JP5163157B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing by ejecting ink droplets from a print head onto a substrate.

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional printing apparatus, an ink jet printer that performs a printing process on a printing material by moving a printing head (ink jet head) that discharges ink droplets relative to the printing material such as paper is known. .
When printing is performed in such an ink jet printer, a so-called cockling phenomenon may occur in which the paper swells and undulates due to ink droplets ejected onto the paper. When this cockling occurs, the paper may come into contact with the print head and the paper may become dirty or a jam failure may occur.

For this reason, there is known a printing apparatus including a transport mechanism that sucks the inside of a vacuum belt having a plurality of suction ports and sucks and transports the paper to the vacuum belt to suck the paper to the platen side. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
There is also known a printing apparatus in which a plurality of strip-shaped endless belts are arranged and air is sucked from an air suction port provided between the endless belts to convey the paper while pressing the paper against the endless belt (for example, Patent Literature 2).

Japanese Patent No. 3195922 Japanese Patent No. 2902150

  By the way, in a printing apparatus provided with a vacuum belt, the paper floats up at a place other than the suction port of the vacuum belt due to cockling generated in the paper. In this case, it is conceivable to increase the number of suction ports or to devise the arrangement, but in order to suppress cockling of the paper, a very large suction force is required. Increasing the suction force increases the frictional force between the vacuum belt and the receiving part of the belt, which increases the feeding load, making it difficult to transport the paper smoothly and accurately. A device is required, resulting in an increase in cost. Further, when the paper is thin, wrinkles are generated by increasing the suction force, and print quality is deteriorated.

  Also, in the case of a printing apparatus in which an air suction port is provided in the platen between a plurality of strip-shaped endless belts, the paper with cockling is adsorbed by the air suction port to cause friction, and smooth and highly accurate paper Transport becomes difficult. In this case, considering the cockling of the paper, it is sufficient that the suction port is far away from the paper with respect to the surface of the belt. In this case, the suction force at the air suction port is difficult to act on the paper, Therefore, it is not possible to sufficiently prevent paper contact with the print head and jamming failure.

  Further, the printing apparatus requires printing on a plurality of types of paper having different width dimensions. However, in the printing apparatus in which a plurality of strip-shaped endless belts are arranged at equal intervals, a plurality of types of paper having different width dimensions are used. Deviation occurs in the position of the belt in the vicinity of the left and right end portions. As a result, the edge of the paper is placed on the belt, the edge of the paper is too far from the belt, and the paper is not conveyed in a well-balanced manner, which may cause jamming.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can smoothly print a plurality of types of printed materials having different width dimensions in a well-balanced manner.

A printing apparatus according to the present invention capable of solving the above problems includes a transport mechanism that transports sheet-like printed materials one by one, and a print head that ejects ink to the printed material transported by the transport mechanism. A printing apparatus comprising:
In the transport mechanism, a plurality of transport belts provided along the transport direction of the substrate to transport the substrate are arranged at intervals in the width direction of the substrate perpendicular to the transport direction,
The conveyance belt is arranged in the vicinity of at least both sides of various types of printing materials having different width dimensions, and the printing material is conveyed by a plurality of the conveyance belts including those arranged in the vicinity of both sides of the printing materials. Features.

According to the printing apparatus having this configuration, the conveyance belt is disposed in the vicinity of at least both sides of various types of printing materials having different width dimensions, and the printing material includes a plurality of conveyance belts including those disposed in the vicinity of both sides of these printing materials. Therefore, various printed materials having different width dimensions can be conveyed in a very balanced manner.
As a result, various printed materials can be transported smoothly and with high accuracy and printing can be performed satisfactorily while preventing the printed material from coming into contact with the print head and jamming.

Moreover, it is preferable that the said conveyance belt arrange | positioned in the side part vicinity position of the said to-be-printed material to convey is arrange | positioned in the equal position of the width direction with respect to the said to-be-printed material.
According to the printing apparatus having this configuration, since the conveyance belts arranged in the vicinity of both sides of the printed material to be conveyed are arranged at equal positions in the width direction with respect to the printed material, various printed materials having different width dimensions. Can be transported in a well-balanced manner, and various printed materials can be transported smoothly and with high accuracy while preventing the contact of the printed material with the print head and the occurrence of jamming failure, and printing can be performed more satisfactorily.

