Brother Printer HL-2130: Replace or add drum and toner?

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geekIT

1232 posts

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#257052 12-Sep-2019 14:36

HL-2130 printer (non-duplex) is about 4yo and now needs its 6th or 7th toner cartridge. It maybe could do with a new drum.

Costs are: Brother - Toner $67 and drum $140 (1000 pgs and 12000 pages respectively) $207 total.

Compatible - Toner $32 and drum $44 (1000 pgs and 12000 pages respectively) $76 total.

New printer alternatives:

Brother HLL2375DW (Duplex, LAN, WiFi) $194 incl

Brother HLL2310D (Duplex, USB2.0) $138

Q: If I refurbish the 2130, are there any other components that might soon break?

BTW: I don't do a lot of printing. Mono Laser suits me for black and I have a couple of Canon MFCs for copying, scanning and color work.

'Ask not what you can do for your country: Ask what you can do for me'. Donald J.Trump. US President 2016 - 2020.

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#2316531 12-Sep-2019 14:48

There's another thingy that can need replacement, I think it collects waste toner. Though it seems very wasteful I'd probably just buy a new one and sell the old one cheap.

1101

2286 posts

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#2316948 13-Sep-2019 09:08

timmmay:

There's another thingy that can need replacement, I think it collects waste toner.

Yep, 20 years ago :-)
The waste toner is usually collected in the drum unit . Inkjets have pads to soak up waste ink .

"Compatible - Toner $32 and drum $44 "
Compatible drum unit , it will just be used drum thats been cleaned . Its a crap shoot as too how long that will last .

Also, if replacing the printer , factor in that it will come with a low capacity starter cartridge . So you'll soon need to buy another toner

"Q: If I refurbish the 2130, are there any other components that might soon break?"
yep , plenty.
Pickup rollers wear out, paper separator pads wear out, fusing units wear out (or just fail) , bits of plastic can break off due to age

This is less than $70 . Might be an option if you dont do much printing

https://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/W2215406.html

Brother often have cash back deals . That can lower prices on models models considerably

geekIT

1232 posts

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#2317152 13-Sep-2019 13:52

"Compatible - Toner $32 and drum $44 "
Compatible drum unit , it will just be used drum thats been cleaned . Its a crap shoot as too how long that will last .

Where do you reckon they get the used drums? Nowadays it seems most old printer stuff ends up in the tip.

'Ask not what you can do for your country: Ask what you can do for me'. Donald J.Trump. US President 2016 - 2020.

old3eyes

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#2317155 13-Sep-2019 13:53

1101:

timmmay:

There's another thingy that can need replacement, I think it collects waste toner.

Yep, 20 years ago :-)
The waste toner is usually collected in the drum unit . Inkjets have pads to soak up waste ink .

"Compatible - Toner $32 and drum $44 "
Compatible drum unit , it will just be used drum thats been cleaned . Its a crap shoot as too how long that will last .

Also, if replacing the printer , factor in that it will come with a low capacity starter cartridge . So you'll soon need to buy another toner

"Q: If I refurbish the 2130, are there any other components that might soon break?"
yep , plenty.
Pickup rollers wear out, paper separator pads wear out, fusing units wear out (or just fail) , bits of plastic can break off due to age

This is less than $70 . Might be an option if you dont do much printing

https://www.warehousestationery.co.nz/product/W2215406.html

Brother often have cash back deals . That can lower prices on models models considerably

I notice that the new toner cart for it is $81.49 more than the printer cost.

Regards,

Old3eyes

trig42

5035 posts

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#2317176 13-Sep-2019 14:45

Have you looked at inkjet?

I did this exercise for my father about a year ago, and worked out that an inket would have a lower cost of ownership.

For example, the Canon PIXMA TR7560 at $79 has cartridges that will do 2500 pages for $28 each (obviously, if printing colour, this is times four). That makes black printing 1.12c per page. Your current Brother laser is 6.7c per page (using OEM toner or ink in both cases).

old3eyes

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#2317185 13-Sep-2019 14:58

trig42:

Have you looked at inkjet?

I did this exercise for my father about a year ago, and worked out that an inket would have a lower cost of ownership.

For example, the Canon PIXMA TR7560 at $79 has cartridges that will do 2500 pages for $28 each (obviously, if printing colour, this is times four). That makes black printing 1.12c per page. Your current Brother laser is 6.7c per page (using OEM toner or ink in both cases).

You could have a look at an inktank printer. Way lower running costs than a normal inkjet and laser though the printers do cost a bit more upfront.

Regards,

Old3eyes

1101

2286 posts

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#2317254 13-Sep-2019 16:14

geekIT:

Where do you reckon they get the used drums? Nowadays it seems most old printer stuff ends up in the tip.

Theres actually a market for them. Perhaps not so much now in NZ , but they have a value to toner refill companies .

I used to be in the industry. One of the CBD rubbish collectors would pull drums & toner carts out of the trash & sell them to us.
Yep, we had to buy empties .
:-)

Back in the day when I was doing re-manufacturing of toner carts , one of the causes of reman's failing was the drums were simply worn out but reused anyway

geekIT

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#2317845 14-Sep-2019 17:54

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Re inkjets, I already have two Canon MFC's that I use for color work. Compatible carts for both are $14 and $9 respectively from Computer Food.

