garth@sigi.UUCP.UUCP (08/12/87)
The following is a summary of all the responses I received to my 'Where
can I find laser toner and wiper pads' questions. Thanks to all of you that
replied.
Perhaps not surprisingly, NO ONE who replied has actually refurbished
their own LaserWriter cartridges, although there were several who were
willing to try if they could find a source of toner and pads. No one was
able to provide me with a source for these items, so I am still in the
dark about that.
Most people are using commercial refinishing services which charge about
$40 per cartridge. The quality of these services was considered by most
to be questionable, with few people being really satisfied. Problems
included various dots and smudges on the printed material, and in one case
the colored toner content indicator became somehow detatched and rotated
with the imaging drum. Another common problem was that gluey substances
(such as Vaseline) used to hold in the toner during transport of the
cartridge would melt in the high heat of operation and ooze onto the inner
workings of the printer. Despite these problems, most refurbishing
service users felt that the re-used cartridges provided darker output and
lasted longer.
Only one person named a particular company that they felt had given them
good service; this was 'AMS Laser Supply' in Washington - no address or
phone was given. Another person mentioned that his father-in-law ran a
refurbishing business, but did not mention whether or not he had actually
used the business's products. The address for this was:
Geoff Sackson
Foothill Microsystems
3131 Foothill Blvd., Suite M
La Crescenta, CA 91214
(818) 249-6734
Several people set me straight on the refilling procedure. In addition to
providing a few more details, most people also advised that 'I wouldn't do
that if I were you.', for the following reasons:
o As the moderator of comp.laser-printers mentioned, the toner in the
LW is a carcinogen. Commercial refinishers do take careful precautions
when doing the work.
o The imaging drum is quite light sensitive and requires special care.
My procedure didn't involve the imaging drum, but you do need to
deal with it because of the excess toner reservoir.
o There is an area of the toner cartridge that holds excess toner
scraped of the imaging roller, and this area must be emptied if more
toner is added. If this is not done, the reservoir will overflow and
cause junk to accumulate in bad places.
o The gears of the cartridge also accumulate junk during normal operation
and should be cleaned.
A few other details and facts:
o Be sure to tape over the filler hole before replacing the cardboard
on the cartridge.
o Reset the colored toner indicator so that you have some indication of
the age of the cartridge as you use it (it rotates with the imaging
drum and does not sample the amount of toner inside the cartridge
directly).
o There is a toner drain plug inside the cartridge that you can use to
put in toner instead of cutting a hole, if you are willing to do some
disassembly.
o Clean or replace the corona wire every time you refill.
[[Editor's note: For the interest of brevity, I have edited out some
of the material contained in this message (the original posting and a
collection of the messages that he received. --Rick ]]
Thanks again to all who replied.
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Garth Snyder UUCP: seismo!hao!swatsun!garth
Univ. of CO @ Boulder ARPA: garth@boulder.colorado.edu
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