Abstract: When printing on 3-dimensional objects such as covers for handheld terminals, generation of stray light may be adequately suppressed. There is provided an ink jet printer including an ink jet head, an ultraviolet irradiating portions, and an object-to-be-printed holding member, wherein the object-to-be-printed holding member includes a 3-dimensional object holding portion configured to hold a 3-dimensional object, and a light-shielding portion, the 3-dimensional object holding portion changes an orientation of the 3-dimensional object to bring a first surface to be printed and a second surface to be printed respectively to oppose the ink jet head, the light-shielding portion is provided so as to be capable of advancing and retracting in a direction of discharge at least at some position, and changes a shielding area that shields ultraviolet rays in a direction orthogonal to the direction of discharge.

Abstract: An ink is provided that does not easily cause an offset or blocking upon winding a print, even when the ink contains a lactic acid ester or a lactone solvent. In order to solve such a problem, the ink of the present invention includes: a colorant; and a ketone compound of the following general formula (1), R1—CO—R2??(1), wherein R1 and R2 each independently represent an alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbon atoms, where the total number of carbon atoms in R1 and R2 is 5 to 11, and R1 and R2 may form a ring when the sum of the carbon atoms in R1 and R2 is 6 or more.

Abstract: To provide a device that can execute both of two kinds of processes, at least, for a target medium inexpensively with high accuracy. A plotter 20 includes a cutter 1 and a pen 2 for individually executing each specific process for paper being transferred in a predetermined direction, and a receiving portion 8 for supporting the paper to be processed by the cutter 1 and the pen 2, while the receiving portion 8 being provided at a position facing the cutter 1 and the pen 2 through the intermediary of the paper. Then, the cutter 1 and the pen 2 are positioned on different lines individually in a direction intersecting the transfer direction of the paper. Therefore, a condition of the receiving portion 8 after a process by one tool does not affect the other tool.

Abstract: Including either a platen or a flat bed, and a printer head; the printing device is configured in such a way as to print by making a combination of a reciprocating motion of the printer head and an operation of discharging ink toward a white medium. Meanwhile, the printer head includes a plurality of heads individually corresponding to each color. The printing device includes a control unit for setting a test pattern for testing each color, and pattern print areas where the test pattern is printed. The control unit makes a setting in such a way that, for the pattern print area where a test pattern is printed by discharging white ink of a nearly-identical color as a color of the white medium, the test pattern is printed with the white ink on a primer print prepared with black ink.

Abstract: An ultraviolet irradiation unit (100) is provided with an ultraviolet irradiation device (50) and an ink mist sucking and removing device (60). The ink mist sucking and removing device (60) includes a blower fan (62), an air filter (63) and a device cover (61) for forming an air flow passage whose one end is provided with a suction port (64) located in an upper vicinity of a printing object (80) and whose another end is provided with a ventilation port (58a) facing an LED drive circuit board (55). Air in the upper vicinity of a printing object (80) is sucked through the suction port (64) by the blower fan (62), ink mist included in the air is removed by the air filter (63), and cleaned air discharged through the ventilation port (58a) is blown to an LED circuit board (51), an LED drive circuit board (55).

Abstract: (Problem to be Solved) To appropriately restrain occurrence of striped variation and to appropriately enhance image quality of a printed result. (Solution) An inkjet printer in which multi-gradation printing is performed in an inkjet method includes an ejection control section for controlling ejection of ink droplets by supplying an ejection control signal to a nozzle for controlling ejection of the ink droplets from the nozzle of an inkjet head. The inkjet head forms lines of ink dots juxtaposed in a line direction so that the lines are juxtaposed in a direction perpendicular to the line direction. In a case that a nozzle which forms a line is the abnormal nozzle, an ejection control signal corresponding to an ink dot size which is different from a case of the normal nozzle is supplied as the ejection control signal corresponding to a part of the dots juxtaposed in the line, thereby an average value in the line of ejection errors is brought close to zero.

Abstract: A printer is provided to improve the conveying accuracy of a Y-bar, thus improving printed image quality. The printer includes the Y-bar that extends in a first direction above a flatbed on which a medium is mounted, holds an ink droplet ejecting head unit so that the head unit is movable in the first direction, and is held so as to be movable with respect to the flatbed in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The printer includes a drive mechanism that conveys the Y-bar in the second direction, a drive control device that carries out a drive control of the drive mechanism, and a measuring device that directly measures an amount of movement of the Y-bar with respect to the flatbed. The drive control device corrects controlled variables of the drive mechanism based on the amount of movement of the Y-bar measured by the measuring device.

