Continuous ink-jet printing apparatus with integral cleaning

An ink jet printing apparatus having a cleaning station that is structurally integrated with a droplet deflector is provided. The apparatus includes an ink droplet forming mechanism formed from a printhead having at least one nozzle for ejecting a stream of ink droplets of different volumes, a pneumatic droplet deflector for producing a flow of gas that transversely impinges the droplet stream of the printhead in order to separate ink droplets of different volumes from one another. The droplet deflector includes a pressurized gas source, which may be an air blower, and a plenum for conducting the gas flow generated by the gas source. The cleaning station is formed at least in part from the plenum of the droplet deflector, and provides a flow of both a liquid cleaning fluid and a flow of gas to periodically clean the printhead of the ink droplet forming mechanism.