An ink jet apparatus including a recording head having a jetting surface, an actuator positioned adjacent to the jetting surface, and a cleaning blade member coupled to the actuator by a self-aligning system. The actuator is adapted to move the wiping blade between a cleaning position in which the blade comes in contact with the jetting surface for wiping and a retracted position in which the wiping blade is separated from the jetting surface. The self-aligning system automatically aligns the edge of the blade substantially in parallel with the jetting surface in the cleaning position.