Common Knowledge

There are a fair few people you could learn from when doing what I’m doing. Every somewhat aware person you talk to at Basics about paper sizes could drop you come perspective changing information. I’ve had plenty of these little gems given to me. Yet there was a fatale flaw in the way I saw this knowledge. I always took it as fact, despite the source. I often assumed that someone in a Basics or Staples store must know everything about office supplies. That is just one example, but it applies abroad. I failed to take the information at face value, to understand that their words were not the ‘be all and end all’. For me, I was acting as someone would if they were informed lava was hot. I’ve never encountered the stuff, but I’ll take their work for it.

Still, my mechanic is far more experienced with people selling a product than myself. His one quotation sticks with me. “When talking to someone on any specific topic, assume you’re the smarter one until they prove you wrong.” This could have saved me a fair bit of money since I started this project in September.

I had a reminder of how this is true just today. You see, I had bought $300 worth of toner for my SAMSUNG printer. As I have mentioned time and time again, his printer is designed to keep me paying through the nose, and for the last month, I was terrified I had wasted $300 on toner I wouldn’t be able to use! It took me an eternity to get the proper pieces and cords to get my newest printer up and running. It’s a Minolta, one built in 2002, which is the Stone Age when considering printers. This was its blessing, believe it or not. It was build a while ago, meaning it isn’t as obsesser proof (me) as the SAMSUNG. It has no programming or chip that tells the printer to stop working after a specific number of pages. A cartridge can be refilled at will as many times as I damn well please with no resistance from the printer. In fact, there is a handy little cap on the top of each cartridge that is designed solely for someone so inclined. There was just one problem with this little wonder (really big wonder, actually).

Each printer is built to take a very personal mix of toner. When getting toner for a printer, you always get the personal mix the company insists it needs. Oh, and guess what else. Lava’s hot! My new printer was already low on toner, so it ran out rather quickly. So what did I do? I figured I would took up what mix it would need, and see if I could get a few bottles, practically tripping over the toner I already had on my way to the computer. I have only ever heard that you have to use the right mix of toner for your printer. I have never so much as heard someone suggest otherwise. It then occurred to me. What are the odds those people have tried? I emptied a bottle of SAMSUNG toner into my Minolta cartridge, clipped the thing in place, and ordered it to print. It worked wonderfully, and has continued to do so all day.

As always, assume you’re the smarter. This is only my experience with the lava known as toner. For all I know, my printer will explode the next time I try using it, but I doubt it. I think it’s more likely that my new desktop background it correct. “Toner is toner is toner is toner.” This is an exciting prospect for me, seeing as I know places where they have cartridges on sale for dirt cheap, simply because no one has the model the toner is meant for. I’ll buy as many as I need and cannibalize them for their toner. If you were thinking of doing the same, I would recommend a re-store like ‘Habitat for Humanity’. They have all kinds of stuff from what I hear. If you check one out and there’s nothing there, odds are I beat you to the punch.

Forgive the jest. At the moment, I’m at no shortage of toner, but I almost look forward to getting more. It’s been a long time coming, but I finally have the capacity to simply print without the hindrance of buying the proper brand or paying over $100 for a new cartridge every time. It’s so relieving. Turns out this lava is on par with an awesome back rub.

SAMSUNG

I’ve run into some frustrating times when it comes to this printer model. As is true for the entire process of creating your own books, it’s a learning curve. Even though I understand this, it’s simply aggravating to think I had the printer beaten when I really didn’t. Allow be to describe my previous system. I had two toner cartridges, both I had emptied. Now these toner cartridges some with a chip that allows them to connect with the printer. This damned chip tells the printer how many pages it’s allowed to print. One of the cartridges mind you (the cartridge that came with the printer in the first place, called the “Starter cartridge”) doesn’t have a chip. Anyway, I use the starter cartridge until the printer says “Toner empty: Replace toner”. So, I bought the second one and ran it until I was given the same message. I found out however (being pleasantly surprised as well as angered) that if I simply click print again, it would continue printing. I was able to get an extra two copies out of each cartridge. So, this machine will insist that you get a new toner cartridge, despite there is still a few hundred pages worth still in the one it claims in empty. The lesson I learned being: The chips really don’t seem to have all that much power over anything. You click print, and it’ll continue until your pages come out faded. Defiantly keep an eye on what you’re printing once it claims to be empty. If you don’t catch it the moment it starts fading, you’ll waste paper. The other lesson was the annoying one. SAMSUNG designed their machine to cut out earlier than needed. I know this could be for safety reasons when it comes to wasting paper, but read on. It gets better.

The first time I contacted by toner-refilling people, they said that SAMSUNG couldn’t be refilled because of those chips. I told them that they continued to print if I ordered it to. As an experiment for both my toner buddies and myself, they refilled it for free and let me give it a try. I put the cartridge back into the printer and waited for it to ‘warm up’. Once it was ready it flashed the following warning: “Toner empty: Replace toner”. Wouldn’t you know it, I click print and my books come shooting out. It’s a bloody miracle! Despite the fact the cartridge was full, the machine still wanted me to replace it. Those chips weren’t designed to inform you when the cartridge was empty. They were designed so those cartridges could only give you 2,500 pages worth. SAMSUNG doesn’t want those things refilled. This way you keep buying. Now keep in mind all of this information is coming from my bias, and was not passed into me from a SAMSUNG professional. So as you should with all opinions, take my words with plenty of salt. But don’t discount me yet. There’s more!

