Printing apparatus

A printing apparatus, comprising:

• a carriage on which a printing head is mounted and that can move reciprocally in a first direction;
• a motor configured to generate driving force;
• a driving shaft extending in the first direction and driven to rotate by the driving force;
• a plurality of driving units driven by the driving force transmitted through the driving shaft;
• a plurality of supporting shafts, each supporting shaft of the plurality of supporting shafts corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of driving units;
• a switching unit including a planetary gear and a planetary arm supporting the planetary gear relative to the driving shaft such that the planetary gear pivots about the driving shaft as a center axis and a movement unit configured to move the planetary arm relative to the driving shaft, each of the planetary gear and the planetary arm having a shaft hole into which any one of the plurality of supporting shafts can be inserted, wherein the planetary gear is configured to selectively engage one of the plurality of supporting shafts to transmit the driving force to the driving unit corresponding to the engaged supporting shaft when the one of the plurality of supporting shafts is inserted into the shaft hole;
• and
• a contact unit rotatably supported by a supporting unit to move between a contact position in which the contact unit contacts the carriage and a non-contact position in which the does not contact the carriage, the contact unit being configured to move with the carriage in the contact position, wherein movement of the contact unit moves the movement unit to cause the switching unit to switch the transmission destination of the driving force.