OT. money saving tip for printer

surplusjohn · Dec 26, 2017

I have been doing this for years. set your printer to 2 pages per sheet. works great. half the paper ink and storage. even with my ordinary hp ink jet all docs are readable

Chip Chester · Dec 26, 2017

I get the paper and storage. But why does it take "half the ink" to print on the back of an already-printed page than it takes to print the same page on virgin paper?

Or does the printer automagically use a lighter coating of ink so it doesn't show/bleed thru? I'm a laser guy myself, so it's strictly toner for me...

Chip

Ciszewski · Dec 26, 2017

Hello Surplusjohn
I hate to rain on your parade, but I don't think that you just invented 2-sided printing.

My printer does it for me, flip on the long side or the short side of the page.
If you want to $ave even more, buy yourself a laser printer for printing documents & only use the ink for printing photos.

Mark Rand · Dec 26, 2017

I think the point is that you can probably read stuff printed at half size, so two pages per sheet uses half the ink/toner?

Printing on microfilm is so much more economical, if one prints 128 pages at a time :leaving:

Bobw · Dec 26, 2017

My tip... Take your ink jet or bubble jet and toss 'em right in the garbage...

Then go buy a laser.. And get your cartridges online for $15 instead of $90 at Staples or Office Depot..

Chip Chester · Dec 26, 2017

Ahh... thanks, Mark. Not sure half-size pages would cut it. Front/back is fine, though. But yeah, lasers rule.

Chip

surplusjohn · Dec 26, 2017

two pages per side. so each page is half size. very easy to do. I don't do much printing anymore but when I did and had a high end Sell laser printer, I did this mostly to save space. sometimes to would have to print out hundreds of pages for appraisals or patents for design projects all that took up file space. double sided printing would have the same savings but it is a pain to do.

Monarchist · Dec 26, 2017

surplusjohn said:
two pages per side. so each page is half size. very easy to do. I don't do much printing anymore but when I did and had a high end Sell laser printer, I did this mostly to save space. sometimes to would have to print out hundreds of pages for appraisals or patents for design projects all that took up file space. double sided printing would have the same savings but it is a pain to do.

I had noticed the phenomenon of folks eyes getting smaller and closer together over time as they migrated to "smart phones"..

.. so this trick fits right in...

That said, for all the increase in accidents from use while walking or operating machinery or vehicles, it seems the matching reduction in brain size and common sense will eventually render the madding crowds unable to afford the devices.

EPAIII · Dec 27, 2017

I have developed another tip for saving ink and paper. ALWAYS use the preview function to see just how the pages will print. Whenever I don't do this, I wind up with a page printed sideways or it prints just a little bit larger than one sheet will hold and it comes out on two sheet or even four. Then the words begin .....

DDoug · Dec 27, 2017

I wouldn't do this for materials circulated to the customers (or potential customers)

Shows as a lack of quality, and a general cheapness all around.

bloomautomatic · Dec 27, 2017

Depending what it is, I'll print longer documents in booklet format. two pages per sheet and double sided. I'm more concerned about saving paper than toner.

Get a laser printer with toner cartridges. Few years ago I got a wireless brother printer for about $70 and have been using the aftermarket toner cartridges with no problems. I think I get a two pack for $20 or so on amazon. Been through at least 6 cartridges and printer still works fine. B&W only, but so were newspapers for about 100 years and that seemed to work ok.

Every color printer I had - canon, HP, epson, all crapped out after a few print cartridges.

CountryBoy19 · Dec 27, 2017

I have to add to the laserprinter is the way to go crowd. First went to laser for home office use several years ago and don't regret it one bit. I refill my own cartridges until they start to wear out and leak toner. I buy new cartridges from various sources but usually stick with new OEM. I don't actually replace the cartridge but once every 3-4 years. I can usually get 3-4 refills before they start to wear out.

FWIW, low-end color laser printer/copy/scanner =$200, new cartridges are $100 for a full set of OEM, and refills cost me about $15 per refill. I can get 2,000+ pages per cartridge/refill.

FredC · Dec 27, 2017

Questions, I have a color laser printer is it common for the printers to report low or out of toner when they are not? #1 I have been going about a year with warning messages that I am low or out and it still is printing fine. I called the manufacturer and asked about the messages. I told him I weighed an empty cartridge, a full one and the one we were getting the message on and said by my calculations 1/2 the toner was style there. He said that I could not do that, I guess he was not used to machinists with their measuring precision tools (parts counting scale .0005 lbs.).
Does it hurt anything to run out? #2
I bought some new toner cartridges so I am ready for when it really runs out, but I hate the idea of wasting toner by throwing out a 1/2 cartridge.
Country Boy, where do you get your toner, does it come with directions on how to refill? #3 I have done that with ink jets before.

DMF_TomB · Dec 27, 2017

printer ink cost as much as gold usually
.
and often ink cartridge computer tracks date when cartridge installed and after a year will say it needs replacement and you might not be out of ink
.
probably in a few years when tables are $100 and same size as piece of paper people will stop printing. same as usb flash drives replacing cd and dvd's they reached point where $10 or $20 usb drive was more popular than people still using dvd's

MattiJ · Dec 27, 2017

FredC said:
Questions, I have a color laser printer is it common for the printers to report low or out of toner when they are not? #1 I have been going about a year with warning messages that I am low or out and it still is printing fine. I called the manufacturer and asked about the messages. I told him I weighed an empty cartridge, a full one and the one we were getting the message on and said by my calculations 1/2 the toner was style there. He said that I could not do that, I guess he was not used to machinists with their measuring precision tools (parts counting scale .0005 lbs.).
Does it hurt anything to run out? #2
I bought some new toner cartridges so I am ready for when it really runs out, but I hate the idea of wasting toner by throwing out a 1/2 cartridge.
Country Boy, where do you get your toner, does it come with directions on how to refill? #3 I have done that with ink jets before.

