PRINTER CARTRIDGE DEFINITIONS

Are you confused with all those different expression describing printer cartridges, and how relevant are they? I know I was.

LATELY, you have bought your first printer and it is time to get another print cartridge so you research the internet, to be confused with a plethora of expressions about printer cartridges that confuse you.  It can make it hard for you to make the correct decision about to what to get.

We will define some of the expressions used here to help you understand what they mean:

Compatible/Genuine/Refill/Remanufactured: You can have all of these types of alternative cartridges even though they apply to the one printer.For a fuller description of these types of cartridges, click here.

Drum Cartridge: The drum cartridge can also be called the drum unit or drum roller.

They are used with toner cartridges - the latter generally fit inside the drum cartridge. Whereas the toner (laser) cartridge holds the toner powder. The purpose of the drum cartridge is to distribute the powder in image /text form via electrode charging onto the paper. When the quality of your printing is deteriorating it is usually the drum cartridge that needs replacing, normally after every 3 to 4 toner cartridges have been used. 

Laser Cartridge:  A laser cartridge is really a cartridge that uses toner powder. It is not the cartridge itself that is laser but the printer that uses a laser ray to focus a beam of magnetic charged light to transfer images and text onto the paper. The expression laser cartridge really means a toner cartridge that disperses powder onto the electronical charged paper as dictated by the laser beam.

Mono: This type of printer only uses black cartridges - it does not have colours. More often used in an office environment for text printing, usually at higher speeds.

OEM Cartridge: Means Original Equipment Manufacturer, and refers to the model code for the cartridge as supplied by the original manufacturer. For example Brother TN2150....TN2150 is the OEM cartridge as supplied by Brother.

Toner Cartridge: refer to Laser Cartridge above.

Yield: This is the amount of available toner or ink that determines what quantity of print you will achieve. It will normally be measured in millilitres or pages that can be printed. The term is often not a good measure in that there are many variables that effect yield, including the efficiency of any particular printer, the density of print (image/text) to the page, the mix of black, cyan, magenta, & yellow etc. There is now an International standards organisation accepted measurement that determines a page as approx. 5% of an A4 size sheet in text printing. So when a user sees yield 5,000 pages, in fact it might be more like. 1,000 pages achieved, or if images, less again.

We thank our sponsor, ABC Print Supplies, for their support

PRINTER CARTRIDGE DELIVERY COURIERS - BEWARE THE ATL

When you order ink or printer cartridges (or anything else for that matter) via the internet or by telephone, then you might advise that if you are not at the premises at time of delivery, to leave the cartridge(s) in a certain location e.g. under back stairs (known as Authority to Leave, or ATL).
But you should read the terms of suppliers/couriers.
In many cases, unless you begin your authority with 'If no one at premises, then....', the courier will place the order in your requested location without knocking or entering reception first.
We see customers who have not left the premises wondering why delivery has net been made, forgetting they placed an ATL, or assuming the courier would contact you on arrival.
And as for wanting the courier to deliver between X and Y hours, forget it, they don't have the time to personalise delivery.
Note:   This blog is applicable to Australian courier proceedures.

DIFFERENT CARTRIDGE TYPES, SUBSTANCES AND ALL

INK CARTRIDGES, INKJETS, TONER CARTRIDGES, LASER TONERS, DRUMS… CONFUSED? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

I remember upon first coming into the industry my confusion with all the different types of cartridges. But really, there is not so much an array of different types of cartridges as with the proliferation of names.

Fundamentally there are two different types of cartridges – those that use ink, and those that use toner - a dry powdery substance. And for toners there is also the Drum Unit which you rarely need to order.

Usually the former i.e. the ink cartridge, the inkjet cartridge etc. are at the lower end of the cost range. They usually use a smaller cartridge that can fit onto the palm of your hand. As to be expected, they normally have a much lower yield capacity, often printing from approx 100 pages, but at times overlapping toner yield cartridges with output over 6,200 pages (Epson T0967 Light Black Ink Cartridge).Yield is the number of pages your toner cartridge should print based on 5% coverage per page (approximately one paragraph). 

The inkjet printers are more often to be found in the home/office environment for family/small business requirements.

If you have a heavier printing requirement, then you will probably use a toner cartridge. What is a Toner cartridge (also called laser toner, mono toner etc.)? It is the consumable component of a laser printer which contains the material (toner) used to produce the image onto the paper. During the laser printing process, the toner is electrically charged (static) so that it is attracted to the printer drum. The toner is then transferred to the paper via a fuser which melts the laser toner to create the paper image.

The cartridge is cylindrical in shape, and is often the length of a freestanding computer keyboard. The toner cartridge usually starts at a higher capacity than the Inkjet, at around 1,500 pages for the Compatible Canon CART312 Mono Laser Cartridge. The highest yield cartridge in our stock is the Compatible Ricoh Type 6210D Mono Copier Cartridge at 43,000 pages.

At ABC Print Supplies, we have available all of the above cartridges as well as drum units, either as original, compatible, or remanufactured.