JP2003027292A - Click feed conveyance equipment for continuous electroplating - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a click feed conveyance equipment for continuous electroplating constituted in such a manner that high-quality plating treatment can be performed by making it possible to eliminate all of the inconveniences caused by conductive grease. SOLUTION: The electrical conductivity between a rail 7 and a tool 8 is maintained through the water in a water channel 16 disposed at a sliding surface 15 of the rail 7. The conductivity is enhanced in consequence of the surface tension of the water and therefore all of the inconveniences caused heretofore by the conductive grease are resultantly eliminated and the high-quality plating treatment is eventually performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a claw feeding and conveying device for continuous electroplating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When electroplating a product to be plated such as a printed circuit board, the product to be plated is transported in a suspended state, and pretreatment, plating and posttreatment are performed in this order during the transportation. Continuous electroplating is known (see, for example, JP 2000-54197 A).
In this continuous electroplating, the rails are installed so as to pass therethrough over the above plating process, and the rails are moved along the rails via the hanger portion that hangs while using the upper surface of the rail as a sliding surface. A claw having a jig for freely holding the object to be plated, and a claw driving device capable of moving the feed claw along a rail in a state where the feed claw is engaged at an appropriate position of the jig A feeding and transporting device may be used (for jigs, Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-3
35897, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000-2909797, etc.).

By the way, in the above-mentioned pawl feeding and conveying device,
The rail also serves as the cathode electrode, and the hanger part of the jig is made of conductive material such as gun metal, so in the plating tank installed in the plating process, the electrode immersed in this tank The plating process (formation of a plating film on the product to be plated) is performed between the anode current applied to the product and the cathode current applied to the product to be plated via the rail. As described above, in this pawl feeding / conveying device, since the rail and the hanger portion of the jig need to be electrically conductive between them, they are in a metal-to-metal contact state.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to make the jig (hanger portion) slide smoothly on the rail, conductive grease is applied to the sliding surface (upper surface) on the rail side.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional pawl feeding / conveying device, it is necessary to pay attention to make the coating thickness of the conductive grease on the rail uniform, and this work must be performed periodically. It was both troublesome and difficult. In addition, it may be difficult to obtain sufficient lubricity with such conductive grease.In particular, when the conductive grease contains a part where the thickness is not constant, the jig during movement may rattle or rattle. There were times when it took a long time.

[0006] In such a case, a small gap is generated between the sliding surface of the rail and the hanger portion of the jig, which causes sparks and the like, resulting in a decrease in the electrical conductivity. The quality, processing time, power consumption, etc. were adversely affected. Further, the conductive grease softens when the temperature of the jig increases due to repeated passage through the jig, and in some cases, the conductive grease may drop from the rail. Needless to say, if such a drop of the conductive grease occurs above the plating tank, the conductive grease is mixed into the plating solution and contaminates the plating solution, which adversely affects the subsequent plating process. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to eliminate all inconveniences caused by conductive grease, and to perform high-quality plating treatment. An object of the present invention is to provide a claw feeding and conveying device device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following means. That is, in the continuous electroplating claw feeding and conveying apparatus according to the present invention, a rail that doubles as a cathode electrode and passes above them during the plating process (especially whether it is structurally continuous or discontinuous) (Not limited to this), and a jig for holding the object to be plated, which is movably provided along the rail via the hanger part that hangs while using the upper surface of this rail as a sliding surface, and a feed claw at a proper place And a claw driving device that allows the feed claw to move along the rail in the engaged state.

The rail is provided with a water channel which is open at least in the plating process and faces the sliding surface along the longitudinal direction thereof, and is supplied into this water channel. It is assumed that the cathode current is supplied from the rail to the jig or the product to be plated via water.
In this way, the conductivity between the sliding surface of the rail and the hanger part of the jig is maintained through the water in the water channel instead of the conventional conductive grease, so the surface tension of the water increases the The contact area can be secured, and the conductivity can be increased. In addition, low electrical resistance as a characteristic of water is also beneficial.

