JP2008195034A - Control method of head maintenance mechanism, head maintenance mechanism and recorder equipped with it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a control method of a head maintenance mechanism which enables high-quality printing while attaining an improvement in throughput at the opening action of separating a head cap from a nozzle formation surface, and to provide the head maintenance mechanism and a recorder equipped with it. <P>SOLUTION: The head maintenance mechanism 40 is equipped with the head cap 63 which can tightly shut and open relative to the nozzle formation surface of a printing head. In the opening action of the head cap 63, a lifting mechanism 110 which moves the head cap 63 makes a descending velocity of the head cap 63 when a lip part 96 of the head cap 63 separates from the nozzle formation surface V<SB>2</SB>lower than a descending velocity V<SB>1</SB>of the other time during the opening action. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a head maintenance mechanism control method for maintaining ink nozzles of a print head, a head maintenance mechanism, and a recording apparatus including the head maintenance mechanism.

In general, an ink jet printer is configured such that a print head mounted on a carriage that can reciprocate ejects ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles to desired positions to perform printing.
By the way, foreign matter such as ink and dust may adhere to the nozzle forming surface of the print head during printing, and therefore it is necessary to clean the print head outside the print area for appropriate maintenance.

Therefore, in an inkjet printer, a head maintenance mechanism that performs a maintenance operation of the print head is disposed in a maintenance area that is out of the print area by the print head, and the print head is cleaned by the head maintenance mechanism. ing.
The maintenance mechanism includes a wiper for wiping the nozzle formation surface of the print head, a head cap that closely contacts the nozzle formation surface of the print head and receives ink discharged from the ink nozzles, and a suction pump that sucks the inside of the head cap. Yes.
In this cleaning by the maintenance mechanism, the head cap is sealed on the nozzle forming surface of the print head and the inside is sucked to suck ink in a thickened state from the ink nozzle, and dirt on the nozzle forming surface of the print head is wiped off. A wiping process for wiping is performed.

  Further, in the ink jet printer provided with the maintenance mechanism, in order to form an ink meniscus at the ink nozzle of the print head, a flushing process for discharging a predetermined amount of ink from the ink nozzle into the head cap before starting printing, In order to prevent clogging of the ink nozzles, a capping process for sealing and protecting the nozzles is also performed by bringing a head cap into close contact with the nozzle forming surface of the print head after the stop of printing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-1835

Normally, in the non-printing state, the head cap is sealed and protected by the capping process on the nozzle formation surface of the print head, and when the print data is received by the printer, the head cap is released to open the print head, and the print head Starts printing. At this time, since the movement time of the head cap for opening the print head greatly contributes to the print throughput, it is desirable that the movement speed of the head cap is as fast as possible.
However, if the moving speed of the head cap is high, the inside of the head cap becomes negative pressure due to the influence of the volume change of the space between the nozzle forming surface in the head cap at the moment when the head cap is separated from the print head, Ink that has been present at the contact portion between the nozzle forming surface of the print head and the head cap becomes splashes. For this reason, there is a possibility that the ink droplets are scattered into the head cap having a negative pressure and adhere to the ink nozzles of the print head, causing dot dropout.
Therefore, conventionally, ink splashes are unlikely to occur, and the moving speed of the head cap is slowed to such an extent that it does not adhere to the ink nozzles due to negative pressure, causing a reduction in throughput.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a head maintenance mechanism control method, a head maintenance mechanism, and a recording apparatus including the head maintenance mechanism that enable high-quality printing while improving throughput in an opening operation of separating the head cap from the nozzle forming surface. The purpose is to do.

  A control method of a head maintenance mechanism according to the present invention that can solve the above-described problem is a control method of a head maintenance mechanism including a head cap that can be sealed and opened with respect to a nozzle formation surface of a print head, In the opening operation of the head cap, the moving speed of the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface is lower than the moving speed of the other time during the opening operation.

  A head maintenance mechanism according to the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is a head maintenance mechanism that includes a head cap that can be sealed and opened with respect to a nozzle forming surface of a print head, and moves the head cap. The moving mechanism is configured such that, in the opening operation of the head cap, the moving speed of the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface is lower than the moving speed of the other time during the opening operation. Features.