  Further, the transport mechanism has suction ports for sucking the printed material at positions farther from the print head than the transport surface of the printed material by the transport belt on both sides in the width direction of the transport belt, respectively. It is preferable that a clearance recess having a bottom surface is provided between the conveyance belts and between the suction ports adjacent in the width direction and having a bottom surface at a position farther from the print head than the suction ports.

According to the printing apparatus having this configuration, since the printed material is sucked by the suction ports provided on both sides in the width direction of the transport belt, even if the cockling is loosened due to the ejection of ink droplets, The printed material is drawn and curved in the direction away from the print head (that is, the platen side) by the suction port on both sides in the width direction of the conveyance belt. Therefore, the printed material can be conveyed without being brought into contact with the print head while being sucked so as to be pressed against the conveying belt.
In addition, since the suction port is located at a position farther from the print head than the transport surface of the transport belt, the printed material attracted by the suction port does not contact the suction port. Further, the curvature due to suction tends to increase between adjacent suction ports between the conveyance belts, but the bottom surface of the escape recess is at a position farther from the print head than the suction port at that position. It is also possible to prevent contact with the bottom surface. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate such a problem that the printed material drawn by the suction port comes into contact with the suction port and the bottom surface of the escape recess to increase the conveyance resistance. In addition, the suction port is positioned so close to the transport surface that it does not affect the good suction of the printed material, so that the printed material with cockling can be reliably sucked and bent away from the print head. it can.
As a result, it is possible to convey the printing material smoothly and with high accuracy and to perform good printing while preventing the printing material from contacting the print head and the occurrence of jam failure.

Preferably, the conveyor belt is a timing belt having a plurality of teeth along the width direction, and the suction port communicates with the tooth gaps at both widthwise sides of the conveyor belt. It is preferable that the opening is configured to be sucked toward the inner peripheral surface side of the transport belt through the gap between the teeth.
According to this configuration, since the gap between the teeth on the inner surface of the transport belt is communicated with the suction port, it is not necessary to provide separate suction ports on both sides of the transport belt, and the cost can be reduced by simplifying the structure. Can be achieved. In addition, since the timing belt is used as the conveyance belt, it is possible to perform printing with high accuracy by increasing the conveyance accuracy of the printing material without being affected by the thickness of the conveyance belt.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the present embodiment, an ink jet printer will be described as an example of a printing apparatus.

  1 is an external perspective view of the printer of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing the internal configuration of the printer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan sectional view showing the internal configuration of the printer shown in FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional side view of the printer showing a state where paper can be fed from the main cassette, FIG. 5 is a schematic plan sectional view of the printer showing a state where paper can be fed from the main cassette, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of the print processing unit, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view in the conveyance direction of the paper in the suction port portion in the print processing unit, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the paper in the conveyance belt portion in the print processing unit. FIG. 10 is a plan view of the transport mechanism, and FIG. 11 is an enlarged side view of the transport belt portion.

  The printer 1 of the present embodiment is, for example, a front paper feed / rear paper discharge type ink jet printer, and, as shown in FIG. A loading port 5 is formed. As shown in FIG. 2, the subcassette loading slot 5 is detachably loaded with a subcassette 6 in which a sheet P, which is a large sheet-like printed material, is accommodated in an accommodation space S. The sub-cassette 6 is loaded in the inside of the device case 4 in the latter half portion and protrudes from the device case 4 in the first half portion.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a window portion 8 having an open / close door 7 that can be opened and closed outward is provided on the side surface (front side surface in FIG. 1) of the device case 4. In this state, the main cassette 42 can be taken in and out. As shown in FIG. 2, the main cassette 42 accommodates sheets P, which are small-sized printed materials, in a stacked state. Further, a discharge tray 9 for receiving the printed paper P is provided on the rear surface (right end surface in FIG. 1) of the device case 4.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the apparatus case 4 is provided with a cassette installation unit 40 at the front, and a paper supply unit 10 downstream of the cassette installation unit 40 (that is, at the rear). Yes. A print processing unit 20 is provided on the downstream side of the paper supply unit 10, and a paper discharge unit 50 is further provided.