First you need a bit of back information. There are two types of SAMSUNG toner cartridge for my specific model. There is the small and the large. The small costs $89 and gives 2,500 pages worth of toner. The large is $139 and gives 5,000 pages worth. Note that the physical difference between the small and large cartridges is almost non-existent. Quite literally, there is an open space in the ‘smalls’ where a second toner tube could be added. Then whamo!, you have a large one. This is where the back store ends. Now back to the bias.

No matter where you shop, and I mean no matter where (unless you were standing in the SAMSUNG manufacturing plant), you will not be able to find the large toner cartridges for sale. I checked Basic, Holst, and Staples. They only carry the small ones. The larger ones can only be gotten if you order them in. Instantly I think of marketing advantages and it comes to me pretty easily what SAMSUNG’s up to. By making the larger toner cartridges very difficult to get, they are increasing the amount of people buying the smaller ones. If you buy a smaller one, you will be needing toner far sooner, and you will have paid much more than needed. Let’s do some math again. In order to get 5,000 pages worth of toner using small cartridges, you will need to buy two of them, which is $178. This is what I (and I’m sure many others) were forced to do. Where as if we had the option of buying a single large one, you could get 5,000 pages worth for $139. So, let’s assume we’re SAMSUNG for a second, and we look at our statistical gains. What do you know, we make more money if we only have the smaller cartridges in stores, and have the large ones on order.

Now if the last bunch of information wasn’t enough to convince you that they are doing this all on purpose, then let me show you a real humdinger. I brought my small cartridge into my toner re-fillers and asked if they could simply slip in another toner tube and make it a large cartridge. I require a visual aid to explain why they couldn’t.



You see those depressions in the plastic right beneath where it says ‘SAMSUNG’ and above where all those little safety symbols are? Those are called trenches. What SAMSUNG has done is make those trenches so that the space below it is filled (meaning nothing else came be put there). Can you guess what that space was used for? That’s right. It was for the extra toner tube. SAMSUNG made those trenches so that these cartridges couldn’t be upgraded, and therefore, re-filled for dirt-cheap.

Now I’m not trying to sound cynical, but I’ve been working with this stuff for a while, dealing with it’s bull%$#@ for two months now. Maybe in my mind I’m trying to find a reason to hate SAMSUNG, but regardless, these descriptions of their technology are true. I only typing it up to be informative. But guess what! It’s not over!

As I’ve explained before, I have been re-filling my own toner cartridges because it’s considerable cheaper. With two home, refilled cartridges, I began printing. Usually I could get 15 copies out of each. When the first cartridge reached it’s tenth copy, it stopped. Instead of saying, “Toner empty: Replace toner”, It switched to “Toner exhausted”. I tried clicking print again as I always do, but it just wouldn’t do it. Not that the pages I was printing hadn’t started to fade yet, so I know there is still toner in there. (This is the cartridge without a chip). Now as far as I can tell, there is no identifying electronic material on that cartridge, so how in all hell could my printer recognize it and reject it (After it had been working through two different re-fills already)? Someone I know and trust said that if the cartridge were re-filled again, he believes it will continue printing. I have no idea how, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Immediately after this, I put in the other cartridge and started printing. The books started fading after only ten!!! It should have lasted for much longer. I was later informed that if a green drum within the cartridge is exposed to light for too long, it wares out. This drum is mean to create a negative charge and catch the toner during the printing process (or some crap like that). I had it sitting out for days on end without knowing this. Because of this, my toner was going to a spot in the cartridge for waste toner (note on waste toner at the end of article).

So, I can easily replace the drum, but first I have to buy it (along with more toner). As for my cartridge that has suddenly stopped working because it was designed to get me buying replacements (or so I believe) I have still not found a way around it. Like mentioned, it’s a learning curve, and one I intend to graph (math joke…sorry). One thing I can promise you, I’m not buying another toner cartridge unless it’s my absolute last option (mainly because I have no money!)

Waste Toner: There is a little compartment in each cartridge where all the waste toner is stored. You know what the difference between toner and waste toner? Nothing! Not that I’ve been able to determine anyway. It simply wasn’t used, and the cartridge had to store the particles it didn’t catch and use. So, when you open a toner cartridge, do it above something that is clean and ready to catch falling toner (it more or less pores out). I’m more than confident that it can be re-used. If you would sooner play it safe, wait a week and let me try.

Printers

As I mentioned earlier, I use a SAMSUNG duplex lazar printer. It’s a love-hate relationship at the moment. First I will offer back-story to explain. When I first started printing books, I simply used my BROTHER MFC-240C ink printer without duplex. That’s right, I couldn’t double-side anything I printed, so I had to do it manually. I would put in a page (cut to the proper size), have it print, then flip it and print again. I would then move on to another sheet. It was painful, taking just under an hour for a single book. Not only wasn’t it cost or time efficient, it was tedious.