Abstract: A cutting plotter includes a medium supporter, a first guide rail, a second guide rail, a carriage, a work tool, a working controller, and a second direction displacement detector. The second direction displacement detector is configured to measure a second guide rail displacement amount. The second guide rail displacement amount indicates a magnitude of displacement of a moving path of the carriage from a predetermined moving path with respect to the second guide rail in a direction perpendicular to a second direction when the carriage is moved in the second direction along the second guide rail. The working controller is configured to execute a control in which a movement control of the second guide rail on the first guide rail is added so that the second guide rail displacement amount is corrected in a movement control of the carriage on the second guide rail.

Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus, a clogged nozzle recovering method, and a clogged nozzle recovery program are provided. The inkjet printing apparatus includes a head, a tank, a first pump, a cap, a second pump and a control means. The head is provided with a nozzle face and a plurality of nozzles. The tank is connected with the head through a tube. The first pump is connected with the tank and maintains the tank at a constant negative pressure. The cap for suction covers a part of the nozzles on the nozzle face of the head. The second pump is connected with the cap for sucking an inside of the cap. The control means controls to lower the negative pressure of the tank that is maintained by the first pump when the inside of the cap is sucked by the second pump.

Abstract: Ultraviolet curable ink contained in an ink pack is prevented from curing during storage. The second resin layer, the metal layer, and the protective layer in the upper film of the surface portion of the ink pack extend from the base layer (extended portion). The metal layer has a light-shielding property, and the extended portion is folded back and attached to the surface of the lower film of the side-surface portion. The metal layer having a light-shielding property thus covers the base layers exposed at the end surface of the joint portion, and can prevent external ultraviolet rays from reaching the ink through the base layers.

Abstract: A printer apparatus (10) is provided with a front and rear drive motor, which rotationally drives a feed roller (21) in a state that the plate-like medium (B) is pinched by the feed roller (21) and a pinch roller (24) which are paired to feed the plate-like medium (B) to the front side and to set to be located on the platen (13), a right and left drive motor which moves the printer head (32) in the right and left direction, and a controller which performs control for feeding the plate-like medium (B) and control for moving the printer head by the right and left drive motor (32). The platen (13) is provided with a feeding auxiliary member (40) which is protruded from a support face for supporting the plate-like medium (B) and is located on the front side with respect to a portion facing the printer head (32).

Abstract: A liquid circulation system includes an inkjet head formed with a common ink flow passage, an ink cartridge, a supply flow passage through which ink is supplied from the ink cartridge to an inlet of the common ink flow passage, a return flow passage through which the ink is returned from the outlet of the common ink flow passage to the ink cartridge, a tube pump sending the ink in the supply flow passage, a tube pump sending the ink in the return flow passage, a pressurization bellows unit pressurizing the ink in the supply flow passage, a pressure reduction bellows unit depressurizing the ink in the return flow passage, a pressurization regulator maintaining the inlet being a center value “+?” of a designated head value, and a differential pressure regulator by which a differential pressure of the ink between the inlet and the outlet is maintained to be “2?”.

Abstract: The invention provides a damper apparatus including a housing having a valve chamber and reciprocally moving integrally with a carriage, an inlet port communicating an ink flow channel on the upstream side and the valve chamber, an outlet port communicating the ink flow channel on the downstream side and the valve chamber, and a spherical valve body stored so as to be movable in the valve chamber, wherein the valve body moves relatively to a position for closing the inlet port or the outlet port upon reception of the inertial force in association with the acceleration and deceleration to close the ink flow channel when the carriage is accelerated or decelerated, and the valve body moves relatively to a position for opening the inlet port and the outlet port under its own weight to open the ink flow channel when the carriage is not accelerated and decelerated.

Abstract: A printer comprises: a vacuum table for supporting a jig which holds a medium; a printer head for discharging droplets; and a relative movement means for moving the printer head relative to the medium; a registration mark detection unit and barcode detection unit for acquiring holding platform information and support position information for the jig; and a controller for controlling the movement of the printer head by the relative movement means and controlling the discharge of droplets from the printer head on the basis of the holding platform information, the support position information and information pertaining to the desired pattern. As a result of this configuration, it is possible to generate image data without aligning the jig with a reference position on the vacuum table.

