This site is best viewed using Mozilla Firefox browser.

X

Office Supplies

Miles Galaway

2011-09-23 11:06:33

Q: What are the advantages to going to a remanufactured printer company?

A: The benefits to having a printer remanufactured brings a series of advantages. You can meet with service tech professionals and they can help you with all of your needs. Remanufactured printers can be restored to function better than they did before. Advantages to using a laser printer including saving ink, time and money. Cartridges are generally cheaper in the long run, you get thousands of copies compared to hundreds of copies with an ink cartridge. There are several reasons to have a printer remanufactured. If you have a small business, or use your printer and home then you may see all the advantages and service within the following list. •Most businesses print in black and white 90% of the time. Which means it is much more cost effective to use a laser printer because you’re using toner and not ink. •Network printers and leasing programs are available depending on the need and the size of the company. Make sure when considering laser printers to find a place that will serve you. •An established business should offer you Toner cartridges and supplies for laser printers, copiers and fax machines at discount prices. •Loaner programs are also available at limited locations. •Cost per click is an option for some businesses. Pay per click can cover your entire cost, and all you pay is pennies per page. •Annual cleanings for your printer to maintain the quality. •Pricing available all every cartridge made. •There should be a service technician nearby to have a 24 hour response time for repairs during business hours. •Through public relations, campaigns and local education, customers are realizing the value quality of remanufactured printers. •Preventative maintenance techniques and free troubleshooting are also options at certain remanufactured printer stores.

X

Office Supplies

Darren Martin

2005-09-01 07:39:00

: What prints higher quality pictures, an inkjet or toner cartridge?

ANSWER: Although the laser toner cartridge, might be faster, the inkjet, prints much more precise. Here is a reason why.Today's typical inkjet cartridges contain 300 to 600 nozzles that simultaneously jet out thousands of drops of ink per second, delivering professional quality prints of up to 1200 dpi. Try to put that many dots in your square! What's more, each drop of ink is measured in tiny units called picoliters, which are about one-trillionth of an inch in size. Now if you've ever tried to get the last drop of water out of your garden hose, you know what a big job it is for your printer to keep its nozzles clean. However, your print head, its nozzles, and your inkjet cartridge will last a long time with just a minimum of assistance from you.Color inkjet printers have been fixtures in most small businesses for many years. They're cheap (under $60 in some cases), last a couple of years and everybody uses them. So they must be the perfect office tools, right? Maybe not.While the printers are almost given away, the refills bring in a fortune for the big-printer, original-equipment manufacturers (OEM). According to a research company in Massachusetts, the cartridge replacement market is now worth $21 billion annually. One well known manufacturer for example, makes over $10 billion a year from ink cartridge sales, and another earns over $2 billion from ink supplies, more than half its total revenue.One example given is for a well known Color Bubble Jet Printer. The cost for the hardware can be as little as $55, depending on discounts and where you buy it. The average cost of the ink from the OEM is $19 but the yield from that is a measly 170 pages. Even if you print very little, the cost quickly adds up.And it isn't just cost that conspires against ink jets. They typically don't print pages as fast as laser printers. They can also be a major hassle. It is quite common to be inundated with cartridge-error messages when the cartridges are perfectly fine, or have the machine suddenly go crazy and spit out gobbledygook in an endless stream. The printers are also set up in a way that makes it difficult to minimize the amount of ink they use. It appears they're designed to make you use more ink than you need to with no way to default to "draft quality".As a result of such factors, the market for laser printers is catching fire.  According to the research company, worldwide desktop monochrome (one-color) laser printer shipments grew 15 percent last year to 14.1 million units. More than half of those are what's known as Multi-Function Printers (MFP), which do print, fax, copy and scan. This research company predicts that over 10 million MFPs will be in circulation by 2008.

X

Office Supplies

Darren Martin

2005-08-01 15:40:00

:  It is difficult to believe what we are spending on cartridges and toner for our printers.  It seems like the cartridges are more expensive than the printer was.  What can one do to lessen this burden.

