JP2013064841A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which suppresses the charge of a guide for carrying a sheet to a nip portion of a fixing device.SOLUTION: In a carrying path 80 from a secondary transfer roller 44 to a fixing device 70 of an image forming device 100, a guide 200 is disposed. The guide 200 is divided into an upstream member 210 and a downstream member 220. The downstream member 220 is provided with a cylinder 230. The upstream member 210 is fixed to a body of the image forming device 100, and the downstream member 220 can move between a first position at which a contact surface 222 of the downstream member 220 and a contact surface 212 of the upstream member 210 have no level difference, and a second position which is farther from the carrying path of a sheet than the first position. After the sheet rushes into a nip portion N of the fixing device 70, the sheet is supported by two places of the contact surface 212 of the upstream member 210 and the contact surface 222 of the downstream member 220 positioned at the second position.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a guide positioned between a transfer member and a fixing device.

  In general, an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic method forms an image on a sheet by applying toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of a photoreceptor and developing the image, and transferring and fixing the toner image on the sheet. Is. For this purpose, the image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a transfer device, and a fixing device.

  The toner image is fixed on the sheet on which the toner image is transferred by the transfer device. In order to suitably convey the sheet to the fixing device, a guide is generally provided between the transfer device and the fixing device. In this guide, the positional relationship between the guide surface in contact with the sheet and the nip portion of the fixing device is important for proper fixing. If the guide component accuracy or mounting accuracy is poor, there is a risk of paper jam and unfixed toner image disturbance (see second paragraph on page 2, second paragraph on page 3 of Patent Document 1).

  In view of this, an image forming apparatus that suppresses paper folds and image distortion has been developed. For example, in Patent Document 1, the fixing device side end of the guide is arranged on the heating roller side before the front end of the sheet enters the fixing device, and after the front end of the sheet enters the fixing device, the fixing device side of the guide is arranged. A fixing device in which an end portion is disposed on the pressure roller side is disclosed (refer to claims and page 4 of Patent Document 1). As a result, it is possible to prevent paper jam at the front end of the sheet and prevent jumping of the rear end of the sheet to prevent unfixed image disturbance without increasing the accuracy of the guide parts and mounting accuracy (see Patent Document 1 3). (See page 4 to page 4).

JP-A-1-271784

  Incidentally, the sheet that has entered the nip portion of the fixing device may be curved. This is because the conveyance speed of the fixing device is slower than the conveyance speed of the transfer device. Therefore, sagging occurs in the sheet and the sheet is bent. When the sheet is curved, the sheet is also curved at a position upstream from the nip portion. As a result, the curved portion of the sheet may come into strong contact with the downstream end of the guide. This strong contact frictionally charges the tip of the guide. As a result, the absolute value of the potential at the tip of the guide becomes large. If there is a portion that is strongly charged in the guide as described above, the unfixed toner image may be disturbed when the sheet passes through the portion. This is because the toner is charged.

  On the other hand, as in the fixing device described in Patent Document 1 (see the second paragraph and FIG. 1 on page 8 of Patent Document 1), if the angle of the guide surface is changed during the conveyance of the sheet, a curved sheet is formed. It is easier to contact the tip of the guide (see FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1). Therefore, strong charging of the guide due to contact between the sheet and the guide tends to occur. As a result, the unfixed toner image may be easily disturbed.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems of the prior art. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which charging of a guide for conveying a sheet to a nip portion of a fixing device is suppressed.

  An image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention for solving the problem includes an image forming unit for forming a toner image, a transfer unit for transferring the toner image formed by the image forming unit to a sheet, The image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that fixes the toner image onto the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer unit, and a guide that conveys the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred to the fixing device. The guide includes a first guide member located on the upstream side of the sheet conveyance path, a second guide member located on the downstream side of the sheet conveyance path from the first guide member, and a second guide member. Is moved between a first position facing the sheet conveyance path and a second position away from the first position from the sheet conveyance direction. In such an image forming apparatus, when a sheet carrying an unfixed toner image is conveyed to the nip portion of the fixing device, the guide located upstream of the fixing device is the first guide member and the first position or the first position. The sheet can be supported by the second guide member positioned at the position 2. There is almost no possibility that the guide will be charged too much due to dispersion of the contact points of the sheet. Therefore, image disturbance due to the charging of the guide hardly occurs.

  In the image forming apparatus described above, the guide member moving unit arranges the second guide member at the first position before the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion of the fixing device. The second guide member may be disposed at the second position after the sheet having the toner image transferred thereon enters the nip portion of the fixing device. After the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion of the fixing device, the sheet can be supported by the two contact surfaces of the first guide member and the second guide member. The sheet can be transported suitably and charging of the guide can be suppressed.

