Two things send most offices looking for parts: a consumable that has run out, and a wear item that has failed. They are different problems and it is worth knowing which one you have before you spend anything.
Consumables
- Toner cartridges — the part most people replace first, and often the one that was not the problem.
- Drum units — on Brother and several other lines the drum is separate from the toner. Faded or streaked output frequently means the drum, not the cartridge.
- Waste toner containers and developer — usually ignored until the machine refuses to print.
Wear Parts
- Fusers — the hottest-running assembly in any laser printer and the usual end-of-life component.
- Pick rollers and separation pads — the cause of most misfeeds and multi-sheet pulls, and inexpensive to replace.
- Transfer belts and rollers — behind a lot of print-quality complaints that get blamed on toner.
- Maintenance kits — most manufacturers publish an interval. Machines well past theirs are the ones we get called to.
Discontinued machines. A manufacturer ending support does not mean the parts have gone. A good deal of what we do is keeping working equipment running after the maker would rather you replaced it. Tell us the model and we will tell you honestly whether the parts are still sensibly available.
Not Sure Which Part You Need?
Send us the model and a description of what the output looks like — or better, a photo of a printed page showing the defect. Repeating marks, banding and streaks each point at different components, and the spacing between repeats usually identifies which one.