Further, water reduces frictional resistance between the sliding surface of the rail and the hanger portion of the jig, and has an effect of cooling the rail and the jig (hanger portion). It is preferable to provide a gutter part under the rail for receiving water leaking from the water channel. By providing this trough, in particular, it is possible to prevent water from entering the plating tank and prevent contamination or dilution of the plating solution. In addition, due to such a situation, it is possible to set the situation in which the water actively overflows from the water channel (it is assumed that the water does not flow like a waterfall, but only exudes), thereby reducing the frictional resistance and cooling. The action can be further promoted.

The rail has a sliding surface forming strip made of a conductive material on which a sliding surface and a water channel are formed, and a supporting strip for supporting the sliding surface forming strip over its entire length. be able to. In this case, it is assumed that the support strip has a water supply passage formed along the longitudinal direction thereof and a water supply port portion capable of supplying water to the water supply passage. On the other hand, in the sliding surface forming strip, there is formed a communication hole that penetrates between the bottom of the water channel and the water supply channel of the supporting strip to supply water to the channel. I shall.

By doing so, the water can be easily supplied to the water channel with a simple structure. Moreover, in this case, at least only the sliding surface forming strips need to be formed of the conductive material as the rail. Therefore, if necessary, the supporting strip can be made of a low-cost material such as resin, or the supporting strip can be made of a highly durable material such as stainless steel.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of a pawl feeding / conveying device 1 according to the present invention. As shown schematically in FIG. 5, the pawl feeding / conveying device 1 includes a pretreatment step 2, a plating treatment step 3, and a posttreatment step 4 which are in a straight line or U.
It is attached to the continuous electroplating equipment 5 that is connected in a turn. As is clear from FIG. 2, the pawl feeding / conveying device 1 includes the continuous electroplating equipment 5 described above.
Rails 7 provided so as to pass therethrough over the plating steps (2 to 4), a jig 8 movably provided along the rails 7, and a feed claw 9 at an appropriate position of the jig 8.
The feed claw 9 is movable along the rail 7 in the engaged state, and the gutter part 11 provided below the rail 7 along the rail 7 is provided. There is.

The jig 8 is for holding the article W to be plated such as a printed circuit board, and in each of the steps 2 to 4, a processing tank installed therein (in the case of the plating processing step 3, it is called a plating tank). It is to be dipped into the inside of the workpiece W together with the object to be plated W. As a structure for this, the rail 7, the claw driving device 10, and the necessary parts of the gutter 11 are provided in each step 2.
Either the structure which can be lifted up and down in a required position within 4 to 4 while being integrated with each other, or the structure where the jig 8 is lifted up or down by removing all or part of the jig 8 from the rail 7 is adopted. It has been done.

Although not shown, the pawl feeder 10 is configured to drive the feed pawl 9 continuously or intermittently by a belt driving means or the like. Figure 1
As shown in (also refer to FIGS. 3 and 4), the rail 7
Has a two-step structure including a sliding surface forming strip 12 and a supporting strip 13. Upper sliding surface forming strip 12
Is formed of a conductive material such as gun metal, stainless steel, or titanium. Therefore, a cathode current can be applied to the sliding surface forming strip 12.

The sliding surface forming strip 12 has an upper surface serving as a sliding surface 15 for supporting the sliding of the jig 8.
A water channel 16 is formed in the sliding surface 15 so as to be open upward while extending in the longitudinal direction. Further, on the bottom surface of the water channel 16, communication holes 17 penetrating to the lower surface of the sliding surface forming strip 12 are formed at a plurality of positions at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. Lower support strip 13
Is capable of supporting the sliding surface forming strip 12 over its entire length, and is appropriately formed of a metal material, a resin material, or the like.

The support strip 13 is provided with a water supply passage 20 which is open upward along the longitudinal direction thereof. In addition, the water supply passage 20 is provided on the side surface of the support strip 13.
There is provided a water supply port portion 21 that enables water supply. The upper surfaces of the supporting strips 13 on both sides of the water supply passage 20 are watertightly coupled to the lower surfaces of the sliding surface forming members 12 facing the upper surfaces. From this, by supplying water to the water supply port portion 21, the water supply passage 20 of the support strip 13 is filled with water, and the water is supplied through the communication hole 17 of the sliding surface forming strip 12 to the water passage. The water flows into the water channel 16 to fill the inside of the water channel 16.

