JP2006297723A - Liquid ejector, recorder, method of removing liquid and method of removing ink - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent adhesion of a liquid adhering to discharge follower rollers to a recording paper 180. <P>SOLUTION: The liquid ejector comprises: a transfer part 150 which transfers the recording paper 180 in a transfer direction; a recording head 172 which jets ink to a face to be recorded of the recording paper 180; a discharge part 160 which includes the discharge follower rollers that rotate in contact with the face to be recorded, and which discharges the recording paper 180 adhered with the ink; and a control part 300 which automatically executes the ink removal function of removing the ink adhering to the discharge follower rollers by a predetermined timing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus, a recording apparatus, and a liquid removing method that can be performed by these apparatuses. More specifically, the present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus and a recording apparatus that perform a recording operation by discharging a liquid to the recording object while conveying the sheet or plate-shaped recording object, and these apparatuses And a method for removing liquid adhering to the discharge driven roller.

  In many liquid ejecting apparatuses such as an ink jet recording apparatus, a transport mechanism including a pair of rollers that rotate with each other is used for feeding, transporting, or discharging a recording material. Here, at least one of the rollers is a driving roller that is rotationally driven by some driving means. The rollers other than the driving roller are driven rollers that are mounted so as to freely rotate in accordance with the rotation of the driving roller or the conveyance of the recording material.

  Further, the driven roller is disposed at a position facing the driving roller with the recording material sandwiched therebetween, an opposed driven roller that presses the recording material against the driving roller, and the recording roller alone at a position different from the driving roller. In contact therewith, an independent driven roller for preventing the movement of the recording material is included. The recording material is pressed against the driving roller by a part of the driven rollers, and is conveyed according to the rotation of the driving roller.

  The discharge driven roller used for discharging the recording material in this type of liquid ejecting apparatus contacts the recording surface of the recording material to which the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting head has already adhered. For this reason, a part of undried liquid may adhere to the discharge driven roller. Further, the liquid adhering to the discharge driven roller eventually dries and solidifies, and further liquid adheres thereto. Accordingly, as the operation time of the liquid ejecting apparatus is accumulated, the liquid residue is accumulated on the transport driven roller.

  If the liquid or its residue adheres to the discharge driven roller in this way, the discharge driven when any environmental conditions such as vibrations due to the operation of the liquid ejecting apparatus or changes in printing conditions due to changes in the recording material change. In some cases, the liquid adhering to the roller or its residue may adhere to the recording surface of the recording material. Needless to say, such a phenomenon is perceived by the user as a recording failure or dirt, so that the liquid adhering to the discharge driven roller is required to be removed prior to the recording operation.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-228561 discloses a technique related to the removal of ink attached to a discharge driven roller. According to Patent Document 1, in an ink jet recording apparatus, ink that adheres to a paper pressing roller can be removed by rotating the paper pressing roller at a low speed without performing a recording operation and bringing a cleaning member into contact with the paper pressing roller during that time. Has been. Note that the paper pressing roller referred to in Patent Document 1 corresponds to a discharge driven roller that comes into contact with a recording surface after printing.
JP 2002-003003 A

  As described above, by providing a means for removing ink adhering to the discharge driven roller, it is possible to prevent reattachment of ink or its residue from the discharge driven roller to the recording material. However, it is left to the user to determine when the ink removal operation from the discharge driven roller is performed. For this reason, if the user's judgment is delayed and the interval of the ink removal work is extended, the ink may eventually adhere from the transport driven roller to the recording material. On the other hand, the frequency of ink removal work may increase more than necessary, increasing the user's maintenance burden.

  In order to solve the above problems, as a first embodiment of the present invention, a transport unit that transports a recording material in the transport direction, a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a recording surface of the recording material, and a recording surface Including a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording medium, a discharge unit that discharges the recording material to which the liquid adheres, and a control unit that automatically executes a liquid removal operation to remove the liquid attached to the transport driven roller at a predetermined timing. A liquid ejecting apparatus is provided. As a result, the discharge driven roller is kept clean without the user being aware of the timing of the ink removal operation, and a high-quality recording operation can be performed. In addition, the burden of maintenance work on the user is reduced.

