Brother MFC-J6540DW A3 Colour Multifunction Inkjet Printer (Wireless)

It took 10 years to wear my old Brother out and boy didn't he work hard!! My main use is printing heavy black graphics on transparency film for electronic printed circuit designs. Day to day letter printing as well of course. Because of this pedigree I returned to Cartridge People and bought the updated version, the Brother MFC-J6540DW A3 format printer. The old version of this printer had a driver setting specifically for transparency film but this new model does not. I didn't know this at the time of purchase so warning bells chimed when I found that there is no transparency option in the paper selection dropdown list. More about dropdown lists later. I need not have worried though as Matt paper has a similar surface so I use that without issue. When producing master artwork for photo pcb boards it is vital that the transparent film mask has really dense black patterns to block the UV light during exposure. To achieve this I send the film through the printer twice. This may seem unorthodox but it guarantees a super black image on the film making the resultant exposed board perfectly prepared for developing and final etching. As you may have gathered, it is this whole process which requires the highest accuracy possible from any printer. If accuracy is not excellent then the process simply fails dimensionally. This printer will achieve an accuracy of about 0.1 mm when overprinting the same image, and better than that on a single pass. For most users this level of accuracy is not required but for electronic circuit artwork it is of paramount importance, and this machine does the job well. I also print equipment and software user manuals as I don't get on with browsing a pdf file for long periods. This can use a lot of ink. Brother recommend their own brand ink of course, but that is expensive, as is all manufacturers own brand inks. I use Cartridge People's compatible ink and it works great with good colour and no smudging. The Brother machine displays 'Non Brother Ink' on the LCD panel as a gentle reminder to make me feel guilty. This ploy does not work with me! To return to the dropdown list issue in the driver…. I am quite old now and through the years of using software and computers one becomes accustomed to using software in subtle ways. For instance, a dropdown list is identified by a small arrow on the right edge of the box which is intended to be clicked on to drop the box selections down. DON’T DO IT !!!! On my system this simple action catches me out time after time and I can’t get used to it, try as I may. When the dropdown arrow is clicked, I am promptly sent to the Brother website to purchase consumables. This infuriates me as I have to close my browser to return to the print dialogue. Just click anywhere in the dropdown box EXCEPT the dropdown arrow. All in all, however, a superb printer worthy of the Brother reputation proven to be excellent over the life of my old model. I hope that this new Brother will last just as long. I have no reason to think otherwise.