In an image forming apparatus including a transfer member that primarily transfers a developer image from an image bearing member onto an intermediate transfer belt by applying an electric current to an intermediate transfer belt in a circumferential direction, a control unit which executes a first mode in which to rotate the intermediate transfer belt and a second mode in which to rotate the intermediate transfer belt at a rotation speed higher than that in the first mode. The control unit performs control such that an absolute value of a second voltage to be applied to the transfer member in a case of performing primary transfer in the second mode is less than an absolute value of a first voltage to be applied to the transfer member in a case of performing the primary transfer in the first mode.

An image forming system includes an image forming unit, a varnish applying unit, a control unit that executes an operation in an image forming mode in which a toner image is formed on a recording material and a varnish image is formed on the recording material on which the toner image is formed, and an input unit that permits input of a line width adjusting value of either one of a line width of a portion of the varnish image overlapping with an image portion and a line width of a portion of the varnish image overlapping with a non-image portion, wherein the varnish image is formed so as to extend over an image portion where the toner image is formed on the recording material and a non-image portion where the toner image is not formed on the recording material.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit includes a photosensitive member; a charging unit configured to uniformly charge the photosensitive member; an exposure unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member by scanning the charged photosensitive member with laser light; and a developing device configured to develop the electrostatic latent image to form an image on the photosensitive member, a reading unit configured to read a test image, which is formed by the image forming unit, for detecting image density of the image, and a controller configured to: control the image forming unit to form the test image; detect periodic fluctuation of the image density based on a detection result of the test image which is acquired by controlling the reading unit to read the test image; and correct an image forming condition to suppress the detected fluctuation.

A method of printing a toner, including: rotating a cylinder having a printing plate with a fixed pattern; transferring a toner from a vessel onto the fixed pattern of the printing plate, in which the toner includes a pigment with a metallic reflective layer; and transferring the toner onto a substrate; in which the fixed pattern defines select portions of an image; and in which the toner correlates to the selected portions of the image is disclosed.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit forming a transfer nip portion, a fixing unit forming a fixing nip portion, and first and second belt suction conveyance units to suck a sheet onto a first belt and a second belt, respectively. The fixing nip portion is arranged at a position above the transfer nip portion. In a sheet conveyance direction, an upstream end portion of the first belt in the first belt suction conveyance unit is provided below the transfer nip portion, a downstream end portion of the first belt is provided above an upstream end portion of the second belt in the second belt suction conveyance unit, and a downstream end portion of the second belt is provided below the fixing nip portion. The first and second belts are inclined from a lower position to an upper position from upstream to downstream in the sheet conveyance direction.

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing member, an electrostatic neutralizing member, a heater, and a melting portion. The fixing member comes into contact with a sheet to which a toner image has been transferred and fixes the toner image to the sheet. The electrostatic neutralizing member is electrically grounded and provided so as to be in contact with the fixing member. The heater is provided above a lowermost portion of the fixing member facing the fixing member, and heats the fixing member according supplied power. A melting portion is provided in an energizing path between the electrostatic neutralizing member and ground, and melts in a case where a current exceeding a predetermined threshold flows.

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet conveying passage and a switching guide. The switching guide switches the sheet conveying passage between first and second sheet conveying passages. The switching guide includes a plurality of guide ribs and guide members. The plurality of guide ribs are disposed at intervals in the sheet width direction and extend in the sheet conveying direction. The guide members are fitted to specific guide ribs selected from the plurality of guide ribs. The plurality of guide ribs have first and second guide surfaces that guide the sheet. The guide members are formed of a material having higher slidability than the plurality of guide ribs, and have third guide surfaces that are disposed at positions protruding further to an inner side of the sheet conveying passage than the first or second guide surfaces.

A finisher apparatus includes an actuator to control a component of the finisher apparatus to perform a finishing operation on a print medium. A sensor is provided to sense the print medium in a print-medium path in the finisher apparatus. A processor is coupled to the actuator and the sensor. The processor is to execute instructions. The instructions are to actuate the actuator to eject the print medium from the print-medium path in response to a signal from the sensor indicative of a jam of the print medium in the finisher apparatus.

A toner conveyance device includes a vertical conveyance portion, a horizontal conveyance portion, a conveyance member, and a loosening member. The vertical conveyance portion conveys a toner or developer conveyed therein through an entry port connected to a main-body-side conveyance path by causing the toner or developer to fall vertically. The horizontal conveyance portion is connected to a lower end of the vertical conveyance portion and conveys the toner or developer in a horizontal direction by using the conveyance member. the loosening member is arranged at a first position below a connection portion between the main-body-side conveyance path and the entry port and at a second position protruding upward beyond the connection portion. A toner loosening mode is executable in which the toner or developer is fed into the vertical conveyance portion so as to cause the loosening member to reciprocate at the second position.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on a rotating photosensitive member to transfer the image on a recording medium, and a controller configured to control the image forming unit to form a test image and a scale correlated with a phase of the photosensitive member on a recording medium, acquire information related to a determination result, which is determined by a user based on the scale, of correspondence relationship between an uneven density of the test image and the phase of the photosensitive member, and control an uneven density in a rotating direction of the photosensitive member which occurs in the image formed by the image forming unit based on the information.