What is Toner?

The ink of the laser printer is actually a very fine powder called toner. The primary components of toner are plastic, sand and rust. Toners have an electrostatic charge. Between the toner reservoir and the drum of the cartridge is the developer roller. The developer roller has a magnet inside it which attracts the already charged toner and increases the strength of the toner's charge. The doctor blade, located just above the roller surface, is adjusted to allow the correct amount of toner to be passed onto the drum. This adjustment is referred to as 'gapping' and it controls the flow and charging of toner. The electrostatic image is positively charged. The toner is negatively charged. Opposites attract, thus toner is drawn to the drum, changing the electrostatic image into a picture that can be seen on to the drum surface. The paper is now passing under the cartridge and over the machine corona wire. The corona wire in the machine applies a strong positive charge to the paper. This pulls the negative charged toner down off the drum and onto the sheet. The image can now be seen on the page. That how a page is printed! WOW!