  According to the head maintenance mechanism control method and the head maintenance mechanism having these configurations, the moving speed of the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface is lower than the other moving speeds in the opening operation. That is, the moving speed is relatively fast except when the head cap is separated from the nozzle formation surface. Therefore, the moving time of the head cap for opening the print head can be shortened, so that the throughput can be improved. In addition, it suppresses the generation of negative pressure in the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle formation surface, thereby preventing the occurrence of ink splashes, and the ink splashes into the head cap and adheres to the ink nozzles. Can be prevented.

  In the head maintenance mechanism according to the present invention, the moving mechanism includes an inclined elevating cam groove, a cam that rotates about a vertical axis, and provided on the head cap side, and slides on the elevating cam groove. It is preferable to include a cam follower that can be arranged and a drive motor that rotates the cam.

  According to this configuration, it is easy to adjust the moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle formation surface to a low speed by using the moving mechanism that moves the head cap by rotating the cam by the drive motor. .

  Further, it is preferable that the moving mechanism has a low moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface by controlling the rotation speed of the drive motor.

  According to this configuration, by controlling the rotational speed of the drive motor, the moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface can be easily adjusted to a low speed.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the moving mechanism reduces the moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface by reducing the inclination angle of a part of the elevating cam groove.

  According to this configuration, the moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface can be easily adjusted to a low speed by setting the inclination angle of the elevating cam groove.

  A recording apparatus according to the present invention includes the head maintenance mechanism according to the present invention.

  According to the recording apparatus having this configuration, it is possible to improve the throughput in the opening operation of separating the head cap from the nozzle forming surface. In addition, since ink can be prevented from splashing on the nozzle forming surface, high-quality printing processing is possible.

Embodiments of a head maintenance mechanism control method, a head maintenance mechanism, and a recording apparatus including the head maintenance mechanism according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer that is a recording apparatus of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state in which a printer case is removed from the ink jet printer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a head maintenance mechanism shown in FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the head maintenance mechanism shown in FIG. 2, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are perspective views of main parts of the head maintenance mechanism shown in FIG.

  An ink jet printer 1 which is a recording apparatus of the present embodiment performs color printing on roll paper using a plurality of types of color ink liquids, and as shown in FIG. The roll paper cover 5 and the ink cartridge cover 7 are provided so as to be freely opened and closed. Further, on the front surface of the printer case 2, a power switch 3 and a feed switch, an indicator, and the like are also arranged.

When the roll paper cover 5 is opened, the paper storage unit 13 that stores the roll paper 11 that is printing paper is opened, and the roll paper 11 can be replaced.
When the ink cartridge cover 7 is opened, the cartridge mounting portion 15 is opened, and the ink cartridge 17 can be attached to and detached from the cartridge mounting portion 15.

  The ink cartridge 17 is a cartridge case containing a plurality of color ink packs. In the case of the ink jet printer 1 of the present embodiment, the ink cartridge 17 is pulled out by a predetermined distance in front of the cartridge mounting portion 15 in conjunction with the operation of opening the ink cartridge cover 7.

Each ink pack in the ink cartridge 17 is inserted and connected to the ink supply port of the ink pack when the ink cartridge 17 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 15. An ink flow path 31 fixed in the printer case 2 is connected to the ink supply needle of the cartridge mounting portion 15, and one end of a flexible ink supply tube 33 is connected to the ink flow path 31. (See FIG. 2).
The other end of the ink supply tube 33 is connected to a damper unit 34 provided on the carriage 23. The damper unit 34 is connected to a back pressure adjustment unit 35 connected to the inkjet print head 21.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a carriage 23 on which a print head 21 is mounted is provided above the paper storage unit 13 in the printer case 2. The carriage 23 is supported by a guide member 25 extending along the width direction of the roll paper 11 so as to be movable in the paper width direction, and an endless belt 26 a extending in the width direction of the roll paper 11 and the endless belt 26 a. The carriage motor 26b that drives the printer 11 is capable of reciprocating in the width direction of the roll paper 11 above the platen 28, which is a printing area.

