Printer carriage alignment for periodic ink replenishment from

Abstract

A technique for aligning a carriage holding a pen in a printing machine including a carriage axis assembly having a motor drive system for moving the carriage along a carriage axis, a carriage position sensor, and a refill station disposed along the axis. A carriage alignment position at which the pen septum is aligned with the refill valve is determined, by (i) actuating the motor drive system to move the carriage in a first direction along the carriage axis to a first end of carriage travel along the carriage axis, (ii) sensing the position of the carriage at the first end of carriage travel, and storing the sensed first end position, (iii) actuating the motor drive system to move the carriage in a second direction along the carriage axis until the carriage runs into contact with a refill stopper surface of the refill station, (iv) determining a refill stopper carriage position at which the carriage runs into the refill stopper surface, and (v) determining the alignment position from the refill stopper carriage position. The carriage is moved along the carriage axis during printing operations and dispenses droplets of liquid ink from the printhead onto a print medium. A refill operation is conducted by moving the carriage to the alignment position, engaging the pen septum and the refill valve, passing ink through the refill valve and the pen septum, and disengaging the refill valve from the pen septum.