| Laser Printer Toner Spills Printers > Laser > Toner Spills |  | Navigation Icons Guide
|
Toner Spills
Laser printer toner is generally supplied in a cartridge and rarely seen as plain powder. Some of the larger printers and copier do take plain powder to keep running costs low, however the printer industry is heavily driven by the economic benefits of supplying proprietary cartidges.
One of the sales points in favour of cartridges is that it keeps people and toner powder apart. Toner cartridges installed by inexpert people have been known go horribly wrong and break lose from the printer. Cartridges will sometimes leak a bit.
There are two or three issues here:
Health - toner is generally considered non toxic, its basically a plastic like styrene mixed with a wax to prevent it sticking to the fuser and a colourant like carbon black. If the materials were toxic then they wouldn't be suited to printing. If in doubt search for the manufacturers "material safety data sheet" (see below). The main problem is that toner is a fine dust and such materials can be irritants in themselves even when the material itself is not a problem. Avoid breathing toner particles in. Minimise skin exposure as well.
Decoration and clothing are easily damaged by toner - after all its purpose it to give things a strong colour. Toner will discolour fabrics and if ubbed or warmed the stain will be permanent.
Printer performance will be damaged by a toner leak. The printer has several electrical connections, often looking like rather unimpressive metal strips. Toner on the electrical connections will stop them working properly. Immediately under the cartridge there is usually a transfer oller and if it gets coated in toner it won't work either.
Don't use a leaking cartridge.
Cleaning Up.
If the Spill is in or near the printer turn the printer off and unplug it. That stops any fan blowing toner around and removes any electrical hazard from using damp tissues etc.
Do Not use an ordinary vacuum cleaner for two reasons -
Filter bags in most cleaners aren't fine enough and the toner will become airborne and spread all over the place. There are special vacuum cleaners intended to deal with toner. Cleaners that don't emit particles larger than 1 micron should be suitable; they should not be able to emit toner powders which are usually several microns in diameter.
However
A strong mix of toner and air will be combustible and quite likely to ignite with a spark. Toner is intended to carry strong electric charges on it's surface. Vigorously stirring any quantity of toner in air is quite likely to produce an explosion. Special toner vacuums have motors rated as dust explosion proof and conductive hoses to dissipate charge to ground before an explosive condition exists.
Do Not use hot water - it will melt the toner in place.
Do Not ub vigorously with a cloth or hard brush - vigorous action will tend to melt and smear any wax components.
Instead
Consider wearing a mask and disposable plastic gloves if you are dealing with any quantity of unknown material. Better safe than sorry. On the other hand if the spill is small then it may be better to clear it before someone else accidentally disturbs it.
Small spills on glossy surfaces can be mopped up with a damp tissue. It's probably better not to use chemical wipes as they may dissolve components in the toner and leave a streak.
Spills can also be brushed up gently with a soft brush - a paintbrush works well. Avoid making the toner airborne.
Removing small spills of toner dust on clothing is probably best done outdoors in the dry. Tap and vibrate near and behind the area with the spill and the toner particles will jump off and blow away. In the urban outdoor environment toner particles will settle out and become one with the general mass of diesel and other combustion products, soil particles and microflora. The reason for doing things outdoors is to minimise exposure - so take care about which way the wind is blowing, don't just let stuff blow back into the building.
This manner of cleaning is exactly like the traditional way of cleaning a rug. Obviously if you have a rug covered with toner this technique may work but with material on that scale you need to consider the effect on your own breathing and your neighbours property. If your neighbour is a frequent user of Diesel engines, Stihl saws and grit blasters they will have little cause for complaint but otherwise it's not a good idea to spread toner around.
Large spills can be partly scooped up with paper and emptied into an envelope, then sealed and placed inside another envelope. If you work in a hospital then you have an "incinerate" waste stream and that would probably be best. If you don't have a waste stream that will obviously be incinerated then labelling the envelope as toner powder in big letters might help avoid it being re-spilled; people working in recycling sheds need to be considered as well.
Material Safety Data Sheet
Any issues of safety are best addressed by getting the manufacturers "Material Safety Data Sheet". The quickest way to get hold of it is usually to type the product code and the words material safety into a search engine - egQ7553A "material safety" filetype:pdf
Gets HP's data sheet for that toner straight away.
Cleaning Printers:
Small toner spills are often present in printers.
If the spill is trivial - some visible grains - there may be a printer cleaning mode. See the user manual on how to use this, there is often a little procedure where a piece of paper or transparency is passed through the printer a couple of times. The printer uses some unusual static charges to attract lose toner to the material.
Larger spills can be difficult to remove. If the toner quantity is small then a damp (not wet) tissue dabbed on the spill may help.
Engineering workshops tend to use compressed air lines to clean printers. If you have access to an air-line outdoors then consider it. The air should be clean (some air lines can create a mist of oil or water and that would damage the printer). It needs to be used outdoors and clear of people so that the toner made airborne is unlikely to be breathed in or contaminate anything (or no more likely than other small particles)
Compressed air can carry a static charge. Avoid blowing it at electronic components (if electronic components are contaminated that is a judgement call). Do not use excessive pressure. Do not blow compressed air at fan blades without holding them against rotation - a rapidly spinning fan generates a voltage that can destroy circuitry.
Composition:
The exact composition of most toners is proprietary and not openly declared.
The nature of the toner is a key factor in how a printer works and manufacturers don't want to give away information that would help competitors - or encourage "compatible" cartridges.
In the past some photocopier toners were said to be carcinogenic but that inspired quite a bit of research by manufacturers and most now say their toners are non toxic and not hazardous.
Toner is a low melting point microfine plastic. Typical components are
- clear polymer fragments with an even size in the range 5 to 15 microns
- colourants
- charge control coatings and additives to create electrical properties - typically nanometer sized particles adhered to the waxes to lower adhesion to the fuser roll and improve adhesion to paper
An alternate recipe
- Styrene-Acrylic Copolymer > 50%
- Magnetite < 50%
- Polypropylene/Ethylene Copolymer Wax <6%
- Dyestuff <3%
- Amorphous Silica < 2%
Apparently toner powder has become a popular body paint in some parts of the world. It may actually be completely harmless, or a lot less harmful than the alternatives if you really must look like a dragon. Until we're a bit clearer on exactly what it's made of we'd advise caution.
--© Graham Huskinson 2010
This page is like all those in the "book" section in being under development.
If you think this page is wrong in some respect or have better information on how things are done let us know. Click here.