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New UserFriendly™ Seal and Super High Yield OpWheel™ Offered by LaserLand

Sylvan Lake, Mich. — LaserLand Inc is pleased to announce the release of its new UserFriendly™ Seal and the OpWheel™.

The UserFriendly Seal

The UserFriendly seal assembly has distinct advantages over previous seals. First, the seal, now available for the PX, employs a rigid plastic brace rather than cardboard as is common in other seals. The UserFriendly Seal has a built-in handle for the end user to pull during cartridge installation. The release liner that protects the adhesive is easily removed, which is why the product is called UserFriendly.

The PX version is available and ready to ship. Initial cost is 60 cents per seal in quantities of 25. UserFriendly Seals for other cartridge types will be released at a later date. The UserFriendly Seal is protected by United States patent number 5,296,902 and Re35,529. Other patents are pending.


The UserFriendly Seal


Fig 1: Optra S low yield optical wheel


Fig. 2: Optra S high yield optical wheel


The modified OEM optical wheel ready for the OpWheel application


The UserFriendly Seal

The OpWheel

A sensor in the Optra S toner cartridge is making remanufacturing difficult. There are two versions of the Optra S cartridge: the low yield and the high yield. The low yield cartridge has a sensor that tells the printer that a low yield cartridge has been installed. The printer will then output the page yield of the low yield cartridge even if, through remanufacturing, much more toner remains. Figures 1 and 2 show the optical wheels of the low yield and the high yield toner cartridges.

The design of the optical wheel is based on light. Light shines through the very slowly turning optical wheel and the low-yield wheel will disable the printer when it reaches the missing slot that is present in the high-yield toner cartridge. Steve Michlin of LaserLand has received numerous calls regarding this problem. Many methods have been tried, including punching a hole in the OEM low-yield wheels. However, the original plastic is too thick to properly effect this as a method. After testing several techniques, Steve developed a thin piece of plastic with pressure-sensitive adhesive that adheres to the OEM wheel. The OpWheel simulates the configuration of the OEM wheel.

To install the OpWheel, simply cut the notch in the OEM wheel as shown in Figure 3. Remove the release paper from the OpWheel as in Figure 4 and place it flush over the OEM wheel so that the grooves overlap properly. The OEM component with the OpWheel installed will now allow a low yield Optra S cartridge to be used as a high yield cartridge. The OpWheel is patent pending.

Super High Yield OpWheel: LaserLand's Super High Yield OpWheel enables the remanufacturer to offer a greater value than the OEM high yield cartridge. A cartridge remanufactured with the Super High Yield OpWheel will increase the capacity of the remanufactured cartridge beyond the OEM.

For more information, call (800) 608-6637, (248) 738-5800 or fax to (248) 738-5801.

This article originally appeared in the September 1998 issue of Recharger.