Disposable

Ink and Toner cartridges cannot last forever. Unfortunately, at some point, run out of ink or toner or part of the cartridge system fails. Printer cartridges are designed as disposable items from the start. Some have features that insure that they have a short life. Certainly, no efforts have been made to make them easy to refill. Think of a cartridge as a disposable product like a ball point pen. Could a ball point pen be reused? Yes, they could be but there is little reason to do this when the product costs $.50. There is a different economic case for a printer cartridge that costs $20-200.

Toner cartridges have moving parts in them that wear out. When a toner cartridge is empty it must be disassembled, cleaned and rebuilt using new internal components. Some remanufactured toners have not had thier internal components replaced, you can tell the difference by the price. Someone who simply replaces the used toner has less invested in the remanufacturing process than a full out rebuild. For this reason most high quality remanufactured or compatible cartridges will be much more expensive than the cheapest deal you can find on the internet.

This is a magnified view of a ink cartridge print head. Highlighted are "traces" which are little wires that connect the print head to the printer. These traces are so fine that very little pressure from a light impact can sever them. Arrow 1 shows an individual trace, you can see other traces that look thicker, they are multiple traces. 2 shows where the trace passes under a glue strip that connects the print head (center area) with the traces. 3 is the connection point for the trace to the print head. Also note, there is no protection built into the cartridge to protect the exposed traces and print head. People are often surprised to learn that any small bump like setting the cartridge down carelessly can cause a malfunction. This is one of many failure "modes" for integrated (ones with built in print heads) ink cartridges.