[Elecraft] OT--A Suggestion About Printers

[Alan Bloom]

Since this is off-topic I'll try to keep it short.

On Mon, 2009-12-07 at 08:34 -0700, David Yarnes wrote:
> I 
> think printers have become like safety razors--cheap to buy 
> on the front end, but very expensive to keep properly 
> supplied.

That's been exactly the business model of printer manufacturers for a
long time.  People think of HP as a computer company, but I have heard
that based on dollars of profit it is actually a printer cartridge
company.

> A while back I started investigating laser printers, and 
> found that one model (wireless) by Brother was very highly 
> rated.  This is the model HL-5370DW.  

I bought a Brother model HL-2170W laser printer a while back and have
been very pleased with it so far.

One tip for saving on toner:  HP is especially notorious for this but I
think they all do it.  The low-toner detector goes off long before the
toner is completely used up.  They force you to buy a new cartridge when
there is still quite a bit of life left in it.  The solution is to put a
piece of (non-transparent) tape over the toner sensor window when you
install the cartridge.  If you forget, then when the sensor trips you
have to find the secret lever to reset the cartridge so you can cover up
the window and continue to use it.  Info on modifying Brother cartridges
is here:  http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/laser/39806

Also, when you start to notice faint areas on your copies you can
redistribute the toner by removing the cartridge and shaking it.  That
along will get you a couple hundred more copies.

Alan N1AL