket is the toner refill kit. Not only is the consumable affordable, it also allows printing to continue without even purchasing a new cartridge unit. Instead, compatible toner powder is loaded into the cartridge’s empty toner hopper.

Can compatible toner compare to OEM toner in terms of print quality? We Americans are a stickler to fine equipment and accessories, and that includes printer consumables. Products with questionable quality will definitely not sell in the US; more so if this impacts print quality and yield coverage in the case of laser printer consumables such as the toner cartridge. The fact that toner refill kits are competitive in an 80 billion printing industry is a testament to our penchant for taking only the best. The men and women who crafted the manufacture of good quality and yet affordable printer peripherals truly deserves our gratitude.

As of writing, the aftermarket for printer consumables (that includes toner refill kits of course) has already captured around 20% market share and has moved at least 7 billion dollars in the printing industry. This figure is on the rise as more and more laser printer users are becoming dependent on the quality and yield performance of compatibles. It also helps that compatibles are at least 60% cheaper than its OEM counterpart; thus giving business users more elbow room to spend saved funds to finance their going concerns.

The hard facts are portrayed in the refill of an empty Samsung ML-1710D3 toner cartridge which loads the ML-1710 laser printer. The genuine cartridge is retailed at $80 for its rating of 3000 pages at 5% page coverage. The compatible Samsung ML-1710 toner refill kit on the other hand is available for only $8.95 and duplicates in every way the print and yield performance of the OEM cartridge. And because Samsung tolerates toner refills on its cartridges, the unit is designed with a fill hole for refill convenience.

So for SMBs out for a great deal on printer consumables, cross the line and move in with Samsung toner refill kits to experience more financial flexibility.

Laser Printer Fuser and Thermistor Sensor: How the condition of these components affects print quality?

What is a fuser thermistor sensor? Laser printers use the combination of heat and pressure to stick toner particles into paper permanently. And as such the fuser assembly of the laser printer is a vital component devised to melt toner particle and allow it to adhere to paper fibers; resulting in a permanent bond. The fuser therefore must maintain heat temperature that range from between 180 to as much as 210 degrees Fahrenheit. The formulation of toner particles should likewise meet the required melting properties and temperature range to be an effective vehicle for laser printing. If fuser temperature could not be maintained or if the toner formulation does not meet fuser specification, then it will manifest as half-baked toner peeling off over printouts.

In the case of Lexmark laser printers, the fuser's heating element is a Halogen Lamp designed to heat up and reach the desired temperature range. Because a Halogen Lamp can heat-up very rapidly in short stretches, it can however scourge paper (affects the hygroscopic properties) during printing if left unchecked and uncontrolled or cause the early burn-out of the Halogen lamp. The work of the Thermistor sensor therefore is to maintain the prescribed temperature ranges required for laser printing, particularly when the printer is used over long periods of time.

Lexmark laser printers for commercial use comes with a fuser assembly that is designed as a modular unit which can be replaced as a complete sub-assembly. Said component has a hot upper roller made of aluminum and is coated with Teflon (coating of most frying pans). The Halogen lamp heater is built into the core and comes either in metallic gray or green. The lower pressure roller counterpart is made of silicon based rubber and usually marketed as orange colored. The Thermistor is likewise mounted on the hot fuser roller to precisely monitor the fuser temperature. Heat could damage the silicon rubber pressure rollers which eventually become soft. The Teflon coating of the hot rollers could wear-off and the Halogen lamp may burnout. A dirty Thermister coated with baked-on toner could also cause the fuser assembly to overheat.

However, aside from a well-oiled printer, the final gauge of a laser printer’s capability is still the quality of its printouts which could only be delivered by a specified toner formulation. Quality toner can only come from an OEM toner cartridge or a toner refill kit compatible to the Lexmark printer. In the case of Lexmark compatibles, LTS' refill package come 80% cheaper. The toner refill kit for the LEXMARK C500 printer is only $25.95 against the OEM at $140. Both toner products deliver similar print quality and yield of 5,000 pages at 5% coverage.

Always keep the Thermistor clean to experience quality printouts and extend the effective lifecycle of your Lexmark laser printer.

