OPC Drum is the brains of your laser printer

Organic Photoconductive (OPC) drum is considered to be the central processing unit of a laser printer. The drum inside the printer is charged with static electricity. The laser within the printer strikes the drum, magnetizing those parts of the drum where the toner is meant to stick. The toner sticks to the magnetized parts of the drum after the drum is made to roll over the toner. In the final stage, the toner gets fused to the paper by heat after the drum is rolled over the paper.

The entire image formation process consists of five stages: cleaning, conditioning, writing, developing and transferring. The OPC drum performs many tasks throughout each active rotation. In the conditioning stage it is exposed to a high charge of 600 to 750 volts. In the image writing stage, a laser beam constantly exposes the inner organic layer. Finally in the transfer stage, the excess toner is removed from the OPC drum by a neoprene wiper blade with the help of a coarse paper which is passed over the drum.

Over the course of a printer's life the OPC drum may need replacing. Depending on the printer some drums are located inside the toner cartridge while others are not. If the drum is contained inside the cartridge the expense of replacing cartridges can be quite expensive. This can lead to unnecessary expense since the drum does not always need to be replaced when the toner needs replenishment. In these instances a toner refill kit can save you considerably since the cartridge can then be reused numerous times saving the added expense of a new cartridge.

Also see: [Cheap Toner Cartridge] [Laser Toner Refill]