As long as your Inkjet printer is used frequently then that should be fine.

But for infrequent use a Laserjet is a better deal as the toner cartridges don't dry out like Inkjet cartridges.

Regards,

John P

Thanks for all the useful suggestions. I have now:

...cleaned all drums and surfaces. No difference.

...tried a different brand of paper. No difference.

...taken all the cartridges out and vacuumed inside. No difference.

Waste toner collector?!? I didn't know it had such a thing. Some serious thumbing through the online manual found that it does indeed have one, but it tells you when it needs replacing apparently, and I've had no error messages so it can't be that. A day's never wasted when you learn something.

Anyhoo, the long and the short of it is that we are done with laser printers. It's getting to the stage where it needs new colour cartridges and a complete set is well north of £100. We have decided we would rather put the money towards a new inktank printer. If it means Mrs Papyrus has to do a lot of reprinting, so be it; it's probably the lesser of two evils.

Thanks everybody for your help.

Cheers,

Chris

Check the pinch rollers are clean?    @Yet_Another makes a good point about checking the waste toner collector if it has one?

Usual disclaimers.
If there's excess toner floating about, is it possible that the toner collector is full?

Stray toner? Maybe try vacuuming out the innards of the printer?

Anything's worth a try. We have used the same brand of paper for years, in both 80gsm and 100 gsm form, with absolutely no issues until now. I think I have another brand stashed away somewhere - I'll see if I can find it.

Cheers,

Chris

Let me first state that even though many years ago I worked for HP I know nothing about laser printers 

BUT if photo paper works have you tried more expensive, heavier duty regular paper?

I always use bog standard bog paper on my laserjet rather than the OEM version but it might be worth a try.

Regards,

John P

Another plea for help, I'm afraid.

We have a Brother L3210 laser printer which has developed a fault I can't seem to rectify. Most of the time now prints come out with a band of smudges down the left hand side:


I've gone through the troubleshoot pages and tried everything they suggest - I've cleaned the corona wires, cleaned the drums, changed the toner cartridge but nothing has made any difference. Mrs P is getting frustrated because she has a lot of printing to do - she's never liked the printer anyway - but I'm reluctant to shell out for a new one. Has anybody come across this before, and if so, what did you do about it?

Curiously, I printed off a photo on to photo paper this morning and it was absolutely fine.

All ideas considered!

Cheers,

Chris

For anyone who might be interested in Hex-TRAK on the back of the Make a Scene 2026 competition there's this free track plan tool - https://hex-trak-planner.com/

Quote from: Railbank on September 18, 2026, 11:08:36 AM looking forward to the show, visiting from North Yorkshire.

Hope you enjoyed it! I was frazzled for a while towards the start helping to run Mauchline and Ballochmyle Viaduct which had been stored for the past two years. All good thereafter.