Patent ID: 8382263

Claim:
An ink filling method for a printer head that includes a head unit that has a plurality of ink supply ports to which an ink is supplied and that performs printing by discharging an ink from a nozzle plate provided in a lower portion; an ink supply source arranged outside the head unit; and a flow channel element including one ink flow channel that connects with the ink supply source, and a plurality of branched flow channels that branch out from the ink flow channel and respectively connects with the ink supply ports, the ink filling method comprising: air-tightly coupling the nozzle plate to a suction arrangement that includes a pump; when supplying the ink stored in the ink supply source to each of the ink supply ports via the flow channel element by performing sucking with the pump, the sucking is stopped when one of the branched flow channels is entirely filled with the ink; waiting a predetermined time until air in the flow channel element moves to a branching portion, and the sucking is resumed after the air is moved to the branching portion.