Brother Laser Printing Drum Problems

[APB]

I have had my Brother MFC-6800 multifunction printer for a little over a year with minimal use and the printing drum just went bad. Whenever something was printed, half the page would have white lines and other bad printing characteristics. I tried everything that I could to fix it with no luck (new toner, cleaned drum, etc.) The lowest price I found on a replacement drum was 125 after shipping :|. Has anyone else had issues with brother laser printers? What a pain!!!

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

How many copies did you get out of one drum? We have a Brother 1670N workgroup laser that does ~20,000 sheets per drum.

Brother states 8000 pages (1 page jobs) - 20000 pages (20 page jobs).

These are always slightly exaggerated so I would say you'd get between 6000 - 15000 copies per drum.

What did you get out of it?

Cheers,

Andy

 

[APB]

I didn't even get 2,000 sheets with the original drum.

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

That's bad - Unfortunately there are too many ways to decrease the life of a drum! I have no experience of what you can expect from personal lasers, but $125/2000 pages seems steep!

If you need any advice to lengthen the life of your drum, or a recommendation for another device try posting this in the "Peripherals" forum - someone might have some answers.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[APB]

If you need any advice to lengthen the life of your drum, or a recommendation for another device try posting this in the "Peripherals" forum - someone might have some answers.

Thanks for your insight. I think this post is in the "Peripherals" forum that you mentioned.

I did buy a generic toner cartridge replacement at one point; should I attribute the drum's failure to the generic toner? Has anyone besides me had problems with brother laser printing drums?

 

[Fencer128]

Hi,

Not necessarily the toner - but I would bet if anything caused a problem, that did!

From brother site:

There are many factors that determine the actual drum life, such as temperature, humidity, type of paper, type of toner used, the number of pages per print job, etc. Under ideal conditions, the drum life is estimated to be up to 20,000 pages (20 pages per job) / up to 8,000 pages (1 page per job). The actual number of pages that your drum unit will print may be significantly less that this estimate. Because we have no control, over the many factors that determine the actual drum life, we cannot guarantee a minimum number of pages that will be printed by your drum. For best performance, use only genuine Brother toner.
The printer should be used only in a clean, dust-free environment with adequate ventilation.

In future I would recommend not buying generic toner for your machine.

Good luck,

Andy

 

[APB]

Thanks again.

 

[Pretty Cool]

[For best performance, use only genuine Brother toner

That's standard mumbo-jumbo from printer companies. Brother laser printers have always had problematic drums. Some say the design is poor. Others have claimed defects. If you call up tech support, they will even blame low-usage as the problem. The only thing you can hope for is that your next drum is not defective and that you follow the usual precautions such as running the machine "forever" until it cools down and preventing any direct light onto the drum. Of course with such high drum costs, you might just buy a new printer.

 

[APB]

Of course with such high drum costs, you might just buy a new printer.

You've got that right! Inkjet printers are less than half that price; bought an inkjet--if it breaks I can throw it out and buy a new one.