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Consumables for Printers: Essential Facts to Keep in Mind

Consumables for Printers: Essential Facts to Keep in Mind

Printing companies use certain products that need to be replaced and/ or repurchased recurrently. These products are consumables which include ink cartridges, toner cartridges, paper, rollers, fuser units, belts, etc.

When it comes to consumables, printing businesses in Singapore can either get them from printer manufacturers or contact approved suppliers. Oftentimes, printer manufacturers provide consumables that are specifically designed to be compatible with their own printing machines and more affordable than those brought by other companies.

Printer consumables play a crucial role in increasing the functional efficiency and maintainability of printing equipment. If you are running a business or trying to set up one, you need to consider some facts about consumables for printers.

Only Cartridges Don’t Complete the List of Consumables for Printers

Many printing machine operators think consumables are just cartridges. But practically, they are more than that. Any product that a printing facility uses up and needs recurrently is included in the list of consumables. It means you cannot say you have all the consumables for printers while you only have some toner and ink cartridges.

Consumables for Printers Are Recyclable.

A recent study suggests that inkjet cartridges used across the world amount to approximately 1.3 billion per year including 20-30 percent being used for recycling purposes. According to the European Toner & Inkjet Remanufacturers Association, there are approximately 10,000 companies engaged in remanufacturing cartridges.

Even many reputable printer manufacturers including Lexmark, HP, OKI, etc. have introduced recycling programmes to collect used ink/ toner cartridges from various sources via freepost. It strongly supports the idea that printing businesses have better ways to use consumables than to let them find their places in landfills.

Consumables for Printers Brought by Printer Brands Are the Best.

Saving some money is the only advantage of relying on budget cartridges (ink and toner), but the disadvantages easily outweigh that benefit. The quality of cartridges is linked to that of printed materials. In addition, low-quality cartridges potentially damage the printing equipment, thereby invalidating the warranty.

Apart from these points, compatibility of consumables with your printer is essential. Companies making printing equipment often recommend certain consumables which are also made by them. Since those products are designed to be compatible with the machines, you can expect to have quality prints coming out of them. In this regard, a good practice is to contact the original manufacturer or get the brand-approved products from any of their authorised resellers.

Consumables Are Linked to the Quality of a Printing Machine.

Many printing business owners think they can get inexpensive consumables with only one goal – to save some operating cost on a day-to-day basis. We can consider an example. An average ink cartridge prints around a hundred pages while a standard one does double the amount.

Again, cartridges on budget inkjet machines may handle a few hundred pages whereas those on high-end printing machines may print up to 40,000 pages. Besides choosing a label or business form printing machine, you need high-capacity cartridges too since you want to reduce the cost/ page.

So, you see consumables have something to do with your printing equipment. You want to make an investment for the peripheral which does not essentially represent much of your printing burden over time. The operating expenses should be taken into consideration when choosing printing equipment because the frequency of replacing the consumables tells you how the prices of these products are going to impact the entire printing operation.

Ink Is More Important Than Most Businesses Consider.

Manufacturers that formulate inks usually patent them in their specifically designed cartridges so that they can be used with different printers in their lineup. Inks from different manufacturers may come at a cheaper price but are likely different.

Using those inks may result in a clogged print head. It is actually a fine sieve through which inks pass on their way to the paper. A clogged head only adds to imperfections in your printed materials. Common examples of imperfection include dots, smears, and streaks.

Some print heads are located in the printer while others are in the cartridge in which case repairs are often costly. However, you can still think about third-party consumables. You should consult the information and other specs that come with the manufacturer’s brochures.

So, this is pretty much what we wanted to tell you about consumables for printers. Before concluding, we would like to clear one more thing in case you have any confusion. Is a drum a consumable? Let’s get the answer.

A Drum Is More of a Spare Part Than a Consumable.

According to many print specialists, a drum should be on the list of business form printing machine spare parts rather than part of the list of consumables. Electrically charged, a drum helps transfer the toner right onto the surface of the print.

Many of the ink cartridge models come with a built-in drum which makes it a consumable, of course. Depending on the printing equipment, the consumable can be a standalone product and last anywhere from 11,000 to 24,000 pages. With a drum that is not a built-in component, you need to perform periodic cleaning and maintenance.

As long as you are concerned about consumables, you need to find a trusted providerfor these products and printing machines. Feel free to let us know if you need our assistance.