Dissecting the Cost and Material Components of the HP CP1215 Toner Cartridge

Toner cartridges, particularly for color laser printers such as the HP CP1215, are expensive. Thus, many users nowadays resort to toner refilling once these cartridges run out of toner supply. Refilling is the most sensible option, considering the cost ratio of toner to the entire cartridge unit which happens to be only 10% or even less than that. Toner supplied with a compatible HP CP1215 toner refill kit is retailed at $33.95 (package includes the reset chip) compared to the OEM cartridge which comes with a price tag of $80. So in a nutshell, the bulk of the amount paid by the user for a new OEM cartridge goes to the material and production cost of the polymer casing that is about $70 in the case of the HP CP1215 OEM cartridge. The user actually saves a lot of money if a cartridge can be refilled several more times over the recommended 3 to 4 refills.

What imaging components are found inside the HP CP1215 toner cartridge? The color cartridge comprises of the toner hopper and waste chamber duo, secured into place by end caps. Releasing the 2 vital components exposes the OPC drum, together with the wiper blade responsible for cleaning the drum's surface of residual toner after each print cycle. The recovery blade completes the work of the wiper blade by channeling excess toner into the waste toner chamber. The second component is the Primary Charge Roller (PCR) that supplies the OPC Drum with a uniform negative DC voltage - a PCR function controlled by the laser printer's intensity setting. Together with the doctor blade, PCR dictates the amount of charged toner that will adhere to the developer roller; aided in the process by the foam feed roller.

Any of the 3 rollers (OPC Drum, PCR and Developer Roller) would become the main cause of print defects if left to perform its routine functions indefinitely. Therefore, when pronounced print defects emanated from these vital components, the faulty component must be immediately replaced to sustain expected print quality. Nevertheless, attempt to analyze the cause of the print defect since print irregularities may also be triggered by a defective OPC Drum wiper blade or a dirty foam feed roller that are designed only as accessory to the main rollers, but can obviously cause backgrounding even then.

The OPC Drum has a rated capacity of over 30,000 printed pages at 5% coverage, so never suspect the integrity of the OPC, particularly when the capacity is not yet breached. Besides, an OPC drum has a microchip page counter that turns off the printer automatically once the rated capacity has been reached. In most instances, the PCR and developer roller are the first components to yield to the wear and tear of everyday laser printing, and following subsequent refills using HP toner refill kits. Therefore, the mentioned components need to be replaced as soon as possible to keep the toner cartridge in tip top condition.

So, when print defects persist and the OPC Drum is still in fine form, the user is left with no option but to replace the PCR and Developer Roller.

Repetitive Defect Chart: Dependable Guide to Troubleshooting Print Quality Defects

Print quality defects hardly manifest in the operation of brand new HP LaserJet CP1215 laser printer units. Over time, print defects could no longer be avoided as the printer ages. The reason for this is obvious. As printer components start to wear out on the aging printer, this directly manifests over the output pages. The print engine of the laser printer works mechanically to deliver paper from one component to the next; aided in the process by sensitive sensors which inform the user in the event that one vital part malfunctions and shut-off the printer unit altogether. This is an automatic response system because operating with a damaged component would affect the condition of all the other components and consequently increase printer repair and maintenance costs in the process.

However, the user can easily monitor the condition of pertinent printer components through the print defect that manifest over the printout and institute troubleshooting by simply studying the physical properties (i.e. the defect's ruler measurement) of the defect and identifying the suspect component through the printer's Repetitive Defect Chart thereafter. Any print defect is typically triggered by a damaged printer component; but identifying the source component for the defect without the aid of the Repetitive Defect Chart can be difficult and time consuming. For example, if the Image Transfer Belt (ITB) is damaged, the ensuing print defect manifests at intervals of more than a full page. Thus, replacing the ITB at this point makes more sense in the intent of restoring acceptable print quality. The same also holds true for defects that cover a distance of 75.8 mm over the face of the paper as this print anomaly points out to a defective Organic Photo Conductive (OPC) Drum. In this case, the component has to be cleaned and thoroughly assessed or replaced.

Below is a rundown of different laser printer components and the corresponding print defect that legibly shows on the printout which directly affects the integrity of prints.

· Defective ITB the distance is 633.6 mm and is longer than one full page.

