refill laser cartridge with toner powder AND developer powder?

[blahcomp222]

I made a thread about this months ago that has the info I'm looking for, but I get 404 error going to the link. I posted in another thread about it since many people are also having 404 issues right now. maybe if someone can get the link to work they can just copy paste the info here?

here's the old link
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2063631/xerox-phaser-6180-color-laser-printer-refill-powder-developer-toner.html

What I'm asking is, when I was learning how to refill my printer cartridge, I saw this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQBxPO5a0-4

It's the only video out of many that mention developer powder plus regular toner powder. He shakes the toner with the developer and just fills the cartridge. So I messaged many sellers on ebay asking if their toner refills powder has developer already mixed in, and I'm pretty sure they all said no (that info's in the 404 link I think). One ebay seller said yes I must refill both toner and developer and gave me the following links which describe NOT to shake the toner with the developer powders together but rather there's a separate slot for just the developer as shown.
http://www.aaatoner.com/eain2.html (how to add developer (carrier))
and here's the developer powder
http://www.aaatoner.com/xeph61612.html

When I search ebay for things like "printer developer -toner" (excluding toner) there's almost no developer powder I'm referring to. Since 99% of the refill tutorial videos are people just refilling with the developer powder and no developer, then it seems to work, but again, this developer powder seems needed, so I'm very confused, and I print high quality label stickers sometimes and don't want to mess it up. The developer powder is actually magnetic dust that the toner clings to and then the toner drum roller can then carry the toner VIA magnetics onto the toner roller (or something like that).

My cartridge doesn't have a separate slot for the developer powder like the link shows with the thin strip of tape being pulled back. I have just one hole, so maybe I will just have to shake the two powders together. I have a XEROX phaser 6180.

Lastly, why are there warning icons all over the insides of my laser printer showing a light bulb crossed out as if to avoid light? Am I supposed to work in the dark or something? I avoid bright direct light and sun light and pointing a flashlight directly at it (the black plastic-y sheet inside, but just wondering.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

The light bulb warnings are because it's a laser printer - don't have it open and powered on. Lasers can damage your eyes, especially if they're not in the visible spectrum (because you won't see them).

If you need high-quality prints, aftermarket ink/toner generally is a bad idea - the quality is typically subpar. This can depend on the exact toner you use, but if it's very cheap, it's probably for a reason.

My guess would be that toners for which a separate developer is not sold either include it in the toner, or it stays in the cartridge even when the tonere is removed. It appears to be just a carrier.

 

[blahcomp222]

If you need high-quality prints, aftermarket ink/toner generally is a bad idea - the quality is typically subpar. This can depend on the exact toner you use, but if it's very cheap, it's probably for a reason.

My guess would be that toners for which a separate developer is not sold either include it in the toner, or it stays in the cartridge even when the tonere is removed. It appears to be just a carrier.

I researched more about developer powder, which is usually iron filings that magnetize the toner onto the developer roller. Some printers have this, usually older ones, some don't. Some have a separate chamber for the developer powder, others it's mixed into the powder hence the two links above that confused me showing both methods.

I emailed XEROX and hopefully they'll let me know about my particular printer and also if the developer powder is used up or not when the toner is empty (so I know if I can just refill the toner). I didn't clearly admit that I'm refilling an empty cartridge which might be against their rules and not get a reply from them but I don't know what I could say to warrant asking such questions as if saying like "I'm very allergic to iron...".

Either one person is wrong or it's different for each particular printer, but if you check the following links, one person says that the developer powder is used up and the other says it isn't (for printers that use developer powder. more modern ones don't use the magnetic developer powder). You can just Ctrl+f and then Find 'developer' instead of reading the whole page.

"Printer developers are consumable, their iron-filing content or resin will be used up or wear out. "

http://mindmachine.co.uk/book/print_15_dev&toner.html

"This developer was not a consumable (although some did end up being
fused to paper). It was simply a transfer method between the toner and
the image drum."

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/16532-3-modern-toners-magnetic

Maybe if users were supposed to add developer powder but didn't is why refilling only with toner powder gives cheap refill toner a bad rep for image quality. I'll take the chance, saves money and resources not needing to produce another whole cartridge. I'll try to post what XEROX says about if this phaser 6180 needs developer powder etc. If they don't reply, I'll just add the toner refill and assume the machine doesn't require developer powder.

 

[blahcomp222]

I emailed XEROX. First, they said yes, it does have developer powder in a separate chamber than the toner powder and that it is used up as the toner powder is used up.
I didn't know what to tell them why I was asking this to not obviously sound like I'm trying to reill the cartridge myself which is probably against their rules, I was going to say the cartridge was stepped on and leaked on expensive carpet and that the only section that appears to have cracked was the toner chamber and we need to know exactly what fell on the carpet for warranty reasons and thus would need to know if developer powder was mixed into the toner powder if any developer powder is contained at all.
I checked the cartridge well, but can't find any place any powder would go besides the main toner powder port. I emailed XEROX pictures of all the sides of the cartridge asking where it would go the developer powder. They replied to call support and that they can't forward pictures to the support department. I called support, they want $25 per call to help if not under warranty which I'm not, but I managed to get a hold of someone who didn't really know what they were talking about and said check the website.

So since separate developer powder is sort of ancient and this is a 2007 model, I'll probably just go ahead and refill with the regular toner powder on ebay and see how well it works and for how long.

This for $22 with the chip and can probably refill the cartridge two or three times but will need additional $8 chips each time:http://www.ebay.com/itm/Xerox-Phaser-6180-8160-113R00726-Black-Toner-Refill-Kit-w-Chip-160gr-8K-Pages-/261495178571?pt=US_Toner_Refills_Kits&hash=item3ce253c54b





here's a whole cartridge (not genuine XEROX) for $35 though, not like $100 like the XEROX ones, so maybe I'll just get this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Compatible-Xerox-Phaser-6180-113R00726-Black-Toner-Cartridge-/251689273651?pt=US_Toner_Cartridges&hash=item3a99d98933

Anyone have any advice?

 

[blahcomp222]

I messaged about 5 ebay sellers asking about the developer powder. I did this around last year with these questions but the sellers weren't much help. One did say I need both powders and to mix them into the main compartment. Others said just use the toner powder, I didn't expect them to be printer aficionados.

Now, the sellers said that the particular phaser 6180 does have both developer powder and toner powder and that the developer powder is in a separate compartment from the toner and is too difficult to refill, so they said it's already mixed with the toner and has been working fine this way with buyers for years.

I mentioned the $35 non-OEM cartridge and said I might just buy that unless they can guarantee their refill powder. They sort of guaranteed the refill powders and said the powder's high quality. I can probably get 3 full refills with a $20 bottle of powder with one $8 microchip included, and then get more $8 chips when needed. If I run into any problems with the powder, I'll probably be back here making a thread, otherwise, it should be fine. Thanks.