AlanHo Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 I have an Epson C1100 colour laser printer which is 2 years old and has done almost 12,000 prints.The printer warns you in advance when any consumables are getting low and recently warned me the black and yellow toner would shortly need replacing and the photoconductor belt was nearing the end of its life (even though print quality is as good as when the printer was new). Soon the printer would refuse to work because the chip in the photoconductor would tell the printer that it refused to process any futher prints. I know of no way to fool the printer into thinking the photoconductor had been changed without fitting a new chip.I did some Googling for replacements and found that the Photoconductor costs £140, a new black toner cartridge £47 and a yellow cartridge £79 - a total of £266I also noticed that a brand new printer now costs only £197 - much cheaper than I paid two years ago. The printer comes loaded with 4 toner cartridges, each with a capacity for 1000 pages - whereas new toner cartridges have a life of 4000 pages so I am not quite comparing like for like - but near enough.So here I face a situation that I can take my perfectly good printer down to the tip, buy a new one and save £69. It's totally crazy and borders on immoral in terms of wasting the earth's resources.But it gets better.I found a company that sells toner refills for the printer - they also sell a compatible chip for the photoconductor to give it a new lease of life.I paid £30 for the chip and £46 for the two toner refills - a total of £76 - thus saving myself £121 compared with a new printer or £190 compared with buying a new photoconductor and genuine toner cartridges. Cleaning out the waste toner and fitting the new chip in the photoconductor is a careful - but dirty - screwdriver job. Refilling the toner cartridges requires melting a hole in the cartridge toner tank (special tool provided in the kit) to enable you to pour the new toner in via a funnel and seal the hole with a self adhesive patch - again a job that requires a bit of DIY skill. I found it quite straightforward and am pleased at the print quality and cost savingAnyone with a laser printer or photocopier who is DIY handy should look at This site to see if their printer is listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Welcome to the bright new future. Rip off at its best.......till someone comes up with a better one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickedadmin Posted January 20, 2008 Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I'd be carefull refilling printer ink or toner. The tend to leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted January 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2008 I have been regularly refilling the toner cartridge in my canon photocopier with no problems. You have to be sure to clean the area thoroughly before applying the self adhesive sealing patch. If you don't - you get leakage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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