What is a Toner Cartridge?
A toner cartridge is the component of a laser printer that is responsible for creating the images printed on paper. It is a special type of cartridge that, rather than enclosing liquid ink, contains a dry mixture of toner powder that is adhered to paper via electric charge and heat. They come in four different colors, black, cyan (blue), magenta (red/pink), and yellow.
Inside a Toner Cartridge
Toner Powder
Toner powder is made mostly of finely ground plastic particles mixed with polymer, carbon, and coloring agents to produce the physical color you see on a printed page.
Seal
The seal is a plastic protective strip that runs along the main roller of the cartridge to create a gap between the application rollers and the doctor blade to prevent the toner powder from spilling out prior to installation into your printer.
Doctor Blade
The doctor blade is an element that removes the excess toner from the developer roller. The doctor blade also warrants that the exact amount of toner needed for printing is released to the developer roller. This is where the charging of the toner occurs.
Developer Roller & Toner Hopper
The developer roller is a magnetic roller that attracts toner particles and transfers them onto the OPC drum. The toner hopper is a small container built into a removable casing. It is where the toner powder is stored.
Wiper Blade
The wiper blade scrapes the leftover toner particles and debris from the OPC drum.
Primary Charge Roller (PCR)
The primary charge roller is a multi-layered roller that prepares the OPC drum to receive the image by applying a uniform charge.
Organic Photo-Conductor Drum (OPC Drum)
The Organic Photo-Conductor is an aluminum-layered, cylindrical drum that is struck with a laser to prompt the image one-line at a time for precision printing.
Drum Shutter
The drum shutter is a plastic casing surrounding the OPC drum to protect from exposure to light during installation.