Your manufacturer got it correct because the toner catridge typically contains also waste toner "section". Everything that is left over and "leaking" ends up in the waste section.
BUT they also often rely on the page counter imbedded in the catridge to sell you a new one... Capitalism at it's best :cool:

Pro tip:

Buy workgroup sized laser with bottle toner instead of small SOHO junk. HUGE difference if you actually need to print something. :typing:

I bought Canon Imagerunner 1325 to our office and have been happy camper after that. OK it's something like 1500 eur/usd to boot but single toner fill gives you 15000 pages instead of 1500 pages in the small SOHO unit. Original Canon toners for this cost about the same as for the small SOHO junk but last 10x longer. And it comes with full capacity toners straight out of box, not 1/2 or 1/3 capacity "boxed" toners like the small units.

blcksmth · Dec 27, 2017

FredC said:
Questions, I have a color laser printer is it common for the printers to report low or out of toner when they are not? #1 I have been going about a year with warning messages that I am low or out and it still is printing fine. I called the manufacturer and asked about the messages. I told him I weighed an empty cartridge, a full one and the one we were getting the message on and said by my calculations 1/2 the toner was style there. He said that I could not do that, I guess he was not used to machinists with their measuring precision tools (parts counting scale .0005 lbs.).
Does it hurt anything to run out? #2
I bought some new toner cartridges so I am ready for when it really runs out, but I hate the idea of wasting toner by throwing out a 1/2 cartridge.
Country Boy, where do you get your toner, does it come with directions on how to refill? #3 I have done that with ink jets before.

Most, maybe all, desktop printers calculate the amount of ink/toner remaining by somehow measuring the stuff you print using some kind of magic math. This usually ends up being an educated guess. They do not have a method for actually measuring the remaining ink or toner. Large commercial laser printers can detect when the toner level drops past a certain level. Low toner in a laser printer starts with light print and then no print. Ink jet technology defies a logical explanation.

Bob
WB8NQW
Retired IBM printer technician

surplusjohn · Dec 27, 2017

for instance,yesterday I was printing out this years bank statements for archiving in my files, and printed two per side. like I said, I can read it very well.
in the past, for design jobs I would sometimes have a binder with hundreds of pages of patent docs, again it took up half the space. and yes double sided printing would do the same, but I always found this easier. I suppose the newer printers do double sides better but i always had trouble with it.

Ciszewski · Dec 27, 2017

MattiJ said:
Your manufacturer got it correct because the toner catridge typically contains also waste toner "section". Everything that is left over and "leaking" ends up in the waste section.

Hello MattiJ
Maybe typically, but not always. My printer has a waste toner container.

MattiJ · Dec 27, 2017

Ciszewski said:
Hello MattiJ
Maybe typically, but not always. My printer has a waste toner container.

Yeap, so does the large Imagerunner at office.
Separate waste toner container and bottled/bulk toner are typically found in bit more serious machines.

CountryBoy19 · Dec 27, 2017

FredC said:
Questions, I have a color laser printer is it common for the printers to report low or out of toner when they are not? #1 I have been going about a year with warning messages that I am low or out and it still is printing fine. I called the manufacturer and asked about the messages. I told him I weighed an empty cartridge, a full one and the one we were getting the message on and said by my calculations 1/2 the toner was style there. He said that I could not do that, I guess he was not used to machinists with their measuring precision tools (parts counting scale .0005 lbs.).
Does it hurt anything to run out? #2
I bought some new toner cartridges so I am ready for when it really runs out, but I hate the idea of wasting toner by throwing out a 1/2 cartridge.
Country Boy, where do you get your toner, does it come with directions on how to refill? #3 I have done that with ink jets before.

It all depends on the printer you end up with... I refused to buy HP anything because of their BS. Unfortunately, they have the middle & low-end laser printer market cornered so that severely limits options. I've found Brother to be the best. The "page counter" will tell me it's out of toner, but there is a "work-around" built into the menus. I just reset the toner cartridges through the menu and keep doing it until quality degrades. Some refill kits will come with "reset gears" or "workarounds" for the "expended cartridge" problem but I'm not that familiar with them outside of Brother units. Brother seems to have built the reset option into the menus on most of their laser printer product so I don't have to worry about resetting the cartridge itself in any way.

I typically buy my new toner cartridges from stores that specialize in open-box, store-closing type merchandise. I can get open-box (but sealed-wrapper) OEM toner cartridges for well below retail price. Refill comes from wherever is cheapest. Supposedly cheap toners have a tendency to wear the cartridges out faster and begin leaking but it's impossible to sort out who provides quality toner and who doesn't so I gave up on trying to differentiate between them. I don't print enough to make a difference. A set of cartridges plus 2-3 refills each lasts me nearly 10,000 pages (2+ years) at the rate I print at home.

OT. money saving tip for printer

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