Abstract: To provide a printing method that enhances bonding between a colored-ink layer and an overprint layer, flatten a surface of the overprint layer, and make it possible to print glossy images or decorative colors when performing overprinting on a colored ink print using an inkjet printer. The printing method includes sequentially performing: Step (1) of forming a UV curable colored-ink layer on a surface of a recording medium; Step (2) of irradiating the colored-ink layer with a weak UV light; Step (3) of forming an overprint layer on the colored-ink layer; Step (4) of flattening the surface of the overprint layer after allowing a predetermined time to elapse; Step (5) of irradiating the colored-ink layer and the overprint layer with a weak UV light; and Step (6) of irradiating the colored-ink layer and the overprint layer with a strong UV light to cure the colored-ink layer and the overprint layer.

Abstract: A computer-readble medium stored with a program causing a computer to quantize a gray level causes the computer to perform a pixel selecting process; determining a noise use rate indicating the degree to which a dither matrix noise has an influence on the quantization and an error use rate indicating the degree to which an accumulated error has an influence on the quantization and determining the noise use rate and the error use rate corresponding to the corresponding pixel depending on the gray levels of the pixels sequentially selected in the pixel selecting process; and performing the quantization on the gray levels of the pixels sequentially selected in the pixel selecting process and performing the quantization using the dither matrix noise based on the noise use rate corresponding to the corresponding pixel and using the accumulated error based on the error use rate corresponding to the corresponding pixel.

Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a guide rail that faces a medium support member and extends in a scanning direction. A head device includes a carriage movable in the scanning direction along the guide rail. A printer head is mounted on the carriage and is configured to discharge an ink toward a printing medium. An ultraviolet radiation device is mounted on the carriage and is configured to output an ultraviolet radiation toward the printing medium thereby curing the ink that has adhered onto the printing medium after being discharged from the printer head. The ultraviolet radiation device is arranged in the carriage on a side of the printer head in the scanning direction. An intensity controller is configured to control an intensity of the ultraviolet radiation output from the ultraviolet radiation device depending on a direction of movement of the carriage.

Abstract: A control method is provided for an ink jet recording apparatus 30 including a recording head 32 for ejecting ink to a medium 31, a heating means 46 for heating the recording head 32, an ink storage part 12 which reserves ink supplied to the recording head 32, and a negative pressure adjusting part 40 which adjusts a pressure in an inside of the ink storage part 12 to be a negative pressure. In the control method, when the ink jet recording apparatus 30 is to be turned off, heating of the recording head 32 by the heating part 46 is turned off but the negative pressure adjusting part 40 is left to be in an “ON” state so that the negative pressure in the inside of the ink storage part 12 is maintained and, after that, the negative pressure adjusting part 40 is turned off.

Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus includes a carriage movable in a main scanning direction and relatively movable with respect to a recording medium in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. An ink ejector is mounted on the carriage and includes a plurality of ink nozzles which are provided in the sub-scanning direction to eject ultraviolet-ray curable inks and which are arranged in a plurality of pass areas to record a plurality of bands. An ultraviolet-ray irradiator is mounted on the carriage to irradiate the recording medium with ultraviolet rays and includes a plurality of light sources to irradiate the plurality of bands with ultraviolet rays, respectively. A gas flowing device includes at least one of an air sucking device to suck air on the recording medium side and a blowing device to blow a gas toward the recording medium side.

Abstract: An ink circulation system includes: an ink-jet head in which a shared ink flowing route is formed, an ink tank, a supply flowing route for supplying ink from the ink tank to the shared ink flowing route, a reflux flowing route for refluxing the ink from the shared ink flowing route to the ink tank, and a differential pressure generating unit for generating a differential pressure in the ink tank. The differential pressure generating unit is equipped with an impeller placed inside the ink tank, and a drive unit placed outside the ink tank. Then, the drive unit operates to turn the impeller, by means of remote driving, for generating a differential pressure between a supply port of the supply flowing route and a reflux port of the reflux flowing route so as to circulate the ink through the ink flowing route.