  As shown in the drawing, the upper position of the cartridge mounting portion 15 that is out of the printing area is a standby position (maintenance area) of the carriage 23 that reciprocates. A head maintenance mechanism 40 that performs a maintenance operation of the print head 21 exposed on the lower surface of the carriage 23 is disposed below the standby position.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the head maintenance mechanism 40 of the present embodiment includes a head cap mechanism 60 for sealing the nozzle formation surface 21 a of the print head 21 and a wiping for the nozzle formation surface 21 a. A wiper mechanism 50, an absorbing member 100 that absorbs adhering matter adhering to the capturing member 24 described later, and an ink suction mechanism 70 for sucking residual ink from the head cap mechanism 60 are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the absorbing member 100 is provided on the side of the head cap 63 in the head cap mechanism 60, and moves to the capping position together with the head cap mechanism 60 so that the upper end edge 101 a contacts the capturing member 24. A rectangular plate-shaped first absorbing member 101 and a contact portion 101b of the first absorbing member 101 provided below the head cap mechanism 60 and moved to the retracted position with the head cap mechanism 60 retracted from the capping position. A second absorbing member 102 that can be contacted.

  The head cap mechanism 60, the wiper mechanism 50, the first absorption member 101, and the ink suction mechanism 70 are driven by a pump motor 81 via a power transmission mechanism 80. These parts are attached to a housing 41 that can be attached to and detached from the printer body.

As shown in FIG. 4, the wiper mechanism 50, the head cap mechanism 60, and the first absorbing member 101 are provided side by side in the reciprocating direction of the carriage 23 (the left-right direction in FIG. 4). The cap mechanism 60 is provided on the rear side of the printer (the front side in FIG. 4).
A power transmission mechanism 80 is disposed so that the head cap mechanism 60, the wiper mechanism 50, the first absorbing member 101, and the ink suction mechanism 70 can be interlocked.

  The power transmission mechanism 80 is composed of a gear train composed of a plurality of gears. The driving force from the pump motor 81 causes the head cap mechanism 60, the first absorption member 101, and the wiper mechanism 50 to move in the reciprocating direction of the print head 21. The ink suction mechanism 70 is operated while being advanced and retracted in a direction perpendicular to each other (vertical direction in FIG. 4).

  The ink suction mechanism 70 is a tube pump in which one end of the tube 72 is connected to the head cap mechanism 60 and the other end is connected to the waste ink introducing portion of the ink cartridge 17. When the ink suction mechanism 70 is driven, Ink is sucked from the nozzles of the print head 21 via the head cap mechanism 60 and discharged to the waste ink storage chamber of the ink cartridge 17.

A cylindrical cam 82 is connected to the final stage (the wiper 51 and the head cap 63 side) of the gear train constituting the power transmission mechanism 80.
The cylindrical cam 82 is configured by fitting a lower cam wheel 83 and an upper cam wheel 84, an intermittent gear 85, and a friction gear 86 on a support shaft 43 that is suspended from the housing 41.

The lower cam wheel 83 and the upper cam wheel 84 have a cam groove for sliding the wiper mechanism 50 and a cam groove for sliding the head cap mechanism 60 shifted on the outer peripheral surfaces formed by combination. Is formed.
On the bottom surface of the lower cam wheel 83, an engagement protrusion is provided to engage with an arc groove having a predetermined length formed on the bottom surface of the housing 41. The lower cam wheel 83 is finitely rotated.
On the upper surface of the upper cam wheel 84, an engaging protrusion is provided to engage with an arc groove of a predetermined length formed on the intermittent gear 85, and the upper cam wheel 84 is rotated following the intermittent gear 85.
A friction gear 86 that frictionally engages with the upper surface of the intermittent gear 85 is disposed above the intermittent gear 85, and the friction gear 86 is pressed and biased toward the intermittent gear 85 by a coil spring 88.

The slider 64 of the head cap mechanism 60 is provided with a cam follower 66 that engages with the cam groove of the cylindrical cam 82, and the slider 52 of the wiper mechanism 50 is provided with a cam follower 54 that engages with the cam groove of the cylindrical cam 82. ing.
Thus, as the cylindrical cam 82 rotates, the slider 64 of the head cap mechanism 60 and the slider 52 of the wiper mechanism 50 slide according to the corresponding cam grooves.

