Patent ID: 8727518

Claim:
A metering blade assembly for a printer comprising: a wiper; a cam operatively connected to an actuator and the wiper to move the wiper in response to the actuator moving between a first position in which the wiper does not contact the surface of an image drum having release agent on the surface of the image drum while a plurality of melted solid ink drops are ejected from at least one printhead onto the release agent on the surface of the image drum, a second position in which the wiper contacts the surface of the image drum at a first angle to enable the wiper to leave a first thickness of release agent on the image drum, and a third position in which the wiper contacts the surface of the image drum at a second angle to enable the wiper to leave a second thickness of release agent on the image drum; and a controller configured to generate a wiper count corresponding to a number of times the wiper has wiped the image drum, to generate independently of the wiper count a roller count corresponding to a number of media sheets that have contacted the image drum, and to actuate the cam to move the wiper from the first position selectively to one of the second and third positions with reference to the wiper count and the roller count and to actuate the cam to return the wiper to the first position while the plurality of solid ink drops are ejected onto the surface of the image drum.