I was browsing Staples yesterday and a woman approached
me and warned me not to consider any Brother laser printers, cause not
only one has to replace a color toner when it runs out, but something
about a drum. She said once the drum goes, it gets pretty expensive to
replace...Does anyone know the truth about drums in printers? Do they
all have them? Are they that sensitive and expensive to replace? Who
can recommend such a printer without a drum? This was the first time I
ever heard of a drum in a printer.
On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:07:00 -0700, Anthona wrote:
> I was browsing Staples yesterday and a woman approached me and warned me
> not to consider any Brother laser printers, cause not only one has to
> replace a color toner when it runs out, but something about a drum. She
> said once the drum goes, it gets pretty expensive to replace...Does
> anyone know the truth about drums in printers? Do they all have them?
> Are they that sensitive and expensive to replace? Who can recommend such
> a printer without a drum? This was the first time I ever heard of a drum
> in a printer.
As you'll see, all normal laser printers have a drum. It is indeed
sensitive - light sensitive.
Some laser printers incorporate the drum in the toner cartridge, which
makes the cartridge more expensive but ensures the drum is replaced
regularly.
The wider issue, therefore, is to find out (for any printer you are
considering) a few points:
a) Typical toner life/cost
b) Drum (if separate) life/cost
c) Other consumables (e.g. pickup/feed rollers, fuser) life/cost
This won't always be easy, but a) and b) are the most important. If the
toner is really cheap and the drum has a long life, then it may actually
be cheaper that way.
> I was browsing Staples yesterday and a woman approached
> me and warned me not to consider any Brother laser printers, cause not
> only one has to replace a color toner when it runs out, but something
> about a drum. She said once the drum goes, it gets pretty expensive to
> replace...Does anyone know the truth about drums in printers? Do they
> all have them? Are they that sensitive and expensive to replace? Who
> can recommend such a printer without a drum? This was the first time I
> ever heard of a drum in a printer.
Printer without drum calls MATRIX or INKJET printer.
If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER and
DRUM for laser printer to work. The toner and drum can be much cheaper than
Inkjet depending on how you look at it, and it isn't that expensive if you
compare the total cost, and especially you GOOGLE for the remanufactured.
> If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER and
> DRUM for laser printer to work.
Some toner cartridges have plenty of toner but the wiper/doctor/sc****r
blade that returns surplus toner to the hopper fails early in life, so
you soon get dark smudges and repeated images spreading
down the printout.
On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, "Ato_Zee" <ato_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER and
> > DRUM for laser printer to work.
>
> Some toner cartridges have plenty of toner but the wiper/doctor/sc****r
> blade that returns surplus toner to the hopper fails early in life, so
> you soon get dark smudges and repeated images spreading
> down the printout.
I realize I'm slightly off topic with this comment, but laser printers
seem to be a pain to operate with all the potential failures and
expensive parts. The inkjet is so cheap and reliable if you have a
cheap source of ink to refill. The only real advantage I see for the
laser is where people let the printer sit unused for months.
On Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:36:23 -0500, Joel <joel@nospam.com> wrote:
>Anthona <harri85274@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> I was browsing Staples yesterday and a woman approached
>> me and warned me not to consider any Brother laser printers, cause not
>> only one has to replace a color toner when it runs out, but something
>> about a drum. She said once the drum goes, it gets pretty expensive to
>> replace...Does anyone know the truth about drums in printers? Do they
>> all have them? Are they that sensitive and expensive to replace? Who
>> can recommend such a printer without a drum? This was the first time I
>> ever heard of a drum in a printer.
>
> Printer without drum calls MATRIX or INKJET printer.
>
> If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER and
>DRUM for laser printer to work. The toner and drum can be much cheaper than
>Inkjet depending on how you look at it, and it isn't that expensive if you
>compare the total cost, and especially you GOOGLE for the remanufactured.