· OPC Drum – 75.8mm

· Transfer Rollers – 57.0 mm

· Fuser Pressure Roller – 56.8 mm

· Fuser Sleeve – 56.5 mm

· Registration Roller – 44.0 mm

· RS Roller (feed roller) – 28.5 mm

· PCR (Primary Charge Roller) – 26.7 mm

· Developer Roller Sleeve – 22.3 mm

The Repetitive Defect Chart clearly identifies problem components that consequently eases out the troubleshooting process to free the laser printer from nagging print defects. It is for a fact that for brand new laser printer units, the only defect that could materialize is one coming from a low toner supply. This can be easily resolved through the purchase of a brand new toner cartridge to replace the exhausted unit. A more cost-effective option is the refill of used toner cartridges with compatible toner supplied with the HP CP1215 toner refill kit which generates big savings in the process.

The monochrome toner cartridge costs $80, while the corresponding refill package retails for only $33.95. Both toner products deliver similar print quality and yields 2200 at 5% page coverage. Package also comes with a cartridge reset chip.

Universal Toner for Laser Printers - Is that Possible?

Why do we need a universal toner for our laser printers in the first place? The general concept is to only have a one - toner formulation standard that could be used for laser printers. The reason is obvious so a user can refill the empty OEM toner cartridges without the risk of getting fake or low quality toner. This is like when your car runs out of gas, you simply do not buy a tank full of gas but you go to the service station and gas-up your tank. But because we have over a hundred toner formulations in the market, selecting the exact toner formulation that suits your printer's specification is a hard bargain. We pick one reliable toner product reseller and when the result is satisfactory, we immediately stick to them.

Gas is entirely different from toner because gas comes from substances extracted out from the innards of the earth. So, whether oil comes from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas all exhibit the same characteristics, being fossil based. However, in the process of refinery, it produces by-products like regular or premium quality gas (for cars and classified as leaded or unleaded), diesel for heavy equipment and utility vehicles, high-octane for aviation use, and bunker fuel to run our oil-fed power plants. With a universal toner, a user can only be given a choice for general use (for regular laser printers), high-speed toner for very fast printers and special toner for photo printing. This arrangement suits well with most consumer demands.

Is the creation of a universal toner really possible? Of course it is probable, particularly when aided by government legislation. But such move will stunt the growth of the laser printing industry, remember that toner is a formulation of substances and by creating a standard it deprives manufacturers of the desire to improve the product. And how can HP Hewlett Packard coax Samsung, Brother, Lexmark, Canon to name a few to accept their toner formula and vice-versa. Certainly each printer manufacturer believes on their toner product as the best in the industry and no amount of laboratory tests could sway their belief otherwise. Besides, having only one toner formula would void their printer design, requiring OEMs to rearm in order to suit the new toner standard.

So, in the end a universal toner is no longer necessary as each laser printer exhibits different specifications, not only from toner formulation but also in granule size (in microns) and melting properties as well to sustain print quality requirements. And the only option left for the industry is to weed out unscrupulous toner retailers to help consumers make a precise choice.

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To produce decent laser prints and yield at a reasonable price, refill OEM toner cartridges with toner refill kits. The toner refill kit line of Laser Tek Services is cheaper by as much as 80% than the prevailing retail price of OEM toner cartridges.

Understanding the Laser Printer's Specified Duty Cycle

More than anything, a laser printers ‘maximum duty cycle’ is likely considered as a mere marketing ploy used by printer manufacturers to sell the product. But in reality, duty cycle refers to the workload (in terms of maximum number of pages) the equipment can handle before unit servicing is required. In analogy, this works like the average car that needs an ‘oil change’ every 1,000 or so miles to protect the moving gears from damage due to the already used and dirty oil. In effect, the car's maintenance will be dictated by the number of miles traveled and not by time – as the car could have been left unused in the garage for specific periods. Laser printers follow the same maintenance frequency - just like the HP 1100 that has a specified duty cycle of 3,000 pages, to therefore need a new maintenance kit - not monthly, but after the rated capacity is breached.


The average maintenance servicing required for a laser printer is typically at least every 3 months; whether the the printed capacity has been reached or not. So in the case of the HP 1100 and its duty cycle of 3,000 pages, maintenance is required after the unit is subjected to a workload of 45 pages (daily printout) or 1,000 pages (printed monthly) for offices operating a 22 working day month. However if the printing load is really low, it may take a year to breach the 3,000 print mark. In this case, maintenance can be performed annually.