  In the liquid ejecting apparatus, the timing is a recording in which the recording material ejected by the liquid ejecting head is ejected by the ejecting unit during the nozzle check for checking the status of the liquid ejecting from the nozzle of the liquid ejecting head. It may be either at the end of the operation or when the power of the liquid ejecting apparatus itself is shut off. Thereby, the discharge driven roller is kept clean without extending the time of the recording operation.

  As a second aspect of the present invention, a transport unit that transports a recording material in the transport direction, a recording head that discharges ink onto the recording surface of the recording material, and a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording surface. In addition, a recording apparatus is provided that includes a discharge unit that discharges a recording material to which ink is attached, and a control unit that automatically executes a liquid removal operation for removing ink attached to the transport driven roller at a predetermined timing. . As a result, even in the recording apparatus, the discharge driven roller is kept clean without the user being aware of the timing of the ink removal operation, so that a high-quality recording operation can be performed. In addition, the burden of maintenance work on the user is reduced.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid removal method, a transport unit that transports a recording material in a transport direction, a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto a recording surface of the recording material, and the recording target In a liquid ejecting apparatus including a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with a surface and discharges the recording material to which the liquid adheres, a control unit automatically causes the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing. The liquid removal operation for removing the liquid adhering to the liquid is instructed. Thereby, the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink removing method, a transport unit that transports a recording material in a transport direction, a recording head that discharges ink to a recording surface of the recording material, and the recording surface In a liquid ejecting apparatus including a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with a discharge unit that discharges the recording material to which the ink is attached, a control unit automatically applies the discharge driven roller to the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing. An instruction to execute a liquid removing operation for removing the adhered ink is given. Thereby, the effect similar to a 2nd form can be acquired.

  The above summary of the invention does not enumerate all the necessary features of the present invention, and sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be the invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are included. It is not necessarily essential for the solution of the invention.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an overview of an ink jet recording apparatus 10 that is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus. As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet recording apparatus 10 includes a lower case 100 serving as a base of the entire apparatus, an upper case 110 that forms a casing together with the lower case 100, and a paper attached to the rear part of the lower case 100. A support 120 and a discharge tray 130 formed on the front surface of the lower case 100 are provided. In addition, the inkjet recording apparatus 10 includes a platen 140 disposed horizontally in the lower case 100, a conveyance unit 150 disposed behind the platen 140, and a discharge unit 160 disposed in front of the platen 140. Is provided inside. Further, a carriage 170 is disposed above the platen 140.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus 10 as described above, the recording paper 180 accommodated in the paper support 120 is sent one by one onto the platen 140 by the transport unit 150 and is sent out to the discharge tray 130 by the discharge unit 160. Further, a carriage 170 driven by a carriage motor (not shown) is reciprocated above the platen 140 in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording paper 180.

  Therefore, the entire upper surface of the recording paper 180 can be scanned by the carriage 170 by alternately conveying the recording paper 180 and reciprocating the carriage 170. Further, the carriage 170 includes a recording head as a liquid ejecting head on the lower surface thereof, and ink can be ejected and adhered to an arbitrary region on the upper surface of the recording paper 180.

  FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the conveyance mechanism 20 for the recording paper 180 in the ink jet recording apparatus 10. In order to make the relationship with the ink jet recording apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 easier to understand, a platen 140 and a carriage 170 that are not directly involved in the conveyance of the recording paper 180 are also drawn.