ANSWER:  You are correct... printer cartridges can be a big part of the 'office supplies' budget.  There are however a couple of things you can do.  First and most obvious... be sure everything you're printing needs to be printed.  Quite often we find that employees print all kinds of things, particularly in color, when they did not have to be printed at all, or did not have to be printed in color.  This will significantly stretch the life of your cartridges.  Another way to control this expense is refill or used refilled cartridges instead of buying new ones.QUESTION:  Is there a downside to using a refilled cartridge?ANSWER:  No, but there are many benefits to gain by using a refilled cartridge. Not only are you saving money, but also helping the environment while still maintaining a high quality product. QUESTION:  How much money will I save by refilling?ANSWER:  The savings will change depending on which printer you own. As a rule of thumb, you can expect refills to be about 50% of the cost of a new cartridge. QUESTION:  Are the inks used in refilling as good as the original inks?ANSWER:  Only high performance inks are used for refilling.  They have exactly the same chemical and physical properties as the original inks. The inks are specially formulated for your printer, and there is different ink for almost every cartridge. Additional efforts are taken to use inks that have cleaning agents that prevent the print heads clogging, and to match the original colors. QUESTION:  How much time does it take to refill an inkjet cartridge?ANSWER:  All cartridges are slightly different, but typically it takes between 5 and 10 minutes. All cartridges are fully tested and the print heads ultrasonically cleaned. If for any reason the cartridge does not work properly, there is no charge. QUESTION:  Is there any reduction in the print quality?ANSWER:  There should be no change in quality using inks specially formulated for use in your printer. QUESTION:   When is the best time to refill old cartridges?ANSWER:  You have to refill your cartridges before ink in your cartridge completely runs out. Once the cartridge is empty, the ink starts to dry and may clog the nozzle. For some color cartridges you need to refill before air locks take place.QUESTION:  How many times I can refill?ANSWER:  It depends on the cartridge condition. You can refill until your cartridges wear out. In general, you can refill 3 to 8 times with the same cartridge.QUESTION:  Does refilling void the OEM's warranty on the printer?ANSWER:  No, it is your right to choose your own supply sources. It is illegal for a printer manufacturer to require you to use any particular brand of supplies. To enforce a policy such as this is in direct violation of law. An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) can not void your warranty unless they can conclusively prove that other brands of supplies will damage the machine. The OEM can recommend a specific printer supplier. However, they cannot enforce you to use that particular product only. QUESTION:  Does the refilling of inkjet cartridges harm the printing ability of my printer in any way?ANSWER:  If the ink does not meet OEM specification, the printer head on your cartridge may be clogged or destroyed by the ink as well as you would not get the same printing result as with original. There are many manufacturers who can make ink that meet the same specifications by OEM manufacturers. They only select ink indigents that meet the standard requirements that are outlined by OEM to maintain high standards of our inkjet cartridges. Most of the inks are formulated and tested under strict laboratory conditions to ensure the highest output quality at all times as compared with other OEM products. QUESTION:  Can all the printer cartridges be refilled?ANSWER: The majority of ink cartridges can be refilled. However, some of the ink cartridges can not be refilled or can be refilled until some stage only. In this case, what you need to is to check on the ink printer supply websites that your particular refill ink cartridge is listed as refillable. QUESTION:  How useful is a refilling kit in refilling cartridges?ANSWER: Refilling ink cartridge is very easy to do using an ink cartridge refill kit. The kit contains all you need to refill cartridges. It has compatible ink, a squeeze bottle or ink syringe and instructions manual. If you do not want ink sticking your fingers use rubber gloves and refill over the sink or put some old newspapers down so you do not make a mess. You need to refill the cartridge slowly and be careful not to overfill. The success rate in filling at home is about 1 in 20.  You must make sure that you have the correct ink with the correct instructions.One last point... you may not be aware that some 'new' cartridges you purchase are sometimes recycled. Check the packaging and read their statement. Here are examples from 2 OEMs:OEM 1 cartridges: "Made in Japan from the highest quality new and recycled materials." OEM 2 cartridges: "OEM 2 has implemented a cartridge recycling program.

X

Office Supplies

Darren Martin

2005-08-01 09:54:00

:  What are the differences between Laser Printers and Inkjet Printers?

ANSWER:  The differences between toner and liquid ink systems are usually obvious, but not always.• Powdery toners are used in laser printers, in certain plain paper faxes, and in certain plain paper xerographic copiers.• Liquid ink is used in inkjet printers and in inkjet copiers and faxes.• "LaserJet" is Hewlett Packard's name for its line of laser printers.• "Deskjet", "Officejet", and "Designjet" are Hewlett Packard's names for its lines of inkjet printers and plotters.• "Bubblejet" is Canon's name for its line of inkjet printers.• If the paper coming from the printer, copier, or fax you are using is warm, the system probably uses powdery toner.• If the ink on the paper is wet to the touch, the printer, copier, or fax you are using probably uses liquid inkjet ink.• If your cartridge is about as wide as a sheet of paper (9 to 12 inches or 225 to 400 mm) or larger, the system probably uses powdery toner.• If your cartridge is about 3 to 4 inches in size (75 to 100 mm) or smaller, your cartridge probably uses liquid inkjet ink.Next month we will talk about printer quality and costs of using inkjet versus toner.