Ink jet printer with adjustable capping mechanism and printing cap

A printer, comprising:

• a print head which ejects ink to a recording medium;
• a capping mechanism which has a cap hermetically covering a nozzle surface of said print head and capable of moving the cap into contact with the nozzle surface of said print head in such a manner that the cap can advance/retract to/from said print head;
• gap indicating means for indicating a head gap which is an interval between said print head and the recording medium;
• a gap adjusting mechanism adjusting the head gap to the indicated head gap indicated by said gap indicating means;
• head gap detecting means for detecting the head gap indicated by said gap indicating means;
• and
• control means for receiving signals of the head gap from said head gap detecting means, said control means for controlling at least one of adjustment of the cap advancing/retracting distance, an amount of ejecting ink from said print head and a feeding amount of a recording medium by recording medium feeding means based on the received signals of the head gap.

A print head adjustment and cleaning mechanism for a printer having a CPU controlling printer operation and a print carriage mounted on a guide rod by means of a cylindrical opening the print carriage moving parallel to an opposing platen, comprising:

• an eccentric collar mounted on the guide rod and received in the cylindrical opening of the carriage;
• an adjusting lever attached to an end of the eccentric collar;
• a resistance member mounted to a side of the carriage facing the adjusting lever;
• a contact member on a surface of the adjusting lever and in contact with the resistance member;
• a cleaning mechanism adjustment member;
• and
• a suction cap attached to the cleaning mechanism adjustment member for engaging and sealing the print head at a cleaning position, wherein movement of the adjusting lever causes the eccentric collar to rotate adjusting a gap between the print head and the platen and an output signal based on a point of contact between the contact member and the resistance member determines a drive distance between the suction cap and the print head for the suction cap to engage the print head.

A printing apparatus, comprising:

• a print head for printing onto a recording medium by jetting ink;
• a carriage on which the print head is mounted, the carriage being provided movably along a guide rail;
• a capping mechanism having a cap for air-tightly covering a nozzle surface of the print head, the capping mechanism making the cap come into contact with the nozzle surface of the print bead;
• a gap adjusting mechanism for adjusting an amount of a head gap between the print head and the recording medium;
• and
• gap detecting means for detecting the head gap between the printhead and the recording medium set by the gap adjusting mechanism;
• a capping mechanism moving mechanism for moving the capping mechanism in response to a signal received from the gap detecting mechanism with respect to the print head prior to activation of the capping mechanism.