In the present embodiment, the sliding surface 15 formed on the upper surface side of the sliding surface forming strip 12 is only on one side across the water channel 16, and on the other side, the jig 8 is provided.
It is formed one step lower so as to form a gap 23 which is not in contact with. Therefore, when the water supplied into the water channel 16 overflows the water channel 16, it preferentially and unilaterally flows out from the side where the gap 23 is formed. The jig 8 has a hanger portion 25 suspended from the rail 7 and a frame portion 26 to which the article W to be plated is detachably attached.

The hanger portion 25 and the frame portion 26 may have a detachable structure or an inseparable integral structure. As shown in FIG. 4, in the present embodiment, the hanger portion 25 and the frame portion 26 have a detachable structure, and the frame portion 26 has a wedge-shaped insertion piece 27 in cross section.
The hanger portion 25 is provided with a V-cut receiving portion 28 into which the insertion piece 27 can be fitted without rattling. A portion of the jig 8 that can be suspended from the rail 7 is provided in the hanger portion 25.

That is, as is apparent from FIG. 1, the hanger portion 25 is provided with a hook 30 having a hook shape, and the inside of the hook 30 allows the rail 7 to be hooked from above. ing. The tip side of the hook 30 comes into contact with the sliding surface forming strip 12 of the rail 7 from its side portion (the right side in FIG. 1), and at the base side of the hook 30, the supporting strip of the rail 7 is supported. Material 1
3 is abutted from the side (left side in FIG. 1). With this structure, the jig 8 can be stably hung and moved without rolling on the rail 7. A receiving claw 31 used for engaging with the feeding claw 9 of the claw feeding device 10 is provided on the upper portion of the hook 30.

In such a hook portion 30, an inner shoe 33 which comes into contact with the sliding surface 15 of the rail 7 is provided with an upper shoe 33 for reducing frictional resistance with the sliding surface 15. . Further, a side shoe 34 is provided on a portion of the tip end side of the hook 30 that abuts the sliding surface forming strip 12 of the rail 7, and a side shoe 34 is provided on a portion of the hook 30 that abuts the supporting strip 13 of the rail 7. A side shoe 35 is provided. These side shoes 34 and side shoes 35 are
The upper shoe 33 may be formed of resin or soft metal, but the upper shoe 33 needs to be formed of a conductive material.

From the above, when water is supplied to the water channel 16 and a cathode current is applied to the rail 7, the water in the water channel 16 causes the upper shoe 3 to move.
Cathode current is also supplied to the hanger portion 25 via 3. In this case, the cathode current can be directly applied to the water supplied into the water channel 16. Needless to say, the hanger portion 25 and the frame portion 26 are the jig 8
Since the whole is made of an electrically conductive material (made of metal), by supplying power from the rail 7 to the hanger portion 25 as described above, the plated object W held by the jig 8 is Also, the cathode current is supplied.

Compared to the case of supplying electricity through the conventional conductive grease, such a case of supplying electricity through water has a factor that a high contact area can be secured by the surface tension of water, and as a result, the rail 7 and the hanger portion are correspondingly. This leads to an increase in conductivity to 25. In this case, electricity is also supplied from the sliding surface 15 through the upper shoe 33, but since the electric resistance from the water in the water channel 16 to the upper shoe 33 is smaller than that, the rail 7 is The conductivity of the hanger portion 25 is governed by the electrical characteristics of water.

To give specific numerical values, the conductivity through water in the present invention is as high as 25% or more as compared with the conductivity through conventional conductive grease. Hiebe 11
Is for receiving water leaking from the water channel 16 of the rail 7 and preventing water from dropping below the water. A drainage gradient is provided along the longitudinal direction of the trough portion 11, and a drainage pipe 36 is connected to a position at the lowest level of the drainage gradient. By providing this trough portion 11, it is possible to prevent water from mixing from the water channel 16 into a plating tank (not shown) installed especially in the plating process 3 (see FIG. 5), and the plating solution can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the contamination or the dilution.

In the pawl feeding / conveying device having such a structure, in the continuous electroplating equipment 5 having the pretreatment step 2, the plating treatment step 3 and the posttreatment step 4, the jig 8 holding the article to be plated W is held. Is driven by the claw driving device 10 to move above the rails 2 to 4 along the rail 7 between the plating steps, and in each step 2 to 4, the processing tank (plating tank or the like) installed in them is moved. On the other hand, the article W to be plated is immersed together with the jig 8. And at least the plating process 3
Then, it means that the water supplied from the water supply port portion 21 of the rail 7 fills the water channel 16 and the cathode current is applied to the water in the rail 7 or the water channel 16.