Based on the facts supplied, it is therefore advisable to acquire a laser printer that suits your printing frequency and volume. Remember that printers have only a 5 year life cycle in line with the sensitive components that decline in function following the mandated period; particularly the OPC Drum’s photosensitive properties or the mechanical rollers that deteriorate even when not in use. Therefore, for a printer rated 10,000 pages monthly for its ‘duty cycle’ where the user can only print say 1,000 pages monthly, the printer's capacity is obviously underutilized as well as too large and expensive for the need. Know that the printer's ‘duty cycle’ is commensurate to its cost. That is just like buying an ice machine with a 200 kg capacity for a 20 kg ice requirement. In the end, the user loses the laser printer's competitive edge as parts deteriorate due to age (not because of use) and actual replacement of the printer's sensitive component must be implemented to sustain the printer.

In the case of the HP 1100 toner cartridge (C4092A), the rated capacity is only 2,500 pages at 5% coverage and is 20% less than the printers ‘duty cycle.’ Refills using a compatible toner refill kit can be administered on an empty OEM cartridge that delivers similar print quality and yield, but is awfully low at only $6.95 compared to the OEM at $65. The cost difference is substantial enough at around $58 and this could pay part for the maintenance kit needed by the printer.

Lesson learned: pick the laser printer with a ‘duty cycle’ commensurate to the user's printing requirement.

Optical Sensor + Reset Gear: The Safety Devices of the Brother TN 350 Toner Cartridge

The optical sensor built into the Brother MFC 7220 laser printer prompts the user when toner supply is really low. The sensor monitors toner supply levels by shining a light beam across a toner cartridge window. If no toner is detected, the ‘low toner’ light consequently blinks. The optical sensor works like the photo switch outfitted with streetlamps that switches on automatically during late afternoons (when the surroundings are dim) and turns the light off on early mornings when there is already sufficient natural light. Only that in the case of the toner cartridge, the amount of toner filling the chamber is employed to block the light beam delivered by the sensor; thus, the printer continues to operate. But once toner is depleted, the light beam connects, completes the circuit and the ‘low toner’ prompt appears.

Another safety feature of the Brother TN 350 toner cartridge is the reset gear that accurately monitors the number of pages printed by the printer. This counting device is activated depending on the number of revolutions made by the cartridge developer roller. Once the rated capacity is reached, the device turns off the printer automatically. It takes 18.5 revolutions of the developer roller to print a single page where a cartridge rated 2,500 pages (like the TN 350) actually makes 46,250 turns to complete the rated capacity. Once the developer roller reaches its revolution capacity, printing operations desists regardless of the amount of toner still left in the cartridge.

The mentioned safety features are integrated into the laser printer and toner cartridge combo to reduce the likelihood of damage to sensitive imaging components of the toner cartridge. These may all sound like a plus factor to printer manufacturers, but on the contrary these are integrated into the design to help sustain the cartridge's functional life cycle and on the aftermarket side, allow 3 or more toner refills on the cartridge. Without such devices, the cartridge will go on printing even when empty of toner, to eventually bring damage to the cartridge.

Printer manufacturers put in an extra 20% to total toner supply, precisely to bar the cartridge from printing when the toner chamber is empty. In case toner left in the cartridge is still more than half its capacity, then something must have triggered the cartridge to stop working. To override cartridge safety devices, the user will simply have to shake the cartridge vigorously to free clumped toner inside and so that printing could continue. In case the culprit is the developer roller, adjusting the reset gear would resolve the issue. However, if the cause of the stoppage is the optical sensor, placing a black electrical tape right across the cartridge window will solve the problem. But if printouts are diagnosed with fading prints, the primary cause therefore is low toner supply which can only be solved by replenishing the cartridge's toner supply with a compatible Brother toner refill kit.

From Commercial Printers to Laser Printers

It took 60 days to print a single book in 1456.
Today, it would take less than 60 minutes to do just that.

Although the Chinese and Koreans have carried out some form of printing called the moveable wood blocks technique in the early 13th century, it was in 1456 that the Western World saw a more progressive printing technology. The pioneer who made it all possible was Johann Gutenberg, a jeweler who crafted a metal alloy that allows the casting of individual letters. The mirror images of the letters are grouped together into a matrix to produce a single page. The whole arrangement of letters is then applied with ink, and then paper is pressed against it. Gutenberg started his printing business by redesigning a winepress and turned it into the first printing press. And the first books that came out were 200 copies of the Holy Bible.Six Hundred years later, printing has progressed several notches higher; particularly with the development of laser printers. Printing could no longer be singled out to large printing presses of the type operating in Gutenberg’s time. Instead, the task of printing has been delegated with offices and even households through laser printers and inkjet printers. Thanks to the advent of desktop publishing; now with just a push of a few control panel buttons of the laser printer, an office personnel can produce hard copies of documents saved in the hard disk of a personal computer or laptop.