  The head cap mechanism 60 includes a slider 64 and a head cap 63 fixed to the cap holder 62, as shown in FIGS. The slider 64 is formed in a case shape, and the insertion portion 65 is a housing that slides in a direction orthogonal to the guide member 25, that is, in a direction approaching or leaving the nozzle forming surface 21 a of the print head 21. It is supported by a guide shaft 42 suspended from 41.

  A cap holder 62 having a head cap 63 fixed to the tip portion is held in the upper end recess of the slider 64 so as to move forward and backward with respect to the slider 64.

  The wiper mechanism 50 includes a slider 52 and a wiper 51 as shown in FIGS. The slider 52 is formed in a box shape, and a slide portion 53 is supported and guided by a guide portion 44 provided in the housing 41 so as to slide in the same direction as the slider 64 of the head cap mechanism 60. A wiper 51 made of a rubber plate material, which is an elastic material, is embedded in the tip portion of the slider 52.

  The slider 52 can move between a position where the wiper 51 is most retracted inside the maintenance mechanism 40 (a retreat position) and a wiping position where the wiper 51 performs a process of wiping off dirt on the nozzle forming surface 21a. It is like that. As shown in FIG. 7, the wiping position is a position where the tip of the wiper 51 has moved to the print head 21 side by an amount s that protrudes from the nozzle forming surface 21 a and rubs against the nozzle forming surface 21 a of the print head 21. It is like that. Thereby, the wiper 51 can wipe off foreign matters such as ink adhering to the nozzle forming surface 21a. Depending on the type of ink, the wiper 51 may be formed of soft plastic or the like.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, on the maintenance area side (right side in FIG. 8) with respect to the nozzle formation surface 21 a of the print head 21, the wiper 51 of the wiper mechanism 50 moves to the wiper mechanism 50 when the print head 21 moves to the print area side. A capturing member 24 that contacts and wipes off the adhered matter that adheres to the wiper 51 is provided.

  The capturing member 24 is formed in a thin plate shape, and a scraping portion 24a capable of abutting on the side surface of the wiper 51 on the head cap mechanism 60 side protrudes from the tip portion. Further, the tip of the capturing member 24 is disposed at a position slightly retracted from the nozzle forming surface 21 a of the print head 21. As a result, the capture member 24 does not come into contact with the roll paper 11 on the platen 28 when the carriage 23 moves in the print area.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the head cap 63 is formed in a box shape having an opening with a size capable of sealing the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21, and the upper end edge is the nozzle forming surface 21a. The lip portion 96 is made of an elastic material such as rubber that can adhere to the lip.

The head cap 63 has a storage recess 94, and a multi-layer absorbent material 95 that absorbs waste ink is stored in the storage recess 94. The absorption material 95 is held by a pressing member (not shown). The upper surface of the lip portion 96 is lower than the tip end position.
The head cap 63 is held by a slider 64 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and is urged upward by an urging member (not shown).

  One end of a tube from the ink suction mechanism 70 is connected to the head cap 63, and the pump motor 81 of the ink suction mechanism 70 is driven while the lip portion 96 is in close contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a. Then, the pressure in the head cap 63 is reduced, and ink is sucked from the ink nozzles of the print head 21 and discharged toward the waste ink storage chamber of the ink cartridge 17.

  Further, a metal shaft 97 for current inspection is provided upright in the housing recess 94 of the head cap 63, and the metal shaft 97 can be electrically connected to the absorber 95. A lead wire 98 is connected to the lower end of the metal shaft 97, and a signal can be taken out through the lead wire 98.

  In the inkjet printer 1, the print head 21 is cleaned by the maintenance mechanism 40. This cleaning is performed at a predetermined timing or a user operation, and the head cap 63 is brought into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21 so that the space between the ink nozzle and the storage recess 94 is an external space. The ink suction mechanism 70 sucks the inside of the head cap 63 by the ink suction mechanism 70 and sucks the ink in the thickened state from the ink nozzles of the print head 21, and stains on the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21. A wiping process for wiping with the wiper 51 is performed.

