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Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: olnacl
Date: February 19, 2012 02:07PM
I read that you can cover the window to override the low toner shutoff. I have a friend experiencing that and they will need specific instructions. Is this the window to be taped over? Picture is looking at the cartridge from the right (non gear) side. TIA!

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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: LaserKun
Date: February 19, 2012 02:09PM
Yep, that's it. Works good, just don't try to go too long with it. You will soon need a new cartridge. Maybe 100 - 200 pages.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: Chakravartin
Date: February 19, 2012 02:17PM
Quote
LaserKun
Yep, that's it. Works good, just don't try to go too long with it. You will soon need a new cartridge. Maybe 100 - 200 pages.

I've gone almost 600 pages since my low-toner light came on.

Prints are only just now starting to look a little light.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: olnacl
Date: February 19, 2012 02:34PM
Thanks all! I emailed my friend.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: GGD
Date: February 19, 2012 02:54PM
Quote
Chakravartin
Quote
LaserKun
Yep, that's it. Works good, just don't try to go too long with it. You will soon need a new cartridge. Maybe 100 - 200 pages.

I've gone almost 600 pages since my low-toner light came on.

Prints are only just now starting to look a little light.

I got over 1100 pages from an original "starter" TN-350 cartridge. The initial out of toner light came on at 1549 pages, with tape over the holes it printed well until about 2665 pages. Made me wonder if those "starter" cartridges really have less toner in them.


Also a tip, it's sometimes easier to tape over the corresponding holes in the Drum unit that let the light in to the Toner windows. The plastic on the sides of the Drum is usually nice and flat and easier to tape.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: olnacl
Date: February 19, 2012 03:44PM
Interestingly, my 5250 DN shipped with a TN-550. I've had it for three years and still have the original cartridge it shipped with, thus my unfamiliarity with the toner window. I just checked and my page count is 778.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: LaserKun
Date: February 19, 2012 03:45PM
Oh well, I was trying to be a tad too conservative I guess. I actually could not remember how many pages after the tape, but it does work.

GGD, that's a good tip too about taping over the holes in drum unit. Aren't these Borther printers great? My MFC 7840W (or whatever the model is; and W stands for wifi) has been a real workhorse. It even scans wirelessly.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: PeterB
Date: February 19, 2012 04:37PM
A couple of passing mentions:

1) When you tape over the hole, you really have to block the laser well-- regular tape may not do it. I had to use several layers of paper covered with tape.

2) There's a toner reset procedure so as to get the printer to see it as a "new" cartridge-- Google for it, and you'll find it (it may be specific by printer model)



Freya says, 'Hello from NOLA, baby!' (Laissez bon temps rouler!)
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: GGD
Date: February 19, 2012 04:51PM
Quote
PeterB
1) When you tape over the hole, you really have to block the laser well-- regular tape may not do it. I had to use several layers of paper covered with tape.

I use vinyl electrical tape, it's very opaque.
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: Buzz
Date: February 19, 2012 08:32PM
Quote
olnacl
Interestingly, my 5250 DN shipped with a TN-550. I've had it for three years and still have the original cartridge it shipped with, thus my unfamiliarity with the toner window. I just checked and my page count is 778.

I'll loan you our teenager... your food bill and page count will both go up very quickly. We save most of Baby Buzz's surplus/wasted/accidental/unneeded, etc. pages, and print Mrs. Buzz's work stuff on it, to at least cut down on paper waste; now just gotta work on toner and electricity. A lot of the kid's school stuff is now online, and he thinks it's easier to print it all out, and then pick what he needs... 778 is two month's worth.

///
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: olnacl
Date: February 19, 2012 10:18PM
Success! I heard back from my friend after sending the instructions and a couple pictures. They are printing again.
Thanks all!
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Re: Brother toner window trick for low toner shut down
Posted by: GGD
Date: February 19, 2012 10:35PM
Quote
olnacl
Success! I heard back from my friend after sending the instructions and a couple pictures. They are printing again.
Thanks all!

Tell them to give it a little side-to-side shake to spread out the toner and slide the corona cleaning button back and forth to stretch this out even longer.

BTW: This is what is really going on with the Brother cartridges, due to the printer design, they will never be totally empty, they collect "waste toner" during the printing process. This is also why you need to completely empty the old toner if you do your own refills.

What we're doing with the tape is just continuing to use this mixture of waste and new toner until the print quality degrades rather than when a certain level is reached. Here is a good technical summary.

Quote

Brother use a system of returning the residual print waste toner from the drum, to the toner supply hopper, via a charge brush which is in contact with the drum and charged differently during the clean cycle of the drum. The charged residual toner is transferred back to the developer roller and dropped back into the supply hopper. This is why most Brother cartridges, unlike most makes, do not have a waste toner hopper in the drum unit. When the toner is getting low, the electronics increase the charge on the developer roller to compensate for the mix of waste and good toner. This process continues until the maximum charge can no longer be accepted by the toner. This results in the charge brush failing to operate properly and hence waste toner is not returned to the toner hopper, but remains on the drum. This causes the backgrounding which appears on the printed page. Even blocking the low toner sesor will not prevent this from happening. This is a brief description of a rather lengthy complicated prcess. Submitted by Robbo.
[www.fixyourownprinter.com]
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