  In the image forming apparatus described above, the guide member moving unit may return the second guide member from the second position to the first position after the trailing edge of the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred passes through the guide. Good. This is because the next sheet conveyed from the transfer unit can be preferably conveyed to the nip portion of the fixing device.

  In the image forming apparatus described above, the first guide member and the second guide member are provided with rib portions, and the position of the rib portion of the second guide member in the width direction is the first guide member. It may be different from the position in the width direction of the rib portion of the member. This is because the same portion of the sheet hardly contacts the guide more than once. Therefore, image disturbance is less likely to occur on the sheet.

  According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus in which charging of a guide for conveying a sheet to a nip portion of a fixing device is suppressed.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram for explaining an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram (No. 1) for describing a configuration of a guide of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a second diagram for explaining the configuration of the guide of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. 1 is a perspective view for explaining a guide of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of a guide before a sheet enters the nip portion of the fixing device in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state of the guide after the sheet has entered the nip portion of the fixing device in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a state of a guide after a sheet has entered a nip portion of a fixing device in a conventional image forming apparatus. It is a perspective view (the 1) for demonstrating the guide of the conventional image forming apparatus. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating image disturbance appearing on a sheet image-formed by an image forming apparatus having the guide of FIG. 8. It is a perspective view (the 2) for demonstrating the guide of the conventional image forming apparatus. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating image disturbance that appears on a sheet image-formed by an image forming apparatus having the guide of FIG. 10. FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining another guide of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment embodies the present invention for a color copier.

1. Image Forming Apparatus As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 includes image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K for each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). It is a tandem type color copier. The image forming apparatus 100 includes an automatic document feeder ADF, an image reading unit 10, a paper feed cassette 20, image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K, a transfer unit 40, a fixing device 70, and a conveyance path 80. A paper discharge tray 81, a control unit 90, and a guide 200.

  The automatic document feeder ADF sequentially feeds documents for reading image images one by one from a bundle of documents and conveys them to the image reading unit 10. The image reading unit 10 is for reading documents conveyed one by one by the automatic document conveying device ADF. The paper feed cassette 20 is for placing a bundle of sheets P.

  The image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K for the respective colors are for forming toner images of the respective colors. The image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K for each color have the same configuration. The image forming unit 30Y will be described as a representative of each color. The image forming unit 30Y includes a photosensitive drum 31Y, a charging device 32Y, an exposure device 33Y, a developing device 34Y, and a cleaner 35Y.

  The photosensitive drum 31Y is an image carrier for carrying an electrostatic latent image by the exposure device 33Y and carrying a toner image. The charging device 32Y is for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive drum 31Y. The exposure device 33Y is for exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 31Y and writing an electrostatic latent image. The developing device 34Y is for applying toner to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 31Y to form a toner image. The cleaner 35Y is for collecting the development residual toner on the photosensitive drum 31Y.

  The transfer unit 40 is for transferring the toner image formed by the image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K to the sheet P. An intermediate transfer belt 41, primary transfer rollers 42Y, 42M, 42C, and 42K, a secondary transfer unit 43, and an intermediate transfer belt cleaner 45 are provided. In the intermediate transfer belt 41, the toner images formed by the image forming units 30Y, 30M, 30C, and 30K for the respective colors are superimposed to form a color toner image. The primary transfer rollers 42Y, 42M, 42C, and 42K are for transferring the toner images of the respective colors formed on the photosensitive drums 31Y, 31M, 31C, and 31K onto the intermediate transfer belt 41, respectively. The secondary transfer unit 43 is for transferring a color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 41 to a sheet. For this purpose, the secondary transfer unit 43 has a secondary transfer roller 44.

  The fixing device 70 is for fixing the toner image to the sheet P on which the toner image is transferred by the transfer unit 40. A fixing roller 71 and a pressure roller 72 are provided. The fixing roller 71 is for heating the toner image and fixing the toner image to the sheet together with the pressure roller 72. The pressure roller 72 is for pressing the sheet on which the toner image is formed together with the fixing roller 71.

  The conveyance path 80 is a path for conveying the sheet P pulled out from the paper feed cassette 20. The paper discharge tray 81 is a tray for discharging a sheet on which an image is formed. Although not shown in FIG. 1, a conveyance path for double-sided printing for turning the sheet after fixing the toner image upside down and forming an image on the back surface may be provided. The guide 200 is for conveying the sheet having the toner image transferred thereto to the fixing device 70. The guide 200 will be described in detail later.

