Inca Digital Printers Limited

Stephen George Tunnicliffe-Wilson

Adam Woolfe

William Ronald Stuart Baxter

Nicholas John Campbell

Stephen Douglas

In an ink jet printer (), where there is relative movement between a print carriage () and a print table () to print on to a substrate mounted on the table (), the gradient of the print table at each position of the print carriage () is used to produce a compensated position of the print carriage (), and printing data is sent to the print head according to the compensated position instead of the actual position. This delays or advances the release of ink, to compensate for the difference in the time taken for the ink to reach a substrate mounted on the print table () when the print gap between print heads and print table () is not constant.

Print gap compensation

A multipass large format flat bed inkjet printer () for printing an image on a substrate is described. In examples described, the printer () has a print carriage () for supporting an array of printheads () adjacent the substrate () during printing; a bed () for supporting the substrate () during printing; and a movement mechanism () for providing relative movement of the print carriage () and the substrate () in a print direction during a print pass. The print carriage () is such that the width of the array of printheads () transverse to the print direction is at least substantially the full width of the image. in examples described, the printheads () provide an array of nozzles () which is substantially continuous across the array of printheads ().

Large-scale inkjet printer

A digital printer has a printhead () for printing on a substrate and an encoder () which emits pulses () to indicate the relative distance moved by the printhead. A timer device for the digital printer emits output print pulses () for effecting printing and a count module () for receiving pulses () from the encoder () and emitting a print signal after a predetermined number of encoder pulses () to effect the emission of the output print pulse. The timer device is adapted to add a delay between the emission of the print signal and the emission of the output print pulse (). In examples described, the pitch of the printed droplets can be closely controlled.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Stephen George Tunnicliffe-Wilson