A maintenance method and a liquid discharge apparatus. The maintenance method is performed by a liquid discharge apparatus including a first liquid discharge head to discharge ink, a second liquid discharge head to discharge pretreatment liquid, and a liquid receiver into which the ink and the pretreatment liquid are discharged, and the maintenance method includes flushing the ink and the pretreatment liquid into the liquid receiver, the flushing including discharging the ink into the liquid receiver and then discharging the pretreatment liquid into the liquid receiver. The liquid discharge apparatus includes the first liquid discharge head, the second liquid discharge head, the liquid receiver, and a controller to control the first liquid discharge head and the second liquid discharge head to discharge the pretreatment liquid onto a print medium and then discharge the ink onto the print medium.

A movement section is configured to move one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section toward another of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section in a first direction. A maintenance section includes first and second positioning sections that perform positioning of the maintenance section and the liquid discharge section by coming into contact with the liquid discharge section. The first positioning section is provided at a position farther than the second positioning section in a second direction intersecting with a first direction with, as a reference, an action point at which the movement section acts on the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section. The first positioning section comes into contact with the liquid discharge section before the second positioning section when the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section moves toward the other.

A printer includes an ink head including a nozzle surface on which a nozzle is provided, a wiper extending upward to wipe the nozzle surface, a wiper mover to move the wiper in a sub-scanning direction, a wiper cleaner disposed downstream of a carriage and extending downward to remove ink adhering to the wiper, and a controller configured or programmed to control the wiper mover. The controller is configured or programmed to control the wiper mover such that the nozzle surface is wiped by the wiper after bringing the wiper into contact with the wiper cleaner or to bring the wiper into contact with the wiper cleaner after wiping the nozzle surface by the wiper.

A first successive printing job executed for printing a plurality of images in series on a first medium placed alongside a second medium is interrupted after the completion of one printing job for a first image included in the first successive printing job, and before the start of another printing job for printing another image following the first image; a second successive printing job executed for printing a plurality of images in series on the second medium in parallel with the first successive printing job is interrupted after the completion of a printing job included in the second successive printing job and being under execution at a time point at which the first successive printing job has been interrupted; and the maintenance for the printing head is executed in a state in which both the first successive printing job and the second successive printing job is interrupted.

There is provided a liquid jetting apparatus including: a liquid jetting head; a carriage; a cap; a cap switching device switching the cap between a capping state and an uncapping state; a carriage blocker movable between a first position not contacting carriage, and a second position blocking movement of the carriage in a first direction; and a contacting portion locatable, in the uncapping state, at a third position at which the contacting portion is not in contact with carriage, and locatable, in the capping state, at a fourth position at which, under a condition that the blocked carriage rotates around an axis perpendicular to a liquid jetting surface with the carriage blocker as a supporting point, the contacting portion is capable of contacting the rotating carriage. The contacting portion is configured to move integrally with the cap in a plane parallel to the liquid jetting surface.

A liquid jetting apparatus includes: a head which jets liquid supplied from a liquid tank; a memory which stores pieces of reference data; and a controller which estimates viscosity of the liquid in the liquid tank every time a predefined time passes. The controller acquires a total supply amount or cumulative supply amount of the liquid supplied from the liquid tank and a supply amount of the liquid per unit time within the predefined time, estimates a viscosity change amount of the liquid in the liquid tank based on the cumulative supply amount acquired, the supply amount per unit time acquired, and the pieces of reference data, and estimates the viscosity of the liquid in the liquid tank based on the viscosity change amount estimated and the viscosity of the liquid in the liquid tank at an initial timing point or a most-recent estimation timing point.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head ejecting liquid onto a medium transported on a transport path extending in a depth direction, a carriage holding the liquid ejecting head and reciprocally moving in a width direction so as to cross the transport path, and a waste liquid containing portion containing waste liquid discharged from the liquid ejecting head. The carriage includes a plurality of liquid containers that contain the liquid and are mounted on the carriage in such a manner that a plurality of the liquid containers are arranged side by side with each other in the depth direction. A portion of the carriage overlaps the waste liquid containing portion in a vertical direction when the liquid ejecting head is outside the transport path.

A print engine includes: a media support chassis having a plurality of guide rollers mounted between opposite sidewalls thereof, the plurality of guide rollers defining a curved media feed path; a plurality of spittoons, each spittoon being positioned between a neighboring pair of guide rollers and each spittoon having an upper guide portion; and a plurality of printheads, each printhead opposing a respective spittoon. The upper guide portion at least partially intersects a common tangential plane defined between a neighboring pair of rollers, such that print media fed along the curved media path contact the rollers and upper guide portions of the spittoons.

A print engine includes: a media support chassis having a plurality of guide rollers mounted between opposite sidewalls thereof, the plurality of guide rollers defining a media feed path; a maintenance chassis pivotally mounted on the media support chassis, the maintenance chassis including a plurality of maintenance modules fixedly mounted thereto and aligned along the media feed path; and a print bar chassis movably mounted on the maintenance chassis, the print bar chassis including a plurality of print modules, each print module having a printhead; a pivot actuation mechanism for pivoting the maintenance chassis between an open and closed position; and a lift mechanism for raising and lowering the print bar chassis relative to the maintenance chassis between a maintenance position a printing position.

A print module includes a printhead cartridge releasably engaged with a supply module. The supply module has an ink inlet module and an ink outlet module positioned on opposite external sidewalls of the body and flanking the body, each of the ink inlet and ink outlet modules having a respective ink coupling engaged with complementary inlet and outlet couplings of the printhead cartridge. The ink inlet and outlet modules each include a respective lever mechanism for slidably moving the ink inlet and outlet modules relative to the opposite external sidewalls of the body between a coupled position in which the supply module is fluidically coupled to the printhead cartridge and a decoupled position in which the supply module is fluidically decoupled from the printhead cartridge.