Whether you do a lot of printing at home or the office, or just the occasional print job here and there, chances are at some point you will need to change a toner cartridge and that means there is a chance you will get toner on yourself or on something else. Toner can be hard to clean up but there is a right and a wrong way to do everything. So whether you use Xerox toner cartridges or some other toner or ink product this article will help you take care of the mess and stay looking good.
First off determine what you are actually dealing with. People use “toner” as a catch-all term now like Coke or Kleenex. However not every printer and copier uses toner. Technically, toner is a powdered, dry substance. It is usually used in laser printers and it is activated by heat which is what makes it stay on the page like printed ink.
If you spill any toner, the worst thing you can do is use water (or any liquid) to clean it up. As a dry powder, toner is relatively easy to clean up. But once it gets wet it mixes with the water to make liquid ink, which will stain. So do not put water on it! Instead, if it is on your clothing, go somewhere you can remove the article of clothing and shake it. Shaking will remove most of the toner. Then you can follow up by using a dry cloth or paper towel to brush the area. Do not push hard, that will rub it in. Just gently brush it. This will remove almost all the toner. If there is any left, next time you do laundry put some stain remover on it. It should be as good as new.
If the cartridge you are dealing with has a liquid inside, that is actually ink, not toner. Ink can be far harder to clean up than toner but the good news is it is less likely to leak out. If a small amount does get on you do not worry. Go immediately to the washroom and dampen a paper towel with very cold water. Use this to gently dab at the ink and you will blot up most of it. Once you can actually remove the clothing, run it under cold water to rinse more out. Club soda also works. It is best to do this as soon as possible so the ink does not set in. Later, when you do laundry treat it with stain remover and the rest will come out.
There is a third kind of toner that is used in some machines and that is known as Xerox Phaser ink. Phaser ink is actually a solid, dry block of ink. This is most common in graphic design companies and other situations where high-quality, efficient printing is a necessity.
Phaser ink is kind of a different beast. You should not need to clean it up under normal circumstances because it can be held in the hand without staining or rubbing off. It only inks things when it is subjected to high temperature. However, if some has melted it is possible for it to stain slightly. If that happens you can minimize the damage. Do not rub it in, instead pre-treat it with cold water or club soda as described above. Then you can launder it with stain remover but the key is to put it through cold water only! Do not use a warm water or hot water setting or the stain will set all the more.
No matter what kind of toner or ink you are using, whether it is LaserJet toner cartridges or something else, the single best thing you can do to avoid mess is to protect yourself in the first place. This means if you are going to handle a printing cartridge, roll up your sleeves and hold it away from your body. If you are wearing your Sunday finest it is not a good idea to handle a cartridge even though the risk of leakage is low. Similarly, hold the cartridge over a surface you do not care about (a waste basket or side table, not an important document). If you need to shake the cartridge, do it gently, not vigorously. And never yank on a cartridge or try t pry it open.
Follow these steps and you will never be the guy at the office with the embarrassing stain on his tie. Instead, you get to be the savvy one.