JPH0313065B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a method for printing fine patterns.

There are many objects on which fine patterns must be formed, such as conductive film patterns such as printed wiring boards and electro-optical display devices, resistive film patterns such as resistive elements and capacitors, and light-shielding film patterns such as glass masks. The present invention can be said to relate to a technique for creating these fine patterns by printing means, for example, but in a broader sense, it can be said to solve the drawbacks of conventional printing methods.

In other words, in conventional printing machines, one plate corresponds to one printing pattern, and even in the case of multi-color printing, the number of plates corresponds to the number of colors (therefore, the shape of the printing pattern for each color is different). A number of them were prepared. However, in such a printing method, if there are defects inherent to the plate, that is, scratches or foreign matter adhering to the plate, defects corresponding to the defects of the plate will appear in the resulting printing pattern. Furthermore, in the offset printing method, not only defects in the plate itself but also dirt on the surface of the offset transfer member and attached foreign matter cause local transfer failures, resulting in defects in the resulting printed pattern. Such defects cause wire breakage and poor insulation in fine patterns such as conductive film patterns and resistive film patterns, resulting in defective products that are extremely impractical. Conventionally, such defective products have been manually corrected using a brush or the like, but in today's mass-produced world, such corrections are not practical.

The inventor believes that if one plate or one transfer surface is used, defects in that plate or transfer material will necessarily appear as defects in the printed matter, and that if two different plates or two different transfer surfaces are used. Based on the recognition that it is extremely rare for each printing plate or transfer surface to have defects in the same position, the printing method of the present invention was developed which can reliably depict fine patterns. That is, the present invention uses two plates having ink receiving portions of the same shape, and
A transfer cylinder capable of receiving ink from different plates on different transfer surfaces is rotated back and forth between the printing material and the two plates, and after transfer printing of ink from one plate onto the printing material. , is a printing method characterized by moving the printing material to a position where the ink from the other plate is transferred and printed, and further overprinting the ink from the other plate at the same position on the printing material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the printing method of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the main body of the apparatus has a frame as a skeleton, and the transfer cylinder 1 has its shaft 2.
A pinion gear 8 is attached to both ends of the plate and meshes with a rack gear 9 on the main body of the apparatus to reciprocate and rotate the printing medium 4 and the two plates 3 and 3' on the main body of the apparatus. The two plates 3, 3' are fixed on the plate plate 5 by a suitable fixture 6, and the position of the plates 3, 3' is adjusted by a fine adjustment device 7 located below the plate plate 5. Fine adjustment can be made in three planes: direction, Y direction, and rotation. Plate 3, 3' is flat plate-like,
According to the illustrated embodiment, a concave plate is used;
It is not particularly limited to intaglio printing, and letterpress printing or planographic printing may also be used. However, in the case of intaglio printing, it is possible to apply a fine and thick ink pattern to the printing material, and it can be said that the time and effort required to supply ink to the plate is simple. Ink supply can be done manually by simply dropping ink onto the printing plate and scratching the printing plate with a doctor blade, or, although not shown in the drawings, ink feeding can also be automated.

On the other hand, the printing material 4 is moved through a supply position 10, a first printing position 11, a second printing position 12, and a discharge position 13 in this order, and by automatically performing this movement, it can be continuously moved. This is preferable because it enables printing. For example, the printing material 4 at the supply position 10 is transferred to a conveyance position 14 such as a belt conveyor.
The printing material 4 is moved to the first printing position 11 by the three alignment pins 15.
is correctly positioned and a first print is made by the transfer cylinder 1. Next, print material 4
is moved to a second printing position 12 by a reciprocating device 16, such as an air or hydraulic cylinder. At this time, the three pins 15 for positioning are retracted from the surface of the fixed platen 17 on which the printing material 4 is placed in synchronization with the movement of the reciprocating device 16. Such movement can be easily achieved using a cam mechanism or the like. The printing material 4 that has been moved to the second printing position and has come into contact with the three positioning pins 18 is printed again by the transfer cylinder 1, and is then transferred to a reciprocating device 19 and a conveying device 2 such as a belt conveyor.
0 to the discharge position 13.

The printing method of the present invention is as described above, and as shown in FIG. , Even if defects 25 or defects 2 occur in the ink film 23 of the first printing, defects 25 or defects 2 occur in the ink film 24 of the second printing.
6 is printed with different plates 3' and different transfer surfaces, so even if the plates 3 and 3' both have ink receptors of the same shape, defects 21 and defects in the ink film 23 of one printing will occur. It is rare for the defect 25 or the defect 26 to overlap in the exact same position as the defect 22. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3B, the first and second ink coatings 23, 2
4 are modified complementary to each other.

The present invention is as described above.According to the present invention, it is a printing method that allows printing twice with one printing machine, and is more efficient than a method of printing twice using two printing machines. Furthermore, since only one transfer cylinder is required, the process is simplified and high printing accuracy is expected. Since the ink is transferred from the two plates to the printing material, the defects of each plate can be canceled out, and by making the ink transfer position of the transfer cylinder different for each plate, the defects on the transfer cylinder can also be canceled out. They are resolved in a complementary manner in the body. The resulting printed matter has significantly fewer defects, reduces post-printing correction work, and increases the yield of printed matter. In addition, in the present invention,
The process time required for double printing is short,
The device itself is compact and does not take up much space.

Although the explanation has been mixed, the printing method of the present invention is
This is a method of printing via a transfer cylinder rather than directly from a plate. This can be applied not only to easy-to-print materials such as paper, but also to plate-like materials and film-like materials that are relatively difficult to print on, such as glass plates, Bakelite plates, ceramic plates, and metal plates. This is because
Needless to say, such printing materials serve as substrates for printed wiring boards, electrode plates of various electro-optical display devices, and electrical components such as resistive elements and capacitors, and the printing of the present invention This method can be said to be suitable for drawing fine patterns using such a substrate as a printing medium.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for carrying out the printing method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the same. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a state printed by the printing method of the present invention. 1...Transfer cylinder, 2...shaft, 3, 3'...plate,
4... Printing material, 5... Plate plate, 6... Fixture, 7... Fine adjustment device, 8... Pinion gear, 9... Rack gear,
10... Supply position, 11... First printing position, 12... Second printing position, 13... Discharge position, 14, 20... Conveying device, 15, 18... Pin, 16, 19... Reciprocating device, 21, 25... Defect, 22, 26...defective, 2
3, 24... Ink film.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Two plates having ink receiving portions of the same shape are used, and a transfer cylinder capable of receiving ink from the two plates on different transfer surfaces is rotated back and forth between the printing medium and the two plates. After transfer-printing the ink from one plate onto the printing material, move the printing material to a position where the ink from the other plate will be transferred and printing, and then transfer the ink from the other plate to the same position on the printing material. A fine pattern printing method characterized by further overprinting.