Experiencing dots or smudges on your printouts from your Brother printer can be frustrating. While Brother is known for its range of products from reliable printers to innovative crafting machines like the Brother Scan and Cut, print quality issues can sometimes arise. If you’re seeing unwanted dots, it’s often due to a simple issue that you can resolve at home. This guide, tailored for Brother printer users, will walk you through the steps to diagnose and fix the problem, ensuring your documents look crisp and professional again. Let’s troubleshoot those pesky dots and get your printer back in top shape.
Identifying the Dot Pattern
Before diving into solutions, let’s determine the pattern of the dots. This will help us pinpoint the cause of the issue. Print a test page and observe the dot repetition:
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Repeating Dots Every 3.7 inches (94mm): If the dots are spaced approximately 3.7 inches apart and you see about 2-3 dots down the page, the issue is likely due to foreign material on the drum unit. Proceed to Step 1 below for drum cleaning instructions.
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Repeating Dots Every 1.5 inches (39mm): If the dot pattern repeats more frequently, roughly every 1.5 inches with about 7-8 dots down the page, the problem is likely related to your TONER cartridge. Skip ahead to Step 7 for toner cartridge related troubleshooting.
Step 1: Understanding Drum Dots
Dots appearing at 3.7-inch intervals are commonly caused by foreign substances inside your printer. These can include:
- Paper dust
- Glue residue from labels or envelopes
- Small objects like paper clips or staples
These materials can adhere to or damage the surface of the printer’s drum. Toner then accumulates on these imperfections, resulting in the black dots you see on your printed pages.
Step 2: Attempting a Cleaning Cycle with Blank Copies
A simple first step is to use the printer’s internal cleaning process. By making blank copies, you can often dislodge minor debris from the drum surface.
- Load a stack of blank white paper into the ADF (Automatic Document Feeder).
- Initiate a copy cycle, making 10 blank, white copies.
- Issue Resolved? After 10 copies, check if the dots or smudges have disappeared. If so, the problem is solved!
- No Improvement? If the dots remain unchanged after 10 copies, move on to Step 3 for manual drum cleaning.
- Slight Improvement? If you notice some reduction in dots, try making 10 more blank copies to further clean the drum.
- Still Present After 20 Copies? If dots persist even after 20 blank copies, manual cleaning of the drum surface is likely necessary. Proceed to Step 3.
Step 3: Preparing to Clean the Drum Unit
For more stubborn dots, manual cleaning of the drum unit is required. You will need the following items:
- Alcohol Swab: A medical alcohol pad or wipe, readily available at pharmacies or in first aid kits.
- Cotton Swab: Alternatively, use a cotton swab lightly moistened with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.
Safety Precaution: Isopropyl alcohol is flammable. Keep it away from open flames and ensure proper ventilation when using it. Be aware that this cleaning process might need to be repeated to fully remove certain types of materials from the drum surface.
Step 4: Inspecting the Drum Unit
Now, let’s access and inspect the drum unit.
a. Power Down: Turn off your Brother printer and disconnect all power and data cables.
b. Open Front Cover: Open the front cover of your printer to access the internal components.
alt: Open front cover of Brother printer to access drum unit
c. Remove Drum Unit: Locate the drum unit by its handle. Lift the handle and pull the drum unit straight out of the printer.
alt: Removing drum unit from Brother printer by lifting handle
Important Note: Place the drum unit on a clean, flat surface covered with disposable paper. This prevents toner spillage. Toner can stain, so if it gets on your skin or clothes, wash it off immediately with cold water.
d. Separate Toner Cartridge: Locate the lock lever on the right side of the drum unit. Hold it down while gently pulling the toner cartridge out and away from the drum unit.
alt: Detaching toner cartridge from drum unit using lock lever
alt: Separated toner cartridge and drum unit from Brother printer
e. Compare to Print Sample: Take your sample printout showing the dots. Hold it next to the drum unit to help locate the corresponding area on the drum surface causing the dots.
f. Rotate and Inspect Drum: Gently turn the drum unit gear towards you by hand. This rotates the drum, allowing you to visually inspect the entire surface for any marks, debris, or foreign material that matches the dot pattern on your print sample.
alt: Rotating drum unit gear to inspect surface for dots
Caution: The drum surface is photosensitive. Avoid touching it directly with your fingers, as skin oils can damage it.
Step 5: Cleaning the Drum Surface
Now that you’ve identified the problematic area on the drum, let’s clean it.
a. Gentle Cleaning: When you find the area on the drum that corresponds to the dots on your printout, gently wipe the drum surface using either an alcohol swab or a cotton swab lightly moistened with isopropyl alcohol.
Important: DO NOT use any sharp objects to clean the drum surface. This could cause permanent damage.
b. Allow to Evaporate: After cleaning, let the alcohol evaporate completely from the drum surface before proceeding. Sometimes, multiple cleaning attempts may be needed for stubborn residue.
c. Complete Rotation Cleaning: To ensure you’ve cleaned the entire drum surface, continue turning the drum gear towards you. Inspect the entire surface as you rotate it and clean any other areas with residue.
Step 6: Reinstalling and Testing
Once cleaning is complete, reassemble and test your printer.
a. Reinstall Toner Cartridge: Hold the toner cartridge by its handle and slide it back into the drum unit until you hear it click and lock into place.
alt: Reinstalling toner cartridge into drum unit of Brother printer
b. Reinstall Drum Unit: Slide the drum unit back into the printer until it is securely in place. Close the front cover.
alt: Reinstalling drum unit back into Brother printer and closing front cover
c. Reconnect Cables: Reconnect the power cord and all other data cables to your printer.
d. Post-Cleaning Cycle: To further clean the drum and remove any remaining residue, make another 10 blank copies using clean white paper in the ADF.
e. Print Help List for Comparison: Print a Help List to evaluate print quality. Press the REPORTS key, then 1 on the dial pad. After a moment, the Help List will print. Compare this printout to your initial sample to see if the dot issue has improved or been resolved.
i. **Issue Persists or Improves Slightly:** If the dots are still present, or if there's improvement but the issue is still noticeable, repeat the drum cleaning process from **Step 3** to **Step 6**. Multiple cleaning cycles are often effective.
ii. **Issue Continues After Multiple Cleanings:** If the print quality issue remains after several cleaning attempts, the drum unit itself may be damaged and require replacement. The replacement drum unit part number for many Brother printers is **DR400**. Check your printer's manual to confirm the correct part number for your model.Step 7: Toner Cartridge Replacement (1.5 Inch Dot Pattern)
If you identified the 1.5-inch repeating dot pattern in the beginning, this indicates a problem with your toner cartridge. In this case, replacing the toner cartridge is the recommended solution. Purchase a new, genuine Brother toner cartridge compatible with your printer model and replace the old one. This should resolve the dot issue related to toner cartridge problems.
By following these steps, you should be able to effectively diagnose and fix the dot issue on your Brother printer, ensuring clear and clean prints for all your needs.
