Anyone Ever Fixed A Laser Printer? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 11:58:54 pm
content: Someone gave me a Brother HL2070N network enabled laser printer that is a little messed up, italways prints the pages too light.It is not a terrific printer and laser printers are almost the cost of their replacement toner cartridges but I would like totry to keep this printer because it doesn't require me to turn on my printer server to print a fast page or two.Ithas a clone toner, but I don't really think that is the problem, but I don't want to invest in a new toner cartridge for fear that it is might not fix the problem. The print quality is ok, but very light in density.I am thinking that perhaps the HV supply for the print is too low and not attracting enough toner powder or else the laser is weak?If I print in bold, the print is quite readable.Anyone know how to fix this problem?BTW it is not a PC software issueand the drivers are latest updates available and there is no print quality adj. in the PC printer driver. When I press the power button several times to invokea diagnostic readout just from the printer firmware, it shows the same too light printing problem.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 12:30:46 am
content: Take the print cartridge out and give it a good shake. Some times, the ink just piles in the back of the cartridge and not enough toner come off each print. During the last few shakes, keep the cartridge level (at the level if it is installed) so the dry ink is distributed well in that orientation. This works very well for my HP and Brother (LJ4 compatible it was HL4000 I think).I also did some googling. Light print seems to be a common problem with that line of Brother. According to what I found Googling, many merely set the print density from default 0 to +5.

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 02:40:59 am
content: Thanks to all!I had to download the Brother BPAdministration3 software to set the configuration.Red Tape!But now it, at max densisty setting, the print output is readable.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 05:52:05 pm
content: I've had a Brother HL-1240 since 1999 and it has had few problems.Many of the Brother printers have separate toner and photoconductor (drum) parts so that makes them less expensive to run over time.

author: KuchateK
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 10:46:38 pm
content: Light printing is a common problem with alternative/recycled toners.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 11:24:13 pm
content: Quote from: KuchateK on July 07, 2013, 10:46:38 pmOR leaks.I have an HP2605 and I have had good luck with recycles until recently. I guess the recycled toner cartridge by now have been recycled too many times. The blue and magenta is worst than my other two. First magenta leak I wrote off as rare, but the second one leak just as much. The blue and magenta I have keep leaking (more than yellow and black) causing runs, and causing the color to be out of alignment after the power on auto calibration.Each time, I have to reset default, turn off the auto calibration, clean and vacuum, then it stay good for a week or two until the leaks get too bad again.When the blue/magenta are done leaking, then, I have to decide: do I spend ~ $250 buying 4 new cartridges, or is the printer worth keeping.

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 01:39:51 am
content: That's nothing! I have an older HP Scanner-Color Laser Printer CM1312 that I use to produce overlays for PCB etching that wants to spend a noisey half-hour calibrating and cleaning itself every day sometime after turn on and seems to charge me something like $.50 for each sheet of text printed and costs over $300 to replace all the three color + black toners.That's why I decided to get the no-so-nice printing Brother 2070N printing a little darker.

author: KuchateK
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 01:54:49 am
content: My favorite! Printers with toner everywhere.I think they put finer powder, or powder with not uniform size and that causes bad print quality and leaks from those recycled cartridges.There are some good companies recycling toners. They exchange bad toners without any questions. But most of the time after few good cartridges bad apple happens that requires extra time and money to fix the problem. That can eat up all the savings.I'm not necessarily against recycled toners, bigger companies can save ton of money on them (even if IT has to clean printers from time to time). But I think they are waste of money and/or time for home or small office.Another problem I experienced is when you try to print on fancier papers. We had recycled toners falling almost completely from our letterheads and genuine toners worked like a charm. This actually matters if you'll consider toner transfer or printing on transparencies.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 03:48:16 am
content: I used to hack Lexmark cartridges to fit other models. Dell and Lexmark used the same physical cartridges but would get an error because a chip. And some other cartridges would blow the eprom when they got low so you couldn't refill them.Other Lexmarks had a cutout to make sure you couldn't exchange cartridges. You simply had to pull the springs and swap the toner part to another and leave the end on that fit.I saved the organization some money figuring that out but I suspect they didn't care, it was a government facility. I saw tons of waste there. Once I even got in trouble for trying to save them some money. I was told it wasn't my job to save them money.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 04:32:43 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 08, 2013, 03:48:16 amThat's government. There is no such thing as too expensive when you are spending someone else's money. They can always get another tax increase.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 04:40:59 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 07, 2013, 05:52:05 pmOr sometimes more expensive, when the drum fails long before it's supposed to...