2. Guide Configuration The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has a feature point in the guide 200 positioned upstream of the fixing device 70 in the conveyance path 80. The guide 200 is for conveying the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred to the fixing device 70. Therefore, the guide 200 will be described in detail below. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of the guide 200.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the guide 200 is not a single member but is divided into an upstream member 210 and a downstream member 220. The upstream member 210 is a first guide member disposed at a position upstream of the downstream member 220 in the sheet P conveyance path. The downstream member 220 is a second guide member disposed at a position downstream of the upstream member 210 in the sheet P conveyance path. Both the upstream member 210 and the downstream member 220 face the conveyance path of the sheet P. The downstream member 220 is provided with a cylinder 230.

  The upstream member 210 is fixed to the main body of the image forming apparatus 100. The downstream member 220 can move in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2 with respect to the upstream member 210. The cylinder 230 is a guide member moving unit for moving the downstream member 220 in the direction of arrow B. A motor may be used to move the cylinder 230. Air may also be used.

  Further, there is a facing surface 215 between the upstream member 210 and the downstream member 220. The direction in which the downstream member 220 moves (see the arrow in FIG. 2) is parallel to the facing surface 215.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the upstream member 210 and the downstream member 220 have contact surfaces 212 and 222, respectively. The contact surfaces 212 and 222 are in contact with the sheet P and determine the traveling direction of the sheet. The contact surfaces 212 and 222 face the sheet P conveyance path. In FIG. 2, there is no step between the contact surface 212 and the contact surface 222. The position of the downstream member 220 is referred to as a first position.

  FIG. 3 shows a view when the downstream member 220 moves relative to the upstream member 210. In FIG. 3, the downstream member 220 is located at a position away from the sheet P conveyance path from the first position. The position of the downstream member 220 in FIG. 3 is referred to as a second position. The second position is a position where the downstream member 220 is retracted. The cylinder 230 is for moving the downstream member 220 between the first position and the second position.

  The guide 200 takes two positions, a first position shown in FIG. 2 and a second position shown in FIG. As will be described later, the downstream member 220 takes the first position (see FIG. 2) or the second position (see FIG. 3) depending on the position of the sheet P when the sheet P is conveyed.

  FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the guide 200. In FIG. 4, the cylinder 230 is omitted. As shown in FIG. 4, the upstream member 210 and the downstream member 220 are provided with ribs 211 and 221, respectively. The ribs 211 and 221 have contact surfaces 212 and 222, respectively. The contact surfaces 212 and 222 are surfaces that actually contact and support the sheet P in the conveyance of the sheet P, and assist the conveyance of the sheet P.

  The tip portions 212 a and 222 a are downstream end portions of the contact surfaces 212 and 222. As will be described later, the leading end portions 212a and 222a support the sheet P even when the downstream member 220 is in one of the first position and the second position.

3. Sheet Conveyance and Guide Position The image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment switches the position where the downstream member 220 of the guide 200 is disposed before and after the sheet P enters the nip portion N of the fixing device 70. Is.

3-1. Before the sheet enters the nip portion FIG. 5 shows the shapes of the guide 200 and the sheet P before the sheet P enters the nip portion N of the fixing device 70. Before the sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion N, the downstream member 220 of the guide 200 is positioned at the first position as shown in FIG. That is, the contact surface 212 and the contact surface 222 are aligned. Then, the sheet P to which the toner image has been transferred hits a position near the middle of the contact surface 212. The sheet P changes its traveling direction along the contact surfaces 212 and 222. That is, the guide 200 supports the sheet P over the contact surfaces 212 and 222 and assists the conveyance of the sheet P in the same manner as a normal guide. The sheet P is conveyed along the guide 200 and is not curved.

3-2. FIG. 6 shows the shape of the guide 200 and the sheet P after the sheet P has entered the nip N of the fixing device 70. FIG. After the sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion N, as shown in FIG. 6, the downstream member 220 of the guide 200 is positioned at the second position. That is, the sheet is retracted away from the sheet conveyance path. At this time, the contact surface 212 and the contact surface 222 of the guide 200 are not on the same plane.

  At this time, the sheet P is curved so as to be convex toward the pressure roller 72 side (lower side in FIG. 6). And the sheet | seat P will be supported by two places, the contact surface 212 of the upstream member 210, and the contact surface 222 of the downstream member 220. FIG. The guide 200 supports the sheet P while supporting the sheet P at two places. That is, the friction points between the sheet P and the guide 200 are dispersed in two places. Therefore, the tip end portion 222a of the guide 200 (see FIG. 4) is hardly charged too much. Details will be described later.

