Ah yes, printers. They’re both wonderful and terrible at the same time. They may have been sent from hell to make us miserable (according to TheOeatmeal), but they’re actually lovely things if they work when you need them. And here’s a little tip to make them work longer!
I have a Brother DCP-7030 laser printer and scanner, and when the ink ran out and I wanted to buy a new toner, I came across a tip on amazon.de that pointed out how to make do with the toner for longer. It all comes down to tricking the printer into believing the toner is still full.
There’s a little hole on the side of the toner, which may or may not let the printer “see” how much ink is in there.
Now all you need to do is take a little piece of paper and some tape and tape the paper over the hole. This will make the printer think the toner is still full.
That’s all it takes! I tried this for myself and printed probably for another year or so. Well, obviously I don’t constantly print a lot, but I’d guess I got at least another 50 documents out of the toner, likely more. I would still be printing with this toner, but the printing quality slowly decreased, eventually showing lots of ugly streaks on the paper. Once I replaced the toner, printing quality went back to normal, though.
Anyway, hope this helps someone out there!
