Ink jet printer system and method which preserves ink

An ink jet printer comprising:

• a Y carriage having a first side and a second side;
• recording heads mounted on the first side of the Y carriage;
• sub tanks mounted on the second side of the Y carriage;
• a plurality of main tanks provided at a side of a body of the ink jet printer;
• a pump and a system of open/close valves configured such that ink from the plurality of main tanks is delivered into the sub tanks, and ink from the sub tanks is delivered into the recording heads, and, upon completion of printing or during a standby in printing, the pump and the system of open/close valves are configured such that ink from the sub tanks is recovered into the plurality of main tanks and ink from the recording heads is recovered into a waste solution tank;
• each main tank having a bottom portion with a rotor located therein, said rotors being made of a magnetic material;
• rotatable magnet means associated with each of the rotors, for rotating said rotors to stir the ink within said main tanks;
• a cleaning solution tank connected to the recording heads, the pump and the system of open/close valves, wherein the cleaning solution tank contains a cleaning solution and the pump and the system of open/close valves deliver the cleaning solution to the recording heads, and the pump and the system of open/close valves deliver drying air to the recording heads.

An ink jet printer comprising:

• a Y carriage having a first side and a second side;
• recording heads mounted on the first side of the Y carriage;
• sub tanks mounted on the second side of the Y carriage;
• main tanks provided at a side of a body of the ink jet printer, the sub tanks being connected with the main tanks and the recording heads;
• a pump and a system of open/close valves configured such that the ink in the sub tanks is recovered to the main tanks upon completion of printing or during a standby in printing;
• and
• a waste solution tank connected to the recording heads, wherein the pump and the system of open/close valves are configured such that the ink in the recording heads is recovered to the waste solution tank upon completion of printing and during a standby in printing.