In September 2009, a soy-based toner created with soybean oil became available for select laser printers.

For more than a decade, the Ohio Soybean Council has worked in partnership with Battelle to develop an environmentally-friendly toner using soybeans.

Agabar has partnered with West Point Products who has released the AgriTone premium replacement toner cartridges with BIO-BASED TONER.

AgriTone is a series of re-manufactured laser toner cartridges containing toner that is 35 percent or more bio-based. In 2008 alone,  more than 900,000 cartridges were collected through the Empty Core Collection Program and recycled more than 1 million pounds of raw materials from the manufacturing process.  AgriTone replaces traditional petroleum based toner with environmentally friendly bio-based toner.

The AgriTone product is available for the following printers:

* HP LaserJet 1000 / 1200 Series

* HP LaserJet 1012 /1012 Series

* HP LaserJet 1300 HY Series

* HP LaserJet 4200 Series

* HP LaserJet 4250 Series

* HP LaserJet 4300 Series

* HP LaserJet 4350 Series

* HP LaserJet 4345 MFP

In the future, other releases will include popular small work group printers by other manufacturers.

Soy based toner increases the ease in which paper is recycled compared to petroleum-based toners, resulting in cleaner and brighter pulp for future use in a variety of second-hand products.  It also increases energy independence by alleviating the need for petroleum based toner.

This technology represents a significant leap forward in providing the printer and copier industry with a high performance bioderived toner with excellent image quality.  OSC and Battelle won an R&D 100 award for the toner technology in 2003 and OSC, Battelle and Advanced Image Resources Inc. won a Presidential Green Chemistry Award for the soy toner technology in 2008 from the EPA.

For pricing and availability, give Agabar a call at 800-503-6384

How to install fuser maintenance kit on the HP LaserJet 4200 4250 4350 4300

Turn the printer off and unplug the power cord. The fuser might be hot if you have been using the printer. As a safety precaution wait 30 minutes for the fuser to cool before proceeding.

Important Note: After you install your new fuser, you may hear excessive gear noise if the printer’s Swing Plate Drive Gear is worn out. The new gears on the new fuser may not mesh well with worn-out drive gears in your printer, causing grinding or rumbling noises. The most common culprit is the black plastic swing plate gear pictured below. This gear is a high failure rate part. So if you install a new fuser, and you begin hearing a grinding noise, you’ll want to examine your swing plate drive gear for wear and tear.

When handling the replacement transfer roller be careful not to touch the black roller surface. Oils from your skin can adversely affect print quality. Some people recommend wearing latex gloves when handling the transfer roller but it isn’t necessary if you are careful to only touch the ends. It is unlikely that you would ever notice poor print quality from accidentally touching the transfer roller’s surface.

Insert the right end of the new transfer roller first. Follow with the left end, making sure the black plastic clip at the left end of the roller is oriented with the open end facing down. When the transfer roller is seated comfortably in its slot, press down on the black plastic clip to snap the clip in place.

Resetting the maintenance count.

If the display panel on your HP LaserJet reads “perform printer maintenance”, “perform user maintenance”, or anything along those lines it means your printer needs a preventative maintenance kit. Once you have installed the maintenance kit the message will only go away if you reset the maintenance count. (Even if the message is not being displayed, the maintenance count needs to be reset.)

Reset the maintenance count on an HP LaserJet 4200, 4300, 4250, 4350

1. Turn the printer off.

2. Turn the printer back on and, as the memory begins counting, press & hold down the checkmark button while the memory is counting. The memory starts counting at 000MB immediately after you turn the power on. If you press the checkmark buttong too soon – before the memory starts counting – this procedure won’t work.

3. Continue to hold down the checkmark button until all three LEDs are illuminated.

4. Release the checkmark button.

5. Press the up arrow (Navigation) button until the message “New Maintenance Kit” appears on the control panel display.

6. Press the checkmark button once.

A message “New Maintenance Kit ” will appear in the control panel display and the printer will be reset.

Once the maintenance count has been reset the “Perform Printer Maintenance” message won’t appear again until the maintenance interval has been reached (200,000 pages on a LaserJet 4200, 4250, 4300, and 4350 series printers).