JP2001225297A - Plotter for both plotting and cutting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the dislocation of paper by firmly supporting the paper when cutting and prevent the transfer of ink onto the paper when plotting and cutting. SOLUTION: The paper 48 on a platen 6 is held by a driving roller and pressure rollers 38, 53 and fed in an X-axis direction, and a plotting head 10 plots on the paper 48. The pressure rollers 38 are positioned on both sides of the paper 48, while the pressure roller 53 is positioned at the intermediate part of the paper 48, and each roller can be elevated relative to the corresponding driving roller. When cutting, the intermediate pressure roller 53 automatically descends, and the paper 48 is supported at three points by the pressure rollers 38 on both sides and the intermediate pressure roller 53. When plotting, the intermediate pressure roller 53 automatically ascends, and the paper 48 is supported at two points by the pressure rollers 38 on both sides. When shifting from plotting to cutting, cutting is performed after the lapse of specified ink drying time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plotting / cutting plotter which is used for drawing on a recording medium such as paper or perforating with a cutter to form a pattern for making clothes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A two-point supporting feed type plotter for feeding a sheet in the X-axis direction while holding both sides of the sheet with a pressing roller and a driving roller is conventionally known. Further, both sides and an intermediate portion of the sheet are held by a pressing roller and a driving roller, and the sheet is fed in the X-axis direction.
2. Description of the Related Art A plotter of a point support feed type is conventionally known. Also,
2. Description of the Related Art A knurled roller supporting type plotter in which both sides of a sheet are held by a pressure roller and a driving roller and an intermediate portion of the sheet, that is, an image forming range is held by a spur-shaped roller called a knurled roller or a star roller is conventionally known. . Patent 2
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 717152 discloses an automatic drafting machine in which, after completion of ink drawing, the automatic drafting machine is set in a standby state for an ink drying time read from a storage device of a controller, and the roll paper is not wound up during that time. I have.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned two-point support feed type plotter has a problem that the paper is not sufficiently supported at the time of cutting, and the paper is displaced by the pressing force of the blade. In addition, the plotter of the three-point support feed method has a problem in that ink adheres to a pressure roller that supports an image forming range of a sheet during image formation, and the ink is transferred to the sheet via the pressure roller. Further, in the above-described jagged roller supporting type plotter, if the pressing force of the jaw roller against the sheet is increased, the sheet is damaged, so that the pressing force cannot be increased. Therefore, there is a problem that the supporting force for the sheet is insufficient, and the sheet cannot be fed with high accuracy due to insufficient pressing force at the time of cutting. An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a recording medium comprising a driving roller and a pressing roller which sandwich a recording medium and rotate the recording medium in the X-axis direction by rotation of the driving roller controlled by a controller. In the plotting / cutting plotter which can cut the recording medium by a cutter held by the plotting head in addition to plotting while plotting on the recording medium by the plotting head, the pressure roller is used for recording. Located at both sides and the middle of the medium, it is arranged to be able to move up and down with respect to the drive roller,
At the time of cutting, the pressure roller on both sides and the intermediate pressure roller are lowered, and both sides of the recording medium and the intermediate part are sandwiched between the pressure roller on both sides, the intermediate pressure roller, and the corresponding drive roller, and printing is performed. At the time, the intermediate pressure roller is raised to hold the recording medium between the pressure rollers on both sides and the corresponding drive roller, and when automatically shifting from the drawing operation to the cutting operation, the preset ink drying It is designed to wait only for a time. In the present invention, the ink drying time is set according to the type of ink and / or the type of image forming medium. Further, according to the present invention, the controller analyzes and determines whether or not there is ink printing in the intermediate pressure roller traveling area on the recording medium, and determines whether there is no ink printing in the intermediate pressure roller traveling area. That is, the operation automatically shifts from the drawing operation to the cutting operation without setting the standby time.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 8, 2
Is a body of a plotting / cutting plotter used for making a pattern and the like, and is supported by a leg 4. A mount (not shown) is fixedly mounted on the body 2, and a Y rail 8 extending in the Y-axis direction is mounted on the mount via a column.
A drawing head 10 is movably attached to the rail 8 via a roller. The drawing head 10 includes a writing implement holding means 14 connected to a Z-axis actuator 12 (see FIG. 9) such as a moving coil and a solenoid built therein, and is attached to a Y-rail 8 by a Y-axis motor 16 (see FIG. 9). It is configured to be controlled to move along.