  Note that the downstream member 220 may be returned from the second position to the first position after the rear end of the sheet P carrying the toner image has passed through the guide 200. As a result, the sheet P subsequently conveyed can be suitably conveyed to the fixing device 70.

4). Comparison of guide of this embodiment and conventional guide 4-1. Before describing the comparison between the surface potential distribution and image disturbance in the conventional guide and the guide 200 of the present embodiment, problems that occur in the conventional guide will be described. FIG. 7 is a view showing the periphery of the guide 1100 and the fixing device 70 extracted from the conventional image forming apparatus having the guide 1100.

  FIG. 7 shows a state after the sheet P has entered the nip portion N of the fixing device 70. Therefore, the sheet P is curved so as to be convex toward the pressure roller 72 side (lower side in FIG. 7). Then, the curved sheet P is strongly pressed against the tip portion 1111. Therefore, as will be described later, the tip 1111 of the guide 1100 is strongly charged. By passing through the charged tip portion 1111, the unfixed toner image transferred to the sheet P may be disturbed.

  FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a conventional guide 1100. The guide 1100 is provided with a plurality of ribs 1110. The sheet P is conveyed while being in contact with the plurality of ribs 1110. Therefore, the rib 1110 is charged by friction with the sheet P. A downstream end portion 1111 of the rib 1110 is positively and strongly charged. The charging potential of the tip 1111 is +500 to + 700V. The central portion 1112 located near the center of the transport direction in the rib 1110 is not so charged. The charging potential of the central portion 1112 is 0 to + 50V.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of image disturbance that appears on the sheet P when the conventional guide 1100 is used. FIG. 9 shows a case where a rectangular solid 1150 is printed on the sheet P. In that case, as shown in FIG. 9, a trailing portion 1151 appears on the sheet P after image formation in a direction toward the rear end of the sheet P with respect to the solid 1150. Such a tailing portion 1151 occurs because the tip 1111 of the rib 1110 is strongly charged. As the sheet P carrying the unfixed toner image passes over the top of the tip 1111 of the rib 1110, the charged toner is subjected to electrostatic force. As a result, the trailing portion 1151 is generated in the direction toward the rear end of the sheet P.

  Of course, the quality of the image in which the tailing portion 1151 is generated is poor. In FIG. 9, although it is a mere image, when printing a character, a character may be unreadable.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional guide 1200 different from the conventional guide 1100 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional guide 1200 has no ribs. In this case, the sheet P on which the unfixed toner image is formed comes into contact with the guide 1200 uniformly over the width direction of the sheet P.

  The sheet P is in strong contact with the vicinity of the front end 1201 of the guide 1200. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the front end 1201 of the guide 1200 is positively charged. The charging potential of the tip 1201 is +300 to + 500V. On the other hand, the central portion 1202 of the guide 1200 is not so charged. The charging potential of the central portion 1202 of the guide 1200 is 0 to + 50V.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of image disturbance appearing on the sheet P when the conventional guide 1200 is used. FIG. 11 shows a case where a rectangular solid 1250 is printed on the sheet P. In that case, as shown in FIG. 11, a tailing portion 1251 appears in the entire sheet P in the width direction of the sheet P after the image formation. When the guide 1200 is used, the sheet P on which an unfixed toner image is formed passes above the positively charged front end portion 1201. As a result, the negatively charged toner receives a force due to static electricity, and a trailing portion 1251 is generated in the direction opposite to the conveyance direction U of the sheet P.

4-2. Cause of Charging of Guide In the conventional guides 1100 and 1200, the cause of image disturbance is frictional charging of the tip portions 1111 and 1201 as described above. This is because only specific portions (tip portions 1111 and 1201) are in strong contact with the sheet P. Therefore, it is only necessary to distribute and contact not only a specific part but also a plurality of parts. This is because if the number of contact points increases, the degree of frictional charging becomes small.

4-3. Next, the surface potential distribution in the guide 200 of this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the charging potential of the distal end portion 212a of the upstream member 210 is 0 to + 50V. This is almost the same as the charging potential of the central portions 1112, 1202 of the conventional guides 1100, 1200. Further, the charging potential of the front end portion 222a of the downstream member 220 is 0 to + 100V. As described above, the tip end portion 212a of the guide 200 of the present embodiment is at a level that is hardly charged compared to the tip end portions 1111 and 1201 of the conventional guides 1100 and 1200. Therefore, image disturbance due to charging of the guide 200 hardly occurs. As shown in FIG. 4, the sheet P comes into contact with the guide 200 twice, but image disturbance is less likely to occur than in the prior art.