  As shown in the figure, the transport mechanism 20 includes a paper support 120 exposed behind the ink jet recording apparatus 10, a feeding roller 210 disposed adjacent to the lower end of the paper support 120, and a feeding roller 210. It includes a conveyance drive roller 220, a platen 140, and a discharge drive roller 230 that are sequentially disposed in front. Here, the feed roller 210 is rotationally driven by a motor 240. Further, the conveyance drive roller 220 and the discharge drive roller 230 are also rotationally driven by a motor (not shown).

  The feeding roller 210 is combined with a feeding driven roller 212 that faces the recording paper 180 across the feeding path to form a feeding unit. That is, in the feeding unit, the recording paper 180 is pressed against the feeding roller 210 by the feeding driven roller 212 and is taken into the ink jet recording apparatus 10 by friction with the feeding roller 210 that is rotationally driven. Is fed to a conveyance unit 150 arranged downstream of the first.

  The conveyance driving roller 220 is combined with a conveyance driven roller 222 that is opposed to the recording paper 180 across the conveyance path of the recording paper 180 to form a conveyance unit 150. In the transport unit 150, the recording paper 180 is pressed against the transport drive roller 220 by the transport driven roller 222 and is transported in the transport direction toward the platen 140 by friction with the transport drive roller 220 that is rotationally driven.

  The discharge unit 160 formed on the downstream side of the platen 140 includes a discharge drive roller 230 and a plurality of driven rollers. The discharge drive roller 230 includes a shaft 231 having a constant diameter and an elastic roller 233 partially attached thereto, and the diameter of the portion where the elastic roller 233 is attached is large.

  On the other hand, the driven roller has a position different from the elastic roller 233 on the recording surface of the recording paper 180 and the opposed driven roller 232 arranged to face the elastic roller 233 across the discharge path of the recording paper 180. And an independent driven roller 234. However, the opposed driven roller 232 and the independent driven roller 234 are members having the same diameter. In the following description, when the opposed driven roller 232 and the independent driven roller 234 are collectively referred to as “discharge driven roller”.

  FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view showing the discharge unit 160 viewed from the arrow A side shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, a counter driven roller 232 arranged to face the elastic roller 233 is in contact with the elastic roller 233 at a portion where the elastic roller 233 is mounted and the diameter is enlarged.

  On the other hand, the independent driven roller 234 is not in contact with any part of the discharge driving roller 230 in a portion where the elastic roller 233 is not attached. Accordingly, the independent driven roller 234 touches the recording paper 180 and rotates according to the conveyance.

  Here, all the discharge driven rollers are supported from above by a common frame 235 and abut against the discharged recording paper 180 from above. This means that each discharge driven roller comes into contact with the recording surface of the recording paper 180.

  FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view in which the discharge unit 160 is mainly cut by a vertical plane parallel to the opposed driven roller 232. As shown in the figure, the counter driven roller 232 sandwiches the recording paper 180 from above and below together with the elastic roller 233 attached to the discharge driving roller 230. Accordingly, the recording paper 180 is pressed against the elastic roller 233 by the opposed driven roller 232. Since the discharge drive roller 230 is driven to rotate as described above, the recording paper 180 is discharged toward the left side in the drawing as the discharge drive roller 230 rotates.

  Here, the ink ejected from the recording head 172 mounted on the bottom of the carriage 170 that is partially visible on the right side in the drawing is attached to the recording paper 180 discharged by the discharge unit 160. Therefore, the counter driven roller 232 comes into contact with the recording surface of the recording paper 180 to which ink is attached. Although not shown in this figure, the independent driven roller 234 also contacts the recording surface of the recording paper 180 in the same manner.

  However, of the two types of discharge driven rollers as described above, the independent driven roller 234 is pressed against the recording paper 180 only by its elasticity, and a sharp tip of the contact portion 239 is formed on the surface of the recording paper 180. Touch. Therefore, the ink attached to the recording paper 180 hardly adheres to the independent driven roller 234.