A typical example of a trusty color laser printer is the OKIDATA 3000 series that loads with a toner cartridge accessory to produce those fine laser prints. Instead of liquid ink as employed with inkjet printers, toner powder is loaded into cartridge cavities which in turn supplies toner during printing. This technology has therefore made printing so simple. At the onset, offset printers would charge exorbitant fees to produce several hundreds of documents. But then this is understandable considering all the requirements needed to initiate the printing process. Producing the final print of the document is not really intricate per se. And that is why the cost per page (CPP) for print jobs drops with every increase in copy requirement. But then again, this is hardly felt in laser printing since a single toner cartridge may have a rating of say over 3,000 pages that reduces CPP dramatically - even lower than the CPP of large offset printers. Whether an office requires 100 or 1000 printed pages, the CPP is therefore sustained. The OEM toner cartridge for the OKIDATA 3000 series costs $80, but given its yield of 3,000 pages at 5% coverage, the CPP should be affordable.

A growing number of laser printer users nowadays prefer to refill empty toner cartridges with the use of compatible toner supplied with third party manufactured consumables such as the Okidata C300 toner refill kit. With its 4 pack retailed for only $69.95, the cost of printing will definitely be reduced at this rate. And since no considerable difference in terms of print quality and yield is apparent between the OEM toner and compatible toner, using a refill kit is a practical option.

We are now into the first decade of the current century, certainly printing a whole book today is peanuts compared to what transpired in 1456.

Your Wish Items for the New Year

Do you have a new year’s wish list? If you are a laser printer user, then a toner refill kit is one item that should form part of the things you’d want to get for the upcoming year. Not that you won’t be able to afford it, but a steady supply of monochrome or color refill kits on hand should give you a year of uninterrupted, quality printing without putting a dent in your pockets.

So now that you’ve registered a toner refill kit for say your Brother HL-4040 laser printer, just where should your family and friends secure this consumable? Well, they can easily purchase it online and have it delivered to your home in time for the New Year’s celebration. Laser Tek Services, Inc. offers a wide array of third party consumables, from compatible toner cartridges, reset chips, OPC drum kits, reset gears and of course toner refill kits.

For the HL-4040 laser printer, the Brother TN-115/TN-110 toner refill kit 4 Pack can be used to refill both the high yield (TN-115) standard yield (TN-110) cartridge at the low price of $154.95. Package includes 4 bottles of compatible black, cyan, magenta and yellow toner. Materials necessary to conduct the refill are likewise supplied such as toner wipes, 4 funnel caps, a pair of latex gloves and an illustrated instructional material. See what’s up for grabs with every purchase of a Brother TN-115/TN-110 toner refill kit.

LTS toner is 100% compatible with your toner cartridge and laser printer. Compatible toner has been engineered to match the particle specifications of the OEM toner. Therefore, expect the TN-115/TN-110 compatible toner to work seamlessly with cartridge and printer components as well as fuse properly with paper, without causing any damage to your equipment. Also get crisp, clear and professional prints as if you are using an OEM toner cartridge to produce those print jobs.

LTS toner produces similar yield at 5% page coverage. Every bottle of toner is supplied with the same gram load as the OEM toner cartridge. This way, refilled cartridges get the same rating with every printing cycle.

LTS offers free shipping. Orders transacted online and exceeding $50 are shipped for free to any location in the United States and Canada. Items are also shipped the next working day so definitely there won’t be any delay in the receipt of your wish item. For any inquiries, aftersales and troubleshooting concerns, you can easily get in touch with LTS representatives during working hours at its toll free number 1-877-945-2737.

HP 2600n Color Laser Printer: Why use only specified print media?

Although laser printers can print text and images on almost any type of print media, it is still requires good judgment on the part of the user to follow the guidelines set forth by the printer manufacturer in terms of substrate use. Paper fibers react under varying conditions of temperature, humidity and handling which could result in chronic paper jams; necessitate frequent unit servicing or even trigger printer damage. These are conditions and variables that manufacturer Hewlett Packard has no control of.

