Hey all. We got this printer at work (Savin IM C3000) and whenever it tells me to change the ink I notice that there’s still plenty left in the tube/cartridge when I do, which is pretty wasteful, and expensive. There’s always at least 10% of it left, often times more.
It was pretty easy to pop it open, and its a powder, so consolidating seems pretty low risk as far as making a mess goes, but I was wondering if anyone has a good reason not to do so before I screw something up.
My main concern is that might mess with whatever keeps track of available ink. My thought is that if it isn’t weight or optical, then its revolutions. As in, the chip on the cartridge counts how many times it’s revolved and then approximates how much ink has been used. But that’s just a guess.
Also, maybe moisture introduction is a concern? Not sure how hygroscopic powdered printer ink is.
Either way, if anyone has some insight, I’d appreciate it.
if you plan to do that: get a respirator! toner is very carcinogenic, you don’t want any part of that powder in your lungs.
if the printer lets you, you can print until the pages are starting to go pale, then shake the cartridge to move the toner so that it can be unloaded more easily.
the chip on the cartridge is what tracks your printing and notifies you if youre low or empty. I’ve seen people using arduino to reprogram that chip to allow more printing with a cartridge that isnt quite empty or has been refilled.
I would guess the biggest risk with what you are doing is getting the inside of the printer dirty with toner from toner dust on the outside and messing up the quality of the prints
That powder is commonly referred to as toner, if that helps your search.
The process for detecting the toner level varies by manufacturer, but I know several use magnetically sensitive particles whose PPM is observed and used to determine when the cartridge is running low to empty. Outright refilling with alternative toner or does not contain those particles may lead to a toner cartridge that reports a false fill level.