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:51:08 -0700 (PDT), Al <albundy2@mailinator.com>
wrote:
>On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, "Ato_Zee" <ato_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> > If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER and
>> > DRUM for laser printer to work.
>>
>> Some toner cartridges have plenty of toner but the wiper/doctor/sc****r
>> blade that returns surplus toner to the hopper fails early in life, so
>> you soon get dark smudges and repeated images spreading
>> down the printout.
>
>I realize I'm slightly off topic with this comment, but laser printers
>seem to be a pain to operate with all the potential failures and
>expensive parts. The inkjet is so cheap and reliable if you have a
>cheap source of ink to refill. The only real advantage I see for the
>laser is where people let the printer sit unused for months.
> On Sep 8, 2:15 pm, "Ato_Zee" <ato_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> > If you are looking for LASER then all laser printers require TONER
>> > and
>> > DRUM for laser printer to work.
>>
>> Some toner cartridges have plenty of toner but the wiper/doctor/sc****r
>> blade that returns surplus toner to the hopper fails early in life, so
>> you soon get dark smudges and repeated images spreading down the
>> printout.
>
> I realize I'm slightly off topic with this comment, but laser printers
> seem to be a pain to operate with all the potential failures and
> expensive parts. The inkjet is so cheap and reliable if you have a
> cheap source of ink to refill. The only real advantage I see for the
> laser is where people let the printer sit unused for months.
Depends on the printer. I have some old HP LaserJet 4M+ machines, some of
which have printed half a million pages. The one beside me here has done
well over 100,000 pages and has only ever had a roller and the fuser lamp
replaced. And it is very cheap to run.
On Sep 8, 9:51 pm, Al <albun...@mailinator.com> wrote:
>
> I realize I'm slightly off topic with this comment, but laser printers
> seem to be a pain to operate with all the potential failures and
> expensive parts. The inkjet is so cheap and reliable if you have a
> cheap source of ink to refill. The only real advantage I see for the
> laser is where people let the printer sit unused for months.
Depends on the laser printer. Inkjets aren't made with a cheap source
of ink, they're notorious cash cows. I bought my laser for the cost
of a inkjet cartridge ($40 shipping included). I have three of them,
same model, two still the boxes. Drum is part of the toner
cartridge. Also refill them myself with toner I buy in bulk. Not
your average laser, but if all I'm doing is printing books, not much
point in showing off how clean the letter copy I don't get. Reads
just fine for me.
Most laser printers use drums. Some of the earlier color laser printers
used a transfer belt instead to save space and speed up the fairly slow
technology of the time. The transfer belt was both very delicate
(easily damaged) and very costly to replace.
Today, with reduction in cartridge size, and drum size, and the
increased speed of processors and memory, most have a different drum for
each color.
How long the drums last is very much dependent on how will they are
manufactured. Some, especially older ones, were very durable and could
survive dozens of toner refills. Some were designed as separate
consumables relative to the toner cartridge. Some can be refinished to
make them light sensitive and to evenly distribute the surface again.
However, toner/drum cartridges today often get only one refill from them
before the surface fails, so yes, it is yet another bit of planned
obsolescence. Since the consumables are now the major revenue source for
the manufacturers and retailers, remember to consider the cost of
replacement consumables in your purchasing decisions. I wouldn't say
that one brand is exceedingly worse that another in this situation.
Art
If you are interested in issues surrounding e-waste,
I invite you to enter the discussion at my blog:
Anthona wrote:
> I was browsing Staples yesterday and a woman approached
> me and warned me not to consider any Brother laser printers, cause not
> only one has to replace a color toner when it runs out, but something
> about a drum. She said once the drum goes, it gets pretty expensive to
> replace...Does anyone know the truth about drums in printers? Do they
> all have them? Are they that sensitive and expensive to replace? Who
> can recommend such a printer without a drum? This was the first time I
> ever heard of a drum in a printer.
Laser printer and a drum? 
Linear Mode
