Our 12 y.o. Brother MFC is pretty much perfect as an all around B&W laser printer, scanner, fax, copier..., but in its advanced age, it jams the first time it's used every day, or so. It seems to pick up an extra sheet of paper that gets stuck in its innards, and has to be removed. Thereafter, it will print OK for the rest of the day. Sometimes when printing late enough in the day, it's OK the following day.

A few years ago, the gears started crunching/grinding more than they used to when taking the toner/fuser combo assembly in and out of the machine. A new fuser/fixer assembly (that holds the toner cart) is $170 (and up) these days. If I knew for sure a new fuser/fixer assembly would fix the problem, going that route would be a lot easier. Without such a guarantee, getting a new AIO might make more sense.

Any printer gear heads here know how these things work? And what the options are to get the old workhorse working better for a dollar figure that would bode in favor of doing so?
Thanks.
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Might be the separation pad and pickup roller, shouldn't be too expensive if you can find them. For a lot of Brother printers the were packaged as a "Paper Feed Kit" and were recommended to be replaced at 50,000 pages.

But you might be able to get by with trying to clean them. They usually get coated with paper dust.

For $199, vs your $170, you could just get new. Shes lived a good life... send her to a farm upstate....

[www.amazon.com]

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Clean the paper-path.

Remove the toner cartridge and thoroughly blow out the printer with canned air.

Then take a paper towel or lint-free cloth and moisten it a tiny bit with alcohol and clean the rollers that pick up the paper and move it through the printer.

When loading it with paper, use about half as much as you usually do. Do not top off the tray. Fan the paper before inserting it in the tray.

Odds are that this will greatly reduce or eliminate the jams.

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Quote
GGD
Might be the separation pad and pickup roller, shouldn't be too expensive if you can find them. For a lot of Brother printers the were packaged as a "Paper Feed Kit" and were recommended to be replaced at 50,000 pages.

But you might be able to get by with trying to clean them. They usually get coated with paper dust.

Thanks. Cleaned the guts a while back, which definitely helped, but didn't/hasn't cured the problem.... was thinking maybe the crunching/grinding that's been going on might have something to do with the issue.... been afraid to start squirting oil inside. Never really got up to speed on printers.... biggest techie things printer-wise have been swapping out LWIIntx mobo's for IIg mobo's, and did do perhaps a similar "Paper Feed Kit" on a venerable HP LJ6mp also many years ago.

Would a "Paper Feed Kit" help w/ the crunching/grinding?
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jdc
For $199, vs your $170, you could just get new. Shes lived a good life... send her to a farm upstate....

[www.amazon.com]

Exactly. The cost/benefit conundrum is readily apparent, and a real conundrum on this one.

Doc's ideas are on point, and I have cleaned the innards, but have not yet tried moving anything alcohol laden thru the paper paper path, so I'll have to feed the kid a couple of pounds of prime beef to get him to help with that task, and see if/hope that it helps. Also, have been a fan of fanning, and thru trial and error, paper tray seems to work best between like 85% down to 20% full... if it's too full, or too empty, the jamming thing is more pervasive.

Still trying figure out how/why the crunchy/grindy thing factors into the present equation, and how to cure it.... was thinking maybe fresh gears on a new fuser/fixer assembly might be they key. OTOH, it might be a red herring; after the the printer recalibrates itself when the toner door is closed, the gears mostly behave themselves. Occasionally there's a hint of a grind while in use, but it's rare and not persistent.
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Just buy the new one! Hopefully, before you drive yourself insane. (Or, is it too late?)

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Bill
Flagler Beach, FL 32136

Carpe Vino!

Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.
— David Rains Wallace

Buzz,

What model? You might be able to find the fuser/fixer assembly for much less than $170. Aftermarket refurb fuser/fixer assemblies should be readily available and relatively cheap. I got one from Tonergreen.com for one of my office's HL-2270DW printers. It's been dandy.

With regard to the paper pickup issue, have you tried different paper? Had that issue with one of my Brother lasers and swapping for a different brand of paper solved the problem. Could also be the pickup rollers need replacement or a dose of rubber roller rejuvenator.

The only thing that makes me hesitant to recommend putting money into the mache is its age. There are always deals on Brother laser printers from the usual sources. A newer model may cost the same or less than all of the necessary parts to fix the old printer and have a more robust set of features.

Robert

The only reason to do anything with such a device is as a personal challenge and learning project.

Have fun, but I’d be buying a new one if it were me.

I think I would just put up with the random grinding and misdeeds until it dies completely. Especially if it is a low use device at home.

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C(-)ris
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It is a little bit of a typical problem for older printers picking up paper due to feed wheels losing traction as they age. I have seen the ritual of fanning/creasing paper work for a while, assuming the same type of paper has been used for feeding the printer since it was new.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

rubber roller rejuvenator

who knew?

Quote
Buzz
And what the options are to get the old workhorse working better for a dollar figure that would bode in favor of doing so?
Thanks.
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[www.fixyourownprinter.com]

Bill - Sanity is relative, and if you only knew my relatives....

RobM - It's a Costco version MFC-8860DN, and yes, I have seen new 3rd party fuser/fixer assemblies for under $100, used/refurb for less, but everything I've read leads me to want to stick w/ the OEM unit. BTW, I just visited the 2280DW I got for the kid's college experience, that is on loan to BIL/SIL until (if) kid wants to reclaim it, but we need a more fully featured unit like jdc linked for $200 (than to borrow it back). Been awhile since I used roller rejuvenator, but last time I tried it, albeit many, many years ago, it worked for a couple of months, then the rollers turned into a gummy mess, which rendered the printer beyond my fixit capabilities.

sekk/C(-)ris/Fill - I'm kinda feeling my way around the middle ground here; if there's a fairly cheap and easy fix that'll give us a few more years of service, that'd be ideal. It gets about 300 - 350 pages use per month, and has been using whatever case lot paper has been on sale at Staples at the time, except in the early years when Fry's used to advertise 99¢/ream paper (usually max of 1, sometimes 2 at most), but it's always been 20# bond paper, though over the years I've run maybe three reams of 24# bond thru it for special projects. Game plan is for spousal unit to work another 5 to 7 years before retiring, which will/should cut printer usage by at least half, and mitigate scanning and copying needs substantially, so we should be able to get by w/ a lesser duty AIO then.

The MFC-8860DN has served us well.... fingers crossed that Doc's alcohol laden paper path cleansing will help, and will have the kid scrub whatever else he can get to while working on his beef-bribed task. It's the grinding sounds that have amped up my concerns; I just don't know enough to know whether those concerns are valid.... I just know myself well enough, that if the grinding was lessened, so would be my concerns. Kinda comes full circle back to Bill's hypothesis, eh?
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