Bypass Brother printers’ colour cartridge requirement for black and white printing
It’s bad enough that many printers force you to replace ink cartridges well before they are empty.
Since we purchased the Brother 685CW inkjet printer, we have printed almost exclusively in grayscale or black and white. But when the black cartridge ran out, the printer reported that the yellow, cyan, and magenta cartridges were empty as well. That was hard to believe, and it defeats the purpose of having individual ink cartridges. At any rate, we figured we would replace the black cartridge and abstain from printing in colour.
Sadly, the printer refused to print in black and white until it received new colour cartridges. Well, if that’s the case we should really find a more reasonable printer. It’s an inconvenient and costly situation.
Thankfully, as suggested in someone’s comment on amazon.com, there is a solution that doesn’t involve getting a different printer or unnecessarily buying more ink. After placing a piece of electrical tape over a “window” on each colour cartridge, we were able to “trick” the printer into thinking the cartridges were full.
After a bit more searching, I discovered that this is a common issue, especially regarding Brother printers. The reasoning given by printer companies is along the lines of having to continuously flow ink to clean the system. I’ll take my chances, as the potential loss of colour printing isn’t so bad in our case; I’ll also keep hoping for either a smarter, more convenient and economical printing design, or a printing company that isn’t trying to rip us off.
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April 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Cassie says:
Regarding inkjet printers…. I don’t print pictures or anything like that with my Canon inkjet printer. I’ve had it for over 4 years, and have used no-name cartridges from Abacus (http://www.private.abacus24-7.com/driver.aspx?topic=compatibility&compat=12644) that cost a couple of bucks each (individual cartdriges), I would not buy another printer that I could not buy generic ink for, I’ve saved hundreds of dollars over the years by doing this. My kids can print full color pages for their school work, I don’t sweat it, and the printer never clogged or streaked because of the ink quality. Printing photos is cheaper and better through Walmart.ca or any other printing service, sometimes 10 cents a copy. Filling cartdriges with kits is a waste of time (only took me wrecking 3 printers to be convinced of this, never again). That’s my 2 cents.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Ferr Dogg says:
You are a lifesaver, I have been wanting to do this for years but thought it was impossible. I have spent so much money on the color inks over the past few years, not anymore!!
June 17th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
ML says:
where would i put the tape on canon pg40 and cl41 cartridges, if at all possible?
Reply from Peter: Sorry, I have no idea how it works with Canon cartridges. However, if someone else does, please post a comment
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 am
CodeAddict says:
There are various "chip resetters" on the market for people who don’t have a Brother printer. The device can reprogram the chip on the cartridge to make the printer think it is still 100% full! Just google "<vendor> chip resetter".
I also found a program for Epson printers which could reset the cartridge from Windows: http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml
I haven’t found them yet, but perhaps there are similar programs for other vendors.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Jay says:
Hi, i bought a Brother MC-2330 on sale in January and the cyan ran out or at least the printer says so…all i want to do is print grayscale and it still would not let me so i emailed Brother to tell them what i thought of their print policy. They gave me the option of spending another 180 dollars to upgrade to their laser black only!!! Cheez thanks A$$holes. So their next offer was 20% off ink cartridges-but they wanted 50 bucks for the colours-bend over again. Anyway thanks so much for the bypass using the tape as it works great and there is still lots of ink left.
Brother can GFT.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:55 am
mcd says:
I am going to try this trick, if it works God bless you my friend. I am sick of big companies taking advantage of customers, and Brother seems to be only one of them. Let”s rock!!
August 2nd, 2009 at 7:34 am
Nels says:
Hello:
It is NOT clear just eggsackly where to place the tape.
I have tried multiple times – placed tape on ALL cartridges but the cartridge then "jams"
Please, can you be more specific?
Thanks for a very informative article – I”m sure SO many folks appreciate it.
September 6th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
cmh says:
Thanks so much! This was driving me crazy.
Nels, the first time I tried it the cartridge tried to jam, but just give it a firm push and it’ll snap back into place. I think the electrical tape is key, as that has elasticity to it.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
John says:
It definitely works. Thanks for the tip!
February 11th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
phanny says:
I have Brother that uses LC65 and LC61 cartridges and I was able to use gray duck tape because I didn’t have electrical tape. I did it the first time and it didn’t work because I think I put the tape on too tight, but after loosening the tape so the tape can be flexible to form the shape it needed to when pushed inside the printer it worked. This should save us some money. For now =).
