System and method for attenuating ink smears on printhead faceplates during inkjet printhead maintenance

An inkjet printer comprising:

• an printhead assembly having a carrier plate with a length and a width, a plurality of printheads mounted in the carrier plate, a member configured for linear motion that is positioned at one end of the length of the carrier plate, a plurality of actuators, a first actuator being operatively connected to the member configured for linear motion, and a controller operatively connected to the plurality of actuators, the controller being configured to operate the first actuator to move the member configured for linear motion to move the one end of the carrier plate and tilt the carrier plate and to operate the first actuator to reverse the linear motion of the member configured for linear motion to return the carrier plate to a level position;
• and
• a wiper operatively connected to a second actuator in the plurality of actuators, the controller being further configured to operate the second actuator in the plurality of actuators to move the wiper from a first position across a faceplate of at least one printhead mounted in the carrier plate and to return the wiper to the first position after the wiper has traversed the faceplate of the at least one printhead.