An ink-jet recording apparatus includes a recording head, an ink reservoir portion, an ink amount sensor, a dot counter, and a control portion. The ink reservoir portion stores ink to he ted to the recording head. The ink amount sensor senses the amount of ink in the ink reservoir portion. The dot counter for measures in a cumulative manner the number of dots in the ink ejected from the recording head. The control portion changes the amount of ink ejected from the recording head based on the difference between a calculated value of the amount of consumed ink as calculated based on the cumulative number of dots measured by the dot counter and a measured value of the amount of consumed ink as determined based on the amount of ink in the ink reservoir portion as sensed by the ink amount sensor.

A maintenance device includes a wiper, a wiper carriage, a supporting frame, a wiper moving mechanism, and a unit ascending/descending mechanism. The wiper moving mechanism includes a rack supported to the wiper carriage so as to be movable in an up-down direction, a wiper driving motor provided in the supporting frame, a rack driving gear that transmits a driving force of the wiper driving motor to the rack, a sliding member that is rotatably supported to the wiper carriage and comes into contact with the supporting frame, and a gear pitch retention member that maintains constant a positional relationship in the up-down direction between the rack and the rack driving gear during reciprocation of the wiper carriage.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a liquid ejection head having a nozzle face in which a plurality of nozzles is opened, the plurality of nozzles ejecting liquid as a droplet, a cleaning unit configured to clean the nozzle face, an information receiving unit configured to receive input of a cleaning information that is information related to a frequency of cleaning of the nozzle face by the cleaning unit, and a controller configured to instruct the cleaning unit to perform the cleaning in accordance with the cleaning information.

A wash fluid for use in an inkjet recording apparatus contains water, a coconut oil fatty acid surfactant, an organic deliquescent agent, a polyhydric alcohol, and a basic inorganic compound. The polyhydric alcohol is an alkanediol. The coconut oil fatty acid surfactant is contained in an amount of at least 0.01% by mass and no greater than 3.00% by mass. The organic deliquescent agent is contained in an amount of at least 0.10% by mass and no greater than 30.00% by mass.

A head cleaning device includes: a cleaning member that is long and comes into contact with nozzle surfaces of a first ejection head and a second ejection head arranged at intervals and cleans the nozzle surfaces; and a mover that moves, after completion of a previous cleaning and before start of a next cleaning, the cleaning member by a distance shorter than a path length from a portion that has cleaned the nozzle surface of the first ejection head to a portion that has cleaned the nozzle surface of the second ejection head up to the previous cleaning.

A liquid discharge method includes: calculating a first print time to print original image data on a print medium; generating rotated image data by rotating the original image data by a predetermined angle; calculating a second print time to print the rotated image data on the print medium; comparing the first print time and the second print time to determine whether the first print time is larger than the second print time; generating print image data according to the rotated image data in response to a determination in which the first print time is larger than the second print time; generating print image data according to the original image data in response to a determination in which the first print time is smaller than the second print time; and displaying a position and a direction of the print medium based on the print image data.

A printing apparatus includes a printing head that includes a plurality of nozzles, each of which ejects an ink pushed out from a pressure chamber by driving of an actuator, a display unit, a detector that generates a residual vibration in the pressure chamber by imparting, to the actuator, a predetermined drive signal that prevents the nozzle from ejecting the ink, and, based on the residual vibration, performs, for each of the plurality of nozzles, defective nozzle detection processing of detecting a defective nozzle having ejection failure, and a display control unit that causes the display unit to display defective nozzle information including a position, in the printing head, of the defective nozzle detected by the detector.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge unit and a contact detection unit. The liquid discharge unit has a liquid discharge port from which a liquid is discharged toward an object. The liquid discharge unit is movable along at least one of a first axis and a second axis intersecting the first axis and movable along a third axis intersecting the first axis and the second axis. The third axis is parallel to a direction in which the liquid is discharged from the liquid discharge port toward the object. The contact detection unit detects contact of the liquid discharge unit with the object. The contact detection unit is detachably attached to the liquid discharge unit.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes: a liquid ejecting portion configured to eject a liquid from a nozzle disposed in a nozzle surface; a wiping mechanism configured to execute a wiping operation of wiping the nozzle surface with a strip-shaped member, which is configured to absorb the liquid ejected by the liquid ejecting portion, in contact with the nozzle surface; a wiping solution supply mechanism configured to supply a wiping solution to the strip-shaped member before the wiping operation is performed; and a control portion, and the control portion reduces the amount of the wiping solution held in the strip-shaped member in the wiping operation when the nozzle surface with a large amount of the liquid adhering thereto is wiped as compared with the amount of the wiping solution when the nozzle surface with a small amount of the liquid adhering thereto is wiped.

Provided are an image forming device that always forms an image with an optimum treatment quality, and a manufacturing method of a printed material. An image forming device includes a transport unit that transports a recording medium in a transport direction, a printing unit that applies an ink to a printing surface of the transported recording medium to perform printing, a treatment unit that performs treatment on the transported recording medium, and a movement unit that changes a distance between the printing unit and the treatment unit in the transport direction, in which the distance is controlled based on at least one information of information on a transportation speed of the recording medium in the transport unit, information on an applied amount of the ink in the printing unit, or information on a surface state of the printing surface of the recording medium.