  Further, in the ink jet printer 1 having the maintenance mechanism 40, a predetermined amount of ink is applied from the ink nozzles of the print head 21 before the start of printing or periodically in order to form an ink meniscus at the ink nozzles of the print head 21. A flushing process for discharging the ink into the head cap 63 and a capping process for sealing and protecting the nozzle formation surface 21a of the print head 21 with the head cap 63 after the stop of printing in order to prevent clogging of the ink nozzles are performed.

  Further, in the ink jet printer 1, the maintenance mechanism 40 performs an ink droplet ejection inspection for inspecting whether or not ink droplets are normally ejected from the ink nozzles of the print head 21.

Here, the opening / closing operation of the head cap 63 on the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21 in the ink suction process and the wiping process will be described.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an elevating mechanism (moving mechanism) 110 for the head cap.
As shown in FIG. 10, the lifting mechanism 110 includes a cylindrical cam 82 and a cam follower 66 that cooperates with the cylindrical cam 82, and the cam follower 66 provided on the slider 64 that holds the head cap 63 corresponds to the cylindrical cam 82. A cam groove 111 formed between the lower cam wheel 83 and the upper cam wheel 84 (only the lower cam wheel 83 is shown in FIG. 10) is slidably disposed.
The cam groove 111 has an elevating cam groove 111a that is inclined upward from the lower end, and a horizontal cam groove 111b that extends horizontally from the upper end of the elevating cam groove 111a.

In the cam structure having the above structure, when the cylindrical cam 82 rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 10 with the cam follower 66 disposed at the lower end of the lift cam groove 111a, the cam follower 66 slides along the lift cam groove 111a. The slider 64 moves up.
When the cam follower 66 reaches the point P in the elevating cam groove 111a, the head cap 63 held by the slider 64 comes into contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21 disposed immediately above the head cap 63, and thereafter only the slider 64 is placed. The head cap 63 is pressed against the nozzle forming surface 21a by an urging member provided between the head cap 63 and the slider 64, and the lip portion 96 is in close contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a while being elastically deformed.
Thereafter, when the cam follower 66 is disposed in the horizontal cam groove 111b, the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 is brought into close contact with the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21, and the ink nozzle is maintained in a sealed state.

In this state, when the cylindrical cam 82 rotates in the reverse direction indicated by arrow B in FIG. 10, the cam follower 66 moves from the horizontal cam groove 111b into the lift cam groove 111a and slides along the lift cam groove 111a. The slider 64 descends. At this time, the force with which the lip portion 96 is pressed against the nozzle forming surface 21a is gradually reduced, and the elastic deformation is reduced.
When the cam follower 66 reaches the point P in the elevating cam groove 111a, the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 pressed against the nozzle forming surface 21a of the print head 21 by the urging member is separated from the nozzle forming surface 21a. Thereafter, the slider 64 moves down together with the slider 64.

Here, in the maintenance mechanism 40 of the present embodiment, the drive speed of the pump motor 81 that is the drive motor of the lifting mechanism 110 is controlled, and the descending speed of the slider 64 is adjusted so that the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 moves from the nozzle forming surface 21a. When leaving, that is, at a predetermined time before and after the instant of leaving, the speed is reduced.
For example, the transition of the lowering speed of the opening operation of the head cap 63 as shown by the solid line in the graph of FIG. 11, the slider 64 starts decreasing at first descending velocity V ₁ (0 to T _1), the cam follower Immediately before 66 reaches the point P in the lift cam groove 111a, the drive current value or the drive frequency to the pump motor 81 is lowered to suppress the drive speed, so that the drive speed is lowered at the second descending speed V2 (V2 <V1). (T _{1 to} T ₂ ), the drive current value to the pump motor 81 immediately after the cam follower 66 reaches the point P in the lift cam groove 111a and the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 is separated from the nozzle forming surface 21a, or When the driving frequency is increased and the suppression of the driving speed is released, the driving speed decreases again at the first lowering speed V1 (T _{2 to} T ₃ ).

As a result, the inside of the head cap 63 is lowered at a low speed (V ₂ ) when leaving the nozzle forming surface 21 a, so that ink splashes occur between the nozzle forming surface 21 a and the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63. Further, the generation of negative pressure in the head cap 63 due to the restoration of the lip portion 96 that has been pressed against the nozzle forming surface 21a and elastically deformed is suppressed.