A known stocker 21 (see FIG. 2), which is driven by a motor 20, is housed in a stocker housing 18 provided on the body 2 at one end of the Y-rail 8. The stocker 21 includes a writing implement 20 such as a drawing pen or a cutter pen for each of the plurality of writing implement storage units.
Is detachably held. The drawing head 10 returns the writing tool 20 held by the writing tool holding means 14 to the stocker 21 in a known writing tool exchange mode, or selects a desired writing tool from a drawing pen or a cutter pen held by the stocker 21. Is selected and can be held by the writing instrument holding means 14.

An X-axis motor 22 is provided below the platen 6.
As shown in FIG. 3, shafts 24 and 26 connected to the shaft 24 (see FIG. 9) are rotatably supported, and a drawing roller 28 is fixed to the shaft 24. A plurality of short drive rollers 30 are fixed to the shaft 26. The upper peripheral surfaces of the rollers 28 and 30 are arranged in gaps provided in the platen 6, and are configured to rotate synchronously in the same direction at substantially the same peripheral speed. As shown in FIG. 7, mounting plates 32 (the other is not shown) are slidably mounted near both ends of the Y-rail 8.

The mounting plate 32 is formed with an L-shaped projection 32a and an engagement projection 32b.
The protrusion 32 b is fitted in the mold groove, and is engaged with the T groove of the Y rail 8. On each of the mounting plates 32, an intermediate portion of a pressure arm 34 has a shaft 36 rotatably about an axis parallel to the Y axis.
Supported. A pressure roller 38 is rotatably supported on one side of each pressure arm 34, and each pressure roller 38, 38 faces a corresponding drive roller 30. One of the coil springs 40 is locked to the other of the pressing arms 34, and the other of the springs 40 is connected to the mounting plate 32 via the switching block 42.
It is locked to.

The pressure arm 34 is urged counterclockwise in FIG. 7 around the shaft 36 by the tensile force of a spring 40. Reference numeral 44 denotes a shaft rotatably supported by the body 2 so as to be parallel to the Y rail 8, and cams 46 are fixed to three cylindrical members 45 fixed to the shaft, respectively. The cam 4 is in contact with the other upper surface of the corresponding pressure arm 34. When the lever (not shown) provided at one end of the shaft 44 is manually operated to rotate the shaft 44 in a predetermined direction, the other of the pressing arms 34 is moved by the cam 46 as shown by a virtual line in FIG. The pressing rollers 38 which are pushed down against the pulling force of the spring 40 and are located on both sides of the sheet 48 are separated from the corresponding driving roller 30 by a predetermined distance.

When the lever is returned to the original position, the pressing force of the cam 46 against the pressing arm 34 is released, and the pressing arm 34 is rotated counterclockwise around the shaft 36 in FIG. The pressure roller 38 swings, and is configured to elastically contact the corresponding drive roller 30. At the intermediate portion of the Y rail 8, as shown in FIG.
0 are disposed, and the projections 50 a and the projections 50 of the mounting plate 50 are formed in the L-shaped groove and the T-shaped groove formed along the longitudinal direction of the Y rail 8.
b is slidably fitted.

With this fitting structure, the mounting plate 50 can be slid within a predetermined range along the Y-rail 8 and stopped at a desired position. The mounting plate 50 has an intermediate portion of a pressure arm 52 supported by a shaft 54 rotatable about an axis parallel to the Y axis. An intermediate pressure roller 53 is rotatably supported on one side of the pressure arm 52, and the pressure roller 53
Facing. A release arm 56 is fixed to the other of the pressure arms 53. One of the coil springs 58 is locked to the other of the pressure arms 53, and the other of the springs 58 is locked to a switching block 60 attached to the mounting plate 50.

The pressure arm 53 is urged counterclockwise in FIG. 3 around the shaft 54 by the tensile force of a spring 58. A cylindrical body 62 is fixed to the shaft body 44, and a cam (not shown) is fixed to the cylindrical body 62.
Similarly to the cam 46 shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numerals 64 and 66 denote holding members fixedly provided at an intermediate portion of the Y rail 8, and a shaft 68 is rotatably supported on the holding member so as to be parallel to the Y rail 8.
A release plate 70 having an L-shaped cross section is fixed to the shaft 68, and the pressure receiving portion 56 a on the release arm 56 faces the release plate 70.