  In the cassette installation section 40, an opening / closing cover 5a that is pivotable inward is provided at the sub-cassette loading port 5. The opening / closing cover 5a is inserted into the sub-cassette loading port 5 to insert the sub-cassette 6 into the sub-cassette. 6, pivots inward to open the subcassette loading port 5, and pulls out the subcassette 6 from the subcassette loading port 5, thereby rotating to the subcassette loading port 5 side to rotate the subcassette loading port 5. Close.

The subcassette loading port 5 is provided with an open / close cover detection sensor 5b that is turned ON / OFF by opening / closing the open / close cover 5a.
In addition, a sub-cassette detection sensor 5c that is turned ON / OFF by attaching / detaching the sub-cassette 6 to / from the printer 1 is provided at a position on the front side in the loading direction in the printer 1 in which the sub-cassette 6 is loaded.

Further, a main cassette installation section 41 is provided in the apparatus case 4, and the main cassette 42 is detachably accommodated in the main cassette installation section 41.
The main cassette 42 has an accommodation space S in which small-sized paper P is stacked and accommodated therein, and a paper elevating mechanism 43 is provided in the accommodation space S. The uppermost portion of the small-sized paper P accommodated in the accommodation space S in a stacked state by the mechanism 43 is set to a predetermined height position.

The main cassette installation unit 41 includes an elevating plate 44 on which the main cassette 42 is placed. The elevating plate 44 is moved up and down by an elevating mechanism 44a.
Further, the elevating plate 44 is provided with a main cassette detection sensor 46 that is turned on and off by a pin 45 that protrudes and retracts when the main cassette 42 is attached to and detached from the main cassette installation portion 41.

  In the main cassette installation section 41, the main cassette 42 on the elevating plate 44 is fed as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 by being raised by the elevating mechanism 44a with the sub-cassette 6 removed. The paper P is disposed at the paper position, and in this state, the paper P can be fed out by the pickup roller 13.

On the contrary, when the elevating plate 44 is lowered by the elevating mechanism 44a, the main cassette 42 is disposed at the standby position deviated from the paper feeding position. In this state, the main cassette 42 is removed from the window 8 of the apparatus case 4. The main cassette 42 can be taken out. Further, the sub-cassette 6 can be loaded from the sub-cassette loading port 5 in a state where the main cassette 42 is disposed at the standby position.
The main cassette installation unit 41 includes a paper feed position detection sensor 47 that detects that the main cassette 42 is disposed at the paper feed position and a standby position detection sensor that detects that the main cassette 42 is disposed at the standby position. 48 is provided.

  The paper feeding unit 10 is provided with a pickup roller 13 supported at the front end of a frame 12 that is swingably supported in the apparatus case 4, and this pickup roller 13 is in contact with the paper P disposed below. As a result, the uppermost sheet P is fed back one by one (to the right in FIGS. 2 and 3) and sent to the print processing unit 20 on the rear side.

  The print processing unit 20 prints a desired image by ejecting ink droplets (ink droplets) while moving relative to the supplied paper P in the width direction of the paper P. 22 is provided so as to be movable along guide shafts 21 and 21 provided orthogonal to the paper feeding direction.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the inkjet head 22 is fixed to a part of a drive belt 64 that is wound around a drive pulley 62 and a driven pulley 63 that are rotated by a drive motor 61, and the drive pulley 62 is driven. When the drive belt 64 is rotated by the motor 61 and moved, it moves along the guide shafts 21 and 21. Note that the inkjet head 22 of the present embodiment has a length of 2 inches in the paper conveyance direction in the region where the ink nozzles are formed, and is relatively large as an inkjet printer.

Also, below the inkjet head 22, a transport mechanism 70 is provided that transports the paper P, which is a substrate, while supporting it from below.
As shown in FIGS. 6 to 10, the transport mechanism 70 includes a suction block 72 that is a platen 71 having an upper surface as a printing reference surface and faces the inkjet head 22. The suction block 72 has a box shape with a space S1 formed therein, and a suction blower 74 for sucking out air in the space S1 is provided at the lower part.