Buying the specified print media is like looking for a needle over a pile of haystack, as there are hundreds of transparencies available in the market. Therefore make it a habit to perform test prints over particular print media just to make sure that the substrate conforms to the requirements specified in the user guide and with the HP LaserJet Printer Family Print Media Guide. This is necessary especially when purchasing paper in volume.

Caution is expressed by HP, particularly when using print media that do not meet printer specifications. Use of incompatible substrates can trigger serious printer operation problems and may even lead to the early replacement of printer parts and components. Be aware that printer repairs ensuing from the improper use and handling of print media is not covered by Hewlett-Packard's warranty service agreement.

Print media properties such as weight, composition, grain and moisture content are important factors that would dictate printer performance (print quality) and output yield in pages. Always remember that use of paper other than those specified could result in poor print quality, frequent paper jams and premature wear of printer components. Find a list of OEM specified print media for the HP 2600n laser printer from this link.

Setting aside print media requirements, laser printer users should also be attentive to the printer unit's toner requirements. Like paper, low quality toner will also adversely affect print quality. In the event that the HP toner cartridge dries up, a user can refill its toner supply using compatible toner packaged with a toner refill kit. Toner refill kits have been engineered to produce optimum prints and yield similar to that of the OEM toner.

HP Toolbox - Activate to clean the HP 2600n Color Laser Printer

Print troubles and print quality irregularities are seldom encountered in the first few months run of a laser printer unit. Over time, toner and paper dust will accumulate over printer components such as the OPC drum, fuser assembly and even the mechanical rollers that come in contact with paper. This consequently affects component performance and produce print quality defects (like toner smears) over printouts. The only option therefore is to clean or perform maintenance work over affected components; which is tedious since that would involve dismantling pertinent printer panels to reach the inner cavities of the laser printer.

Maintenance work must be concentrated on the fuser assembly since the component does not have an automatic toner cleaning system. As the fuser generates a lot of heat, some of the toner particles tend to adhere to the fuser rollers and stick permanently, even if the cylindrical surface is coated with Teflon (a non-stick material usually coating frying pans). Consequently, a sizeable mass of toner particles sticking to the rollers can produce toner smears over printouts. Fuser rollers therefore need to be cleaned periodically to sustain acceptable print quality; unlike OPC drums that come outfitted with a cleaning device called the doctor blade. The doctor blade is made of thin and soft polymers that collect excess toner from the drum's surface and deposits it to the waste toner chamber of the toner cartridge.

Users of the HP 2600n color laser printer are fortunate because the printer unit comes with a built-in cleaning system that can be activated right on the printer's control panel. The cleaning procedure is outlined as follows:

1. Turn on the laser printer and be sure that it is set to ready mode.
2. Open the HP Toolbox from the printer's control panel
3. When the troubleshooting tab appears, click maintenance and follow it up by pushing the cleaning page icon. The printer will then print a document with printed pattern.
4. Remove all loaded print media in tray 2 and from the optional tray 3.
5. Take out the printed media with pattern and position it face down into the paper tray 2 or the optional paper tray 3.
6. Lastly, press clean on the printer panel
   

The whole sequence should clear the fuser assembly of baked toner and paper dust, and produce smear free printouts.

Print defects are the fare of laser printers and they are numerous. But when print irregularities are due to a low toner supply or an empty OEM toner cartridge, replenish the cartridge's supply with a compatible toner refill kit and extend its print capacity for up to 3 print cycles.

Look up our previous posts on the HP 2600n laser printer.

From Commercial Printers to Laser Printers

It took 60 days to print a single book in 1456.
Today, it would take less than 60 minutes to do just that.

Although the Chinese and Koreans have carried out some form of printing technology called the moveable wood blocks technique in the early 13th century, it was in 1456 that the Western World saw a more progressive printing technology. The pioneer who made it all possible was Johann Gutenberg, a jeweler who crafted a metal alloy that allows the casting of individual letters. The mirror images of the letters are grouped together into a matrix to produce a single page. The whole arrangement of letters is then applied with ink, and then paper is pressed against it. Gutenberg started his printing business by redesigning a winepress and turned it into the first printing press. And the first books that came out were 200 copies of the Holy Bible.

