Many years ago, I wrote about toner for my venerable HP4050 B&W and HP2605dn color printers. I recently bought another "just in case" HP4050 on Craigslist; the seller is a retired Xerox field service technician, and he talked for an hour about printer design, and about the importance of OEM toner.
Powdered toner (color especially) is not all the same; particle size matters (typically a few micrometers). Too large, and the colors don't mix right or blend smoothly. Too small, and the smallest grains blow all over the place, especially into the scanner assembly and mirrors. HP and most OEMs don't just grind up the toner powder, they sift it by size. Cleaning the mirrors is a NASTY disassembly job on the HP2605; the scanner box is buried in the center of the machine. Access requires removing about 40 screws, three circuit boards, and a dozen cables. I'm reminded of fables about British cars that required hoisting out the engine to change the oil. So, I belatedly "have religion" regards toner. I will buy $120 OEM HP cartridges soon, rather than $50 brandX refills, unless somebody here knows of a rebuild outfit that is known to do very very good quality/size control on their toner particles. Places like Orifice Depot charge more and sell crap; brand names aren't trustworthy, track record is. Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected] _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