Reference numeral 72 denotes a motor fixed to the Y rail 8, and a small gear 74 is fixed to an output shaft of the motor.
4 meshes with a gear 76 fixed to the shaft 68. When the motor 72 is driven to rotate the release plate 70 in a predetermined direction, the release plate 70 pushes down the release arm 70 against the tension and elasticity of the spring 58, and the pressing arm 52 moves about the shaft 54 as shown in FIG. Medium, rotate clockwise,
The intermediate pressure roller 53 is separated from the corresponding drive roller 30 by a predetermined distance. When the motor 72 is driven in the reverse direction and the release plate 70 is returned to the original angular position, the pressing force on the release arm 56 is released, and the intermediate pressure roller 53 causes the corresponding drive roller 30 to move by the elastic force of the spring 58. It is configured to be in contact with the body.

The intermediate pressure roller 53 is connected to the shaft 26 shown in FIG.
The operation of selecting one of the upper two drive rollers 30 to be in elastic contact with one of the drive rollers 30 can be performed by sliding the mounting plate 50 along the Y rail 8. The operation of raising and lowering the intermediate pressure roller 53 can also be performed by rotating the shaft body 44 by operating a lever. In this case, the pressure rollers 38 on both sides also move up and down in conjunction with each other.

A Y-axis motor 16 for driving the drawing head 10 along the Y-rail 8 in the Y-axis direction, an X-axis motor 22 for synchronously rotating the shafts 24 and 26 in the forward and reverse directions, and a raising and lowering drive of the writing implement holding means 14 The Z-axis actuator 12 composed of a solenoid or a moving coil, a motor 20 for rotating the stocker, and a motor 72 are connected to a CPU 8 of a controller 78 built in the body 2 via a driver.
Connected to 0. A paper supply shaft 96 is rotatably disposed in the body 2 in cooperation with a motor.
, A roll portion 48a of the roll paper 48 is detachably supported. The unwinding portion of the roll paper 48 extracted from the roll portion 48a is supplied onto the platen 6.

The drawing head 10 includes a drawing head 10.
The type of the writing implement 20 held by the writing implement holding means 14 of
A sensor 84 (see FIG. 9) for reading from a mark provided on the writing instrument 20 is provided. Writing implement 2 used for drawing
0 is an ink pen, a ceramic pen, an oil ballpoint pen,
There are aqueous ballpoint pens, fiber pens, pencils and the like. The drying time of the ink drawn on the roll paper 48 is determined by the type of ink and the type of roll paper. Roll paper used for drawing includes polyester film, tracing paper, mylar paper, plain paper, Japanese paper, and the like. The controller 78 on the fuselage 2 side
An ink drying time table 86 corresponding to the type of the writing implement and the type of the roll paper is set as shown in FIG.

The ink drying time table 86 includes a table in which the type signal of the writing implement is used as the identification code and a table in which the number of the writing apparatus is used as the identification code. As for the number of the writing implement, the pen holder at the specific position of the writing implement stocker 21 is No. 1 and
With this as a reference, the Nos. Are sequentially set in the rotation direction. 2, No. Three
…… are numbered. The writing implement of No. 1 is the first 1 pen holder. Which pen holder of the writing implement stocker 21 to take out the writing implement from when the drawing head 10 draws is determined based on a command of the drawing transfer data from the host computer 82, and from this command, the controller 78 holds the controller 78. The number of the writing implement can be recognized.

In a table 86 shown in FIG. 10, the optimum ink drying time is indicated by a numerical value in a unit time per second in a combination of the type or the number of the writing implement and the type of the roll paper. In the memory of the controller 78,
Drawing and cutting drive software 81 and intermediate pressure roller raising / lowering control program software 83 are stored. By this intermediate pressure roller control program software, a standby time from the end of drawing to the start of cutting is set.
Further, the intermediate pressure roller 53 is configured to be up-down controlled with respect to the corresponding drive roller 30 at the time of cutting and printing of a recording medium such as the paper 48. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the paper 48 is set on the platen 6, the lever is first swung in a predetermined direction to rotate the shaft 44, and the pressure roller 38 and the intermediate pressure roller 53 are respectively driven by the corresponding drive roller 30. To rise from. In that state,
The sheet 48 is inserted between the pressure rollers 38 and 54 and the driving roller 30, and the sheet 48 is arranged on the platen 6. Next, the lever is swung to the original position, and the pressure rollers 38 and 53 are elastically brought into contact with the corresponding drive roller 30 from above the paper 48, and the paper 4
8 is sandwiched between the pressure rollers 38, 38, 53 and the drive roller 30.

