Patent ID: 8596750

Claim:
A method of maintaining a printhead, the printhead being configured to form liquid drops having a volume during a printing operation, comprising: providing a jetting module including a plurality of nozzles and a drop forming mechanism associated with the plurality of nozzles; providing a gas flow deflection mechanism including a gas flow duct in fluid communication with a gas flow pressure source, the gas flow duct including a wall; providing a flow of liquid through the plurality of nozzles of the jetting module at a pressure sufficient to form jets of the liquid through the plurality of nozzles; forming a mist of liquid drops from the liquid jets using the drop forming mechanism; causing at least some of the mist of liquid drops to enter the gas flow duct using the gas flow pressure source at a rate sufficient to wet and rinse down at least a portion of the wall of the gas flow duct; deactivating the gas flow pressure source after a period of time; and removing the liquid from the gas flow duct, wherein forming the mist of liquid drops from the liquid jets using the drop forming mechanism includes forming liquid drops having a smaller volume than the volume of the liquid drops formed during the printing operation.