A printer that includes a platen, a head, a support plate, and an absorption body. A print medium is placed on the platen. The head includes a nozzle surface and is configured to discharge ink, in a discharge direction, from the nozzle surface. The support plate is configured to support the head. The absorption body is provided on the discharge direction of the support plate. The absorption body is exposed to the platen and is configured to absorb liquid.

An ink jet head maintenance apparatus includes a suction member which includes a suction hole to suction ink and in which air in the suction hole is suctioned from one opening of the suction hole by a suction operation unit. The suction member includes a height adjustment surface which is adjacent to an opening surface in which the other opening of the suction hole is provided and in which an inner angle formed with the opening surface is an obtuse angle. Each position of the opening surface is able to move in a first direction including a normal direction of the opening surface in a predetermined initial state in response to external force applied to the height adjustment surface.

Embodiments described herein relate to an inkjet service station and methods of servicing an inkjet printer with the inkjet service station. The inkjet service station is disposed in an inkjet printer of an inkjet chamber. The inkjet service station is operable to perform servicing operations on a processing apparatus of the inkjet printer. The servicing operations include at least one of printhead spitting, printhead purging, printhead flushing, printhead cleaning, printhead drying, or vacuum suction.

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a housing, a cap unit, a protrusion and a guide part. The recording head has an ink ejecting port on a lower face. The housing supports the recording head. The cap unit includes a cap. The cap unit is inserted into a space below the recording head in a predetermined direction to be attached to the housing and to cover the lower face of the recording head with the cap. The protrusion is protruded from a lower portion of the housing on a rear side in the predetermined direction more downward than the lower face of the recording head. The guide part is formed in an upper portion of the cap unit on the rear side in the predetermined direction and comes into contact with the protrusion so as to guide insertion and removal of the cap unit.

A cleaning device for printing heads arranged in a group along an alignment direction (Y) with a lower surface lying on a main plane (T). The device comprises a collecting head (2), movable along the alignment direction (Y) on the main plane (Y), in contact with or near the lower surfaces of the heads. The print head (2) is movable between a first and a second position that are located at the ends of the group of heads. The collecting head (2) is provided with an inlet opening (21) for collecting material from the heads (T).

The cleaning liquid is supplied to the head facing flat surface, and the dummy flat surface of the dummy block facing the head facing flat surface contacts the cleaning liquid. This causes the cleaning liquid to be spread on the head facing flat surface by the dummy flat surface. The cleaning liquid spread on the head facing flat surface is sucked through the suction holes of the suction block. The suction holes can be cleaned by the cleaning liquid passing through the suction holes according to suction. On this occasion, the ink supplied to the head facing flat surface is removed through the suction holes of the suction block. The suction holes have both a function of removing the ink from the discharge heads H and a function of removing the cleaning liquid from the head facing flat surface.

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.

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head including an ejection port surface and a nozzle cover, wherein the ejection port surface includes an array of a plurality of ejection ports through which ink is to be ejected, and wherein the nozzle cover protrudes downward with respect to the ejection port surface and is disposed on an outer side of the ejection port surface, a wiper unit capable of wiping the ejection port surface and the nozzle cover, and a moving mechanism configured to move the wiper unit relative to the ejection port surface, wherein the wiper unit has a notch at a position at which the notch faces a first step portion between the ejection port surface and the nozzle cover when the wiper unit performs wiping while the wiper unit is moved by the moving mechanism.

A recording device, when recording is performed on a predetermined type target recording medium stored in a storage unit, drives a surface potential adjustment unit so that a surface potential is a positive potential within a predetermined range. By configuring such a recording device, it is possible to suppress adhesion of ink to an ejecting unit, and occurrence of an ink ejection failure can be suppressed.

A recording apparatus includes a wiper, a recording head having a step portion and an ejection port surface supporting an ejection port, and a moving unit to relatively move the wiper and the recording head so that the wiper moves with respect to the recording head in relative movement in a first direction. In a first wiping, the relative movement causes the wiper to stop at or in vicinity of the step portion, or pass at or in the vicinity of the step portion at a speed lower than a speed at which the wiper wipes an area in which the ejection port is arranged. In a second wiping performed after the first wiping, the relative movement causes the wiper to pass through the step portion of the recording head and wipe the recording head in the first direction toward the area, and thereafter wipe the area.