But for quick black prints of say, Word docs, invoice confirmations, text notes - I like the immediacy of laser. There's none of the clanking, grinding and wheezing of the Canons as they a) get up to speed and b) power down again, with all the attendant ink waste that accompanies each operation.

Both Canons have double-sided printing, which is a big plus, and which my current Brother HL-2130 lacks. The two new Brothers noted in my OP, both have duplex.

On reflection, I think that I'll go for a new Brother. Less trouble all round.

Cheers all :-)

'Ask not what you can do for your country: Ask what you can do for me'. Donald J.Trump. US President 2016 - 2020.

Coon

61 posts

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#2317897 14-Sep-2019 18:33

print at work

geekIT

1232 posts

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#2318090 15-Sep-2019 13:43

Coon: print at work

Stealing from your employer is your solution to reduce printing costs?

'Ask not what you can do for your country: Ask what you can do for me'. Donald J.Trump. US President 2016 - 2020.

Senecio

887 posts

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#2318149 15-Sep-2019 16:39

trig42:
Have you looked at inkjet?
For example, the Canon PIXMA TR7560 at $79 has cartridges that will do 2500 pages for $28 each (obviously, if printing colour, this is times four). That makes black printing 1.12c per page. Your current Brother laser is 6.7c per page (using OEM toner or ink in both cases).

This works in theory but most people print so infrequently that they never get the 2,500 pages quoted out of an ink tank before it blocks up, dries out, or the software declares its empty when you’ve only used it twice in the last 6 months. We picked up a cheap mono laser for this reason and it’s been perfect.

lNomNoml

1560 posts

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#2318153 15-Sep-2019 16:51

geekIT:

HL-2130 printer (non-duplex) is about 4yo and now needs its 6th or 7th toner cartridge. It maybe could do with a new drum.

Costs are: Brother - Toner $67 and drum $140 (1000 pgs and 12000 pages respectively) $207 total.

Compatible - Toner $32 and drum $44 (1000 pgs and 12000 pages respectively) $76 total.

New printer alternatives:

Brother HLL2375DW (Duplex, LAN, WiFi) $194 incl

Brother HLL2310D (Duplex, USB2.0) $138

Q: If I refurbish the 2130, are there any other components that might soon break?

BTW: I don't do a lot of printing. Mono Laser suits me for black and I have a couple of Canon MFCs for copying, scanning and color work.

Not sure if you are in Auckland or not, but I found the prices here to be very reasonable: https://techwarehouse.co.nz/

kiwiace

41 posts

Geek

#2318237 15-Sep-2019 21:20

The new printers tend to come with small starter toner cartridges, so you might be replacing again sooner if you buy a new printer.

Our brother 3170 is going strong. I like how it keeps printing mono even if the colour cartridges are running out.

1101

2286 posts

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#2318378 16-Sep-2019 09:38

geekIT:

But for quick black prints of say, Word docs, invoice confirmations, text notes - I like the immediacy of laser. There's none of the clanking, grinding and wheezing of the Canons as they a) get up to speed and b) power down again, with all the attendant ink waste that accompanies each operation.

Thats a Canon thing .
After less than 3 reams of paper my Canon inket decided that the waste ink soak was full & had to be replaced before I could print. Took me 1/2 a day
to find the software hack to reset it and get it printing again .

That slow clanging and whirring on startup is the reason I threw my still working Canon inkjet in the trash & bought an Epson inkjet.
Canon = waste a lot of ink .
Canon = wait 3 minutes while I do a head clean and waste all your ink

I'll never buy another canon inkjet.

old3eyes

8464 posts

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#2318382 16-Sep-2019 09:58

1101:

geekIT:

But for quick black prints of say, Word docs, invoice confirmations, text notes - I like the immediacy of laser. There's none of the clanking, grinding and wheezing of the Canons as they a) get up to speed and b) power down again, with all the attendant ink waste that accompanies each operation.

Thats a Canon thing .
After less than 3 reams of paper my Canon inket decided that the waste ink soak was full & had to be replaced before I could print. Took me 1/2 a day
to find the software hack to reset it and get it printing again .

That slow clanging and whirring on startup is the reason I threw my still working Canon inkjet in the trash & bought an Epson inkjet.
Canon = waste a lot of ink .
Canon = wait 3 minutes while I do a head clean and waste all your ink

I'll never buy another canon inkjet.

I had a Cannon TS9060 mainly for disk printing and I also did some sports fliers for our club as well. However after about 16 months the print heads clogged up and Cannon said to send it back to them. As I didn't have the original packaging it would have meant a trip to Auckland and a $70 look at charge. I trolled the net and found out how to remove and clean the heads which I did. This lasted about another 6 months then they wouldn't work anymore. Bought a TS 8160 same basic printer without the Ethernet connection. All's well until the first cart run out. As the old printer had a the same physical carts I thought that they would work. No . Obviously Cannon signature the carts so you can't do this so into the bin they go tough some will go back to a cart recycle center. I must admit that this latest Canon does not seem to do the head clean as much as the old one. Last Canon that I get next time a Epson Inktank. Costs more to purchase but way cheaper to run.

Regards,

Old3eyes

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