Capping stations with positioning mechanisms

A printing system comprising:

• a print medium advance system to transport a print medium in a print medium advance direction,
• a slidable printhead having a plurality of nozzles to deliver a print agent onto the print medium;
• a printhead support to selectively support the slidable printhead at a plurality of printhead positions including a first printhead position and a second printhead position, wherein the first printhead position and the second printhead position are spaced in a direction parallel to the print medium advance direction;
• a capping station comprising:
• a cap to seal the slidable printhead;
• a positioning mechanism to move the cap to a first cap position when the slidable printhead is at the first printhead position and to a second cap position when the slidable printhead is at the second printhead position;
• and
• a plurality of identification features comprises a first identification feature associated with the first cap position and a second identification feature associated with the second cap position;
• and
• a sensor system mounted at the printhead support to detect the position of the cap.

A method to cap a printhead of a printing system:

• obtaining a printhead position from a plurality of predetermined printhead positions of a printhead support;
• selecting a cap position from a plurality of predetermined cap positions of a capping station based on the obtained printhead position;
• positioning a movable cap at the selected cap position;
• moving one of the printhead support and the capping station relative to each other to position the printhead above the capping station;
• detecting if the movable cap is at the selected cap position;
• and
• lifting the movable cap to seal the printhead when the movable cap is detected at the selected cap position,
• wherein the detecting if the movable cap is at the selected cap position comprises identifying an identification feature from a plurality of identification features, wherein the plurality of identification features is associated with the plurality of predetermined cap positions.