Printer Cartridge Parts Galore – Berto asks what is an OPC?

Printer Cartridge Parts Galore – Berto asks what is an OPC?

What is an OPC? Or a PCR? These are just two of the many components that live and work inside your laser printer cartridge. Yes, it’s easy to get confused, Berto, with all the parts involved, but unless you are recycling and remanufacturing the cartridge for reuse, you don’t need to worry about it. Leave that to the experts.

The cartridge itself is a component of the laser printer. It is a consumable component. Toner cartridges contain a powder called toner which is a fine, dry mixture of plastic particles, carbon, and black or other coloring agents that make the actual image on the paper.

But a toner cartridge is a very complex component which in turn is made up of many components, toner being just one of them. There are two main parts to a cartridge. One is the toner hopper containing the toner and the other is the waste bin.

The toner hopper also has an OPC or Organic Photoconductor Drum which receives an electrical charge then picks up the toner and transfers it to the page. The PCR is a rubber roller inside the toner cartridge which places the electrical charge onto the OPC. It also erases the residual charge once the print cycle is complete.

A wiper blade will wipe the excess toner off the drum before it gets charged again. The waste toner is pushed into the waste hopper.

You can read more and see diagrams about the workings of a cartridge here.

Berto #66: July 5, 2018: Printer Cartridge Parts Galore – Berto asks what is an OPC?

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