Six Hundred years later, printing has progressed several notches higher particularly with the development of laser printers. Printing could no longer be singled out to large printing presses of the type operating in Gutenberg’s time. Instead, the task of printing has been delegated with offices and even households through laser printers and inkjet printers. Thanks to the advent of desktop publishing; now with just a push of a few control panel buttons of a laser printer, an office personnel can produce hard copies of documents saved in the hard disk of a personal computer or laptop.

A typical example of a trusty color laser printer is the OKIDATA 3000 series that loads with a toner cartridge accessory to produce its fine prints. Instead of liquid ink as employed with inkjet printers, toner powder is loaded into cartridge cavities which in turn supplies toner during printing. This technology has therefore made printing so simple. At the onset, offset printers would charge exorbitant fees to produce several hundreds of documents. But then this is understandable considering all the requirements needed to initiate the printing process. Producing the final print of the document is not really intricate per se. And that is why the cost per page (CPP) for print jobs drops with every increase in copy requirement. But then again, this is hardly felt in laser printing since a single toner cartridge may have a rating of say over 3,000 pages that reduces CPP dramatically - even lower than the CPP of large offset printers. Whether an office requires 100 or 1000 printed pages, the CPP is therefore sustained. The OEM toner cartridge for the OKIDATA 3000 series costs $80, but given its yield of 3,000 pages at 5% coverage, the CPP should be affordable.

A growing number of laser printer users nowadays prefer to refill empty toner cartridges with the use of compatible toner supplied with third party manufactured consumables such as the Okidata C300 toner refill kit. Retailed for only $26.95, the cost of printing will definitely be reduced at this rate. Since no considerable difference in terms of print quality and yield is apparent between the OEM toner and compatible toner, using a refill kit is a practical option.

HP 2600 Toner Cartridges - How a defective developer roller can affect the integrity of printouts?

Light prints and/or banding in printouts can only develop from defective OEM toner cartridges. Said print irregularity is even more profound with the toner cartridges of the HP 2600 laser printer. As the print cycle slowly reaches the end of its term and toner supply is close to exhaustion, the developer roller likely wears out which makes the component less effective in the even distribution of toner powder on the surface of the OPC drum.

All toner cartridges similar in design to the Q6000A, Q60001A, Q60002A and Q60003A cartridges (loads the HP 1600, 2600, 2600N and 2605 printer series) are outfitted with developer rollers. Said component is manufactured with precise tolerances because any minor deformity (like a curved roller) affects toner distribution and consequently print quality of output.

The developer roller is coated with a special surface finish intended to withstand abrasive surface friction, as it moves in sync with the OPC Drum in the course of supplying toner. Remember that this action is not limited to 3 or 4 times, but is repeated several thousand times in the process of printing. Surface tolerance between the developer roller and OPC Drum must be maintained at all times to produce acceptable print quality.

The developer roller is a critical component since worn out surfaces cannot be detected upon troubleshooting and only manifest over printouts. Therefore, most cartridge remanufacturers put premium on the replacement of developer rollers, just to ascertain that print defects will not transpire after the cartridge is refilled with toner. Remember that a substantial amount of toner will not be able to reactivate a defective toner cartridge.

HP 2600 toner cartridges are not designed for the conduct of toner refills. Therefore, once the developer roller wears out, the cartridge has to be replaced with a brand new unit. However, if print quality is still acceptable at the time the unit runs out of toner supply, then this only indicates that the developer roller is still in fine form and the user can administer refills on the cartridge.

The print capacity of the Q6000A cartridge for instance is pegged at 2,500 pages at 5% coverage and conducting 3 refills on the unit increases its capacity to 10,000 pages. Conducting refills on a cartridge with a still functional developer roller is the most sensible option as an OEM replacement costs $75 while a compatible toner refill kit is sold online for only $30. Moreover, users gets the same print quality and yield expected from an OEM toner.

HP 2600n - Know the Laser Printer’s Energy Operating Costs

The HP 2600n LaserJet desktop printer is probably one of the most energy efficient laser printers now in use with households and offices. While most desktop printers consume over 700 watts of energy when in full printing mode, the HP 2600n operates only at a rate of 190 watts whether producing monochrome or color prints. Moreover, the printer unit consumes only 16 watts of energy in standby mode and zero energy is utilized during sleep mode. However, the computation of actual energy consumption for the HP 2600 remains as a puzzle to geeks since energy expended is reckoned based on how the laser printer is used during a pre-set time period. Laser printer operation fluctuates from high-peak periods to periods of inactivity, which is punctuated only by the daily printing load.