  A plurality of tension pulleys 75 and guide pulleys 73 (see FIG. 11) are supported at intervals on the upstream end of the suction block 72 constituting the transport mechanism 70. Further, a groove portion 76 that opens upward is formed in the vicinity of the downstream side of the suction block 72 over the width direction, and a rotating shaft 78 is disposed in the groove portion 76. The same number of drive pulleys 79 as tension pulleys 75 are provided on the rotary shaft 78 at positions facing the tension pulleys 75. The drive belt 79, the tension pulley 75, and the guide pulley 73 are respectively wound around the conveyor belt 80, and the conveyor belt 80 is arranged in parallel at intervals. The drive pulley 79 and the guide pulley 73 are each provided with teeth on the outer peripheral surface, but the tension pulley 75 is not provided with teeth.

  Here, the printer 1 performs printing on a plurality of types of paper P having different width dimensions. For this reason, the plurality of transport belts 80 arranged at intervals in the width direction are arranged corresponding to various types of paper P having different width dimensions.

Hereinafter, the arrangement of the conveyor belt 80 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 10, the alignment reference A is set on one side (the right side in FIG. 10) of the platen 71 that is the printing reference surface on the upper surface of the suction block 72 of the transport mechanism 70. In the transport mechanism 70, any paper P having a different width dimension is fed in a state where one side portion thereof is aligned with the alignment reference A, and is conveyed along the alignment reference A.

Examples of the paper P to be printed include a business card size having a width dimension W1, a postcard size having a width dimension W2, an A4 size having a width dimension W3, an A3 size having a width dimension W4, and an A3 wide size having a width dimension W5.
In the transport mechanism 70, the transport belt 80 is disposed in the vicinity of both side portions of any of the above-described sheets P.

  The conveyance belts 80 disposed in the vicinity of both sides of the various sheets P are disposed at equal left and right positions, and the dimension W0 from the both sides of the various sheets P to the edge of the adjacent conveyance belt 80 is about 10 mm. A suction port 102, which will be described later, is disposed below the edge of the sheet P that protrudes laterally from the conveyance belt 80 in the vicinity of both sides.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the conveyor belt 80 is a timing belt having a plurality of teeth 80 a on the inner peripheral surface side, and the teeth 80 a of the conveyor belt 80 are teeth 73 a of the guide pulley 73 and the drive pulley 79. 79a is engaged. The tension pulley 75 is elastically urged in a direction away from the drive pulley 79 (rightward in FIG. 11), whereby a predetermined tension is applied to the transport belt 80.

  A pressing roller 81 facing the guide pulley 73 is provided on the upper portion of the upstream side of the conveying belt 80. The pressing roller 81 is rotatably supported by the frame 82 and is urged toward the guide pulley 73 side.

  In addition, an upper portion on the downstream side of the conveyor belt 80 is provided between a plurality of pairs of feed rollers 83 and 84 that are arranged along the conveyor belt 80 at positions opposite to the conveyor belt 80 and spaced apart from each other. A pressing roller 85 is provided. The feed rollers 83 and 84 and the pressing roller 85 are rotatably supported by the bracket 86. The feed roller 83 is disposed immediately above the drive pulley 79, and sandwiches the paper P with the drive pulley 79 via the conveyance belt 80. The feed roller 84 is disposed on the upstream side of the feed roller 83 and prevents the paper P from being lifted before reaching the feed roller 83 on the conveyance belt 80. The pressure roller 85 is upstream of the drive pulley 79 and prevents the paper P from floating between the conveyance belts 80.

  A transmission pulley 91 is provided at one end of the rotary shaft 78 provided with the drive pulley 79, and a transmission belt 94 hung on the rotary pulley 93 of the transport motor 92 is hung on the transmission pulley 91. Yes. The rotary shaft 78 is provided with a disc-shaped encode plate 95 together with the transmission pulley 91, and a plurality of slits (not shown) formed along the circumferential direction in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the encode plate 95. By detecting by the detector 96, the rotational position of the rotating shaft 78 can be detected.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the upper surface of the suction block 72 is slightly lower in the vicinity of both sides in the width direction of the conveyance belt 80 than the conveyance surface 80 b of the sheet P, which is the height position of the upper surface of the conveyance belt 80. A suction surface 101 that is further away from the inkjet head 22 than the transport surface 80b is formed along the transport belt 80. A plurality of suction ports 102 that communicate with the space S1 are formed on the suction surface 101 in the transport direction. ing. An escape recess 103 is formed between suction ports 102 adjacent to each other in the width direction of the conveyor belt 80, and the escape recess 103 has a bottom surface 103 a that is further away from the inkjet head 22 than the suction surface 101. It is placed at a low position.

