Patent ID: 8406667

Claim:
A fixing device comprising: a fixing member that fixes a toner image onto a recording medium, the fixing member being rotatably arranged so as to be opposed to a surface, on which the toner image has been formed, of the recording medium; a pressing member that presses the recording medium against the fixing member from a back surface side of the recording medium; an oiling unit that applies release oil onto a surface of the fixing member to clean the surface of the fixing member; an oil supplying unit that supplies the release oil to the oiling unit; a removing member that is arranged between a downstream side of the oiling unit and an upstream side of the pressing member in a rotating direction of the fixing member and that is movable between an in-contact state where the removing member is in contact with the surface of the fixing member and an out-of-contact state where the removing member is out of contact with the surface of the fixing member; a drive unit that drives the removing member; and an oiling control unit that, when starting fixing onto the recording medium, controls the drive unit such that the removing member gradually moves from the in-contact state to the out-of-contact state, wherein: the drive unit drives the removing member by controlling pressure from the removing member on the fixing member, and the oiling control unit controls the drive unit such that the removing member moves at a first speed until a first moving-away period, which is a period of time from a start of the fixing until an amount of the release oil applied to the fixing member reaches a predetermined amount, has elapsed so as to gradually decrease the pressure on the fixing member, thereby moving the removing member from the in-contact state into the out-of-contact state, and the removing member moves at a second speed, which is higher than the first speed, until a second moving-away period has elapsed after the first moving-away period has elapsed so as to move the removing member away from the fixing member.