The power of the plotter is turned on, and the operator inputs the type of the image forming medium from the operation panel 88. Next, when the driving of the plotter is started, the controller determines whether or not the drying time standby mode is set (step 1), and if the determination is negative, the controller shifts to drawing in the manual mode (step 2). In this manual mode, the operator manually inputs a command necessary for plotting the plotter, for example, an up / down command of the intermediate pressure roller, from the operation panel 88. If affirmative in step 1,
Next, the controller determines whether or not it is in the drawing mode (step 3). If the determination is affirmative, the controller drives the motor 72 by the intermediate pressure roller lifting / lowering program software 83 to control the intermediate pressure roller 53. The paper 48 is raised from the driving roller 30 (step 4), and the drawing area of the paper 48 is set in a free state, and only the non-drawing areas of the paper 48 are sandwiched between the pressing rollers 38, 38 and the driving roller 30.

Next, the controller 78 moves the drawing head 10 to the stocker storage section 18 based on the drawing data from the host computer 82, and goes to the stocker 21 to pick up the writing implement 20.

Next, the controller 78 rotates the X-axis motor 22 forward and reverse based on the drawing data, and drives the paper 48 on the platen 6 in the left-right direction, that is, the X-axis direction in FIG. 16 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and the drawing head 10 is rotated.
Is reciprocated in the Y-axis direction along the Y rail 8. On the other hand, by driving the Z-axis actuator 12, the writing implement 20 is controlled to move up and down on the drawing roller 28 to draw on the paper 48 (step 5). Next, the controller recognizes the type or number of the writing implement 20 held by the drawing head 10 from the command of the drawing data, and stores this in the memory (step 6). Next, the controller determines whether or not the cutting mode is set, and if it determines affirmatively, the type of the writing implement or the writing implement No. stored in the memory. Then, the ink drying time of the table 86 in FIG. 10 is read from the roll paper type input from the operation panel 88, and the read data is set as the standby time (step 8).

When a plurality of types of writing tools are used in the drawing operation, the maximum value is selected and set as the standby time. Next, the controller puts the plotter in a standby state for a set time, and performs another processing operation during this time (step 9). When the set ink drying time has elapsed, the controller drives the motor 72 to move down the intermediate pressure roller 53 and resiliently contact the corresponding drive roller 30, thereby causing the paper 48 to press the paper 48 on both sides. And the intermediate pressure roller 53 and the corresponding drive roller 30 are supported at three points (step 10). Next, the controller 7 moves the drawing head 10 to the stocker storage unit 18, returns the drawing pen held by the drawing head 10 to the stocker 21, and then drives the motor 20 to rotate the stocker 21 to rotate the stocker 21. The cutter pen held by the printer is made to face the drawing head.

Next, the drawing head 10 is moved to the stocker storage section 18 again, and the writing tool holding means 14 of the drawing head 10 obtains the cutter pen held by the stocker 21, and the cutting operation is started (step 11). FIG.
Reference numeral 90 denotes a drawing portion of the paper, and 92 denotes a cutting portion.

As described above, the image 9 is printed on a recording medium such as paper.
In the case of creating a pattern or the like by performing cutting 92 with 0, both sides of the sheet are supported at two points by a pressure roller and a drive roller on both sides in the drawing mode, and the middle part of the sheet is in a free state. In order to enhance the holding of the sheet, the both sides and the intermediate portion of the sheet are supported at three points by a pressure roller on both sides, an intermediate pressure roller, and a corresponding driving roller.

When the cutting operation is completed, the controller next determines whether or not the data has been completed (step 12), and when it determines negative, it determines whether or not it is in the drawing mode (step 13) and determines affirmative. Then, the process returns to step 4 and, when a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to the next process (step 14). In the above-described embodiment, after the plotting is performed on the roll paper 48, the cutting is performed, but even when the cutting is not performed,
Eventually, the created paper is automatically cut by a cutter pen for one frame (one sheet) as a product, and dropped on the lower side of the plotter.

Therefore, also in this case, a slight waiting time is set for drying the product. Also, since the present invention focuses on the ink transfer in the intermediate pressure roller region, the position of the intermediate pressure roller 53 is previously determined.
An embodiment is conceivable in which detection is performed using the drawing roller 10, an intermediate pressure roller running area 94 on the drawing medium 48 is set as shown in FIG. The operator can control the movement of the drawing head 10 from the operation panel 88, and can input the position of the intermediate pressure roller to the controller by moving the drawing head 10 to the position of the intermediate pressure roller 53. .