  In the present embodiment, since the inkjet head 22 is relatively large as described above, the interval between which the paper P is sandwiched between the upstream side and the downstream side of the inkjet head 22 (that is, the distance from the guide pulley 73 to the drive pulley 79). Is long, and the paper P tends to be lifted up unless the paper P is sucked downward.

In the transport mechanism 70, when the transport motor 92 is driven, the rotational force of the rotating pulley 93 is transmitted to the transmitting pulley 91 by the transmitting belt 94, and the rotating shaft 78 rotates.
As a result, the plurality of conveyor belts 80 wound around the drive pulley 79, the tension pulley 75, and the guide pulley 73 each travel.
Then, the paper P sent between the conveying belt 80 and the pressing roller 81 is sandwiched between the conveying belt 80 and the pressing roller 81 and sent backward, and is further conveyed downstream by the conveying belt 80. A printing process is performed by the inkjet head 22.

  At this time, the paper P may swell due to the ink droplets ejected from the ink jet head 22 and wave cockling. In the transport mechanism 70 of the present embodiment, when the air in the space S1 is sucked by the suction blower 74, the paper P is sucked downward by the suction ports 102 provided on both sides in the width direction of the transport belt 80. As a result, even if the paper P is slackened due to cockling, the paper P is drawn downward and curved on both sides in the width direction of the transport belt 80. Therefore, the sheet P is restrained from being lifted between the transport belts 80 while being transported as the transport belt 80 travels while being pressed toward the transport belt 80 from both sides of the transport belt 80 in the width direction. Problems such as contact with the head 22 are prevented.

  Further, since the suction surface 101 is a position slightly lowered with respect to the transport surface 80b, the distance between the paper P and the suction port 102 is reduced while preventing the contact with the paper P, and the suction of the suction blower 74 is reduced. The suction force for the paper P can be effectively exhibited without greatly increasing the force. Since the sheet P is inclined and curved toward the suction port 102 in the vicinity of both sides with the both ends of the conveyance belt 80 as a base point, the sheet P is placed at the center in the width direction between the conveyance belts 80. Although it is easily bent in a valley shape, the bottom surface 103a of the relief recess 103 in the middle between the conveying belts 80 is disposed at a position that is one step lower than the suction surface 101, so that the contact of the paper P is reliably prevented. Therefore, the sheet P drawn downward does not come into contact with the suction port 102 and the bottom surface 103a of the escape recess 103 to increase the conveyance resistance.

  Here, in the printer 1 according to the present embodiment, in the transport mechanism 70, the transport belt 80 is equally disposed in the vicinity of both sides of the paper P having different width dimensions W1 to W5. The paper P of W1 to W5 is conveyed and printed with good balance.

Thereafter, the paper P is sandwiched between the transport belt 80 and the feed rollers 83 and 84 and discharged to the paper discharge tray 9.
At this time, the paper P is pressed downward between the conveyor belts 80 by the pressing roller 85 disposed in the middle of the conveyor belt 80. As a result, the paper P on which cockling has occurred is more reliably bent downward between the conveying belts 80.

  As described above, according to the printer 1 of the present embodiment, the conveyance belt 80 is disposed in the vicinity of at least both sides of various types of paper P having different width dimensions, and those disposed in the vicinity of both sides of the paper P are used. Since the paper P is transported by the plurality of transport belts 80 included, various papers P having different width dimensions can be transported in a very balanced manner.

In particular, since the conveyor belt 80 disposed in the vicinity of both sides of the sheet P to be conveyed is disposed at an equal position in the width direction with respect to the sheet P, various sheets P having different width dimensions are conveyed in a more balanced manner. be able to.
Accordingly, various types of paper P can be transported smoothly and with high accuracy while preventing the paper P from contacting the inkjet head 22 and the occurrence of jamming failure, and printing can be performed satisfactorily.

  Further, since the paper P is sucked by the suction port 102 provided at a position slightly lower than the transport surface 80b on both sides in the width direction of the transport belt 80, the paper P is effectively sucked even with a relatively weak suction force. Despite the fact that the inkjet head 22 is large, it is possible to prevent the paper P from being lifted over the entire conveyance area by the conveyance belt 80, and to prevent the paper P from coming into contact with the inkjet head 22, thereby preventing jamming. Since the bottom surface 103a of the relief recess 103 located between the conveyance belts 80 is lower than the suction port 102, the sheet P curved by the suction does not contact the platen side, and the conveyance resistance is not increased. The paper P can be accurately conveyed. Therefore, high-precision printing is possible.

