Frac.ws

Did you know that the black powder you find inside of a laser printer toner cartridge is not actually a type of ink? Believe it or not a surprisingly large number of people don’t know this little fact, or much else about the inner workings of a laser printer and the material it uses to produce quality products at the click of a mouse. Rather than ink, toner is actually a grouping of billions of small carbon and plastic particles that are bound to the paper to create the finished product.

The toner particles are so tiny that a single teaspoon can hold tens of billions of individual carbon or polymer particles, and it is thanks to this small size and the composition of the particles that makes toner so much more consistent than traditional ink jet printers.

The process of binding the toner particles to a piece of paper is actually a combination of static electricity and the application of heat and pressure to the paper. The way the process works is actually quite fascinating: at the beginning of the printing the photosensitive drum is given a charge to receive the toner. As the paper passes through the printer to the drum laser beams begin to draw the text onto the drum by discharging static electricity and the toner sticks to the discharged areas.

When the paper passes through the drum it also gets charged in order for the toner to stick to it, and then continues on to the heating and pressure rollers at the end which melt the toner and press it into the paper, creating the final product. A cleaning blade behind the photosensitive drum scrapes off any excess toner particles from the drum to keep it clean for the next image waiting in the queue.

Many people don’t know that this waste toner requires its own replaceable container.  Prices can vary widely, so shop around – the best deals will almost always be found online.  Be sure you buy from a reputable retailer, like Ink Technologies.