February 19th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
i drummond says:
brother mfc 235c tape works perfectly. previously i had epsons and resetters worked perfectly for them. regarding refilling – can mix your own colours to refill for interesting effects. thanks for site
March 6th, 2010 at 3:03 am
JohnP says:
If you are thinking of another printer don’t go upmarket to an HPC6380 or a similar "new" design. As yet there are no chip resetters available. Another problem with the named printer (and possibly others) is that it must be turned off with the console On/Off switch. Turn it off at the wall and you can damage the printer. Mine came with a faulty power supply so that even though I had read the manual and been warned, guess what. That is something they don’t tell you before you buy. Even a house power failure would do it.
March 14th, 2010 at 11:07 am
MATT says:
I just did it with black electrical tape and the LC 61 color cartridges. Thanks, does this mean I owe you $$$ now??? Boo greedy companies, Hooray! you!
April 7th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Dom says:
Peter,
You are the man. Your blog was the first Google result for "force brother printer to print" and for good reason. My mother needed to print her boarding pass tonight, after the local stores had closed, and this blog was our saving grace. Needless to say, covering the ENTIRE opening around the ink window worked perfectly. Thank you so much! Screw Brother!
April 14th, 2010 at 4:23 am
Jack says:
You are right. It works. Now my Yellow, Magenta and Cyan are full!!!
I have a Brother DCP-145C. First it didn’t work but after applying the black tape on the inside of the space were the little plastic square tube is placed, it did.
Jack
The Netherlands
June 13th, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Jessica says:
We just solved the problem by coloring the window with a black permanent marker (no electric tape). Worked like a charm!
June 21st, 2010 at 11:18 am
Brian says:
You Rock! Thanks for the tip. Jessica’s black marker idea sounds good too. Thanks again.
July 13th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Lisa says:
WOW! THANK you x 1,000,000! It worked!
July 24th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Josh says:
Thanks Peter you are a life saver, my borhter printer mfc 5890 had run down my color print cartridges even though i had only ever printed in greyscale from new, and then refused to work until i replaced the both the colour and black cartridge.
what a scam by the printer manufacturer to force me to buy ink i never used.
I took your advice and used a little piece of black tape and placed it over the window on the cartridge, this tricked the printer into thinking the colour cartride was full and i was able to continue printing in black only.
happy days.
thanks again.
July 28th, 2010 at 6:01 am
Kim says:
you are brilliant you are going to save millions of people money not to mention little old me. Thank you
August 19th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
wallcat says:
oh thank gods, you just saved my butt! thank you so much!
September 1st, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Nikko says:
in 410 CN printers its ink cartridge LC47C is different from that yours but i tried to put a very small cotton ball on the white stick below the cartridge and it worked…did you change black?? yes…. cleaning please wait… then I can continue up to the last drop
September 13th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Regogal says:
This worked like a charm…I used a piece of black construction paper over the window, and taped it down on the sides…got my urgent doc out, and now have time to get my yellow replaced.
Thanks!
October 17th, 2010 at 7:05 pm
jean0 says:
very grateful!!! thanks so much, worked great!
November 17th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Weezer says:
We have a HP officejet Pro 8500. I have worked at alot of places with different prints and this one su—s. But I am stuck with it at this office. 4th replacement. Now this ink thing–same thing I don’t use color at all and it is eating ink–just replaced the color ones 2 wks ago and there almost gone. Does the trick with the tape have to be electrical?? Also do I put it in the middle?? There is like an eyeball on the bottom and just a blank slot on top and another blank hole in the middle-the photo shows the middle, so I did this but jused scotch tape, all I had–will this be ok?
Reply from Peter: It doesn’t have to be electrical, but I had chosen electrical because it’s dark and sturdy. As for whether it works for other printers, I don’t know; you’ll just have to try!
December 19th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Amanda says:
I just used this trick on my brother printer and it worked!!!! Thank you!!! I was sooo angry at my printer for not printing in black ink just because the colors were empty. The black was still over 1/2 full. I placed black electrical tape over the windows just as described and voila! it worked. Thank you for this money saving tip
December 28th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Adam says:
awesome. thanks. unimpressed with Brother Marketing at the moment, this is a blatant and undeserved money grab.
otherwise, machine works great, but there’s no room for this.
