A system and method for testing printheads is disclosed. The system comprises an optical sensor mounted on a movable carriage. The optical sensor is moved past a nozzle to be tested on the printhead while the nozzle ejects ink. The output signal of the optical sensor can be used to determine when the trajectory of the ejected ink is improper.

The printing device includes a support section 17 for supporting a medium 99, a head 28 for ejecting liquid on a print region 19, a carriage 27 on which the head is mounted, a guide 25 for supporting the carriage, a motor for moving the carriage, a rotary encoder, a linear encoder 35 for detecting the position of the carriage, and a control section. The linear encoder has a linear scale 36 and a sensor 37, the linear scale has a first region S1 where slits 38 are positioned and a second region S2 where the slits are not positioned, and when the head faces the printing region, the sensor is positioned in the first region, and the length of the first region in one direction is equal to or longer than the length of the printing region in one direction.

A printer has a carriage being movable between a first end and a second end of a reciprocating path; and a driving force transmitting path selecting mechanism provided at the second end of the reciprocating path. The selecting mechanism has: a common driving force outputting member; a plurality of force receiving members; a selecting member; and a position retainer for keeping the position of the selecting member. The selecting member connects the force outputting member to one of the plurality of force receiving members, and moves in association with the carriage when the carriage moves in a vicinity of the second end in a first direction extending from the first end to the second end. The position retainer keeps the position of the selecting member when the carriage moves in a second direction extending from the second end to the first end. The force receiving member connected to the force outputting member via the selecting member is selected in accordance with a movement of the carriage along the reciprocating path.

An ink-jet printer is provided and includes: a motor, generating a driving force that prompts an ink-jet head moving in a main scanning direction relative to a print object; a motor, generating a driving force by which the ink-jet head is moved; a motor pulley, being rotated by the driving force generated by the motor; a first belt wound around the motor pulley to transmit the driving force from the motor pulley toward the ink-jet head; and a decelerating pulley on which the first belt is wound around to be rotated by the driving force transmitted on the first belt. At least one of a group of motor-side teeth of the motor pulley and belt-side teeth of the first belt and a group of deceleration-side teeth of the decelerating pulley and the belt-side teeth of the first belt is a combination of intermeshable spur gear teeth and helical gear teeth.

An ink-jet printer is provided and includes: a motor, generating a driving force that prompts an ink-jet head moving in a main scanning direction relative to a print object; a motor, generating a driving force by which the ink-jet head is moved; a motor pulley, being rotated by the driving force generated by the motor; a first belt wound around the motor pulley to transmit the driving force from the motor pulley toward the ink-jet head; and a decelerating pulley on which the first belt is wound around to be rotated by the driving force transmitted on the first belt. At least one of a group of motor-side teeth of the motor pulley and belt-side teeth of the first belt and a group of deceleration-side teeth of the decelerating pulley and the belt-side teeth of the first belt is a combination of intermeshable spur gear teeth and helical gear teeth.

An adjustment value obtaining unit obtains an adjustment value for a first scanning speed before a pattern forming unit forms adjustment patterns for a second scanning speed, the pattern forming unit forms adjustment patterns by scanning with a print head at the second scanning speed with a shift amount based on an adjustment value obtained for the first scanning speed, and the adjustment value obtaining unit obtains an adjustment value for the second scanning speed based on the adjustment patterns formed by scanning with the print head at the second scanning speed.

In example implementations, a method, a device, and a program are provided. The method includes detecting a power increase movement of a printer carriage. A location of the printer carriage is detected at a time of the detected power increase. Based on the detected location of the printer carriage, determine whether the print medium is damaged. The device includes a power monitor to detect a power increase during movement of a printer carriage. A locator detects a location of the printer carriage at the time of the detected power increase. A damage determiner determines, based on the detected location of the printer carriage, whether the print medium is damaged. The program detects a power increase during movement of a printer carriage. Location of printer carriage is detected at time of detected power increase. Based on detected location of the printer carriage, it is determined whether the print medium is damaged.

A carriage apparatus includes a carriage configured to reciprocally move in a predetermined direction, a first motor arranged on a side of one end of a range of movement of the carriage and configured to drive the carriage, a second motor arranged on a side of the other end of the range of movement of the carriage, configured to drive the carriage, and having the same kind of driving characteristics as driving characteristics of the first motor, a detector for detecting a position of the carriage related to the predetermined direction, and a controller for controlling driving of the first motor and the second motor by feeding back a detection result detected by the detector.

An example printing device comprises at least one moving module, which includes a profile assembly and a slider assembly. The profile assembly includes two guiding members that are spaced from each other, and the two guiding members respectively have a first guiding groove and a second guiding groove arranged in a preset direction. The slider assembly includes a slider body and an elastic member, where the slider body is in contact with the groove wall of the first guiding groove and is slidably connected in the preset direction; and the elastic member is fixedly connected with the slider body and is in contact with the groove wall of the second guiding groove and is slidably connected in the preset direction. The elastic member can deform to make the slider body press tightly against the corresponding guiding member, so that the printing device can improve its printing quality.

An example printing device comprises at least one moving module, which includes a profile assembly and a slider assembly. The profile assembly includes two guiding members that are spaced from each other, and the two guiding members respectively have a first guiding groove and a second guiding groove arranged in a preset direction. The slider assembly includes a slider body and an elastic member, where the slider body is in contact with the groove wall of the first guiding groove and is slidably connected in the preset direction; and the elastic member is fixedly connected with the slider body and is in contact with the groove wall of the second guiding groove and is slidably connected in the preset direction. The elastic member can deform to make the slider body press tightly against the corresponding guiding member, so that the printing device can improve its printing quality.