Differences Between Toner Cartridges and Drum Units

It is a commonly known fact that when a print job is sent to the printer, then the outcome is that the exact requested facts come out on the page. But how is this possible? A printer’s two primary components are responsible for making it happen, namely the toner cartridges and the drum units. These are not percussive instruments. Hence, let us look into the differences between a toner cartridge and a drum unit.

A Brief Note on How the Laser Printer Works
Static electricity helps the laser printers to operate. The static electricity signals to the drum to start rolling. Right from there, the laser starts drawing the print job by making use of a small beam of light. Once the light has been drawn, the drum will be coated with toner powder by the printer. Then the drum rotates and pulls a page through for pressing the toner into the desired shape or text from the laser for creating the print. This is how laser printers do their job in simplistic terms. So, how is the deal with the toner cartridges and the drum units?

Toner Cartridges
The toner cartridges contain the toner powder which ultimately becomes your images or texts. The powder remains in the reservoir in the form of plastic particles in its primary stage until the particles are attracted to the paper by the electrostatic charge. The toner cartridge is the part to be replaced on the printer since it is consumable, while the drum unit need not be changed nearly as often.

Drum Unit
The drum unit is not the color component, the drum units are the components making the images and texts sticking to the page. For example, the printer’s width is the drum units – generally of the standard papers’ width. Once the printer triggers the static electricity, then the laser starts performing its sketch. The drum begins its rolling mechanism from here to attract the toner particles to the page’s appropriate spots based on the static electricity as the laser sketch has formed.

Generally, the toner particles are the negative charge, but the drum units exert a positive charge. Thus, the attraction takes place through the electrostatic charges. Since the toner cartridge consists of toners in a limited amount inside them so the drums last longer. For bright prints, the toner cartridges should be refilled. The toner cartridges are the consumables but the drums are not.