PRINT CRADLE ASSEMBLY FOR A PRINTHEAD CARTRIDGE
Provided is a print cradle assembly for a printhead cartridge. The cradle assembly includes a docking bay molding, a media feed drive assembly positioned on the docking bay molding and configured to feed media through the assembly, and a printed circuit board (PCB) with a printer controller for controlling the media feed drive assembly and operation of the cartridge. The cradle assembly also includes a maintenance drive assembly for driving a capping mechanism of a printhead of the cartridge.
1 . A print cradle assembly for a printhead cartridge, said cradle assembly comprising:
a docking bay;
a media feed drive assembly positioned on the docking bay and configured to feed media through the assembly;
a printed circuit board (PCB) with a printer controller for controlling the media feed drive assembly and operation of the cartridge; and
a maintenance drive assembly for driving a capping mechanism of a printhead of the cartridge.
2 . The print cradle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the docking bay includes a media guide for guiding media to the media feed drive assembly.
3 . The print cradle assembly of claim 1 , having a printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead of the cartridge in an operable condition, said maintenance station including an elastically deformable maintenance belt having a contact surface for sealing engagement with an ink ejection face of said printhead, said contact surface being sloped with respect to said face.
4 . The print cradle assembly of claim 3 , wherein the maintenance station includes a conveyor mechanism for conveying the belt past the face, wherein said belt is supported by a drive spool and at least one other spool, said spools being mounted on a chassis, said chassis being reciprocally moveable between a first position in which part of said contact surface is sealingly engaged with said face, and a second position in which said contact surface is disengaged from said face.
5 . The print cradle assembly of claim 1 , having a cradle chassis for supporting the docking bay molding, the media drive assembly and the PCB, the cradle assembly including a heatshield mounted to the PCB for shielding the printer controller from electromagnetic interference (EMI) and user contact with the PCB.
6 . The print cradle assembly of claim 1 , wherein the maintenance drive assembly includes a capper retraction shaft linked to an output drive shaft housed in a spike wheel bearing molding for actuating the capping mechanism.
7 . The print cradle assembly of claim 5 , wherein the PCB includes sprung contacts for mounting said PCB to the cradle chassis.