As a result, since the cathode current is supplied from the water in the water channel 16 to the entire jig 8 and further to the article W to be plated through the hanger portion 25, the plating set in the plating treatment step 3 is performed. In a bath (not shown), a plating treatment (plating to be performed) is performed between the anode current applied to the electrode immersed in the bath and the cathode current applied to the article W to be plated as described above. The plating film is formed on the product). In this case, high quality plating is performed because the conductivity between the sliding surface 15 of the rail 7 and the hanger portion 25 of the jig 8 is made high with water. Will be seen.

Water also reduces the frictional resistance between the rail 7 and the jig 8, and has the effect of cooling the rail 7 and the jig 8. These also lead to the effect of reducing wear on the rail 7 side and the jig 8 side. Rail 7 (Waterway 1
Since the gutter portion 11 is provided below 6), it is possible to prevent the water from dripping, so that it is possible to set the situation in which the water positively overflows from the water channel 16 (to the extent that it seeps out). The frictional resistance lowering action and the cooling action as described above can be further promoted.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but the detailed configuration, member shape, material and the like can be appropriately changed according to the embodiment.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, in the continuous electroplating claw feed conveying device according to the present invention, the conductivity between the rail and the jig is provided on the upper surface (sliding surface) of the rail. Since it is held through water in the water channel, the conductivity at this time can be increased due to the surface tension of the water, and as a result, all the inconveniences caused by conductive grease in the past can be eliminated. As a result, high quality plating processing is performed. Further, by using water, the frictional resistance between the sliding surface of the rail and the hanger portion of the jig can be reduced, and the rail and the jig (hanger portion) can be cooled.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of a main part (rail cross section and its periphery) in FIG.

FIG. 2 is a front view of essential parts showing an embodiment of a pawl feeding / conveying device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2 (a hanger portion of a jig).

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a layout diagram schematically showing an example of continuous electroplating equipment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Claw feed transport device 2-4 plating process 7 rails 8 jigs 9 Feed claw 11 Hiebe 12 Sliding surface forming strip 13 Support strip 15 Sliding surface 16 waterways 20 water supply channels 21 Water inlet 25 Hanger part W Plated product

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takafumi Kida             34 Kida Sei, 5 Komagaya, Habikino, Osaka             Within Kou Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 4K024 BB11 CB03 CB04 GA16

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A rail (7) which also serves as a cathode electrode and is erected so as to pass therethrough over the plating steps (2-4), and an upper surface of the rail (7) serving as a sliding surface (15). An article to be plated (W) movably provided along the rail (7) through a hanging hanger (25)
The jig (8) for holding and the feed claw (9) were made movable along the rail (7) while the feed claw (9) was engaged with the jig (8) at a proper position. A claw driving device (10) is provided, and the rail (7) is opened at least in the plating process (3) and faces the sliding surface (15) along the longitudinal direction thereof. A water channel (16) is formed, and a cathode current can be supplied from the rail (7) to the jig (8) to the object to be plated (W) through the water supplied into the water channel (16). A continuous electroplating claw feeding and conveying device characterized by the above. 2. The claw for continuous electroplating according to claim 1, characterized in that a trough (10) for receiving water leaking from the water channel (16) is provided at a lower portion of the rail (7). Feeding and transporting device. 3. The rail (7) comprises a sliding surface forming strip (12) made of a conductive material, in which a sliding surface (15) and a water channel (16) are formed, and the sliding surface forming strip (12). 12) and a supporting strip (13) for supporting the entire length thereof, and the supporting strip (13) has a water supply channel (2) along its longitudinal direction.
0) is formed and a water supply port (21) capable of supplying water to the water supply passage (20) is provided, and the sliding surface forming strip (12) is provided with A communication hole (1) penetrating vertically between the bottom surface and the water supply channel (20) of the support strip (13) to enable water to be supplied to the water channel (16).
7. The continuous electroplating claw feed transport device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 7) is formed.