I recently scrapped a Brother color laser printer. The replacement cost for the consumables needed exceeded the original cost of the printer. The unit contained multiples of a BLDC motor/circuit board and I'm trying to figure out how to use them. The connections are identified as follows:

DETECT (N/C)
+24V
PGND
CW/CCW
CLK
LD

I am reasonably sure they are BLDC because there are three equally spaced hall devices mounted for rotation sensing and the motor has three leads connected to the circuit board labled U-V-W.

Anybody played with these or have any idea what they need to make them run?

 

I've got exactly the same motor and I had it running some time ago, I will look and see if I made any notes about it.
Old printers are a great source of motor, sensors, and other very useful parts, being a hoarder(collector) of useful things, I have a large box full of parts from them.

 

Thanks for the reply. I started trying to get it running and assumed (yes, I know what that means) that the CLK input was similar to a step command for a stepper drive and CW/CCW would simply control direction. The input I am totally confused about is the LD line. One big surprise upon disassembly of this printer was the number of screws!

 

Over the w.end I will try and find the motor and wire it up again. I often write a few notes for reference and will post what I have.
Yes, they are a very good supply of screws too + springs, encoders and allsorts. (not the licorice variety)

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

A short comment on your original premise:

The consumables (toner cartridges) in a new machine typically have 1/4 the capacity as replacement consumables. The cost of replacement consumables "exceeding the cost of the machine" is actually a reasonable cost. If you just go out and buy another color laser printer to get the (low capacity) toner that comes with it, you're still wasting the cost of the printer hardware each time.

Which is basically 3/4 the cost of the replacement (full capacity) consumables. Which is not small.

Just sayin'.

 

Thanks for the comments, InspectorGadget. The printer was over 7 years old and the consumables were more than just the toner carts. It needed new a new belt, new rollers, etc. Printed pages were coming out with strange stripes, etc. It was time to say good bye.

 

While on the subject of consumables, I have a Brother laser printer and the "official" replacement cartridge is over £40.00. There is a little window that allows the level of toner to be monitored so that the machine thinks it has run out when in fact there is still a fair amount still available. I cut a small piece of masking tape and stuck it over the window and printed a further 106 pages.
I googled "resetting Brother printer" (method varies so enter machine model number) and found a very useful sequence of key presses that make the machine think it has had a new cartridge fitted so that the masking tape is not needed. I just carry on printing until the quality becomes unacceptable.
Regarding "non genuine" replacements, I was able to buy (from Amazing dot com lol) two cartridges for £25.00. When they arrived, they were EXACTLY the same as originals, just the mark up by Brother dealers being excessive I guess!!!

 

I recently scrapped a Brother color laser printer. The replacement cost for the consumables needed exceeded the original cost of the printer. The unit contained multiples of a BLDC motor/circuit board and I'm trying to figure out how to use them. The connections are identified as follows:

DETECT (N/C)
+24V
PGND
CW/CCW
CLK
LD

I am reasonably sure they are BLDC because there are three equally spaced hall devices mounted for rotation sensing and the motor has three leads connected to the circuit board labled U-V-W.

Anybody played with these or have any idea what they need to make them run?

With the exception of one motor (do not recall the brand but was a well known German one, having an impressive optical encoder) all motors I got by disassembling several Epson and HP printers, they were all steppers. Intrigued and interested about your findings.

 

While on the subject of consumables, I have a Brother laser printer and the "official" replacement cartridge is over £40.00. There is a little window that allows the level of toner to be monitored so that the machine thinks it has run out when in fact there is still a fair amount still available. I cut a small piece of masking tape and stuck it over the window and printed a further 106 pages.
I googled "resetting Brother printer" (method varies so enter machine model number) and found a very useful sequence of key presses that make the machine think it has had a new cartridge fitted so that the masking tape is not needed. I just carry on printing until the quality becomes unacceptable.
Regarding "non genuine" replacements, I was able to buy (from Amazing dot com lol) two cartridges for £25.00. When they arrived, they were EXACTLY the same as originals, just the mark up by Brother dealers being excessive I guess!!!

Thanks for the tips.

I recently got a Brother color laser printer, and I'll remember that about the resetting. I've always used my B/W laser toner until the bitter end...

YMMV with 3rd-party toner... I did some research on Amazon comments, and some report good luck with certain companies' toner and some report disasters with damaged drums (my Brother printer has separate drum/drums AFAIK). Good you had good luck.