JPH02260335A - Manufacture of key top - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a key top allowing multicoloration of a display part and a facing color and having a high display quality by laminating a light-permeable colored coating material, a light-shielding film such as black light-shielding coating material, and a non-black facing coating material successively from the bottom on a transparent base material, and irradiating the facing coating material of the top layer with YAG laser beams. CONSTITUTION:On the surface of a base material 4 formed of acryl resin, a coat of a bicolor hardening type coating material (acryl or urethane) of orange color is applied to form a ground layer 9. A coat of a bicolor hardening type coating material (acryl or urethane) of black is applied on the ground layer 9 to form an intermediate layer 10. Then, a coat of a bicolor hardening type coating material (acryl or urethane) of gray is applied to form an outer layer 11. Thereafter, a part of the outer layer 11 is irradiated with YAG laser beams 8, and only the parts corresponding to both display parts 2, 3 are removed from the outer layer 11 and the intermediate layer 100 by the laser beams 8. Then, the orange ground layer 9 is exposed in the gray outer layer 11.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing key tops provided in in-vehicle switches, various input devices, etc., and particularly relates to an illuminated key top whose display section illuminates at night, etc. Concerning a top manufacturing method.

(Prior Art) Various methods are known for manufacturing key tops, but among them, a method called laser processing is widely adopted as a method for manufacturing key tops of the type in which the display section is illuminated. There is.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a key top manufactured by the conventional laser processing method, Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view thereof, and Figs. 6(a) to (
d) is a process diagram showing the manufacturing method.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, 1 generally indicates a key top, and the top surface of the key top 1 has a first display section 2 and a second display section 3 that are visible from the outside. It is formed. The key top 1 includes a base material 4 molded from a transparent synthetic resin such as acrylic resin, and a white base layer 5 made of a light-transmitting colored paint provided on the surface of the base material 4.
and a black outer layer 6 made of light-shielding paint provided on the surface of the base lJ5 except for a part, and the first
The second display section 2.3 is constituted by a white base layer 5 exposed within a black outer layer 6. Therefore, in bright places such as during the daytime, by visually observing the difference in color between the base layer 5 and the outer layer 6 using external light,
The first and second display sections 2 and 3 can be confirmed. In addition, at night or in a dark place such as in a tunnel, the lamp 7 placed inside the key top 1 is turned on and the light passes through only the base material 4 and the base layer 5 to reach the outside. , the illuminated first and second display sections 2 and 3 can be confirmed in a dark place.

In manufacturing the key top l configured as described above, first, as shown in FIG. 6(a), a base material 4 of a desired shape is molded from acrylic resin, etc., and then as shown in FIG. 6(b). Next, a base layer 5 is coated on the surface of the base material 4, and further, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
The key top 1 shown in FIG. 4 is manufactured by irradiating the AG laser beam 8 and removing only the portions of the outer layer 6 corresponding to the first and second display sections 2.3 using the laser beam 8. Ru. Note that a transparent hard coat layer (not shown) is applied to the entire outer surface of the key top by painting, sputtering, vapor deposition, or the like, if necessary.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the conventional key top manufacturing method described above takes advantage of the difference in the absorption rate of the YAG laser beam 8 between the base 715 and the outer shape layer 6, and partially removes only the upper layer outer shape @6 with the YAG laser light 8. Since the display portions 2 and 3 are formed using a color scheme other than the white base layer 5 and the black outer layer 6, there is a problem in that the appearance of the display portions 2 and 3 becomes very poor.

That is, for example, if a two-layer structure is formed of a white base layer 5 and a gray outer layer 6, and only the upper outer layer 6 is removed using the YAG laser beam 8, a white base layer can be formed inside the gray outer layer 6. It is possible to form a display portion 2°3 in which 5 is exposed. However, in practice, the gray outer layer 6 is less able to absorb YAG laser light than the black outer layer 6, so
When the power of the YAG laser beam 8 is weak, the outer layer 6 is not completely scattered and remains thinly on the base layer 5, and on the contrary, the YAG
If the power of the laser beam 8 is strong, it will travel to the base layer 5 together with the outer shape N6, and in either case, the display quality will be significantly degraded. this.

This problem occurs not only when the outer shape N6 is made of a color other than black, but also when the base N5 is made of a color other than white, such as orange or green, due to the difference in absorption rate of YAG laser light between the base layer 5 and the outer shape layer 6. The same is true because the base layer 5
It was difficult to make the outer layer 6 a combination of colors other than white and black.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a key top that can have a multicolored display section and exterior color and has a high display quality.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a key top in which a display portion formed on the front surface is illuminated by light from the back side. On the molded base material, a light-transmitting colored paint, a light-shielding film, and a non-black exterior paint are laminated in order from the bottom, and then a portion of the exterior paint and light-shielding film is removed using a YAG laser beam. It is characterized in that the colored paint is exposed.

