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Analysis | Printer ink is a scam. Here’s how to spend less. (wapo.st)

submitted 1 year ago by nhgeek to c/technology

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Washington Post: Americans waste $10 billion each year on name-brand ink. So we tested low-cost options including remanufactured cartridges, ink injection kits — and even making our own.

My advice: get a mono laser printer. Printing is handy but relatively infrequent for a lot of people these days. If that's your use case, mono laser is the way to go. Toner does not dry out or go bad.

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[–] argv_minus_one 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One caveat: there were some reports of health effects of inhaling toner fumes, so make sure wherever you keep your laser printer is reasonably ventilated.

[–] MDKAOD 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Commercial printer here! There's some validity here, but health risks for at-home printing would be minimal in my opinion unless someone is printing a lot. Toner machines tend to release ozone from the corona wires that are used to charge the drums.

[–] chahk 4 points 1 year ago

Toner machines tend to release ozone from the corona wires that are used to charge the drums.

I'm doing my part to plug that hole in the ozone layer!

[–] dallas 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is a safety concern that you shouldn't clean anything involving toner with ammonia-based products (window cleaners, etc.) It reacts with the plastic in the toner. Isopropyl alcohol can be mixed with a smaller ratio of water to use as a cleaner. I do agree with the original message and always recommend people buy laser over inkjet for most tasks.

[–] MDKAOD 1 points 1 year ago

Not all toner is plastic polymer. Some are wax based or resin.