DEVICE AND METHOD FOR PRINTING SURFACES OF MATERIAL PANELS, ESPECIALLY WOOD PANELS, WITH A MULTI-COLOUR IMAGE

摘要

The invention relates to a method and a printing device for printing surfaces of material panels, especially wood panels, with a multi-colour image, said method comprising the following characteristics: the material panel (30) is oriented such that the surface thereof is in a defined position and at a defined height; the material panel (30) is held in place; and a printing unit (110) is moved along a path of displacement over the surface of the material panel (30) held in place; the surface of the material panel held in place is printed by the printing unit (110), the printing unit (110) comprising a plurality of adjacently arranged printing heads (12, 112), respectively for a plurality of colours, according to the width of the surface to be printed; the printing unit (110) is moved to a cleaning position above a cleaning device (160) or to a partial cleaning position above a partial cleaning device (150), the cleaning position or the partial cleaning position being arranged along the path of displacement; and a cleaning cycle is carried out for the printing unit (110) and/or a partial cleaning process is carried out, during which the little-used or unused nozzles of the printing heads dispense small drops of ink.