Printhead Maintenance Station With A Pad Mounted On A Pad Support And Having An Engagement Mechanism
Provided is a printhead maintenance station which includes a body defining an elongate slot along a length thereof, and a pad mounted on a pad support inside said body. The pad support is slidably engaged to said housing to be slidable to a first position, where the pad protrudes from the slot, and a second position, where the pad is inside the body. The station also includes an engagement mechanism to displace the pad between the first and second positions.
1 . A printhead maintenance station comprising:
a body defining an elongate slot along a length thereof;
a pad mounted on a pad support inside said body and slidably engaged to said housing to be slidable to a first position, where the pad protrudes from the slot, and a second position, where the pad is inside the body; and
an engagement mechanism to displace the pad between the first and second positions.
2 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 1 , wherein the body defines slots for slidably receiving corresponding lugs on the pad support.
3 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 1 , which includes a cap fast with the body and springs biasing the pad support in the first position, said springs attached to the cap,
4 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 1 , wherein the pad includes an elastically deformable pad defining a contact surface.
5 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 4 , wherein the contact surface is sloped according to a predetermined contact profile of a printhead.
6 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 1 , wherein the engagement mechanism includes a motor, which rotates a pair of cams, engaged with respective lugs at each end of the support arm, so that rotation of the motor and the cam causes linear sliding movement of the support arm and, hence, the pad.
7 . The printhead maintenance station of claim 6 , wherein the pad is reciprocally moved between the first and second positions upon actuation of the motor.