On the other hand, as shown by the broken line in the graph of FIG. 11, the conventional descending speed transition is always at a low speed (V ₂ ) in order to prevent the occurrence of ink splashes, and the opening operation of the head cap 63 is completed. It took a long time (0 to T ₄ ) to complete.

As described above, according to the maintenance mechanism 40 according to the above-described embodiment, the lowering speed when the head cap 63 moves away from the nozzle forming surface 21a is set lower than the moving speed (V ₁ ) during other time during the opening operation. Therefore, the throughput is improved as compared with the conventional case. Further, the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 is separated from the nozzle forming surface 21a at a low speed, so that the ink existing at the close contact portion between the nozzle forming surface 21a and the lip portion 96 is prevented from being splashed, and the head cap The generation of negative pressure due to the effect of the volume change of the space between the nozzle forming surface 21a in 63 is suppressed, and the droplets adhere to the ink nozzles of the nozzle forming surface 21a located inside the lip portion 96 even if the droplets are generated. Can be prevented. That is, it is possible to perform high-quality printing processing while improving throughput as compared with the conventional case in which the lowering speed is lowered in the entire opening operation of the head cap 63.
Further, by controlling the rotational speed of the pump motor 81, the lowering speed when the head cap 63 is separated from the nozzle forming surface 21a can be easily reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, by controlling the driving speed of the pump motor 81, the speed at which the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 separates from the nozzle forming surface 21a (down speed) is set to the down speed at other times during the opening operation. However, the inclination angle of the front and rear portions of the point P, which is the position of the cam follower 66 in the lift cam groove 111a when the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 moves away from the nozzle forming surface 21a, is reduced (gradually). Thus, the speed at which the lip portion 96 of the head cap 63 separates from the nozzle forming surface 21a can be made lower than the other speeds.

1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view of the state where the printer case was removed from the ink jet printer. It is a whole perspective view of a head maintenance mechanism. It is a disassembled perspective view of a head maintenance mechanism. It is a principal part perspective view of a head maintenance mechanism. It is a principal part perspective view of a head maintenance mechanism. It is a principal part front view explaining operation | movement of a head maintenance mechanism. It is a principal part front view explaining operation | movement of a head maintenance mechanism. FIG. 5 is a side view of a head cap showing a head cap brought close to a print head in cross-section. It is a perspective view which shows the raising / lowering mechanism of a head cap. It is a graph which shows transition of the descent speed in the opening operation of a head cap.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inkjet printer (recording apparatus), 21 ... Print head, 21a ... Nozzle formation surface, 40 ... Head maintenance mechanism, 63 ... Head cap, 64 ... Slider (moving mechanism), 66 ... Cam follower (lifting mechanism), 81 ... Pump Motor (drive motor), 82 ... Cylindrical cam (cam, moving mechanism), 96 ... Lip part, 110 ... Elevating mechanism (moving mechanism), 111a ... Elevating cam groove.

Claims (6)

A control method of a head maintenance mechanism having a head cap that can be sealed and opened with respect to a nozzle forming surface of a print head,
In the opening operation of the head cap, the moving speed of the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle formation surface is lower than the moving speed of the other time during the opening operation. Mechanism control method. A head maintenance mechanism having a head cap that can be sealed and opened with respect to a nozzle forming surface of a print head,
The moving mechanism for moving the head cap is configured such that, in the opening operation of the head cap, the moving speed of the head cap when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface is higher than the moving speed of the other time during the opening operation. Head maintenance mechanism characterized by low speed. The head maintenance mechanism according to claim 2,
The moving mechanism includes an inclined elevating cam groove formed, a cam that rotates about a vertical axis, a cam follower that is provided on the head cap side and is slidably disposed in the elevating cam groove, A head maintenance mechanism comprising a drive motor for rotating the cam. The head maintenance mechanism according to claim 3,
The moving mechanism is characterized in that the moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface is lowered by controlling the rotational speed of the drive motor. The head maintenance mechanism according to claim 3,
The head maintenance mechanism is characterized in that the moving mechanism reduces a moving speed when the head cap moves away from the nozzle forming surface by reducing a tilt angle of a part of the elevating cam groove.   A recording apparatus comprising the head maintenance mechanism according to claim 2.

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