A method for manufacturing a removable information sheet includes: forming a toner image on a recording medium; applying an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition precursor onto the medium to form an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition precursor layer; irradiating, with an energy ray, the medium to cure the layer and form an energy-ray-curable pressure-sensitive composition; and attaching faces with the composition and pressure-bonding the faces. A region size of a toner-image flat part is 200 μm or less in the image, which is determined by a measurement method including: defining a site at a depth of 2 μm or more from a surface of a solid part of the image as a recess; defining a site other than the recess as the flat part; acquiring and binarizing a micrograph of the solid part; drawing circles out of contact with the recess; and defining a largest circle diameter as the size of the flat part.

A planar heater includes a base, a resister pattern, a conductor pattern, a power supply electrode, and a base pattern. The base includes a surface portion made of an insulative material. The resistor pattern is on the base. The conductor pattern is on the base and electrically coupled to the resistor pattern. The power supply electrode is electrically coupled to the conductor pattern. The base pattern is on the base and made of a material different from a material of the surface portion of the base to print visible identification information.

The image forming apparatus includes a side panel and a manual feed tray that is rotatable and installed on the side panel. The side panel includes an opening portion through which a sheet placed on the manual feed tray passes when the sheet is fed into the image forming apparatus. The manual feed tray includes an end cursor that is movable, and a guide portion that guides movement of the end cursor in a direction perpendicular to a rotational center of the manual feed tray. The opening portion is sized to accommodate the end cursor. When the opening/closing angle of the manual feed tray with respect to a horizontal direction exceeds a predetermined angle, the end cursor moves along the guide portion by gravity to a position where the end cursor can be accommodated in the opening portion.

In an image forming apparatus, a control device functions as a controller and a user presence/absence determiner. When accepting an instruction to execute a print job through a touch panel, the controller controls operations of a sheet feed device, a conveyance device, and an image forming device to allow a document image represented by image data generated by a document reading device to be formed on a sheet to make a printed matter and allow the printed matter to be discharged to a sheet output tray. When the user presence/absence determiner determines that a user is present, the controller controls, before printing for at least a last sheet in the print job, the operations of the sheet feed device and the conveyance device to allow a sheet to be discharged to the sheet output tray without allowing the image forming device to form the document image on the sheet.

A transmitter transmits ultrasonic wave of a predetermined volume. A reflected ultrasonic wave receiver receives reflected ultrasonic wave, transmitted from the transmitter and reflected by a sheet. A permeated ultrasonic wave receiver receives permeated ultrasonic wave, transmitted by the transmitter and permeated through the sheet. A volume detector detects reflected volume of the reflected ultrasonic wave, and permeated volume of the permeated ultrasonic wave. The decider identifies a thickness of the sheet being transported by a transport device, and decides whether multifeed of the sheets is occurring, on a basis of a comparison result between the detected reflected volume and a reference reflected volume, and a comparison result between the detected permeated volume and a reference permeated volume.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyer that conveys a recording medium supporting an image; a softener that softens the image; and a powder applicator that applies powder to the surface of the softened image, in which the applied powder adheres to a range that is narrower in a width direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium conveyed by the conveyer than a maximum width of the image to be supported by the recording medium.

An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge including an abutting portion and an apparatus main body. The apparatus main body includes a mounting portion of the cartridge, a fixing portion for fixing the toner image, an attachable/detecting mechanism of the cartridge, a shutter, and a moving member. The attachable/detecting mechanism includes an acting member movable between a first position and a second position by the mounting of the cartridge. The shutter is movable between a closed position and an open position, and a moving member moves both the shutter and the acting member and includes an abutted portion. When the cartridge is moved, the moving member is moved by abutment of the abutting portion of the cartridge with the abutted portion, the acting member moves from the first position to the second position, and the shutter moves from the closed position to the open position.

An optical sensor irradiates a control toner image formed on an intermediate transfer belt with light and detects reflection light of the light. A controller executes an abnormality diagnosis mode in a case where change in the phase of a cam is not detected by a phase detection portion until an elapse of a predetermined time or more since a start of output of a driving signal for driving a separation mechanism. In execution of the abnormality diagnosis mode, the controller outputs the driving signal for driving the separation mechanism, and is capable of outputting information about an abnormality of the phase detection portion and information about an abnormality of the separation mechanism and/or a driving unit on a basis of a detection result of the optical sensor that is obtained in a case where the light is radiated from the optical sensor while the driving signal is output.

An image forming method includes supplying powder having metallic luster on a resin image arranged on a recording medium, wherein a color value of the resin image and a color value of the powder on the recording medium satisfy the following Equation (1):
{(L*.sub.p−L*.sub.i−40).sup.2+(a*.sub.p−a*.sub.i).sup.2+(b*.sub.p−b*.sub.i).sup.2}.sup.1/2≤20  (1)
wherein
L*.sub.p, a*.sub.p, and b*.sub.p represent color values of the powder, and
L*.sub.i, a*.sub.i, and b*.sub.i represent color values of the resin image on the recording medium.

A photoconductive drum for an electrophotographic image forming device according to one example embodiment includes a cylindrical drum member. A shaft defines a rotational axis of the photoconductive drum. An end cap is positioned at an axial end of the drum member. An electrical contact is positioned against an axially inboard side of the end cap. The electrical contact electrically connects the shaft to the drum member. The electrical contact includes a plurality of projections that contact an inner circumferential surface of the drum member. A plurality of grooves are formed in an outer circumferential surface of the end cap.