Patent ID: 7938528

Claim:
An image forming machine comprising: a moving surface; a blade having a blade tip; a blade positioning mechanism connected to the blade moving the blade into a working position wherein the blade tip engages the moving surface creating a blade load on the moving surface; an actuator connected to the blade positioning mechanism; a sensor detecting defects caused by insufficient blade load at the surface and producing a defect signal indicating a defect is being detected; and a controller connected to the sensor for receiving the defect signal and signaling the actuator to actuate the blade positioning mechanism for moving the blade within the working position to create the minimum blade load for preventing defects including: reducing the blade load applied to the image forming machine moving surface until a defect is detected, incrementally increasing the blade load applied to the image forming machine moving surface, sensing for defects, and repeating the incrementally increasing and sensing until a defect is not detected.