So, back to my SAMSUNG. I love it purely because it is a dramatic improvement over my first printer. Now that they both sit next to each other on my desk, I have to love my SAMSUNG. It doubt-sides all my pages, doesn’t need the paper cut before printing, and can do a book in seven minutes while I’m doing something else completely! Unfortunately, I rushed into buying it, only because I couldn’t handle my BROTHER anymore. If I had really done my homework beforehand, I could have made a far smarter decision. As before, I will paint a picture of benefits. My SAMSUNG cartridges are $89 and that gives me 2,500 pages worth of toner. This, I thought, was an unbeatable number at the time, having only had the pleasure of my BROTHER’s inadequacy. I found out later, from my toner-refilling people, that there was a significantly better option. If I had gotten a LEXMARK (for a bit more money than the SAMSUNG) I could be using their magnificent toner cartridges. They cost $150 dollars, and yield 21,000 pages worth of toner. I’ve done some rough math, and that’s twice the price for ten times the toner!

I however, have my money invested in my SAMSUNG, and returning it simply isn’t an option anymore. I will work with the machine as long as I must to break even, then maybe I’ll consider advancement. It isn’t a colour printer, which is a feature I don’t need. However, if you are doing graphic novels, maybe it would be worth the extra hundred dollars.

Bottom line, consider your needs, and look through every model you can find. It is a matter of spending an hour or two on the Staples website.

P.S. When they say three days delivery…they really mean eight.

Toner/Ink

Toner is a printer’s blood, and the most difficult substance to procure. If you are wondering what toner is, as I did when I first heard of it, then allow me to explain. There are two types of printer I concern myself with: Laser and Ink printers. If anyone does the math, they will find that printing in bulk is much cheaper with a laser print, which is fuelled by toner, rather than ink. When I first started printing book, I was using an ink printer. In ink alone, I was paying upwards of $10 per book. That, plus other materials, put me well over $10, which was the return I was making for each book. Bottom line, I was losing money over time, after having spent a great deal already on equipment. The message I’m trying to get across here is, if you intend to print more than ten books or so, you had best be using a lazar printer.

Getting a lazar printer is only half the battle when it comes to your toner costs. After doing my research, I learned that new toner cartridges were very…very expensive. I was saving money, but still paying upwards of $6 per book in toner. It was then I was challenged to do better. The task I was given was as follows: print books for under $2 each. Mind you, my first book was only 45,422 words long, but $2 still seemed impossible. That is why you must learn a few tricks, which I will do my best to outline.

The first, and most important means of saving money on toner, is to not buy a new cartridge every time, like your damned printer or computer will recommend. Understand that there are many other people who have already gone through this, and have found ways to help people save money. I am referring to toner and ink refilling stores. They are surprisingly hard to find in my area, but maybe this is not the case for most. The closest I could find was 1.5 hours away, but believe it or not, it was cheaper to have them refill it, and take two trips for each refill (counting gas and such). These people, unlike places like Staples, are truly on your side, simply because they depend on you being informed about your options. Staples depends on you seeing no other way. If you find such a place that does refills, ask questions about your printer model, the cartridge, the toner, anything you think may be useful. In this regard, knowledge is truly power (in the form of savings and creativity.)

Now, there is another step you can take with the toner refills, but I honestly don’t know how practical it is for most people. Maybe I just got lucky, and made just the right contact/friend, but still it is something you should defiantly consider. That it: refilling the toner cartridges yourself. The process is decently simply, and something you could learn online if needed. The first thing you need to do is talk to the toner-refilling people you can find. They understand the process and may be willing to teach you (as they did me.) Now that I do it myself at home, the only thing I need from them is toner (which they order from a manufacturer and can simply sell on to you), still in the bottle. It is a powder, and an explosive one at that, so know what you are doing. By doing it all myself (yet another learning process) I have made toner much more affordable. I will paint a picture for you. I use a SAMSUNG (more on which printers models you should use later!) Paying to get a new cartridge costs $89 plus tax (and gas money, mind you. Always consider everything.) To get it refilled, the cost dropped to $67 plus much less tax. Simply buying the toner and doing it myself…$25. As you can see, learning the process of refilling (A few hours of trial and error at most with some printed instructions) is a very beneficial investment.

The last bit of advice I can think of is the font in which your book is printed. This is where things get fun (for me anyway.) Open your Microsoft Word document (or whichever other program you use, in the case of Heretics) and highlight all text. You can go to the colour settings and decrease the darkness of your words. This is a matter of comfort. Some writers won’t want to decrease the darkness of their work in the name of aesthetics, and I completely understand that position. Even if you are very insistent with keeping it as dark as possible, you can do 90% darkness and not notice a difference (besides the fact that you will be able to print a few more copies than usual.) I myself put my books at 65% darkness, and the words are still more than readable. You may want to play around with font as well. Some fonts naturally use less toner, may it be because of space economy or preset darkness.

These are all things to consider. If you have any other ideas or questions, please contact me or leave a comment. Being economic with your toner supply is a necessity.