  On the other hand, the opposing driven roller 232 cooperates with the discharge drive roller 230 to discharge the recording paper 180, so that the contact portion 239 is strongly pressed against the recording paper 180 and the contact portion 239 The leading end penetrates the recording paper 180. For this reason, the ink that has adhered to the recording paper 180 tends to adhere to the opposed driven roller 232.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram independently showing the shape of a member used as a discharge driven roller including the opposed driven roller 232 and the independent driven roller 234 in the ink jet recording apparatus 10 as described above. As shown in the figure, the discharge driven roller is formed of a metal disk part 238 having a plurality of sharp contact parts 239 formed around it, and a pair of resin disk parts 236 sandwiching the metal disk part 238 from both sides. ing. In addition, a shaft hole 237 that penetrates the resin disk portion 236 and the metal disk portion 238 is provided at the center.

  As described above, the members used for the opposed driven roller 232 and the independent driven roller 234 have undulations on the circumferential surface thereof, and the tip of the contact portion 239 is sharply pointed. Accordingly, even if the cleaning member is rotated while contacting the peripheral portion as described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to wipe the peripheral surface thoroughly.

  In the ink jet recording apparatus 10 including the transport mechanism 20 configured as described above, first, the recording paper 180 is stacked and stored on the paper support 120. When the recording operation is started, first, the uppermost recording sheet 180 is sandwiched between the feeding roller 210 and the feeding driven roller 212 and taken into the ink jet recording apparatus 10. It is sandwiched between the transport driven rollers 222 and sent out onto the platen 140.

  On the other hand, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, a carriage 170 is disposed above the platen 140. A recording head 172 is mounted on the lower surface of the carriage 170, and ink is ejected from the recording head 172 toward the lower side of the carriage 170 in the recording operation.

  Therefore, the ink ejected from the recording head 172 provided on the upper carriage 170 is sprayed on the recording paper 180 during the period when it is located on the platen 140. At this time, the platen 140 supports the recording paper 180 from below, and keeps the distance between the recording head 172 and the recording paper 180 constant.

  Further, the recording sheet 180 that has passed under the carriage 170 is eventually sandwiched between the discharge driving roller 230 and the opposed driven roller 232 and is sent out of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. At this time, the independent driven roller 234 touches the recording paper 180 and rotates according to the movement accompanying the discharge. With these series of operations, the recording operation by the ink jet recording apparatus 10 is completed.

  In the above-described series of recording operations, the discharge driven roller contacts the recording surface of the recording paper 180 after ink is attached by the recording head 172. Accordingly, when the ink adhering to the recording paper 180 is not dried or peeled off, the ink adheres to the discharge driven roller. Further, as described above, since the contact portion 239 that protrudes partially is formed on the peripheral surface of the discharge driven roller, even if the cleaning member fixed to the rotating discharge driven roller is brought into contact, the adhered ink Or the residue cannot be removed completely.

  In contrast, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, the discharge driving roller 230 can be driven to rotate without conveying the recording paper 180. In this state, since the recording sheet 180 does not exist in the discharge unit 160, the opposed driven roller 232 and the discharge drive roller 230 are in direct contact with each other, and the ink adhered to the opposed driven roller 232 and the residue thereof. Is transferred to the elastic roller 233 of the discharge driving roller 230 or pushed away from the tip of the contact portion 239 toward the center in the radial direction. Accordingly, the contact portion 239 of the counter driven roller 232 is cleaned.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram schematically showing the structure of the control unit 300 mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the control unit 300 receives a command or recording data from a user 301, and an individual control for controlling each component of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 under the control of the central control unit 310. Part 311.

  In addition to the instruction from the user 301 and the recording data, the central control unit 310 also exchanges signals with various inputs and outputs provided in the ink jet recording apparatus 10. That is, it receives signals from various input units such as the hardware switch 312, the print amount counter 314, and the sensors 316 mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus 10, and also generates a message to be returned to the display unit 380 and the like. The central control unit 310 is also equipped with a built-in program 318. When there is an instruction from the user 301, when a specific condition is detected from various input units, the built-in program 318 is activated, It is also possible to cause the inkjet recording apparatus 10 to autonomously execute a specific operation.

