Toner refill tricks they'd rather you didn't know

U Refill Toner Ltd.'s original whistle-blowing internet page

Fully updated with speculation suggesting our toner refill method could have a carbon footprint as small as "size three" The idea of a D.I.Y. toner refill has moved on since we first blew the whistle on laser printer "designer waste" in 1992. Unrepentant, we've kept toner refill "rocket science" to a minimum and the essence is as timeless as the tongue in our cheek. For detailed guidance about the toner refill method for your specific cartridge, see its Starter Kit in the price list. For the big picture, read on.
"Unplug, er, that’s it" toner refill Our year 2002 contribution to internet-speak, "unplug and pour" is the no-brainer of toner refills, which probably helped us. As you can see on this Samsung ML-1510 cartridge, the manufacturers have thoughtfully put a toner plug right there on the outside of the cartridge. Just unplug and pour the refill toner in. Good night and God bless. For reasons which, since you're visiting this site, you can probably think of, cartridges with a friendly plug on the outside are in the minority. But they include the snappy Samsung laser printers like ML-1210/ 1510/ 1710 and other Samsungs. The same applies to the Epson EPL-5700/ 5800/ 5900 series. The Brother HL-5130/ 5140/ 5150/ 5170 (TN-3060 cartridge) and the HL-2030 / 2040 (TN-2000 cartridge) have a plug on the outside, but they have to have their original residual toner emptied out through that plug before pouring our refill toner in. We've called these "unplug, empty & pour". For the TN-3060 and TN-2000, once you've refilled, you can do more refills without having to empty the residual again. Because of a trend towards chips with everything, the Magicolor 2400 and 2500 series, amongst others, combine unplug 'n' pour with screwing a new chip on. The Oki C3200 combines unplug and pour with a couple of tricks of the trade. It's not alone in that toner refill family. All the tricks, secrets, hacks, quackery and mysticism you need is irreverently devised and tested in our lab and included in the instructions contained in every Starter Kit. Is your toner refill just an unplug and pour jobby?
	1 screw & unplug toner refill Epson Aculaser C900 and Konica Minolta Magicolor 2300 cartridges have a single screw standing between you and a removable toner plug. Unscrew the screw, the panel comes off and there she is. A lot toner refills can be done with this same basic method, but the "remove a screw" theme can get more technical. By that we mean some cartridges have, not one, but two screws to remove. Some have three and some, wait for it, have four. Sometimes, and this does apply to the Aculaser C900 and Magicolor 2300 toner refill, you do need a few extra tricks of the trade to get a good refill. These insider tricks, if needed, are always explained in the Starter Kit for any cartridge. We've said in the toner refill price list just how many screws are in your way: i.e. "3 screw, unplug & pour". Magicolor 2300 cartridges have the same conceptual design as the Magicolor 2200, although all the body mouldings are different. The toner refill comprises different weights of a different type of toner powder. For more on how toners differ, see Doc Toner's "Toner Explained". A successful toner refill for the Magicolor 2400 and 2500 series is an unplug and pour as far as getting toner back in goes. You'll also have to change the chip sooner or later: don't worry, it's another 1 screw wonder. Chips on toner cartridges bring with them the possibility of residual toner loads, over-filling and incompatibility of refill toner with the original. We buy the laser printer in question and check all these variables in the lab. The best approach we find eventually forms the basis of our Starter Kit for that cartridge.
Melt & pour toner refill The HP toner refill method of choice, we inflicted "melt & pour" on an unsuspecting world in 1996 when the Hewlett Packard 5L/6L cartridge came out. Putting the 5L/6L cartridge back together was the mother of all cans of worms. The toner refilling fight-back seemed to need a breakthrough. Or melt-through, if you would. Contrary to what some of our former colleagues in the cartridge "re-manufacturing" industry imagined, we did stop to make sure it worked - over six continuously successful refills of the same HP 5L/6L cartridge. And without even pausing to empty the waste - the other sacred cow our erstwhile industry is fond of banging on about. Melting - now refined with our all singing, all dancing ELECTRIC TOOL - happens to be the easiest way of making a hole in an empty lump of plastic. Make no mistake, that's one empty lump of plastic a surprising number of people don't want you to melt a hole in. After refilling, seal the hole with the patch or plug we give you. Where you melt the hole in any given cartridge is explained, along with any other quirks, in that cartridge's Starter Kit. Most Hewlett Packard cartridges are best tackled with "melt & pour". Other classic applications include last year's best-selling Samsung CLP-500 toner refill, the Epson C1100 and the Canon E30 copier cartridge, with us since 1997. Many more wait in the wings. Check in the method column of the price list to see if your toner refill is a "melt & pour".
	Melt & Pour Foxes the "Pros" In 1992 we were running a small factory which re-manufactured laser printer cartridges by the thousand - mainly the HP2/SX - an endangered species these days. We'd already developed a D.I.Y approach to the cartridges around then, but they could all be opened, unplugged and easily put back together again. When we invented melt and pour and began to market it in 1996, our former colleagues in the cartridge re-manufacturing industry laughed at us. They sent us emails telling us to crawl back under our rock. They published scathing articles in their trade press. They held meetings where we were the agenda. Ignoring our substantive original research and forgetting we earned our stripes in their very own army, they tried to dismiss us as the second coming of amateurish late 1980's "drill and fill". Er, hello? If we're lepers, at least get the disease right. But around 1995, we began to see a new type of laser cartridge from HP. Single-skinned, lacking any kind of plug and about as easy to put back together as a broken ming dynasty vase. Our response, melt & pour, might be direct, but never ill-considered. More than a decade later, why are we still just as keen on "melt & pour" - the method they laughed at? Because it doesn't disturb the inner workings of your cartridge, that's why. It's completely superficial and changes nothing. If your cartridge was working before, it'll be working after too. In 1996, we didn't have over eleven years success in the field with melt and pour. Now that we have, maybe even the cartridge re-manufacturing industry will join us in a quick chorus of .... "Ho, ho, ho. Who's got the last laugh now?". And to our customers, who weren't prepared to knock it before they'd tried it, an eternal Thank You.
Open, unplug & pour toner refill And the best of the rest .... These are the same as "unplug, that's it" except that at first - and probably not by any accident - you can't get to the plug. A bit of taking apart is what's needed, and folks, this isn't rocket science. For the HP LaserJet 2 cartridge - our first "designer waste" victim way back in 1992 - you pull out 4 plastic "casing pins" with a threaded tool. It's like uncorking a bottle of wine. The toner plug is then at your mercy. Unfortunately for those that like the occasional tipple, the similarity to wine tasting ends at the uncorking bit. The Rough Guide to the toner refill just about ends there. As you can see, all toner cartridges are different and there are a fair few odd-balls we haven't covered. Don't worry, though. We get the bugs out so you don't have to. Our dedicated Starter Kit for each cartridge, based on buying the target machine and working with it in our own lab, means you get it right - first time.
OK, you're still sceptical Well, it doesn't do to believe everything you read on the internet, that's for sure. Here are some more links that flesh out the nauseating self-congratulatory blurb so far. your tricky questions development and quality control lab customers have their say toner refills links Or, you could just .......... Try it! Yes, pour some more fuel into that otherwise worthless cartridge! The same way we do to get the majority of the company's printing done without going bankrupt! Come on, join the army of "guerrilla re-cyclers", save yourself a small fortune, help our home planet and have some fun while you're at it. What have you got to lose?