5. Modified example 5-1. In this embodiment, the downstream member 220 is translated by the cylinder 230. However, as long as the downstream member 220 is moved, other configurations can be adopted. For example, as in Patent Document 1, a solenoid and a coil may be combined. Other actuators can be used. And if it can arrange | position in the position which retracts the downstream member 220, it does not necessarily need to be parallel movement.

5-2. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 that uses negatively charged toner that is negatively charged has been described. However, even in an image forming apparatus using positively charged toner, if conventional guides 1100 and 1200 are used, image distortion will still occur. Therefore, the use of the guide 200 according to this embodiment can similarly prevent image disturbance. This is because the absolute value of the charge amount of the guide 200 is not so large as described above. Therefore, the present invention can be applied regardless of whether the charging of the toner is positive or negative.

5-3. Rib Arrangement In the guide 200 of this embodiment, when the downstream member 220 is disposed at the first position, the rib 211 of the upstream member 210 and the rib 221 of the downstream member 220 are continuously arranged. However, as in the guide 300 shown in FIG. 12, the position in the width direction of the rib 211 of the upstream member 210 may be different from the position in the width direction of the rib 321 of the downstream member 320.

  In this case, the portion of the sheet P that contacts the upstream member 210 and the portion that contacts the downstream member 320 are different positions in the width direction. Therefore, the number of times that the same portion of the sheet P contacts the guide 300 is at most one. Therefore, when the guide 300 is used, image disturbance is less likely to occur than when the guide 200 is used.

5-4. First Position of Downstream Member In this embodiment, the first position of the downstream member 220 is a position where there is no step between the contact surface 212 and the contact surface 222. However, the contact surface 222 of the downstream member 220 may be located at a position far away from the conveyance path, rather than a position where there is no step. For example, the contact surface 222 of the downstream member 220 may be located farther from the conveyance path than the contact surface 212 of the upstream member 210 within a range of 0 mm or more and 3 mm or less.

6). Summary As described above in detail, the image forming apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes the upstream member 210 and the downstream member 220. The downstream member 220 can be retracted to a position away from the conveyance path of the sheet P with respect to the upstream member 210. Therefore, there is no possibility that the front end portion 222a of the guide 200 is excessively charged due to frictional charging. As a result, an image forming apparatus in which image disturbance or the like hardly occurs is realized.

  Note that this embodiment is merely an example, and does not limit the present invention. Therefore, the present invention can naturally be improved and modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. For example, the image forming apparatus may be one-sided printing or two-sided printing. Also, it is not limited to color printing. The image forming apparatus may be a printer. Further, the present invention can be applied to an image forming apparatus that transmits a read image as a print job through a public line. Of course, it may be a multifunction machine. Also, it can be applied regardless of the type of toner.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image reading part 20 ... Paper feed cassette 30Y, 30M, 30C, 30K ... Image formation part 40 ... Transfer part 41 ... Intermediate transfer belt 42Y, 42M, 42C, 42K ... Primary transfer roller 43 ... Secondary transfer part 44 ... Secondary transfer roller 70 ... fixing device 71 ... fixing roller 72 ... pressure roller 80 ... conveying path 81 ... discharge tray 90 ... control unit 100 ... image forming apparatus 200, 300 ... guide 210 ... upstream member 211 ... rib 212 ... contact Surface 212a ... tip portion 220, 320 ... downstream member 221, 321 ... rib 222, 322 ... contact surface 222a, 322a ... tip portion 230 ... cylinder N ... nip portion

Claims (4)

An image forming unit for forming a toner image;
A transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed by the image forming unit to a sheet;
A fixing device for fixing the toner image on the sheet onto which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer unit;
An image forming apparatus having a guide for conveying a sheet onto which a toner image has been transferred to the fixing device;
The guide
A first guide member located upstream of the sheet conveyance path;
A second guide member positioned on the downstream side of the sheet conveyance path from the first guide member;
The second guide member;
A first position facing the sheet conveyance path;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a guide member moving unit that moves between a first position and a second position that is distant from the sheet conveyance direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The guide member moving part is:
Before the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion of the fixing device,
Arranging the second guide member at the first position;
After the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred enters the nip portion of the fixing device,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the second guide member is disposed at the second position. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2,
The guide member moving part is:
After the trailing edge of the sheet on which the toner image has been transferred passes through the guide,
An image forming apparatus, wherein the second guide member is returned from the second position to the first position. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein
The first guide member and the second guide member are provided with rib portions,
The position of the rib part of the said 2nd guide member in the width direction is different from the position of the width direction of the rib part of the said 1st guide member, The image forming apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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