Ricoh D124, Detailed Descriptions Manual

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Detailed Descriptions 17 D124
Printing

The horizontal motor (1) and timing belt (2) drive the carriage unit (3) left and right
across the surface of the paper. The carriage unit contains the print head sub
tanks and print heads that lay down the ink on the paper below.

The horizontal encoder sensor (4) (mounted on the back of the carriage unit)
reads codes embossed on the horizontal encoder strip (5) as the carriage unit
moves left and right. This controls the movement of the carriage unit.

The DRESS sensor (6) functions as a paper registration sensor and image
registration sensor during paper feed at the start of a print job, and also as a color
registration sensor during the print head adjustment procedure.
Paper Cutting

When printing on roll paper has finished, the cutter motor (7) switches on and
drives the cutter (8) from its home position on the right to the left side of the
machine. This cuts the paper.

When the cutter reaches the left side of the machine after cutting, the cutter return
switch (9) signals the cutter motor to reverse. A lever and stopper in the cutter unit
lowers the cutter into a lower race so that it passes from left to right below the
paper. When the cutter reaches the cutter home position on the right, the cutter
HP switch (10) switches the cutter motor off.
Print Head Cleaning

The maintenance unit (11) cleans the print heads to prevent them from clogging
with dry ink, paper dust, or other foreign matter.

Cleaning is done automatically at frequent intervals during print jobs and can also
be executed manually by the operator with the User Tools (Maintenance: Cleaning,
Flushing) functions when problems occur.

The ink collector tank (12) and right ink sump (13) collect waste ink taken from the
print heads by the maintenance unit during the cleaning cycle.

At infrequent intervals, the machine will force the carriage unit to pause over the
left ink sump (14) so that ink can be purged from the print heads to keep the print
heads primed and clear. This feature is controlled by the firmware and cannot be
done by the operator.
Paper Feed

The vertical motor (15) drives the registration roller and exit roller to feed paper in
the vertical paper path and out of the machine.