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 04:56:53 am
content: I used to work for a federal agency here in Portland. That was where I learned about the concept of "spend all your budget before the year's up or you'll lose it next year." I got a really fancy schmancy desktop because of that.I also witnessed a guy "working" overtime for three or four hours a day and collecting overtime, but he was just playing with model plane software. That still bothers me. If I hadn't have been a contractor I might have handled it differently.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 09:17:53 am
content: This thread is degenerating into the wonderful world of government business. Good that the original problem is already solved.Not just the federal government. State and local too.I received a mail from a township about 15 miles away. That school district "needs to replace all it's musical instrument" and is selling the old ones. According to the mail, they are selling all the instrument "in excellent shape and many under one year old": piano, clarinet...Needs to replace... in excellent shape...under one year old...Then there is this school at a relative's town about 100 miles away. Their students graduated as "math challenged" and "reading challenged" (ie, well below state average), but the school just got a new building with rotating performance stage in the theater and heated side walks. If they can't read, at least they can enjoy school performances. Geeze...If government is in charge of making Op-Amps, and we are well on the way in the USA for everything government... Op-Amps will be standardized to one size fits all. Bias Current and Bias voltage is illegal by law as bias is not a good thing. It will however have a voltage tax and current tax. The Op-Amp will be forced to volunteer to amplify any noise in the neighborhood at equal strength as the output must be diverse. Filtering noise is discriminatory and that must not be. The Op-Amp cost merely $25 a piece in quad. Single Op-Amp is illegal like 32oz coke drink - since no one should be using just one. Team is the way to go and so you must.Welcome to New York (where 32oz coke is illegal*). Welcome to America. Home of change you can believe in, but can't live with.* Actually, I think the court threw out the law (city ordinance) they tried to implement. But not being a New Yorker anymore, I am not sure.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 11:16:05 am
content: I work in the British Civil Service and have had past experience of recycled toner.Believe it or not my government employer has tried many times to save tax payers money and to be green, by buying recycled toner cartridges and recycled paper. Here is what resulted:1. Recycled toner cartridges leaked into printers and they got written off as there is no engineer with a toner Vac available to service them regularly in my service. It was a laudable idea but failed as the maintenance costs far outweighed the savings. Who wants to have to call an engineer regularly to do a vac on the printer ? As a side note, I saw someone using a domestic vacuum cleaner to remove toner from a contaminated printer.... before I could get to him there was smoke and sparks emanating from the vacuum motor. He had not realised that toner passes through re-usable vacuum cleaner bags and coats the motor with conductive plastic which is what toner really is. Upon examination the vacuum cleaners hot motor armature and commutator were covered in the, now fixed, toner. A total write off. The same can happen inside a laser printer that has suffered a severe toner leak. That cheap recycled cartridge can cost you a printer.2. Recycled paper can contain more paper dust and is often not as white as users would wish. Users don't like it.... too bad. BUT the printers did not like it either. Paper dust contaminated the feed path and rollers leading to miss-feeds. Engineer visits started to add up and any saving was lost along with any green savings due to the travel involved in site visits. Better quality recycled paper was procured. It was nice and white and had very little paper dust. t cost more to buy but it is both 'Green' and safe in the printers. A good result.I am a supporter of repairing scrapped equipment rather than it becoming landfill but recycling can have some negative aspects that the consumer may not be aware of. I have known many toner recyclers over the past 20 years and the good ones produce a good product that does not leak. They also test the image drums to see how much life is left in them. It was not good practice to recycle an image drum or cartridge more than once, as most parts are degraded due to wear and heat after two life cycles. Some less scrupulous recyclers are not so careful as they are making money from every cartridge they recycle.With regard to Government organisations spending all their budget at all costs. I am pleased to advise that my area of the Civil Service is a little more responsible with the public purse. We set realistic, business focussed and justified budgets, and spend at that predicted rate during the year. No last minute splurges, just getting the projects completed within budget and on time. It is very hard to achieve a 1% monthly accuracy of spend, but we do it and act responsibly with the public's money. I am a tax payer and regularly challenge anything that does not look good value for money. All Civil Servants and Government agencies are not the tax swallowing/wasting monsters that the British Press (Daily Mail in particular) would like you to believe.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 02:58:35 pm
content: Quote from: Aurora on July 08, 2013, 11:16:05 amOuch! I didn't know that. I use my regular household vacuum to clean my printer. Thus far, my vac is surviving. I am lucky, I suppose. I have to find a new ways now.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 04:32:42 pm
content: That is why when I have my cartridges refilled I get the one I sent in back, even if I have to wait 3 days for it ( I keep a spare for each at least) so that I put in a known quality unit. Some have been refilled 100 plus times by now, but if I see image issues like a streak on the side or lines I tell them, and then they replace the drum with a much better than original aftermarket one ( it is a lot harder wearing and lasts about 20 refills) and replace the wiper blades inside. I have had 4 faulty ones in 5 years, each time fixed with absolutely no hassle and immediately. Most common one I change is a Canon T and then a CE505A, as there are multiple printers that use them.

author: Fraser
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 04:52:14 pm
content: SeanB,You have an excellent rebuilderThe fact that they will return your original cartridge and that they will fit new wipers and quality image drums proves they know what they are doing.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 06:59:07 pm
content: I will also add they have not had any major price increases for years, and I know the people who do the work by sight and talking to them. Helps to build a good relationship.I have had bad experiences with others before trying them, and so far they are top quality.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 08:19:53 pm
content: Going back on topic, see attachment about what the Service Manual has to say about light print. The complete SM is a 9MB PDF file, so if you want it pm me an email address that can take 9MB.

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 08:54:43 pm
content: And the printer service manual has all the wrong answers.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 09:31:58 pm
content: Quote from: Paul Price on July 08, 2013, 08:54:43 pmWhy do you say that, did you try them all?

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 10:38:23 pm
content: Ok, what you posted has all the wrong answers.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2013, 10:44:09 pm
content: Oh well, only trying to help, not my loss

author: Paul Price
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 09, 2013, 01:09:42 am
content: PAOPBZ,Thanks for your very considerate help,I had not bothered to download the full support file because I have solved the problem.I thought I had notified everyone and thanked them on page 1 of this topic, but people still have posted comments.I am very grateful for your help.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 31, 2013, 05:12:27 am
content: Quote from: Rick Law on July 08, 2013, 09:17:53 amUpdate on my post (I heard on the radio today, and I confirmed it via a Google search):Earlier today (7/30/2012), the NY Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling made in March which refused to allow this ban to go into effect. That ruling was made the day before the ruling was to going into effect.With the NY Supreme Court ruling today, NY City Mayor Nanny's ban on 32oz coke (any suger drink that size or larger) is no more. Of course, Mayor Nanny may try again - change a word or two here and there, and now it is a whole new ordinance...