The laser printer is not like the metal halide flood lamps used in sports arenas since power consumption is constant for the entire duration of the game. Say each lamp is rated at 340 watts and that around 1000 lamps are utilized to light up the arena, the lamps will consume as much as 340 kilowatts per hour and within an 8-hour period the average consumption is 2,720 kilowatts of energy. And if the venue is New York City, the cost to light up the sports arena would likely be around $400. Now let us assume that the HP 2600 laser printer will be in constant operation during an 8-hour work period so that the average consumption will be 1.52 kilowatt or roughly $0.23 for the entire day of printing, around $6.84 for the entire month and $80 at years end. Certainly the cost will be lower since the laser printer encounters brief periods of inactivity as the unit switches automatically to standby mode and eventually to sleep mode following the run of print jobs.

When it comes to energy consumption, the HP 2600n is a power miser, and the design of the replacement Q6000A black toner cartridge is also patterned after the printer’s energy saving specifications. Color printing is really expensive. The monochrome replacement cartridge for the HP 2600n is retailed at $70 and pricing is similar for the 3 other color cartridges. The monochrome cartridge comes with a yield rating of 2,500 pages at 5% page coverage while the remaining cartridges are rated at 2,000 pages.

However consumers can reduce color-printing expenditure by refilling empty toner cartridges with compatible toner. Compatible toner for the Q6000A comes packaged with the HP 2600 toner refill kit. The third party consumable is sold online for only $23 but then again, the cartridges refilled with its supply toner can deliver OEM quality prints and yield.

Printing Cost Per Page (CPP): Dissecting a Print Job's CPP

What constitutes CPP?
Reckoning the cost per page (CPP) of laser print jobs is not an easy task as there are a number of variables involved in the computation. It would have been easier if CPP is measured only based on consumable costs (e.g., toner cartridge, toner refill kit) against the number of pages printed. But then this is not the case since the cost of paper is also factored in along with the energy consumed to process the print job. Perhaps, what is most daunting is determining the depreciation cost of the printer unit as printer components like the OPC Drum and fuser do not expire at the same time. Each time you print, these components also share some degree of wear and its life cycle is dependent upon the number of pages printed. If the rated capacity of the OPC drum is 6,000 pages (an assumption) then CPP for the OPC drum is cost of component divided by the number of pages printed. Therefore, one will have to rely on calculated assumptions to get a fair cost analysis of these consumables.

Is the standard Page Coverage of 5% realistic?
Take the case of the HP CB540A black toner cartridge that loads the HP LaserJet CP1215 color laser printer. With the consumable's rated capacity of 2,200 pages at 5% coverage, the standard page coverage of 5% is too conservative against the actual coverage. Most likely, coverage borders between 30% to 35% which brings actual yield in printed pages to only around 1,400. So, if the print job is over 2000 copies, then in-house printing will be more expensive considering the need for another replacement cartridge to produce the remaining copies. In this case, it becomes more economical to outsource the print job. On the other hand, if the print job only involves 20 to 30 pages, then in-house printing using the CP1215 laser printer is really the most sensible option.

HP Laser Printer CPP versus offset printer charge per copy?
To help laser printer users appreciate the value of CPP, printing giant Hewlett Packard prepared a printing cost footprint - a cost computation that covers all the variables relevant to the print out of a single color document.by the CP1215 color laser printer. HP’s computation of cost per page (CPP) include toner requirements, cost of paper, energy required to sustain printer operation as well as the depreciation of printer components. HP’s cost computation for a color print job that covers 50 copies at 30% page coverage comes at $0.295 per page; with the print job's aggregate cost estimated at around $14.72. The acquisition cost of the color printer is valued at around $300 - so it will take 17 print jobs of the same volume to offset the cost of the printer. The CPP is definitely much cheaper in this case compared to the local printer's $0.66 charge per copy for the same print requirement.

For users intending to reduce on printing expenses, CPP is even lower with a compatible toner refill kit - cheaper by 50% than OEM toner cartridges. Toner refill kits are produced by third party manufacturers and are intended to refill empty OEM toner cartridges. The CB540A cartridge is retailed at $75 while an equivalent toner refill kit sells for only $39.95. Nonetheless, the consumable delivers similar print quality and yield as the OEM toner cartridge. Read more about toner refill kits from this post.