摘要 |
A rotary self-cleaning servicing system (50; 200) services inkjet printheads (34; 36) in an inkjet printing mechanism (20). A rotary service station (200) has a wiper supporting tumbler (202) that rotates about an axis (55) parallel to the printhead scanning direction (41) to wipe the printhead (34; 36) orthogonally along the length of a linear nozzle array (354; 355). A dual blade wiper (210; 212) has a forked wiping tip (230, 232) with wiping surfaces separated by recessed land portions (234). The wiper wicks ink (370) from one nozzle (352) and drags it along the linear array (354; 355) to other nozzles to lubricate the pen face (350) and to dissolve any accumulated ink residue. Any ink rolls escape through the wiping tip recessed lands (234; 236; 238) and move away from the nozzles. An optional wiperscraping system (250) pivots through cammed engagement (270, 272, 274, 275) withthe tumbler (202) to selectively engage and scrape (260; 262) the wipers (220, 222; 216, 218). A method is also provided of cleaning an inkjet printhead (34; 36) tomaintain pen health, particularly for pens using fast drying pigment based inks.
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