[SOLVED] Brother Laser Frequent Drum Error

[Appletax]

Solution: replace the drum.


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Brother HL-L2395DW

Every few days it's telling me there's a drum issue and to use that slider thing to clean it (or clean the corona wire???).

Can't imagine it's for cleaning the drum itself because the drum would have to be moved a ton of times to clean off the whole thing.

The drum is a replacement, but it has some miles on it.

Time to replace it?

This printer costs 2x what it did in 2019 when I bought it. I was going to just replace it, but $200 for a monochrome laser is pretty steep.


Edit: what's up with Amazon/Walmart and more not having many options for Brother printers? Pretty much gotta buy from the manufacturer.

Also, drooling over this: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcl3770cdw#carouselThumbnail

 

[nlinecomputers]

Time to replace it?

What does the usage report say?

 

[Appletax]

What does the usage report say?

27,245 total pages printed.

Remaining drum life: 23%.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Time to go. Tad early but not unheard of.

 

[Appletax]

Time to go. Tad early but not unheard of.

Thank you, sir. I will order a refurbished drum (new OEM = so expensive may as well just buy a whole new printer lol).

LD Products Brother DR730 = $30. I bought it Sept. 2020. Had a good run.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Yeah it's a low-end printer. You don't fix them.

 

[alexsmith2709]

Thank you, sir. I will order a refurbished drum (new OEM = so expensive may as well just buy a whole new printer lol).

LD Products Brother DR730 = $30. I bought it Sept. 2020. Had a good run.

Remanufactured/Compatible products vary massively in quality. Most people dont even notice/realise remanufactured and compatible are 2 very different things. Part of my business is remanufactured cartridges, buying good quality ones is no different to buying OEM apart from the price!
It does sounds like a new drum is needed. If not not mistaken, the page yield on those drums is actually 12,000 so you've done over double what it should do so the 23% is wrong anyway

 

[Appletax]

Remanufactured/Compatible products vary massively in quality. Most people dont even notice/realise remanufactured and compatible are 2 very different things. Part of my business is remanufactured cartridges, buying good quality ones is no different to buying OEM apart from the price!
It does sounds like a new drum is needed. If not not mistaken, the page yield on those drums is actually 12,000 so you've done over double what it should do so the 23% is wrong anyway

The 23K printed pages is total - across the 2 drums I used thus far.

I think I may have printed at least 10K on this reman. drum.

I buy the LD Products one cos they have good customer service in my experience.

Had an issue once with a toner cartridge and they sent me a free replacement.

 

[alexsmith2709]

The 23K printed pages is total - across the 2 drums I used thus far.

I think I may have printed at least 10K on this reman. drum.

I buy the LD Products one cos they have good customer service in my experience.

Had an issue once with a toner cartridge and they sent me a free replacement.

ah ok, i'd still replace it as its that close to the 12k.
I forget which factory LD Products come from, i did see the other day. I think that compatible stuff, like most compatible brands are actually made by Ninestar. Ninestar stuff is very hit and miss depending on the specs given to them by the purchasing brands.
Customer service is a big part of where to buy from when the end product is virtually identical to anywhere else.

 

[Appletax]

ah ok, i'd still replace it as its that close to the 12k.
I forget which factory LD Products come from, i did see the other day. I think that compatible stuff, like most compatible brands are actually made by Ninestar. Ninestar stuff is very hit and miss depending on the specs given to them by the purchasing brands.
Customer service is a big part of where to buy from when the end product is virtually identical to anywhere else.

Right. The hit and miss part doesn't matter so much if the customer service is very good.

$100 for brand new vs $30 for refurbished.

Just bought the LD Products drum:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FHWB588/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[alexsmith2709]

The price difference makes the third party products an easy sell (if they consistently work!).
The markup can be quite big on the compatible stuff. An example in this case is, i can buy the UK version of that drum for £5.18 excluding tax so its easier to suck up a faulty if the manufacturer wont take it back.
That product you linked to isnt refurbished for reference, its a new build compatible. Refurbished/remanufactured products are another step up in price but still around 50% of the OEM (although i sell the UK version of this particular drum for a similar price as that compatible). I'm quite picky about the differences and when things are described wrong!

 

[Appletax]

The price difference makes the third party products an easy sell (if they consistently work!).
The markup can be quite big on the compatible stuff. An example in this case is, i can buy the UK version of that drum for £5.18 excluding tax so its easier to suck up a faulty if the manufacturer wont take it back.
That product you linked to isnt refurbished for reference, its a new build compatible. Refurbished/remanufactured products are another step up in price but still around 50% of the OEM (although i sell the UK version of this particular drum for a similar price as that compatible). I'm quite picky about the differences and when things are described wrong!

Are you saying that the LD Products drum is a step below refurbished? Or it's just cheaper?

"New build compatible" sounds better than "refurbished."

 

[alexsmith2709]

Are you saying that the LD Products drum is a step below refurbished? Or it's just cheaper?

"New build compatible" sounds better than "refurbished."

A step below. the scale is:
Compatible
Refilled/remanufactured
OEM

Compatibles are completely new build so there can be issues of them not fitting properly if the plastic hasnt been moulded properly or they've tried to make one shell for many cartridges each of which would normally have different fittings. The parts used can be lower quality and in terms of cartridges and not drums, the toner powder used can be a generic one used in all types of cartridges when in reality different ranges of cartridges will have different toner. Like many lower priced products coming out of the far east little to no quality control is in place because its affordable to just replace the product. Some compatible products will also infringe patents. If you care about the planet, these arent eco-friendly either as its more plastic being created.

Refilled/remanufactured are the existing OEM shell cleaned out, the worn parts are replaced with quality new ones and if its a good remanufacturer the correct toner powder will be used. This means a better quality, more reliable product. Patent infringement on these cartridges/drums is very rare and these are a using the existing plastic shell so are more eco-friendly.

I've been in the remanufacturing industry for over 10 years and (up until 3 or 4 years ago) I used to do a lot of my own remanufacturing. Its easy for me to spot the differences and having been told by every supplier I've used that also sells a compatible product that theirs is the best and they have very little failures....99% of the ones i tried have failed. I've even caught out a supplier selling me compatibles as remanufactured as the customer has brought them back on numerous occasions.