I have a small Samsung laser printer. I refill the cartridge with toner refils. I recently came upon a huge quantity of toner from a Ricoh copier. There are two different containers with different stock numbers. It all looks the same as the toner I use. Black, sooty powder.
Can I use this stuff in my printer? Could I screw up my printer with this stuff? My cartridge needs replacement soon anyway, so I don’t worry too much about messing it up, but I wouldn’t want to mess up my printer.
Short Version: No.
Long Version: The first copy machines worked by having a light excited static drum. Thus, you shine a bright light at what you want to copy and channel the reflected light to the rotating static drum. The drum becomes statically charged, except where there’s text (because the text doesn’t reflect as much light, right?). The drum then rolls past the toner cartridge, and toner is repelled by the charged areas. The drum then rolls to a piece of paper and the toner is transfered to the paper. You then heat the paper and fix the toner. The process repeats for as many copies as you want.
Laser printers, OTOH, worked in exactly the opposite way. Why would you want to have the laser going over all the white space of a document? That’s just silly. So, the toner for laser printers tends to stick to the charged areas of the static plate.
Of course new copiers are basically laser printers on steroids, so the issue is somewhat muddled. It’s also possible to use different materials for the static plate/drum, and make a copier or printer that works in exactly the opposite manner as described above. Or have matched toner/static material sets.
If you have an old laser printer cartridge where it’s basically a whole print mechanism, you can try inducing a charge on part of the static plate and seeing if the toner you’re using now and the toner you’ve found respond in the same way. You still run the risk of gumming up the printer if they have different fixing temperatures, but at least you won’t be printing negatives.
Is all toner the same? No.
Can you screw up your printer? I don’t know.
The reason I know that there are differences among toners types is that I once did a bit of research into replacing the toner in an empty laser cartridge myself. Sure enough, there are places that sell bottles of just toner for do-it-yourselfers. (They also sell hole-cutting kits and instructions if you need them too.) When you order said bottles you must look up your cartridge brand and model on a chart that tells you the right type to order. IIRC there are a handful of types, maybe 4.
"Long Version: The first copy machines worked by having a light excited static drum. Thus, you shine a bright light at what you want to copy and channel the reflected light to the rotating static drum. The drum becomes statically charged, except where there’s text (because the text doesn’t reflect as much light, right?). The drum then rolls past the toner cartridge, and toner is repelled by the charged areas. The drum then rolls to a piece of paper and the toner is transfered to the paper. You then heat the paper and fix the toner. The process repeats for as many copies as you want.
Laser printers, OTOH, worked in exactly the opposite way. Why would you want to have the laser going over all the white space of a document? That’s just silly. So, the toner for laser printers tends to stick to the charged areas of the static plate. "
The above was true in the past, but not so much anymore.
Actually, copiers and laser printers ARE the same now. Historically, some engines were called write-white engines because the charged the inverse of the page image for toner adhesion (see the previous poster’s explanation). Currently, there are a handful of large (VERY big) machines that are still write-white engines. This is the Docutech DT135/61xx series of product.
Newer laser print engines at the workgroup level are actually used in moderate volume copiers.
The Xerox Document Centre Copier machines (from 30-50ppm range) actually use the Fuji Xerox laser printer engine that powers the Xerox workgroup printers.
The same can be said for the engines that the smaller Canon ImageRunner and Ricoh use.
HOWEVER, the important fact is that these same machines fuse at different temperature levels with different applications. Toner is ground up plastic that is melted and smashed into a page.
A copier that is designed to run heavier stocks and transparencies might have a different using temperature and toner refinement.
The be short, as the previous poster said: Don’t use toner from a different machine. It goes through a chemical change via heating, smashing, and adhering through process that works closely with the internals of the machine. Not to mention there is a cleaning system to remove excess toner debris and you want to keep the imaging clean.
The do-it-yourself refill kits that specify their toner for certain model machines may work alright as they are trying to match up the composition with the machine fuser.
I would just buy the manufacturers toner. Your mileage may vary.
Related question: Toner’s just really finely shredded plastic right?
Actually, toner is comprised of pigment and plastic. The plastic breaks down under the heat and melts into the paper, otherwise known as fusing. The pigment supplies the color. Toner has a positive or negative charge. Putting a negatively charged toner into a laser printer that requires a positive charge can be quite messy.
Jim Mac Millan
I tried it in an epson action laser ii, years ago (I got some cheap copier toner refill). It printed fine BUT when I lifted the page out the letters all fell off the page.
It didn’t really casue dammage, but cleaning this powder off the photoconductor might have lead to replaceing it sooner then nessesary.
Dear god, the depth and variety of knowledge you run into on the SMDB continues to suprise and scare me.
Thanks for all your info. This basically confirms what I found as well. I think that I will just leave that shit alone. Toner refills are cheap.
“Dear god, the depth and variety of knowledge you run into on the SMDB continues to suprise and scare me.”
I tell myself the same thing most every time I’m here 
It is truly great to have “access” to experts in the common and uncommon.
My 2 cents:
Is toner toner, Yes. But all toners are not created equal. As has been said, toner is mostly fine particles of plastic and pigment added for color. But there is SO much more to printing than the toner in the cartridge.
Take a look at an average toner cartridge for a modern printer - it is not just a bucket of toner. There is a (new) toner reservoir, a waste toner reservoir, a stirring auger, a photo drum, a cleaning blade (scrapes excess toner from drum to waste reservoir), a carona (charge) wire, high voltage contacts, and a bunch of gears that make it all turn.
With each revolution of the photo drum, the laser (or LED or other light source) “writes” on the drum and this charge on the drum attracts the toner, and transfers it to the paper (with the help of a secondary transfer roller, with an opposite charge). Then the fuser melts the powder onto the paper so it doesn’t just rub off.
So, this is why you don’t want to just put more toner in - because that is a small part of the printing process. Sure, you may get away with it for a while, but here is what happens:
[ul]
[li]Waste toner reservoir can fill up[/li][li]Cleaning blade clearances expand[/li][li]Gears wear out[/li][li]Carona wire will get contaminated, affecting the charge (and transfer)[/li][li]Photo drums have limited life spans and wear out[/li][li]etc[/li][/ul]
So, you can do this for a while, but it CAN damage your printer. I have seen countless examples of people refilling their cartdriges (drill & fill), or people buying shoddy refillled cartrdiges. The clearances get too loose after time, and the cartridge will dump toner below. This usally translates into “dirty” paper, toner on the back side of paper, a toner-caked contaminated fuser, etc. Eventually you will get toner everywhere, and toner is very hard to clean. You need a special toner vacuum with a very fine filter and very fine nozzles to clean it right.
Even then, I have still seen printers completely ruined by this, that were uncleanable and were trashed. Toner is so fine it gets EVERYWHERE. Circuit boards, fans, motors, gears, etc.
So if you refill, I would seriously think twice about doing it more than a couple of times per cartridge. They were not built to last much beyond their duty cycle. Also, beware of “refurbished” cartridges - there are good ones and bad ones, as the term refurbished is fairly subjective. Some companies just drill and fill, some replace the drum, some replace all the critical parts, etc. You should do research and fine a good manufacturer before you make a purchase.
And lastly, it can often void a printer’s warranty. But at least now you can make a knowledgabe and informed decision!