Further, in the transport mechanism 70, the pressure roller 85 presses the paper P at a position opposite to the escape recess 103 on the upstream side from the position where the paper P is sandwiched on the downstream side in the transport direction. The lift of P can be prevented more reliably.
Further, by using a timing belt as the conveyor belt 80, it is possible to control the conveyance with high accuracy irrespective of the thickness of the conveyor belt 80, and the conveyance belt 80 is not idle and the conveyance accuracy of the paper P is increased. Printing with high accuracy.

FIG. 12 shows another example of a transport mechanism suitable for the printer 1.
As shown in FIG. 11, in the transport mechanism 120, a plurality of communication holes 121 that communicate with the space S <b> 1 are formed at a position below the central portion in the width direction of the transport belt 80. The communication hole 121 communicates with the outside on both sides of the conveyor belt 80 through a gap between the teeth 80 a of the conveyor belt 80. The opening communicating with the outside serves as a suction port 102a at a position slightly lower than the conveyance surface 80b.
In the transport mechanism 120, when the air in the space S1 is sucked by the suction blower 74, the air is sucked from the suction ports 102a on both sides of the transport belt 80 through the gaps between the communication holes 121 and the teeth 80a of the transport belt 80. Sucked.
That is, in the transport mechanism 120, the suction port 102a that is continuous in the transport direction of the transport belt 80 is formed, and a more uniform suction effect can be easily obtained in the transport direction.

  As described above, according to the printer provided with the transport mechanism 120 described above, since the gap between the teeth 80a on the inner surface of the transport belt 80 communicates with the suction port 102a, separate suction ports are provided on both sides of the transport belt 80. There is no need to provide it, and the cost can be reduced by simplifying the structure.

1 is an external perspective view of a printer that is an example of an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a schematic sectional side view which shows the internal structure of the printer shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan sectional view showing an internal configuration of the printer shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional side view of a printer showing a state where paper can be fed from a main cassette. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan sectional view of a printer showing a state where paper can be fed from a main cassette. It is a perspective view of a printing process part. It is sectional drawing of the width direction of a printing process part. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a sheet conveyance direction at a suction port portion in a print processing unit. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a conveyance belt portion in a print processing unit in a conveyance direction of paper. It is a top view of a conveyance mechanism. It is an enlarged side view of a conveyance belt part. It is sectional drawing of the width direction of the printing process part which shows the modification of a conveyance mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Inkjet printer (printing apparatus), 22 ... Inkjet head (printing head), 70, 120 ... Conveyance mechanism, 80 ... Conveyance belt, 80a ... Teeth, 102, 102a ... Suction port, 103 ... Escape recess, 103a ... Bottom surface, P: paper (printed material), W0: dimensions, W1-W5: width dimensions.

Claims (3)

A printing apparatus comprising: a conveyance mechanism that conveys sheet-like printed materials one by one; and a print head that discharges ink to the printed material conveyed by the conveyance mechanism,
In the transport mechanism, a plurality of transport belts provided along the transport direction of the substrate to be transported are arranged at intervals in the width direction of the substrate perpendicular to the transport direction, respectively. A suction port for sucking the printed material at a position farther from the print head than a conveying surface of the printed material by the conveying belt; and a width direction of the conveying belt. Between the adjacent suction ports, a relief recess having a bottom surface disposed at a lower position away from the print head than the suction surface of the suction port,
The conveyor belt, at least both side portions near neighbor of various of the substrate where the width dimension different, and wherein arranged evenly position in the width direction with respect to the substrate, those which are arranged on both sides near of the substrate A printing apparatus that conveys the substrate by a plurality of the conveying belts. The printing apparatus according to claim 1,
The printing apparatus is a timing belt having a plurality of teeth along the width direction. The printing apparatus according to claim 2,
The suction port is configured to open in communication with the gap between the teeth on both sides in the width direction of the conveyance belt, and to suck toward the inner peripheral surface side of the conveyance belt through the gap between the teeth. apparatus.

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