[Effect]

On a base material made of transparent resin such as acrylic, a light-transmissive colored paint, a light-shielding film such as a black light-shielding paint, and a non-black exterior paint are laminated in order from the bottom, and then a YAG laser beam is applied to the top layer of the exterior paint. When irradiated with YAG laser light, YAG
The exterior paint and light-shielding film in the area irradiated with the AG laser beam are removed, and the lowermost layer of light-transmitting colored paint is exposed.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a key top according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof, and FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d) are process diagrams showing the manufacturing method thereof, and parts corresponding to those in FIGS. 4 to 6 are given the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, first and second display sections 2.3 are formed on the top surface of the key top 1, and these display sections 2 and 3 are used to display the functions of the key top 1. Ru.

As is clear from FIG. 2, the key top 1 consists of a base material 4 molded from a transparent synthetic resin such as acrylic resin, and a light-transmissive colored paint provided on the surface of the base material 4. For example, an orange base layer 9, an intermediate layer 10 made of a black light-shielding paint or a metal film such as chromium, provided on the surface of the base layer 9 except for a part, and a similar layer 10 on the surface of the intermediate layer 10. For example, the first and second display sections 2.3 are made of a gray outer layer 11 made of non-black paint provided except for a part, and the first and second display sections 2.3 are formed under the orange color exposed in the gray outer layer 11. It is composed of strata 9.

Therefore, in a bright place such as during the daytime, by visually observing the difference in color between the base layer 9 and the outer layer 11 using external light, the image display section 2 shown in orange on a gray background,
3 can be confirmed.

On the other hand, at night or in a dark place such as in a tunnel, the lamp 7 placed inside the key top 1 is turned on, and the image is displayed using the fact that this light passes through the base material 4 and the base layer 9. Section 2.3 is illuminated in orange.

Next, a method of manufacturing the key top 1 constructed as described above will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 3(a), about 10 to 2 coats of orange two-color curing paint (acrylic or urethane type) is applied to the surface of the base material 4, which is molded into a desired shape using acrylic resin or the like.
A base layer 9 is formed by coating to a thickness of 0 μm. This base layer N9 transmits light and has the property of being difficult to absorb YAG laser light, which will be described later.Then, as shown in FIG. or urethane type) at a power of approximately 10 μm, or apply a metal film such as chromium by sputtering or vapor deposition at a power of approximately 0.0 μm.
A film with a thickness of 2 μm is formed to form an intermediate layer 1o.

This intermediate layer 10 has the property of blocking light and easily absorbing YAG laser light. As shown in FIG. The outer layer 11 is formed by applying a coating of about 10 to 20 .mu.m thick (eg, urethane-based or urethane-based). This outer layer 11 is formed by the middle 7
Compared to 110, it has a better property of absorbing YAG laser light.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2D, a part of the outer layer 11 is irradiated with a YAG laser beam 8, and the laser beam 8 forms the outer layer 11 and the intermediate layer 10 corresponding to the image display section 2.3. By removing only that part, the key top 1 shown in FIG. 1-2 is manufactured. In this case, although there is no big difference in the absorption rate of the YAG laser beam 8 between the outermost layer 11 of the top layer and the base layer 9 of the bottom layer, there is an intermediate layer 1o between the two layers 119 and 11 that easily absorbs the YAG laser beam 8. exists, so YA
Outer layer 11 and intermediate layer 1 in the portion irradiated with G laser beam 8
0 is removed cleanly, and the orange base layer 9 is exposed within the gray outer layer 11.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the display sections 2 and 3 are composed of the gray outer layer 11 and the orange base layer 9, but the combination of these colors can be selected as appropriate. As the intermediate layer 10, a material such as black paint or metal film that is more easily blown away by YAG laser light than the upper and lower layers 2i9.11 may be used.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the shapes and numbers of the display sections 2 and 3 are not limited to those in the above embodiment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, display colors can be multicolored to a combination other than black and white without deteriorating display quality, and its practical value is high.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a key top according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same, Fig. 3 is a manufacturing process diagram of the key top, Fig. 4 is a plan view of the conventional key top, Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the same, and Fig. 6 is a diagram of the key top. It is a manufacturing process diagram. １・・・・・・・・・Key top, ２・・・・・・・・・
・First display section, 3... Second display section,
4...Base material, 8...YA
G laser beam, 9... Base layer, 10...
・・・・・・Middle layer, 11・・・・・・Outline layer. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a method of manufacturing a key top in which a display part formed on the front surface is illuminated by light from the back side, the key top is formed on a base material molded from a colorless transparent or colored transparent synthetic resin. , a light-transmissive colored paint, a light-shielding film, and a non-black exterior paint are laminated in order from the bottom, and then a portion of the exterior paint and light-shielding film is removed with a YAG laser beam to expose the colored paint. A method for manufacturing a key top characterized by the following. (2) The method for manufacturing a key top according to claim (1), wherein the light-shielding film is a black light-shielding paint. (3) The method of manufacturing a key top according to claim (1), wherein the light shielding film is a metal film.