January 15th, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Sue says:
brilliant..this trick works awsum
January 23rd, 2011 at 6:23 am
Ant says:
Absolutely brilliant tip – took me a couple of goes as my tape was too large, but now works perfectly Thanks
January 26th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
batgioi says:
So cool that I used a permanent marker instead of the tape and it worked. Maybe have to blow the ink tip and make sure it dry.
February 18th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Kevin says:
Thank you so much for this tip; I can now at least print stuff in black/greyscale until I get new cartridges.
March 7th, 2011 at 6:32 am
Abby says:
THANKYOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! i couldnt quite figure out the tape bit but jessicas black marker idea just saved my butt big time, but if it wasnt for your original post i would be getting a major fail in my essay tomorrrrow !! THANKYOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:57 am
Bach says:
Excellent tip!!!
After all that money wasted on colour cartridges, when I’ve never ever printed in colour anyway. Rip offs!
Jessica’s idea, sound better though and less risky,
just in case the tape gets stuck in there or something.
Thanks
June 17th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
J says:
Just wish to say how much I appreciate you post!
I have been stuck with this after getting a Brother DCP.
thank you for sharing!
-J-
June 18th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
stef says:
yup, worked for my dcp 357 c.
saves allot of money!
June 30th, 2011 at 8:49 pm
sr says:
Thanks so much! It worked like a charm! I’m buying only laser from now on.
If it helps anyone, I didn’t have any electrical tape around but I had some black plastic from the top of a hot sauce bottle and I cut it and loosely put it around the window. I bet you could use a piece of garbage bag or even colored paper or anything you have around the house. Don’t get screwed by this printer refusing to print your homework or project at 2 in the morning. Find anything to cover that window. I bet aluminum foil would work or pretty much any opaque thing.
July 29th, 2011 at 4:50 am
Wendy says:
Thank you for this great tip! I used a piece of a garbage bag and it worked like a charm!
July 30th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Rinoa says:
Thank you SO much for this ingenius tip! I used a bit of dark paper and some ordinary tape, and voila – I was able to print out the boarding pass I so desperately needed. You saved me a £40 "fine" lol:) I’m truly grateful!
August 12th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
DC77 says:
I LOVE YOU. Than you thank you thank you!!! Never again do I have to succumb to Brother’s capitalist demands…………. all it took was some masking tape!!
August 21st, 2011 at 5:21 pm
mlwlpt says:
Thank you sooooo much! It worked. My last Brother printer let me print in just black. I save color for special occasions, if ever.
August 30th, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Daniel Ashford says:
This is the best blog ever!!! Showed me exactly how to place the tape with that awesome photo!
Got my mum’s printer going again so i can print out some docs for a job application! AWESOME! you’re the best!
Brother are money hungry dogs!!! I always told ppl that Brother were good value for money, but I wont be saying that again!
October 16th, 2011 at 10:20 am
Michael says:
Thanks Peter ….much appreciated…worked perfectly!!!
October 27th, 2011 at 8:08 am
Hugo Reis says:
Great, great, great! It worked for me. Brother will never see my money again.
Thanks, thanks, thanks!
October 27th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
bingbob says:
Did this on LC1240Y cartridge for MFC-J6710DW. Just covered the transparent little window nestling in the middle of one end of the cart. A single piece of tape nicely wraps round going under a little black bar to cover both sides of the window. Worked immediately. No messing about.
November 5th, 2011 at 12:52 am
Birch says:
Did not work for me with electrical tape, it told me I had tried to replace the cartridge with a black cartridge (it was my cyan that was out of ink) .. so, I cut a piece of the cyan coloured sticker from the existing ‘empty’ cartridge and wrapped THAT around the window, and it worked
YAY!!!
December 20th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Mike says:
OMG! Thank you so much! These people from Brother company have made me spend so much of money on ink cartridges, which I have hardly used. The ink would somewhat dry up and the printer would not print, asking me to replace the ink.
I put just a bit of electrical tape and it has worked just great (black and white or grayscale printing). THANKS again.
BTW: I have a MFC 65cw
Hopefully all Brother customers can get access to this info easily. Infact if there is Brother sucks.com or if better business bureau can report this, will be even better.
January 27th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
john says:
Yeah, not impressed with brother at the moment for this POS money grabbing tactic.. trick works great. Didnt have electric tape but blue painters tape worked wonders.
Thanks man.. great tip. Im all for capitalism but F*@# the man on this one.