HEAD MAINTENANCE MECHANISM OF INK-JET PRINTER

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a head maintenance mechanism which can carry out various operations for maintenance of an ink-jet head with a correct timing. SOLUTION: A head maintenance unit 9 of an ink-jet printer has a rack 902 which can slide between preliminarily set first and second positions and a head cap 91 which can move in association with the slide of the rack between a position where it can cap a nozzle face of an ink-jet head and a position retreating from the position. An opening lever 982 for opening and closing an air open valve 99 for opening the head cap 91 to the air, a carriage stopper 971 and an ink pump 93 are driven interlockingly with the slide of the rack. Various operations for maintenance of the head 9 can be carried out with an appropriate timing.