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Toner Refill Kits - How To Save Money By Recycling Your Empty Laser Cartridges
A laser toner cartridge is quite a bit less expensive than inkjet cartridges, but even then the printing costs can add up quite quickly. One of the reasons is that you are replacing more than just the toner each time - you're replacing all the components in the cartridge. By using toner refill kits you can get more life out of your cartridge and save money in the process.
These toner refills are basically bulk toner powder that you can pour into the empty cartridge. The catch is, most cartridges are sealed units - after all, the printer companies make most of their money on the cartridges so they don't want to make it easy for you to refill them.
How you get around that is you need to drill a hole in the cartridge where you can pour the toner. Some refill kits include the tool you'll need for this, others require you to have a simple tool kit of your own for this step. All kits include a plug that is used to seal the hole after the toner is refilled.
This is something you need to consider when buying a refill kit. Are you comfortable drilling a hole in the cartridge? It's not a hard thing to do, but not everybody is comfortable with this step - some worry that it could damage the cartridge.
If you're not sure about whether you want to attack this yourself, there are plenty of companies that sell remanufactured toner cartridges that are ready for you to use. You'll pay a little more than by doing it yourself, but that's the trade-off for not having to "get your hands dirty."
If you are refilling your own cartridges, something to keep in mind is that they do eventually wear out. Most toners can be refilled two, maybe three times, before they should be replaced. After that they can start to break down because the other parts are wearing out, so your print quality can suffer and they may even stop printing altogether.
If you do a lot of printing, the cost of the supplies will be far more than the cost of the printer itself. By using these refill kits you can save a considerable amount of money and still get good results.