In this embodiment, when step 5 in FIG. 1 is completed, the controller analyzes the drawing data and determines whether or not there is ink drawing in the intermediate pressure roller traveling area 94. If the controller determines no, the process proceeds to step 10 without setting the standby time, and performs the cutting operation. Although the above embodiment uses a pen plotter that feeds paper in the front-rear direction to draw an image, the present invention is also applied to an ink jet plotter that feeds paper in one direction and draws with an ink jet recording head. It is possible.

In the embodiment using the ink jet plotter, a cutter pen holding mechanism is provided in the ink jet head, and at the time of the cutting operation, the paper is driven in the front-rear direction while the cutter pen is controlled up and down.
Also in this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the setting of the ink drying time may be performed by inputting from the operation panel or may be automatically determined and set by the plotter. In the former case, an appropriate value is input between 0 and 180 seconds. In the latter case, a drying time table according to the paper type is set, and the paper type is input from the operation panel in advance, so that the controller automatically accesses the ink drying time table and sets the drying time.

In the ink drying time table, it is possible to set not only the paper type but also a drying time table based on two data of the ink used (aqueous, oily, etc.) and the paper type. There is a method of inputting the used ink information from the operation panel and a method of reading the attribute of the ink jet head with a flag mark or the like and automatically determining the read information as ink type information.

[0031]

The present invention is constructed as described above, so that when drawing and cutting on a sheet, the sheet can be firmly supported at the time of cutting to prevent displacement of the sheet, and can be added at the time of drawing and cutting. There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the ink from being transferred to the sheet via the pressure roller and the sheet from being stained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic external view of a plotter.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a plotter.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the plotter showing a state where an intermediate pressure roller is raised.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory external view of an intermediate pressure roller mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an intermediate pressure roller lifting mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a plotter.

FIG. 8 is a schematic overall front view of the plotter.

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of a plotter.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a standby time setting table.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Body 4 Leg 6 Platen 8 Y rail 10 Drawing head 12 Z-axis actuator 14 Writing implement holding means 16 Y-axis motor 18 Stocker storage unit 20 Writing implement 21 Stocker 22 X-axis motor 24 Axis 26 Axis 28 Drawing roller 30 Drive roller 32 Mounting plate 34 Pressure arm 36 Shaft 38 Pressure roller 40 Spring 42 Switching block 44 Shaft 45 Cylindrical body 46 Cam 48 Paper (recording medium) 48a Roll unit 50 Mounting plate 52 Pressure arm 53 Intermediate pressure roller 54 Shaft 56 Release Arm 58 Coil spring 60 Switching block 62 Cylindrical body 64 Holder 66 Holder 68 Shaft 70 Release plate 72 Motor 74 Small gear 76 Gear 78 Controller 80 CPU 81 Drawing and cutting drive software 82 Host computer 83 Intermediate pressure roller elevating Control program software 84 sensor 86 ink drying time table 88 operation panel 90 drawing portion 92 cutting portion 94 intermediate pressurizing roller running region 96 supply shaft

Claims (3)

[Claims] A recording medium is sandwiched between a driving roller and a pressure roller, and the recording medium is fed in the X-axis direction by rotation of the driving roller controlled by a controller, and plotting is performed on the recording medium by a drawing head. In addition, in a plotting / cutting plotter in which a recording medium can be cut by a cutter held by a plotting head, the pressure roller is positioned between both sides of the recording medium and in the middle, and the It is arranged so that it can go up and down,
At the time of cutting, the pressure roller on both sides and the intermediate pressure roller are lowered, and both sides of the recording medium and the intermediate part are sandwiched between the pressure roller on both sides, the intermediate pressure roller, and the corresponding drive roller, and printing is performed. At the time, the intermediate pressure roller is raised to hold the recording medium between the pressure rollers on both sides and the corresponding drive roller, and when automatically shifting from the drawing operation to the cutting operation, the preset ink drying A plotting / cutting dual-purpose plotter characterized by waiting only for time. 2. The plotting / cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the ink drying time is set according to the type of ink and / or the type of drawing medium. 3. A controller analyzes and determines whether or not there is ink printing in an intermediate pressure roller traveling area on a recording medium. If the ink is not present in the intermediate pressure roller traveling area, the controller determines: 2. The plotting / cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein a transition is automatically made from a drawing operation to a cutting operation without setting a standby time.