I purchase a lot of supplies online, and occasionally an error is made in ordering or shipping and I have to return an item. It has always been a hassle to get the return slips printed. Either at our daughter’s house or at the library, we always had to go out to get the labels.
My son-in-law decided to purchase a new printer when he started having problems with his Samsung CLP 315 Color Laser Printer. He thought it only needed new cartridges but I tried the printer and realized it was having other problems too. Back then I looked at solutions online and decided I’d try them but the project fell by the wayside.
I ordered the toner powder and chips to just replace the toner in the existing cartridges, but then I put the whole thing on a shelf for two years because I just didn’t have the mental energy to figure out the problems. Finally, now that it is winter and the holidays and a bit of space in our schedules, I decided to haul out the printer and tackle the repairs. I also have a few returns to send to Amazon.
The toner kit I bought was from tm-toner on Amazon. There are several other vendors who carry the kit on ebay too. Be sure to get one that includes the chips that tell the printer the toner is full. I paid $36.75 for the kit in 2014 and it is not more expensive today.
TM-Toner Kit
I found several resources with instructions about how to refill the cartridges, including the tip that using a vacuum would keep the job from being too messy. It also helps to clean out the extra toner still in the cartridges so that the new toner is the exact amount the cartridge requires. It was a youtube video in Chinese that had great step by step visuals of the toner replacement–I turned off the sound as it was entirely unnecessary.
Replacing the chips is merely a matter of peeling off the paper cover for the sticky tape and pressing it over the old chip. Luckily the ones in this kit had a directional arrow to get it in the right position.
I knew the printer had been overheating and the print on one side of the paper was faded. The cure for these symptoms was to do a thorough cleaning of the interior of the printer. I found a description of the problem and solution again on youtube. This video was silent but had a step by step description of cleaning the inside of the printer. I followed the directions and had mostly success with the process. I used our wet/dry vacuum and it really helped keep the powdery toner from spreading.
Samsung dumping and vacuuming toner
I did have a problem with reassembly of a paper roller. I didn’t get it set correctly and when I played around with it, I didn’t notice that the small end bracket had fallen off.
I lost the small end bracket during reassembly
I thought I had ruined the printer or would have to search for an expensive assembly to get the one small part, but I checked inside the vacuum cleaner and there it was!
Close up of end bracket that fell off
Needless to say, I was more careful when reassembling it a second time. I had hoped that would solve all the issues, but when I tested the printer with a few different types of paper, thinking perhaps some of our paper had gained moisture or something to make it jam halfway through the printer, I found that I had a common problem with these printers, a sensor was worn out and it was making the paper jam in the same place each time.
Again there was a very good tutorial about how to replace this sensor on youtube. I ordered the part from Part Store, a Best Buy branded site. Digikey was also supposed to carry it but they were out of stock and no longer stocking this part. I ordered two because shipping is more than the part, so it seemed to make sense if they are being discontinued.
Samsung 0604-001393 PHOTO-INTERRUPTER;TR $3.03 2 $6.06 + $3.95 shipping + $.62 tax = $10.63. I had to wait a few days for the parts to arrive.
Samsung paper sensor
Samsung sensor removal
The video shows that popping the new sensor back into place is the most difficult step. It was true, I ended up dislodging the rollers below the sensor in order to lift up the casing enough to get the new sensor into it and the wiring to slip down into its narrow channel. Putting it back into place took lots of jiggling and finesse. But it finally slipped back into its correct alignment and I put it back together.
I like the message at the end of the video.
Always DIY
This is another silent video which I find I like the best since sometimes there is more talking than showing on youtube videos. I usually hate video results as I can scan for information much more quickly on a printed page, especially with illustrations, but I have to admit for this job, the videos were a better source of help in fixing the printer.
And the outcome? I was able to print a beautiful color rendition of the cover of the manual as well as a couple of return slips for Amazon packages. Very satisfying.