The info page on my Brother 2035 shows the drum has been used by about
3/4. Can drums be used beyond that point and still work - like toner carts can go way beyond the limit and print pretty well anyway?Is there a way to override the drum "gone" mechanism that I am expecting to popup the instant I need to print somthing important :-) thanks
I am not sure that it enforces its policy one you..some do, some dont.
Old drums start to get stripy and a bit faint IIRC. The output is usable but not 'professional;'
You'll probably get about a third more than you've had so far...
Drum failure is gradual, so depending on application, you might keep using it for years despite. For Brother to have a "hard fail" at
100.00% expected lifetime would be not-buying-one-of-those-again perverse, but admittedly not impossible.
Most printers warn when you have reached a certain page count, but usually carry on regardless. Eventually the output will fade, or you ill get printing defects like stripes etc down the page.
If the printer insists the drum is changed, there'll be a reset procedure which you should be able to use with the old drum.
Old HPs were weird, they would flag up a service requirement at a certain page count, you could re-set the flag but only after the page count had been reached. This meant that if an item (say a fuser unit) had to be replaced early, you couldn't tell the printer that it had been done - and then later on the printer would say the item needed replacement, even though it was only a short way through its life.
On the subject of old HPs, I have a Laserjet 4 dating from 1992. It doesn't get used much, but is having a very short drum life. For example, I put in a cartridge, print maybe 1000 sheets, and after a year the prints are stripey. I clean off toner from the drum with the little brush, but it comes back again after a few pages. I thought it might be using remanufactured cartridges that's the problem, but even genuine HPs (from ebay) are just as bad.
Is it just that the cartridge stocks are all old now and past it, or might something in the printer be damaging the drums?
Theo
I have two of these (well, LJ4+) (and half a dozen spares) and I have never seen that problem. I print several times that amount per year, changing the cartridge about every nine months when it runs out of toner.
Of course, when you change the cartridge on one of those, you change the drum too. The little brush is only meant to clean the little spiky 'fence' when you change cartridges.
I would guess that muck is getting on from elsewhere. I'd suspect the transfer roller, which is relatively inexpensive, and easy to replace (just hook up the silver shaft end with the other end of the brush). You can try cleaning it but only with a clean dry lint-free cloth, being careful to avoid greasy fingers.
Thanks, I'll have a look. A while back I did a full overhaul - replace all the electrolytics in the power supply, and a new roller kit. I think I did the transfer roller too, BICBW. Or maybe the kit had a dud roller.
Theo
I've just been having a look... there's toner stuck on to the drum that even a cotton bud +/- meths won't shift. I can scrape it off with the edge of a piece of paper.
My previous non-HP cartridge, which has been lying around, has lots of small scratches on the drum. It prints OK apart from a thickly specked 1cm deep streak every drum rotation.
The toner transfer roller got replaced when I fitted the roller kit, and is nice and spongy foam. So this seems to be the prime suspect... I think it's making the drum sticky when it's parked up for weeks at a time.
Theo
When you're not using it, take the toner cartridge out and store it in a sealed, lightproof bag.
Trouble is, I won't know that I'm not using it until the next time I'm using it, at which point it's too late :( I suppose I could take the toner out every time, but that's a little overkill.
It mostly gets used for the occasional random page, like printing off a map before I'm about to dash out the door, so usage isn't too predictable.
Theo
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.