Any Brother printer experts out there?

JohnB47

I have a Brother DCP-J4120DW printer that has been giving me an ink pad full message a few times over recent months. I've read up how to purge the counter to make the priner work again (and I've done that twice now) but I'm now reading that the purge only works for a while (in my case about five months since I last did it - with fairly low usage).

So I'm now wondering about replacing the ink pad myself. I've looked at a few shaky videos and they never seem to show what I want - how to get to the pad on my particular machine and what it looks like, so that I can order it. One video started part way through the dismantling and ended with the removal of some sort of box which was set aside before the machine was reassembled - who knows if that box contained the pad - but it did have a ribbon cable coming out of it.

So, any help with that would be great but I also have a question. If the printer doesn't solely rely on the print counter to tell when the pad needs changed, how does it know when someone replaces the pad? It surely doesn't have some mechanical way of measuring how much ink is in the pad?

I ask this because I don't want to get to the point of changing the pad, then resetting the purge counter and then finding that there's something else needed to tell the printer that the pad was changed.

I could really do with someone who has changed the pad on my model.

Thanks.

clive0510

Before I retired we all ways had brother printers at work. they were as old as the hills and gave us no end of grief. missing out letters on the print, lines on the page etc. we must of spent a small fortune on engineers coming out, replacing parts and god knows what. in the end we bought a reconditioned one of tinternet. we never had a problem after that. the other guys in the office wanted to keep the old one as a spare. i picked it up and threw it in the skip.

JohnB47

Ha! But was it the same as my model and did you see how that replaced the waste ink pad!?

PHK

I found this page, which has the ink absorber tank and instructions now to replace. 

https://www.printerspareparts.co.uk/products/brother-let433001-led461001-waste-ink-absorber-box

JohnB47

PHK said:

I found this page, which has the ink absorber tank and instructions now to replace. 

https://www.printerspareparts.co.uk/products/brother-let433001-led461001-waste-ink-absorber-box

Thanks so much for that. The little diagrams give me a good indication of how to at least see the ink pad, which I now see is a cartridge linked to a sensor and circuit board.

Next question - is there a way to view those little diagrams as full screen, as opposed to hovering over them with the mouse and reading them in situ. I'd really like to see the instructions in full size and save them to a document.

Thanks again.

sausage_time

JohnB47 said:

Next question - is there a way to view those little diagrams as full screen, as opposed to hovering over them with the mouse and reading them in situ. I'd really like to see the instructions in full size and save them to a document.

In Chrome, Right-Click, then Open image in new tab

JohnB47

sausage_time said:

JohnB47 said:

Next question - is there a way to view those little diagrams as full screen, as opposed to hovering over them with the mouse and reading them in situ. I'd really like to see the instructions in full size and save them to a document.

In Chrome, Right-Click, then Open image in new tab

Ah yes, thanks.

JohnB47

Well I'm making progress.

I've managed to find a service manual that helps me get to the pads. Very useful (and unexpected).

I've also found suppliers of the whole waste ink pad box assembly (including pads) and others who supply the pads that go into the box.

I'm just wondering though, is the set of pads shown on the following link a replacement in total, or maybe it's a set of different shapes to fit different machines and you just use the ones you need from the set. Otherwise I can't see why so many different shapes would be needed.

It's a choice of DIY pad replacement for £13 or replace the whole box (less messy) for about £37.

Ta.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OKJIEER-Absorber-LET433001-DCP-J4110DW-MFC-J2310DW/dp/B0DRSMP12S/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_1/258-3518186-1783040?pd_rd_w=uV73c&content-id=amzn1.sym.bb13d3fc-af40-4fff-a822-e0e4c415da96&pf_rd_p=bb13d3fc-af40-4fff-a822-e0e4c415da96&pf_rd_r=DEZRWFTSR61HGRKN2ANC&pd_rd_wg=Dc2cO&pd_rd_r=be84f95b-6d1a-4325-a59e-89fc7ec6a01f&pd_rd_i=B0DRSMP12S&psc=1

spud17

The only advice that I have, whatever you decide to do, it's going to make an incredible amount of mess.

JohnB47

spud17 said:

The only advice that I have, whatever you decide to do, it's going to make an incredible amount of mess.

Yes, I'm alert to that possibility. Perhaps I'll buy the whole waste pad unit because replacing that shouldn't involve too much mess. I'll need to swop over two tubes and the instructions say to clip them to stop ink dripping out. I'll have to think about clips or maybe make a couple of little wooden bungs.

I'll take the printer out to the shed and make sure to wear disposable gloves.

I'll post back with how I get on.

interstellaflyer

JohnB47 said:

I have a Brother DCP-J4120DW printer that has been giving me an ink pad full message a few times over recent months. I've read up how to purge the counter to make the priner work again (and I've done that twice now) but I'm now reading that the purge only works for a while (in my case about five months since I last did it - with fairly low usage).

So I'm now wondering about replacing the ink pad myself. I've looked at a few shaky videos and they never seem to show what I want - how to get to the pad on my particular machine and what it looks like, so that I can order it. One video started part way through the dismantling and ended with the removal of some sort of box which was set aside before the machine was reassembled - who knows if that box contained the pad - but it did have a ribbon cable coming out of it.

So, any help with that would be great but I also have a question. If the printer doesn't solely rely on the print counter to tell when the pad needs changed, how does it know when someone replaces the pad? It surely doesn't have some mechanical way of measuring how much ink is in the pad?

I ask this because I don't want to get to the point of changing the pad, then resetting the purge counter and then finding that there's something else needed to tell the printer that the pad was changed.

I could really do with someone who has changed the pad on my model.

Thanks.

It's a 10 year old printer, is it really worth repairing, generally the ink pad, which collects all the surplus ink from priming and cleaning etc is pretty much designed to last the expected life of the printer.