How to replace your Brother toner cartridge and drum

In laser printers, the drum and toner cartridge work together when printing. The toner, similar to ink, is held in the toner cartridge. When something is printed, the drum transfers that toner to the paper.  In many models, like the Brother HL-2140 toner printer, these are sold and installed as a single unit. However, this often causes both to be replaced when usually only the toner is used completely. Most Brother printers have these components separately installed in one unit in the printer, so that only the empty one needs to be replaced.

Here are the steps to replacing either the drum or toner cartridge on a Brother printer.

1. Turn off the printer
2. Set some scrap paper near the printer. Toner may leak from the toner. This is to protect anything that leaking toner might stain.
3. Open the front cover.
4. Firmly pull the drum and cartridge unit from the printer. Be careful to watch for leaking toner that might drip. Do not touch the electrode, otherwise static electricity may cause damage.
5. Separate the drum and the toner cartridge by pressing the green lever down.
6. Set the parts on the paper.
7. If replacing a used drum, then place the toner in a new drum. If replacing an empty toner cartridge, then snap a new cartridge to the drum.
8. Lock the drum and toner together. If replaced properly, it can be heard locking into place and the green lever should lift automatically.
9. Lock the drum and cartridge into the printer.
10. Turn on the printer.
11. Close the front cover.

The printer should automatically detect the new laser toner cartridge or drum. It is ready to print if the LED indicator goes off.