  In addition to the power switch, the hardware switch 312 has a function of directly starting and executing a function implemented in the ink jet recording apparatus 10 according to the model. Specific examples include those that cancel the recording operation that is being executed, those that perform a forced paper discharge operation, and those that perform settings for the inkjet recording apparatus 10 alone. The printing amount counter 314 stores the effective operating time of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 by monitoring the number of conveyed recording sheets 180, the amount of consumed ink, etc., although the specifications differ depending on the model. Further, the sensors 316 monitor the operation state of each part of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 such as the presence / absence of the recording paper 180, the position of the recording paper on the conveyance path, and the amount of ink.

  On the other hand, in the individual control unit 311, the conveyance control unit 320 integrally controls the feeding unit 350, the conveyance unit 150, and the discharge unit 160 of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 illustrated in FIG. 2. By this control, the recording paper 180 is fed, conveyed, and discharged.

  In the individual control unit 311, the carriage control unit 330 controls the operation of the carriage motor 360 in response to the feeding, transporting, and discharging of the recording paper 180 by the transport control unit 320, and executes the reciprocating movement of the carriage 170. Or stop. Further, before or after the start of the recording operation, the movement of the carriage 170 is also controlled in operations other than the recording operation, such as returning the carriage 170 to the home position.

  Further, in the individual control unit 311, the recording head control unit 340 controls the recording head driving unit 370 to operate the recording head 172 mounted on the carriage 170. That is, in addition to discharging or stopping ink based on recording information input from the outside, control of ink discharge amount, nozzle check operation, execution of flushing operation, and the like are realized. Here, the nozzle check operation is an operation in which ink is ejected from the nozzles of the recording head 172 to the recording material separately from the recording information received from the outside, and the state of ink ejection is checked. In addition, the flushing operation discharges ink from the nozzles of the recording head 172 toward the cap disposed at the home position separately from the recording information received from the outside, thereby eliminating ink clogging and adjusting the meniscus. It is an operation.

  The ink removal operation described above can be implemented as the built-in program 318 in the control unit 300 as described above. That is, the ink removing operation of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 is the same as the normal recording operation, except for the fact that the operation of the recording head 172 is stopped.

  In the ink removing operation of the ink jet recording apparatus 10, an instruction to stop the operations of the carriage control unit 330 and the recording head control unit 340 is given. Accordingly, the carriage motor 360 does not operate and the carriage 170 does not move from the home position. Further, since the recording head 172 does not operate, ink is not ejected. On the other hand, the conveyance control unit 320 instructs the discharge unit 160 to operate, and instructs the feeding unit 350 and the conveyance unit 150 to stop the operation. Accordingly, only the discharge drive roller 230 is driven to rotate, but the recording paper 180 is not supplied, and therefore the counter driven roller 232 is rotated while being in direct contact with the discharge drive roller 230. As described above, the ink removing operation can be realized by individually controlling each function provided in the ink jet recording apparatus 10.

  Further, in the ink jet recording apparatus 10, the ink removing operation as described above is automatically started and executed at the following predetermined timing under the control of the central control unit 310. As an example of the predetermined timing, the central control unit 310 may activate and execute the ink removal operation before or after the nozzle check operation in the recording head 172. Further, as another example of the predetermined timing, the central control unit 310 may activate and execute the ink removal operation in parallel with the flushing operation in the recording head 172. Further, as another example of the predetermined timing, the central control unit 310 can automatically execute the ink removal operation every time the recording operation is finished. Further, as another example of the predetermined timing, the central control unit 310 automatically performs the ink removing operation when receiving an instruction to shut off the power of the ink jet recording apparatus 10 by the hardware switch 312. It is also possible to shut off the power after execution. Furthermore, the central control unit 310 can simultaneously implement some of the above timings for executing these ink removal operations, and can automatically execute the ink removal operation at each mounted timing.

