JP2002019211A - Carriage rail - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a carriage rail in which print quality can be enhanced by enhancing the accuracy of flatness of the carriage rail. SOLUTION: A plurality of circular holes 13 are made, at a constant interval, along the bend 12 of a carriage rail 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a carriage rail, and more particularly to a carriage rail for improving printing quality by improving flatness of a carriage rail in a carriage moving type printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional carriage moving type printing apparatus, a carriage is movably supported by a carriage rail fixed to an apparatus main body, and the print head mounted on the carriage reciprocates the carriage to form a sheet on a sheet. Printing is performed.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are views showing the structure of the carriage rail, wherein FIG. 3A is a front view and FIG. 3B is a side view thereof. As shown in the figure, the carriage rail 10 is formed by bending a piece of one metal plate vertically upward to form a rail portion 11.
Is formed, and the other piece is bent vertically downward to form a bent portion 12.
Is formed. At both ends of the carriage rail 10, fixing holes 15 for fixing the carriage rail 10 to the printing apparatus with bolts or the like are provided.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a carriage support mechanism supported by the carriage rail.
Is a perspective view, and (b) is a sectional view thereof. In the figure, 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes a carriage, 21 denotes a support member provided at an upper end portion of the carriage 20 for supporting the carriage 20 on the carriage rail 10, and 30 denotes a guide shaft for guiding the carriage 20 to reciprocate. Further, the support member 21 is formed in a hook shape, and the concave portion 22 of the support member 21 formed in the hook shape is fitted into the rail portion 11 of the carriage rail 10 bent vertically upward. Although not shown, a print head and an ink cartridge are mounted on the carriage 20.

[0005] The carriage 20 thus supported is
Guided by the guide shaft 30 by the driving of the motor,
In the figure, the print head can reciprocate in the direction of the arrow to perform a predetermined printing operation.

[0006]

However, as described above, since the carriage rail for supporting the carriage is formed by bending a metal plate, the flatness of the carriage rail is impaired and the print quality is degraded. There was a problem. That is, since stress is applied to the carriage rail itself with the bending of the metal plate, undulations, irregularities, and the like are generated on a processing plane, and the flatness of the carriage rail is impaired. For this reason, when the carriage supported by the carriage rail is moved, the concave portion 22 of the support member moves along the undulation or unevenness of the carriage rail, so that the distance between the print head and the print surface is not constant, and printing unevenness occurs. And adversely affect printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a carriage rail capable of improving the printing quality by improving the flatness of the carriage rail.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a rail is formed by bending a piece of a metal plate, and the other piece of the metal plate is bent in a direction opposite to a bending direction of the rail. A carriage rail, wherein a plurality of holes are formed along the bent portion in a carriage rail movably supporting the carriage by the rail portion. is there.

In the above structure, it is preferable that the plurality of holes are formed at equal intervals.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are views showing the structure of a carriage rail according to the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a side view thereof. FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing a carriage support mechanism supported by the carriage rail. FIG. 2A is a perspective view, and FIG. 2B is a sectional view thereof. 3 and FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described repeatedly. However, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 12 differs from a conventional carriage rail in that a plurality of circular holes 13 are formed.

That is, in the carriage rail 10 according to the present embodiment, seven circular holes 13 having a diameter of 3 mm are formed at equal intervals along the bent portion of the bent portion 12 bent vertically downward. The stress applied to the carriage rail 10 itself is released from the plurality of circular holes 13.

The plurality of circular holes 13 disperse the stress applied to the carriage rail 10 itself and play a role of releasing the stress. Since the plurality of circular holes 13 are formed at equal intervals, the stress applied to the carriage rail 10 itself is equally distributed. For this reason, undulation, unevenness, and the like do not occur on the carriage rail 10, and the flatness of the carriage rail 10 is improved.

When the flatness of the carriage rail 10 is improved, even if the concave portion 22 of the support member moves along the carriage rail 10, the distance between the print head and the printing surface is constant, so that printing unevenness does not occur. . Therefore, printing quality can be improved.

In the above description, an example in which the diameter of the plurality of circular holes 13 is 3 mm and the number thereof is seven has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this value or number. Absent.

[0016]

As described above, according to the carriage rail of the present invention, one piece of the metal plate is bent to form a rail portion, and the other piece of the metal plate is bent in the direction opposite to the bending direction of the rail portion. Since a plurality of holes are formed along the bent portion in the carriage rail that forms the bent portion and movably supports the carriage by the rail portion, stress applied to the carriage rail itself can be released. . As a result, the flatness of the carriage rail is improved, and the printing quality can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a structure of a carriage rail according to the present embodiment, wherein FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a side view thereof.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a carriage support mechanism supported by a carriage rail according to the embodiment;
(A) is a perspective view, (b) is the sectional view.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a structure of a conventional carriage rail, wherein FIG. 3A is a front view and FIG. 3B is a side view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a carriage support mechanism supported by a conventional carriage rail, where (a) is a perspective view,
(B) is a sectional view thereof.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Carriage rail 11 Rail part 12 Bend part 13 Circular hole 15 Fixing hole 20 Carriage 21 Support member 22 Depression of support member 30 Guide shaft

Claims (2)

[Claims] A rail is formed by bending one piece of a metal plate, and a bent portion is formed by bending another piece of the metal plate in a direction opposite to a bending direction of the rail. A carriage rail movably supported, wherein a plurality of holes are formed along the bent portion. 2. The carriage rail according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of holes are formed at equal intervals.