TG-Brother HL3140 series.pdf

Technical Guide 

Remanufacturing the Brother 

HL 3140 series toner cartridges 

TN-221/225 colour toner cartridges 

By Mike Josiah and the Technical Staff at Uninet

Remanufacturing the Brother HL 3140 series toner cartridges 

TN-221/225 colour toner cartridges 

By Mike Josiah and the Technical Staff at Uninet 

The Brother HL-3040 printer engine is based on a 

new 19ppm black and colour, 600 x 2,400 dpi colour 

LED engine. The machines come standard with a fixed 

memory of 64MB and runs off a 333 MHz processor. With 

print speeds of 19ppm and a list price starting at $299 

(€273) these machines are becoming very popular. 

The toner cartridges do not have a reset chip 

on them, but do have a reset gear that must be 

positioned properly for the machine to accept it as a 

new cartridge. The standard and high-yield cartridges 

use a different reset gear. The starter cartridges that 

initially came with new printers do not come with a reset 

gear. A new gear can be added and the starter cartridge 

made into a full TN221 or 225 cartridge. The proper 

reset positions of the gear will be covered later in this instruction. 

In addition to new reset gears being available, there is also an 

optional kit to convert a colour cartridge to a black so that it fits 

into the drum unit properly. Sometimes black toners are in short 

supply and this allows you to satisfy your customer. While it’s 

never advisable to take a black and create a colour cartridge, it 

is possible to take a colour and make a black from it. 

This series of toner cartridge are also sold around the world 

as the TN-241/245 (UK), TN-261/265 (Middle East, Africa), HL- 

251/255 (Asia, Oceania), and TN-291/296 (Japan). 

The drum unit is new as well (part #: DR-221CL), and is 

rated for 15,000 pages. This unit has four separate drums laid 

out in line. It will be covered in a future article. 

If you’re familiar with Brother cartridges, you know they do 

not work like other manufacturers’ cartridges. This series of 

printers is no exception. I won’t repeat it all here as nothing has 

really changed in the printing theory, but if you’d like a refresher 

Current machines released so far are: 

please see our HL-3040 TN-210 instructions. 

HL-3140CW 

HL-3150CDN 

HL-3170CDW 

The toner cartridges are: 

TN221BK 

TN221C 

TN221M 

TN221Y 

TN225C 

TN225M 

TN225Y 

MFC-9130CW 

MFC-9140CDN 

MFC-9330CDW 

MFC-9340CDW 

2,500 pages 

1,400 pages 

1,400 pages 

1,400 pages 

2,200 pages 

2,200 pages 

2,200 pages 

REQUIRED TOOLS 

• Toner - approved vacuum 

• Phillips head screwdriver 

• Small common screwdriver 

• Needle nose pliers 

REQUIRED SUPPLIES 

• Toner for use in the Brother HL-3140 cartridge: choose 

the correct colour and gram weight for your cartridge 

• Proper reset gear for the starter cartridge (see text) 

• Lint-free cotton cloths 

• Toner magnet cloths 

THE RECYCLER - TECHNICAL GUIDE PAGE 2

TECHNICAL GUIDE 


STEP ONE 

Vacuum the exterior of the cartridge. Be careful not to damage the developer roller as it is 

exposed. 

STEP TWO 

With the handle facing you, remove the two screws on the 

right coloured end cap. 

STEP THREE 

Press in on the tab shown and carefully pry up and remove 

the end cap. 

STEP FOUR 

Remove the small white gear so it doesn’t get lost. 

STEP FIVE 

Remove the fill plug from the toner cartridge. Dump the 

remaining toner from the cartridge. 




STEP SIX 

On the opposite side, remove the two screws from the end 

cap. 

STEP SEVEN 

Lift up on the bottom tab and remove the end cap. 

STEP EIGHT 

Remove the four gears as shown. 

STEP NINE 

Move the white plastic developer roller bushing. 




STEP TEN 

Remove the black developer roller drive gear. 

STEP ELEVEN 

Pry off the inner end caps from both sides of 

the cartridge. 

STEP TWELVE 

Remove the developer roller. 

STEP THIRTEEN 

Carefully vacuum / blow the cartridge clean. Use only low 

pressure air (high pressure air can cause leaks in the 

seals!). Be sure to rotate the foam feed roller so it is fully 

cleaned. 




STEP FOURTEEN 

Vacuum/blow the doctor blade. We do not recommend that the doctor blade be removed 

as the developer roller felt seals will be disturbed. Once a new blade is available, great 

care will have to be taken not to tear the seals, causing a leak. The doctor blade can be 

easily cleaned by blowing the excess toner off, and wiping down with a lint-free cloth. Be 

very careful not to leave any lint behind and do not use any chemicals to clean it! 

STEP FIFTEEN 

With the handle facing you, remove the two screws on the 

right coloured end cap. 

STEP SIXTEEN 

Clean the developer roller with a lint-free cloth. Do not use any chemicals to clean the roller. 

