Use it up – Brother HL-3070CW Toner

Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without.

There are some things that we can’t really do without. But good old Yankee thrift pains me every time I have to replace printer consumables.

I have a Brother HL-3070CW color laser printer at home, which I really like. I selected it specifically because it has an optional straight-through printing path, to reduce curl on heavier stock.

I’ve also discovered that it reports being out of toner based on page count or something, rather than a measure of actual toner remaining. I found two ways to make sure I get the most from my toner cartridges.

First, I found that there’s a menu for resetting the state of toner in the printer.

1. Open the top cover
2. Press the Cancel and Secure Print buttons together to bring up the toner menu
3. Use the + and – buttons to select the toner cartridge to reset, and press OK (twice). Each color (CMYK) has two options, one each for standard and high capacity cartridges.
4. When finished, closed the top cover.

In addition, it’s very easy to reset the physical switch on the toner cartridge, as shown in this short video:

(Both procedures from http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/laser/39806 )

I’ve used the menu reset option several times, and I haven’t seen any problems with toner coverage on my printed pages.

When I do need to replace the cartridge, I have found the best prices on Amazon and NewEgg.