Do you have many printing tasks in your daily work? A number of printing works always consume too much toner, so sometimes you wish the toner can last longer so that it only needs to be changed once in a while. If you have the need for saving toner powder, this blog post is perfect for you. The blog will share tips on how to maximize the Brother toner cartridge and increase its life of toner cartridge. Don’t need to replace a new toner cartridge, and you can get the expected print quality after following the tips we share to extend toner life. So keep reading to learn more about increasing your toner cartridges lifespan and saving both time & money.
Why do Extend Life of Brother Toner Cartridge?
Toner cartridge is not a small expenditure for people with much printing needs in daily. If you want to save money, you should try to make sure that you don’t waste the toner and that you extend its lifespan as long as possible of your existing toners and ink cartridges. So finding small tips to increase toner lifespan is a more cost-effective choice. The toner powder is the main factor affecting toner lifespan, and the most common way to make your toner last longer is to shake it up back and forth when it is at a low level. Besides, other four factors affect the life of toner cartridges: print settings, sensors, printer, and store condition. The blog post will share tips in detail to maximize the life of toner cartridges based on the five factors above.
How to Maximize Brother Toner Cartridge and Extend Life of Brother Toner Cartridge?
1. Shake up
The toner cartridge contains a lot of powder. As time pass, this powder may clump and become distributed unevenly. The wrong-distributed powder in the cartridge will lead to streaks, lines, or missed printouts, especially at a low level. However, the toner cartridge in a low-level powder doesn’t mean that you must replace toner for an expected printout. To extend period of laser toner use, the common and effective way is to shake it up. Take out your Brother toner, cover it with a paper towel, and shake it up back and forth so that the powder redistributes evenly.
2. Utilize Print Settings
- Font Size
When your print is for a normal reading experience, you can choose a font that uses less ink, such as Times New Roman or Arial Narrow, which is used properly in an office document as well. Besides, you should avoid bold or large fonts because they need to spend more toner to print.
- Image Size
You should avoid unnecessary images and graphics because they use a lot of ink. Besides, changing the size of the image is a nice choice when you print images. For a normal reading experience, we highly advise you to reduce or change DPI (dots per inch) from the default to 600 or 300.
- Grayscale
Grayscale is a setting of the printing preferences. Under the Grayscale setting, the toner prints documents in black and white only which helps you save more powder. If you often print documents that don’t involve the color image, you can select a grayscale setting model on your computer.
- Printing Modes
There are there printing models saving powder: draft mode, fast mode, and toner-saver mode. These modes use less toner by reducing the DPI (dots per inch). For the generic document printing, we highly recommend that you choose the draft mode to save the powder. Usually, printing in draft mode can definitely help save the powder. When you print in draft mode, the printer uses less ink to print the document and prints lighter text and images. Besides, when the printer is in draft mode, the printing speed is faster than the normal printing mode. Because of its faster printing speed and less toner expenditure, the draft mode is undoubtedly a great choice to improve office productivity working with daily office documents
However, the draft mode is not suitable for all types of printing tasks. For example, if you need to print the high quality documents that requires a more professional printing effect, such as a resume or a business proposal, printing in draft mode is not a suitable choice. So, you should choose a printing mode based on your real printing need.
3. Cover the Window of Sensor
The Toner sensor is a part that examines the amount of powder in the toner cartridge. The sensor is covered with toner when the cartridge is full, then it become exposed over time as the toner level declines. If unblocked by toner, the light directly pass through an window and then is detected by a receiver. The low-toner indicator will light when the powder in Brother toner cartridge decline to a specific level. The Brother cartridge maybe not work properly under the impact of sensor. One way to extend the life of the toner cartridge is to cover sensors with stickers or tape. Remove the toner from the printer and then simply cover a small piece of sticker or tape over the right-hand side window of the drum. When the window is blocked, receiver can’t detect light because the light s covered by the blocked window even though the toner is in low-level . This window is the channel the sensor examines the amount of powder in the Brother toner. Covered the window of the drum, the sensor can’t inform the printer whether the toner is at a low level. The act disables the low-toner sensor, so your Brother toner works with the laser printer for a period of time when it is running low on powder.
4. Clean and Maintain Printer
The printer in good condition ensures printing functions correctly. So, regular maintenance is necessary for the expected printing performance as well as the longer toner cartridge lifespan. The process of standard printer maintenance includes regular cleaning, checking for loose unit parts, and replacing broken components. Regularly cleaning printer is a common practice for increasing the laser printer toner lifespan among them. Here are some tips for cleaning your printer:
1. Turn off the printer and unplug it from the power source before cleaning.
2. Open the printer cover and eliminate any paper or foreign matter inside.
3. Use a dry, lint-free cloth to wipe down the exterior of the printer. Do take note that do not use any liquid cleaners or sprays to clean your printer for avoiding any damage to the printer.
4. Use the cool air gear of the hair dryer to blow out any dust or foreign matter inside the printer. Pay particular attention to the areas around the toner cartridges.
5. Plug the printer back in and turn it on after cleaning
5. Store Toner Properly
The toner store condition is an important factor affecting its lifespan. Store the unpacked Brother toner correctly can help it last longer.
- Pay attention to temperature. High heat easily leads to toner powder melting or fusing in the cartridge. The toner can’t work properly with the printer if this happens.
- Pay attention to humidity. If huge quantities of stream in the air can cause the toner powder to get damp. There is a high chance that your cartridges will become unusable if this happens.
- Pay attention to the light. The toner cartridge is made of sensitive material that is susceptible to light. Exposure to light can cause the OPC (Organic Photo-Conductor) drum to out of work, which can result in great damage to the cartridge.
To sum up, temperature, humidity, and light are the three main factors affecting toner printing quality. Any one of the three will cause the toner cartridge to be unusable. The toner needs to be stored properly to function normally. So, we highly recommend that the toners are stored in a cool, dry, and dark environment for normal functions. One more thing to note is that the Brother toner cartridge shelf life is 2 years in unpacked condition or 6 months after the protective package is opened. You can use toner before the expiration date.
Whether you have a compatible Brother toner cartridge or another model, the tips are available to increase the toner lifespan. If the toner still prints a poor quality for a long time even though stored correctly and makes daily maintenance, you should replace a new Brother toner cartridge. True Image offers high-quality compatible Brother toner cartridges like Brother TN-227, Brother HL-L3210CW toner, Brother HL-L3230CDW toner, Brother HL-L3290CDW toner, and Brother MFC-L3710CW toner and more a low price. Shop today and enjoy huge savings with True Image compatible Brother toner cartridges.
