Chapter2 Operating Principles
Rev. A 2-9
The figure below shows carriage mechanism. The print head as a core of the printing mechanism is stored
in the carriage unit. This print head keeps the ti lt of print head in flexi bl e and adjustable structure by
moving the adjustment lev er up and down by the tilt adjustment mechanism. ( Ref er to chapter 4 for more
details) Also, parallelism adjustm ent lever is mounted on the left and ri ght side of carriage guide shaft and it
adjusts parallelism degree between platen and shaft when this shaft i s installed to the printer mechanism.
After this adjustment is complet ed and oper at e PG adjustment lever, it becomes possible to change t he
space between platen surface and print head surface into 2 phases; either 1.1m m to 1.8mm. It is possible
to vary the space between platen surface and print head by rot at ing the axis of carriage guide shaft which
itself is decentralized, with the operat ion of PG lever. This is the mechanism t hat user can adjust the
appropriate PG value by himself according to the paper thickness or any other environm ental conditions
such as paper curl.
Carriage lock mechanism is to prevent the carriage from being left at unc ap posi t ion for a long time because
of vibration during the print er transport or mishandling by the users. If the carri age i s left at uncap
position and uncap state of the print head for long t i m e, an i nk on t he pri nt head surf ace gr aduall y becom es
viscosity. As a result, the nozzle will be unable to discharge an ink. To make matters worse, the
holes(crater) of nozzle may be completely clogged by the v iscosity ink and it may not be able to return to
the normal condition just by cleaning operat ion. In order to prevent this, printer goes to c ar r i age lock state
at the following conditions.
After Power OFF operation:
If the power is turned off on the way of printi ng or any other performance, carriage lock will be
performed in the end after compl et ing initialize operation.
After power ON operation:
After power is turned on and automatic P-On Cleani ng is performed, then carriage lock will be
performed. P-On Cleaning is an automat i c head cleaning that is performed when the power is
turned on. The timer IC always calculates print er’s power OFF time by the power of lithium
battery mounted on the C200 main board. P-on cleani ng function automatically select s the
cleaning level according to the t i me which the printer is not in used.
After Eject the paper:
After Load/Eject button is pressed and the paper is ejected, i f the data is not input, the printer
performs carriage lock and goes to standby state. However, if the paper is loaded to the printer
inside by Load/Eject button, the printer does not perf orm the carriage lock operation.
Carriage home position Sensor
Carriage Motor
Timing Belt
PF Roller
Paper Feed Motor
Eject Roller Paper guide(Front)
Carriage Unit
Front Side Rear Side
Parallelism
Adjust Lever
Carriage
Guide Shaft
Fixing Bush
Figure 2-8. Carriage Mechanism(Top Viewing)