How Ink Toner Works

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Ink toner is a type of ink used in laser printers. The cartridges are a lot bigger then the normal ink cartridges used in the ink jet printers people often have in their homes because they are designed to last longer and be more economical over time. The primary use for a laser printer and ink toners are printing out a lot of documents in black and white quickly, efficiently and cheaply.

The first thing you may notice about ink toners is that they are not filled with actual liquid ink but a powder called toner. Essentially, the toner is in the cartridge and fed into the printer. When this technology was first used the powder was mainly comprised of carbon and it was directly fed into the printer by hand; now the toner is stored in the machine in a cartridge and fed mechanically as needed.

The toner is placed onto the paper through heat and contact. Inside the printer there is a drum that has an electrical charge running through it and the toner is attracted to this charged drum. The laser places an image onto the drum and every area where the laser hits is also charged, preventing the toner from being attracted ...
... to that part of the drum. The image that is placed on the drum is a negative or exact opposite of what you will see on the paper. The toner sticks to the drum until it is forced onto the paper using the heat generated by the laser, which reverses the electrical charge and causes the toner to release onto the paper as it is rolled across the drum and bond the toner to the paper.

Cleaning Up Toner

If ink toner were to be spilled onto your hands or clothes it is easily cleaned off as long as you don't let the toner get hot. Cold toner powder comes off with soap and water so, if you get some on an article of clothing, you only need to wash it in cold water and it will come right out of your clothes.

If toner is spilled into a printer, you will need a special type of small vacuum to get it out. These vacuums come with an electric charge that attracts the toner to them more easily than a regular vacuum and this may be needed to make sure the mess is properly cleaned so the toner does not get into delicate electronics in the printer and cause more problems down the line.

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