Patent ID: 8606157

Claim:
A color image forming apparatus for forming a color toner image on a recording material, comprising: an image forming portion for forming a toner image on a recording material; and a fixing portion that heats and fixes the toner image formed on the recording material to the recording material, wherein the color image forming apparatus is capable of setting: (i) a color image forming mode for forming a color image with two or more color toners, (ii) a monochrome image forming mode for forming a monochrome image only with black toner, and (iii) a cleaning mode for cleaning the fixing portion, wherein when the cleaning mode is set, the image forming portion forms a predetermined toner image with two or more color toners on the recording material, and then the fixing portion heats and fixes the predetermined toner image on the recording material to form a cleaning sheet which is heated and conveyed at the fixing portion to clean the fixing portion, and wherein a toner amount per unit area for the predetermined toner image on the recording material is larger than a maximum toner amount per unit area available for a toner image on the recording material in the monochrome image forming mode.