Refilling a printer cartridge saves money, but involves some risks

Posted by johnssmith00 on March 1st, 2013

There is no printer working with toners, ink, or whatever, that does not need refilling of the printer cartridge. After printing a number of pages, thousands or hundreds, depending on the type of printer, either the toner or the ink is out and you have only a few options to follow. The first one, and most advisable, is to buy a new cartridge of the same type to replace the empty one. In this case, nothing wrong should happen. However, since new cartridges are expensive, most computer owners choose to refill the empty cartridge by themselves or to buy a remanufactured cartridge.

New cartridges are generally providing the highest quality expected from that specific type of printer. If you choose to utilize a cartridge that you refill by yourself or one that is remanufactured be aware that some risks are involved. For example, undesired effects like streaking or curling, or even colour bleed could make your printouts look miserably. Not to mention the mess involved with refilling toners. Ink cartridges produce even more dirt if you choose to refill them by yourself. Before doing it, you should know exactly what this procedure implies and how you could avoid damaging the cartridge or making a mess of the whole thing.

For instance, refilling a laser printer cartridge means pouring the toner powder into the cartridge where, together with the photo-sensitive drum, it will be able to produce the printout. It seems quite easy to do it, but there is no guarantee that your cartridge will be as good as new after this procedure. This is because cartridge remanufacturers, before filling them with toner and packing them for selling, follow some procedures meant to maintain an adequate quality of their products. They consist of an initial inspection of raw materials, a selection of those cartridges that can still be used for refilling, as well as recycling of all the materials that could not pass the checking stage. Cleaning, digital filling, sealing and assembling the cartridges are followed by a thorough test before packaging the products. Remanufacturers claim that there are some benefits from using their refilled cartridges. These would be savings on resources, costs, energy and environment.

Remanufacturers stress that their refilled cartridges provide the same quality printing as the OEMs, lower printing costs of about 70%, and environmental benefits as a result of the recycling processes that help preserve energy, resources, and nature.

The original equipment manufacturers often call into question these third-party consumables, claiming that they do not provide the same high printing quality. Moreover, they try to induce the idea that by using remanufactured cartridges, a consumer should have the printer’s warranty terminated. Generally, shoppers are protected from product makers who accuse using aftermarket consumables and try to void their product’s warranty.

To refill used printer cartridges, you need toners, ink bottles, and accessories, depending on the type of cartridge, and a lot of patience, because the refilling process is not so simple and takes some time.