  In the above description, the operation for rotating the discharge driven roller in contact with the discharge drive roller 230 has been described as an example of the ink removal operation. However, the form of the ink removal operation is not limited to this. . As another form of the ink removing operation, the recording material may be discharged as a blank sheet.

  As described above in detail, the liquid ejecting apparatus according to the present invention has a function of removing the liquid adhering to the transport driven roller or the residue thereof using the recording paper. Therefore, there is no need to expose the transport driven roller for liquid removal. In addition, since the recording operation can be performed with a clean conveyance driven roller, high-quality image recording can be performed.

  The ink jet recording apparatus has been described as an example. Specific examples of the liquid ejecting apparatus to which the present invention can be applied include a color material ejecting apparatus, an organic EL display, and an FED (surface emitting) in the production of a color filter for a liquid crystal display. Examples thereof include an electrode forming apparatus in the production of a display) and the like, a sample ejection head used for biochip production, and the like.

  The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an overall structure of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view in which the transport mechanism 20 is mainly extracted from the ink jet recording apparatus 10. The figure which expands and shows the discharge part 160 partially. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the discharge unit 160 cut along a vertical plane parallel to the opposed driven roller 232. The perspective view which shows independently the shape of a discharge driven roller. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a control unit 300 of the ink jet recording apparatus 10. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Inkjet recording device, 20 conveyance mechanism, 100 lower case, 110 upper case, 120 paper support, 130 discharge tray, 140 platen, 150 conveyance part, 160 discharge part, 170 carriage, 172 recording head, 180 recording paper, 210 Feed roller, 212 Feed driven roller, 220 Transport driven roller, 222 Transport driven roller, 230 Discharge drive roller, 231 shaft, 232 Opposed driven roller, 233 Elastic roller, 234 Independent driven roller, 235 Frame, 236 Resin disc part, 237 Shaft hole, 238 Metal disk part, 239 Contact part, 240 Motor, 300 Control part, 301 User, 310 Central control part, 311 Individual control part, 312 Hardware switch, 314 Print amount counter, 316 Sensors, 3 8 stored programs, 320 transport control unit, 330 a carriage control unit, 340 recording head control unit 350 feeding section, 360 a carriage motor, 370 a recording head drive unit

Claims (7)

A transport unit for transporting the recording material in the transport direction;
A liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto the recording surface of the recording material;
A discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording surface, and discharges the recording material to which the liquid adheres;
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising: a controller that automatically executes a liquid removing operation for removing the liquid adhering to the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the timing includes a nozzle check time for checking a state of liquid ejection from a nozzle of the liquid ejecting head.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the timing includes an end time of a recording operation in which the recording material ejected by the liquid ejecting head is ejected by an ejecting unit.   The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the timing includes a power-off time when the power of the liquid ejecting apparatus itself is shut off. A transport unit for transporting the recording material in the transport direction;
A recording head for discharging ink onto the recording surface of the recording material;
A discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording surface, and discharges the recording material to which the ink is attached;
And a controller that automatically executes a liquid removing operation for removing the ink attached to the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing. The liquid adhered to the recording medium includes a transport unit that transports the recording material in the transport direction, a liquid ejecting head that ejects liquid onto the recording surface of the recording material, and a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording surface. In a liquid ejecting apparatus comprising a discharge unit that discharges the recording material,
A liquid removal method in which a control unit automatically instructs execution of a liquid removal operation for removing the liquid adhering to the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing. A transport unit configured to transport a recording material in a transport direction; a recording head that discharges ink to a recording surface of the recording material; and a discharge driven roller that rotates in contact with the recording surface. In a liquid ejecting apparatus including a discharge unit that discharges a recording material,
An ink removal method in which a control unit automatically instructs execution of a liquid removal operation for removing the ink attached to the discharge driven roller at a predetermined timing.

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