Printer toner as a PC?

[wyrmzr]

I was thinking earlier (I know, that's dangerous), and I work on printers for a living. Laser printers use static electricity to stick toner to the paper, then heat the toner to make it bond.
This sounds a lot like powder coat, but possibly thinner, and with maybe a little less heat.
Has anyone actually tried using laser printer toner as a PC? If not, I may have to give it a try, as I throw away a LOT of black toner in any given year, and just emptying the waste toner bottle on some printers could easily give half a pound of the stuff.

[Spawn-Inc]

sounds like it should work great and your the guy to try it


any chance you can remove the high voltage static parts and make a spray gun and or static bowl?

[wyrmzr]

You know, I may well wind up tearing apart a printer soon... Then again, maybe I won't have to, since I am likely to wind up with all the required components to try just that before too long.
The big thing with making a spray gun or static bowl is I'll have to see how the production stuff is made first, but I'd bet I can modify old printer components to work the same way. Whether or not it would be economical would be the real question. For most people, I suspect that would not be the case. However, since I always wind up with those components one way or another, I'll likely have the necessary components to at least experiment some before too long.

[DeanWinchester]

Good god don't let the hippies read this! 3d printed guns and now you're printing deadly cop killer ammunition.



LOL!!!!!

[wyrmzr]

Hey, the boolits will even be black, since that's the majority of toner used! Hmm.... if I can PC boolits with that toner, I may have a lifetime supply of paint for anything I can fit in an oven!

[RED333]

I was thinking of this to other day, but I would have to buy a cartage.

[bangerjim]

Just an engineer's thought or two.........printer toner powder IS very abrasive. Unlike the black polyester/epoxy powders we use, that stuff is heavily carbon-based and the stuff I have seen in the 3 different styles of black toner carts our laser printers/faxs/copiers feels very abrasive. I would not want to shoot that stuff in my guns.

Besides, HF powder is only $3.99/pound.......much cheaper than the $100 toner carts I buy for the office!

And you can easily scrape off of the printed paper the fused black print with your fingernail. It is totally a different formulation than the plastic-based powder we so love! I do not think it will stick to metal tight/strong enough to survive a trip down your barrel. A drop of laq thinner, alcohol,or acetone and the print is totally dissolved.

But go ahead & try it...........and we will all go to school on you!

Let us know what you end up with. ESPC HF matte black works just GRRRRRRRRRREAT! And is dirt cheap.

banger

[RED333]

Just an engineer's thought or two.........printer toner powder IS very abrasive. Unlike the black polyester/epoxy powders we use, that stuff is heavily carbon-based and the stuff I have seen in the 3 different styles of black toner carts our laser printers/faxs/copiers feels very abrasive. I would not want to shoot that stuff in my guns.

Besides, HF powder is only $3.99/pound.......much cheaper than the $100 toner carts I buy for the office!

And you can easily scrape off of the printed paper the fused black print with your fingernail. It is totally a different formulation than the plastic-based powder we so love! I do not think it will stick to metal tight/strong enough to survive a trip down your barrel. A drop of laq thinner, alcohol,or acetone and the print is totally dissolved.

But go ahead & try it...........and we will all go to school on you!

Let us know what you end up with. ESPC HF matte black works just GRRRRRRRRRREAT! And is dirt cheap.

banger

The very answer I was looking for, thanks much

[Garyshome]

May not be as durable as PC though. You never know how it will work until you give it a try!

[wyrmzr]

Just an engineer's thought or two.........printer toner powder IS very abrasive. Unlike the black polyester/epoxy powders we use, that stuff is heavily carbon-based and the stuff I have seen in the 3 different styles of black toner carts our laser printers/faxs/copiers feels very abrasive. I would not want to shoot that stuff in my guns.

Besides, HF powder is only $3.99/pound.......much cheaper than the $100 toner carts I buy for the office!

And you can easily scrape off of the printed paper the fused black print with your fingernail. It is totally a different formulation than the plastic-based powder we so love! I do not think it will stick to metal tight/strong enough to survive a trip down your barrel. A drop of laq thinner, alcohol,or acetone and the print is totally dissolved.

But go ahead & try it...........and we will all go to school on you!

