Refilling a Laser Printer Toner for Brother HL2240D

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Category: Pc Hardware

Published on Friday, 14 March 2014 11:11

Written by Ben

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In this post I will demonstrate how easy it is to refill your laser toner instead of buying a new one and there for saving a lot of money.

So why should you do it?

There is one technical disadvantage apparent when refilling a laser printer toner and that is handling the powder. Laser printers use colored powder instead of liquid ink which inject printers use. On the one hand it's a major advantage because you just don't have to deal with liquid that accidently spills over when you refill inject printers, but on the other hand, handling powder isn't quite comfortable as it seems. One false move and you find a big part of your desk, your hands and some of your pants covered with black powder – and it sucks.

Beyond this possible inconvenience which can be easily prevented if working properly and patiently, there is the obvious advantage of cost savings. Many opportunists had figured out the imbalance between the cost of the powder and the retail price tag of the toners that are filled with them and started up businesses that specialize in delivering a fresh "new" toner directly to the customer doorstep in a ridicules high prices. They count the immediate necessity of the customer for new toners to pump up their profits.

It took me one time and one time only to figure out that this arrangement is too expensive and a long term use of it would slowly drill a hole in my wallet. So I started looking for alternatives and it seems that you can buy bottles that are filled with laser printer powder for very cheap prices:

This one cost me 8$ so I bought 3 pieces, it contains 100g of black printing powder.

Just to put things in contrast, a "new" toner costs about 50$, and those 3 bottles cost all together about 24$. Another important fact is that one bottle is more than enough to fill a toner, at least in my case with the Brother HL2240D printer. Also, keep in mind that these bottles come in various volumes (I stumbled upon 100g and 120g ones so far).

Procedure:

Stage 1:

1.       Unplug the printer's power cord or just turn it off. Cutting off power from the printer is not really necessary but recommended for safety reasons for you and for the printer itself.

2.       Make sure there are no pending print jobs

3.       Open the front toner door

4.       Push the toner's handlebar upwards and pull the toner out

5.       Release the toner from the drum unit by pressing the green button at the left side of the unit

6.       The toner should be released, pull it out and separate it from the drum.

7.       Look for a white semi-transparent cork

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8.       Unplug the cork GENTLY. Unplugging it too violently by using too much force would make it release unexpectedly in a sudden way, causing the powder to erupt.

9.       Put the cork aside and place the toner in an upright position so the remainder of the powder inside wouldn't spill out.

10.   Remove the nozzle of the bottle and gently remove the aluminum cover by using a sharp tool (like a knife for example).

11.   Be very AWARE of your hands at all times. Wrong movement and you would find yourself covered with black powder.

12.   Each bottle comes with a single one time use nylon gloves , use it (or any other latex glove you have at your disposal).

13.   Position the nozzle over the opening of the toner and gently shake the bottle to propel the powder out.

14.   It is not recommended to position the bottle at 90 degrees above the toner's opening, unless you prematurely know that the bottle would get empty during the filling process.

15.   Cleanup remnants of the powder from the toner's opening by using a vacuum cleaner along with wet wipes

16.   As you can see below, I wasn't too cautious with my movements…..

17.    Clean the toner's opening and Return the cork back. Make sure it is firmly tightened.

18.   Return the toner to the drum unit and the entire module back into the printer. Make sure it is positioned well.

19.   Close the toner door

20.   After the finished with the refilling process the toner led might still be on indicating the toner is empty or about to be. In that case you should perform a reset procedure as followed below:

1.       Turn the printer off

2.       Make sure that the power cord is plugged in and that the toner door is closed

3.       Hold down the GO button as you turn on the power switch. Keep the Go button pressed down until all the LEDs light up, and then the Ready LED turns off.

4.       Release the GO button. Make sure that all the LEDs turn off

5.       Press the GO button six times. Make sure that all the LEDs light up to indicate the print server has been reset to its factory default settings. The machine will restart

Summary:

This solutions is recommended for those who print quite a lot and don't want a hole drilled in their wallet in the process. Except for some possible messy inconveniencies this procedure is easy and quick to perform and worth the time and money invested.

Pros:

-          Easy to perform

-          Can be done shortly – under 7 minutes

-           Saves a lot of money

Cons:

-          Possible messy occurrences

Price:

1 unit of 100g black powder bottle – about 8$

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