Image forming apparatus with carriage mounting recording head for ejecting liquid droplets

摘要

An image forming apparatus includes a main body and a printing assembly. The printing assembly includes a carriage, an encoder scale, an encoder sensor, and a flexible cable. The carriage has a head mounting part and a board mounting part arranged along a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The head mounting part mounts a recording head. The board mounting part mounts both the sensor and a carriage-side circuit board connected to the cable. A housing of the body has a first cover portion to cover an area opposing the head mounting part and a second cover portion to cover an area opposing the board mounting part. The first cover portion is openably disposed at the body to allow a user to open the first cover portion. The second cover portion is stationarily fixed at the body to prevent a user from opening the second cover portion.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a main body having a housing; a printing assembly disposed in the main body; the printing assembly including a carriage movable in a main scanning direction and mounting a recording head to eject droplets, the carriage including a head mounting part and a board mounting part that are arranged along a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, an encoder scale disposed along the main scanning direction, an encoder sensor mounted on the carriage to read the encoder scale, a guide member to guide the carriage along the main scanning direction, a carriage-side circuit board, and a flexible cable connected to the carriage-side circuit board to supply signals from the main body to the carriage-side circuit board, wherein the recording head is mounted on the head mounting part, and both the encoder sensor and the carriage-side circuit board connected to the flexible cable are mounted on the board mounting part, and the guide member is interposed between (i) the recording head on the head mounting part and (ii) the encoder scale and the encoder sensor on the board mounting part, in the direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, wherein the housing has a first cover portion to cover an area opposing the head mounting part and a second cover portion to cover an area opposing the board mounting part, the first cover portion is openably disposed at the main body to allow a user to open the first cover portion to an open position, the second cover portion is stationarily fixed at the main body to prevent a user from opening the second cover portion, and the first cover portion and second cover portion collectively form an upper face of the housing and are arranged side-by-side in the direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and wherein the encoder scale is disposed in an area opposing and below the stationarily fixed second cover portion and is not disposed within an opening area of the housing which the first cover portion covers at a closed position.