Let us know what you end up with. ESPC HF matte black works just GRRRRRRRRRREAT! And is dirt cheap.

banger

Cost of toner (in this case free) is why I was thinking about trying it. I have been researching the contents of the toners, and at least some of them do contain metal, which is why I'm doing the research first; for all I know, they could contain abrasive and/or acidic materials, but they don't seem to be too forthcoming about the ingredients.
Since the toner contents vary from company to company, I'm hoping I can find one that isn't going to be abrasive.
Again, cost not being an issue, if I could recycle some toner from someone's overflow, rather than them throwing it away, then it'd be good all around.

:Edit:
I'm looking up those ingredients now, and it appears that, with newer printers at least, the toner is no longer carbon based, but is instead a polymer. If that applies to the new printers I'm emptying the overflows on, then it is very similar to PC. The question still remains whether there are other, abrasive/corrosive materials in the toners, though...

[bangerjim]

Please keep us informed! Toner manufacturer's evidently use some semi-proprietary compounds. Hope you can get to the bottom!

thanks for your research. I just throw the carts away when they are empty. I am sure there is still some powder in there. I use Canon, Brother, and generic ones from the big box paper stores. I have had absolutely NO luck getting them refilled locally......what a waste of time and $$. Imaging drums are made to last only for about one run.

bangerjim

[RED333]

Coat a few, them rub them on a piece of ALU and see if it scratches it.
Try some brass to see if the coat scratches that as well, them move on to
steel.

[wyrmzr]

Coat a few, them rub them on a piece of ALU and see if it scratches it.
Try some brass to see if the coat scratches that as well, them move on to
steel.

That would likely be a good initial test, at least. I'm not totally gung ho about the idea, but I figured it's an interesting experiment, considering that, for me, it would be a free source of PC if it works.
Most of what I service ends up being Lexmark, so far no joy as far as finding out what's in their toner, aside from polymer and wax in the newer stuff. The real key may be in what they use to color the toner; apparently, iron was, and may still be, used in black toner for some manufacturers.
The test bench may be my 91/30, but even with the fairly inexpensive gun, I'd rather not just fire any old materials through it.
For the record, if you ever get toner on your clothes, wash them in COLD water. Warm water can make the toner stick, as can running them through the dryer if the toner isn't fully cleaned out.. Learned these things the hard way over the years, and I now wear a lot of dark clothing for work.

[bangerjim]

Just remember, HF powder is only $3.99/pound right now and a pound will coat thousands and thousands of boolits with BBDT method!!!!!!

With ESPC, I lost count on my bottle of black!

That's almost "free"!

banger

[wyrmzr]

Yeah, I haven't even started to cast yet, much less PC. But the fact that toner and PC both are applied in a similar manner made me wonder if it would work.
I just picked up a 16 oz. bottle of red from HF yesterday; already have an old toaster oven, and got the plastic BBs today. Just the red itself is a very large number of PC'd boolits for a start, but my curiosity is piqued with the whole toner thing, and whether it will work.

[bangerjim]

You will have success with the red. That is the go-to powder for just about everybody starting out......and some "old" tymers, too!

Let us know when you get around to testing the toner.

banger

[Dapaki]

ARISE DEAD THREAD!!

OK, I just couldn't wait for my PC paint to arrive via the mail so I cracked open a spent toner cart and did the dry tumble method on some 200gr 350 Legend boolits. Other than looking a little lumpy, they turned out fine and they left the bore SHINY! No fouling at all, just a few flakes of powder. Very happy with the result.

[fredj338]

Well PC is cheap, toner ink is expensive. Maybe for you though??

[Phlier]

ARISE DEAD THREAD!!

OK, I just couldn't wait for my PC paint to arrive via the mail so I cracked open a spent toner cart and did the dry tumble method on some 200gr 350 Legend boolits. Other than looking a little lumpy, they turned out fine and they left the bore SHINY! No fouling at all, just a few flakes of powder. Very happy with the result.

That's great! Man, I could probably get a bunch of spent toner cartridges for free, too. Nicely done! Did you happen to do any of the abrasive tests mentioned earlier in the thread? Kinda surprised the OP never got back to this thread with his results.

Well PC is cheap, toner ink is expensive. Maybe for you though??

"Spent" toner cartridges always have quite a bit of residual toner powder left in them when they're thrown out. It's not hard to find them for free.

[Dapaki]

It was a spent toner cart so it was free.... actually, its was less than free!