An up-down moving mechanism includes a support member; an up-down moving member that is formed separately from the support member and can be moved up and down with respect to the support member; a screw shaft for moving up and down the up-down moving member; a nut member that is screwed onto the screw shaft; a guide rail that guides the up-down moving member in a vertical direction; a guide block that slidably engages with the guide rail; and a gas spring that includes a cylinder and a piston rod biased in a direction projecting out from the cylinder, and that biases the up-down moving member toward an upper side with respect to the support member. To the support member, the screw shaft is rotatably attached, the guide rail is fixed, and the piston rod is attached.

A head assembly includes a base member, a recording head, a coupling member, and a pressing member. The recording head ejects ink. The coupling member couples the recording head to the base member. The pressing member is in contact with a first surface of the recording head. The coupling member includes an urging member that urges a second surface of the recording head toward the first surface of the recording head. The second surface of the recording head is a surface of the recording head on an opposite side from the first surface.

A printing system applies images on the exterior of an axially symmetrical object that has a varying exterior surface, such as occurs on curved wine bottles and sports equipment like bats. The printing system includes a movable carriage having rotatable locking end members for holding the object for printing stationary along its longitudinal axis, but allowing for controlled rotation of the object. The carriage moves the object from a loading area into a printing area and a plurality of movable printing head assemblies position a plurality of ink jet heads over the surface of the object as it is moved along a linear axis under the print head assemblies. Each print head is movable such that as the object moves underneath the print head tilts to match the local slope of the contoured surface as ink is being applied. The applied image is then cured with UV lamps during rotation.

A guide device includes a guide configured to movably hold and guide a moving-object, and a stay to which the guide is attached. The stay includes an attachment portion including an attachment surface to which the guide is attached, a facing portion facing the attachment portion, and an adjuster configured to change a distance between the attachment portion and the facing portion to partially displace the attachment surface. The adjuster includes an adjustment plate arranged between the attachment portion and the facing portion, and a push member configured to push the adjustment plate to move the attachment portion of the stay.

A droplet deposition head including a datum surface arrangement for alignment of the head relative to an external mounting component in either a vertical mounting mode in which the head is held against a vertical mounting plate or a horizontal mounting mode where the head is held against a horizontal mounting plate. The datum surface arrangement comprising at least seven datum surfaces (x1; y1, y2, y3; z1, z2, z3) provided on the head, wherein five of the seven datum surfaces are provided for alignment in both vertical and horizontal mounting modes, and wherein a sixth datum surface (z3) is provided for alignment exclusively in said horizontal mounting mode and a seventh datum surface (y3) is provided for alignment exclusively in said vertical mounting mode.

There is provided a printing apparatus, including: a base; a thermal head including heating elements arranged in a first direction; a first engagement member; a second engagement member configured to engage with the first engagement member such that the thermal head pivotally moves, relative to the base, around a first axis extending in a second direction intersecting with the first direction; a head holding member being slidable with respect to the base in a third direction intersecting with the first direction and the second direction and holding the thermal head such that the heating elements face the third direction; a first magnetic member positioned on a first side in the first direction relative to the first engagement member; a second magnetic member positioned on the first side in the first direction relative to the second engagement member; and a head pressing member facing the head holding member from a first side in the third direction.

Described is an assembly of a guiding structure and a print head carriage, the print head carriage comprising a base carriage controllably movable relative to the guiding structure along a first horizontal axis, the print head carriage comprising a sub-carriage controllably movable relative to the base carriage along a second horizontal axis. The print head carriage comprises an intermediate carriage controllably movable relative to the base carriage along a vertical axis, the sub-carriage mounted on the intermediate carriage for moving together with the intermediate carriage relative to the base carriage, the sub-carriage controllably movable relative to the intermediate carriage along the second horizontal axis.

A printing system includes a printhead carriage supporting a printhead and mounted to translate along a beam extending in an x-axis direction of an x-axis, y-axis, z-axis Cartesian coordinate system. A method of controlling the printing system includes sensing one or more of a rotational orientation of the printhead about the x-axis, y-axis, and the z-axis and a position of the printhead along the y-axis and z-axis. Based on the sensed one or more of the rotational orientation and the position, a position of one or more bearings arranged to support the printhead carriage on the beam is adjusted. Adjusting the position of the one or more bearings adjusts one or both of the rotational orientation of the printhead and the position of the printhead. Systems and methods relate to control of printing systems.

A print head for an inkjet printer includes a nozzle, a first electrode positioned to receive an ink droplet from the nozzle, a second electrode positioned to receive the ink droplet from the first electrode, and a controller configured to operate the first electrode to ionize the ink droplet and set a flight speed of the ink droplet. The controller is further configured to selectively activate the second electrode to deflect the ink droplet in response to the print head changing from a horizontal printing orientation to a vertical printing orientation.

An example printing apparatus is illustrated. The printing apparatus includes a print engine assembly. The print engine assembly further includes a bottom chassis portion. The print engine assembly also includes a top chassis portion. The print engine assembly also includes a print head positioned within the top chassis portion. The print engine assembly also includes a plurality of offset pins coupled to the print head, where the plurality of offset pins abuts the bottom chassis portion, and where the plurality of offset pins enables the print head to be positioned at a predetermined distance from the bottom chassis portion.