A dry, clean, lint-free cloth will work fine. 

STEP SEVENTEEN 

Inspect the developer roller felts. If they are compressed 

(shiny), gently rough them up with a small screwdriver. 

STEP EIGHTEEN 

Re-install the white and black inner end caps to the 

gear side. 




STEP NINETEEN 

Fill with the appropriate colour toner for use in the HL-3140 

cartridge (this should be done with a small funnel as the 

fill hole is small). You can also fill before re-installing the 

developer roller, but you must pour a small amount in, rotate 

the feed roller, pour more etcetera. 

STEP TWENTY 

Replace the fill plug. 

STEP TWENTY - ONE 

Clean the gears, making sure that they have no toner on them. This is a good time to also check 

the gear shafts to make sure there is enough grease. If the shafts appear dry, or the grease is 

contaminated with toner, clean the shaft and inside of the gear. Replace the grease with white 

lithium grease. 

STEP TWENTY - TWO 

Install the black developer roller drive gear. 

STEP TWENTY - THREE 

Install the white developer roller bushing. 




STEP TWENTY - FOUR 

Install the four gears as shown. 

STEP TWENTY - FIVE 

Install the gear - side end cap and two screws. 

STEP TWENTY - SIX 

On the opposite side, install the small black gear. 

STEP TWENTY - SEVEN 

1 

Set the gear and spring as shown. Figure 1 shows 

the proper reset gear position; the gear and spring 

must be set EXACTLY as shown. If you have a 

starter cartridge these gears will not be present. 

Aftermarket gear and spring sets are available for 

both cartridges. Figure A shows a high-yield reset 

gear and Figure B shows a standard gear. Both 

to be positioned the same way. 

need 

A 

B 




STEP TWENTY - EIGHT 

Install the reset gear end cap and two screws. 

STEP TWENTY - NINE 

Wipe the cartridge down to remove any remaining toner dust. 

STEP THIRTY 

Install the developer roller cover. This is important as the 

developer roller is exposed, and is easily damaged or 

contaminated. 

THE RECYCLER - ISSN 2045-2047 (Print) 

THE RECYCLER TEAM 

Editor & Publisher 

David Connett - publisher@therecycler.com 

Deputy Publisher 

Stefanie Unland – s.unland@therecycler.com 

Deputy Editor 

William Roszczyk – w.roszczyk@therecycler.com 

Journalist 

Nicholas Dawson – n.dawson@therecycler.com 

Designer 

Ian Winter - production@therecycler.com 

Publishing Consultant 

Anthony Critchley – a.critchley@therecycler.com 

THE SMALL PRINT 

Articles may be photocopied for the private use of paid subscribers only. For other 

copying or republication please contact The Recycler. The Recycler (ISSN 2045- 

2047 (Print)) is published 13 times per year (every four weeks) by David Connett. 

Copyright 1997 – 2014 by David Connett. The editorial content does not reflect the 

opinions of the publisher or editorial team. The Recycler is printed in the United 

Kingdom by Buxton Press Limited. The regular retail price of The Recycler is £130 

for 12 months (13 issues) worldwide, and is delivered free to your home or 

office worldwide. 

THE RECYCLER 

Wittas House, Two Rivers, 

Station Lane, Witney, 

United Kingdom OX28 4BH 

Phone: +44 (0) 1993 899 800 

Fax: +44 (0) 1993 226 899 

Email: info@therecycler.com 

Website: www.therecycler.com 

Bureau Office – Australia 

Graham McCusker 

Phone: +61 (0) 416 813 700 

Email: g.mccusker@therecycler.com 

Bureau Office – Germany 

Stefanie Unland 

Phone: +49 (0) 2582 9910 701 

Email: info@therecycler.com 

Bureau Office – United States 

Olivia Stephens 

Phone: +1 702 497 4756 

Email: usa@therecycler.com 

www.therecycler.com/contactus 


eader offer 

AF20 Toner filling machine 

Small-sized toner filling machine 

A compact toner filling machine that requires minimal 

installation and operation space, and allows you to fill toner 

cartridges as part of your production process. 

For low-volume, prototype usage, use one machine. 

Use one machine and four hoppers (one per colour) 

for niche product remanufacturing, or four machines 

for high-density working. 

The AF20 is manufactured in the EU, comes with a 

12-month guarantee and utilises a 100/240Vac to 

12Vdc power adapter for use in most countries. 

Stable, accurate and reliable. 

Offer 1 

• 1 x AF20 base unit 

• 1 x patent-pending filling funnel 

• 1 x 10Kg capacity stainless steel hopper 

Offer price €2,995 + VAT 

Offer 2 





Offer 3 





To order your AF20 filling machine, or to find out more, 

visit www.therecycler.com/readeroffer

TG-Brother HL3140 series.pdf

Transform your PDFs into Flipbooks and boost your revenue!

Delete template?

Save as template ?