Dremel Drilling Question

You have got to be kidding, or maybe it was a typo. A one INCH hole? Wow.

GWE

Instead, why not buy a recycled toner cartridge for your machine, once, and then refill it after that. It will already have the proper hole drilled in it, and won't be full of plastic dust, either.

Refilling cartridges is a good way to save money, so long as you keep your toner bins free of foreign material. Drilling, sawing, or grinding a hole is almost certain to result in some chips in the toner supply. It's almost impossible to sift them out. Dump the toner and try again until get all of the little particles out. You can expect that chips will quickly gouge grooves in your drum, and then you will be shopping for a new cartridge.

Some toner supply outfits (tonerrefillkits.com is one) sell a tool to melt a nice clean hole through the plastic. The tool is simply a soldering iron with a tip consisting of a small copper cup in place of the sharp soldering tip. The rim of the cup melts a nice smooth hole with no crumbs. Each supply of toner comes with some stoppers that fit the holes exactly. They sell their tool for about 1/10th the cost of a Dremel, and it works better.

Pat

MUCH better. A 5/8" or 3/4" copper pipe cap brazed to a 140 watt weller soldering tip works pretty well for the job. Works even nicer if you run the edge on a belt sander to sharpen it up a bit.

Not familiar with the present day models of Dremel, once you have a couple, you really don't need to go back to that well again for a long time. Get the one that is the normal grinder type tool and holds 1/8" bits at the largest. It will also come with other collets to hold stuff down to almost

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

I think that he *really* meant that size. And a Dremel is *not* the tool you need for this. It does not produce the needed torque for hole saws even that small. You could use a very small burr and follow a circular path (perhaps with some form of template), but you would still get black swarf (grinding waste) mixed in with your black toner, making this a quick way to ruin the cartridge, as others have said.

I agree that soldering iron heat sounds like the best way to do it -- either with the special modified soldering iron that the toner vendors sell, or make your own as others have suggested.

The Dremel is a nice tool for *some* tasks (though there are better tools for those tasks), but is is a terrible choice for what you want to do.

Good Luck, DoN.

Wow, thank you Pat! That is fantastic! I have ordered from refilltonerkits before. However, I did not realize they sold a tool that melted the plastic. Must be a relatively new thing. This is very exciting and I'll seriously consider it.

Steven

Thanks guys, all your responses have been very helpful. I think I'm going to try to melt my way into the cartridge as others have said.

Steven

"Bob" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@j8g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Here's a good place to buy recycled:

Other's have already replied with suggestions to melt the hole, but no one seems to have mentioned opening the cartridge. The cartridge for my Samsung laser printer can be refilled by removing a few screws, carefully pouring in the toner, followed by closing the cartridge.

Don't do this in the house either. Do it in the garage or outdoors :-D.

Chris

Hi, Buying a Dremel is going a little overboard for drilling a 1/8th piece of plastic. There are really nifty little hand drills at most hardware stores that come with several drill bits. They are designed for drilling small holes. My refill kit came with a little drill bit enclosed...

LLBrown

On Sun, 9 Jul 2006 22:47:47 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Leonard & Peggy Brown" quickly quoth:

Buying a new tool for one job is a collector's way of adding to his collection. Roll with it, eh, Len&Peg?

HF has their knockoff on sale for 1/2 price (down to $7.95) quite often. I had to use one of the included diamond bits to clear out my collets, but the little screamer works just fine.

----------------------------------------------------------------- When I die, I'm leaving my body to science fiction. --Steven Wright ----------------------------

Sorry I forgot the creed, "when in doubt go overboard." Heck, I suggest the feller get himself a nice drill press to do the job right AND don't forget the drill press vice! : )

LLBrown in Laredo

There aren't any screws in the opening. Believe me, if there were an easier way, I'd take it.

Steven

I was referring to the "screws" which were used to hold the entire cartridge together. This may not necessarily apply to the cartridge for your printer, but it's worth checking, before you drill a hole.