JP2006256176A - Printing plate phase matching device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing plate phase matching device which can allow even an unskilled operator to secure required preset precision in a plate cylinder truck, and a printing plate phase matching method. <P>SOLUTION: This printing plate phase matching device comprises an indicator light projecting means which projects an indicator light indicating a specified position where the plate cylinder truck serves as a reference, on the surface of a plate cylinder mounted on the plate cylinder truck, a slide distance measuring means which uses a position of the plate cylinder where a register mark formed on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder coincides with the indicator light as a reference position and measures/displays a slide distance over which the position of the plate cylinder is moved by rotating it from the reference position, and a transmission gear fixing means which fixes a transmission gear at a specified axial angle with the plate cylinder truck and an optional axial angle with the plate cylinder, to the axis of a plate cylinder. Also the printing plate phase matching method using the printing plate phase matching device is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention belongs to the technical field of printing. In particular, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning a plate phase in a plate cylinder to perform a good printing register preset before starting printing.

  The printing register preset is normally performed by presetting an inter-unit path length (web path length between printing units) to an integral multiple of the plate cylinder circumference (Patent Document 1). However, since the movable stroke of the compensator roller is short, there is a printing machine in which the unit path length cannot be preset to an integral multiple when the circumference of the printing plate to be used is long. In such a printing press with a short movable stroke of the compensator roller, it is possible to preset the path length between the units to be an integral multiple by shifting the phase of the printing plate in advance to compensate for the shortage of the stroke. is necessary. The operation of shifting the phase of the printing plate is an operation performed manually by the operator of the printing press.

Since the accuracy of the preset is a manual operation, it is difficult even for an experienced operator to obtain the required accuracy, and not only the work load is large, but also the adjustment requires a lot of time. When the required accuracy cannot be obtained, it is possible to operate the automatic register control device after printing is started, and it takes a considerable time until a good product is printed. For this reason, there is a problem in that the actual operating rate of the printing press is lowered, and printing materials such as paper and ink are lost.
JP-A-62-130854

  An object of the present invention is to provide a plate phasing apparatus and method capable of obtaining a required preset accuracy even by an unskilled operator.

The plate phase matching apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is directed to an indicator light projecting unit that projects indicator light indicating a predetermined position with respect to the plate cylinder carriage on the surface of the plate cylinder placed on the plate cylinder carriage, The position of the plate cylinder where the register mark formed on the surface of the plate cylinder coincides with the indicator light is used as a reference position, and the shift distance when the position is shifted by rotating the plate cylinder from the reference position is measured. And a shift distance measuring means for displaying and a transmission gear fixing means for fixing a transmission gear having a predetermined shaft angle with respect to the plate cylinder carriage and an arbitrary shaft angle with respect to the plate cylinder to the shaft of the plate cylinder. It is a thing.
A plate phasing method according to claim 2 of the present invention is a plate phasing method using the plate phasing device according to claim 1, wherein the indicator light and the plate surface projected onto the plate surface by the indicator light projection means. A reference alignment process for adjusting the rotation angle of the plate cylinder to a reference position where the registration mark formed on the reference mark coincides, and a predetermined shift distance from the reference position while looking at the shift distance displayed by the distance measuring means A predetermined amount shifting process of rotating the plate cylinder, and a transmission gear fixing process of fixing a transmission gear of a predetermined shaft angle to the plate cylinder shaft shifted by the predetermined shifting distance by the transmission gear fixing means. Is included.

According to the plate phase matching device of the first aspect of the present invention, the indicator light indicating the predetermined position with respect to the plate cylinder carriage is projected onto the surface of the plate cylinder placed on the plate cylinder carriage by the indicator light projection means. The shift distance when the position of the plate cylinder where the register mark formed on the circumferential surface of the plate cylinder matches the indicator light by the shift distance measuring means is the reference position, and the position is shifted by rotating the plate cylinder from the reference position. Is measured and displayed, and the transmission gear fixing means fixes a transmission gear having a predetermined axis angle with respect to the plate cylinder and an arbitrary axis angle with respect to the plate cylinder to the axis of the plate cylinder. That is, the plate phase matching operation is a simple operation with high reproducibility in which the instruction light and the registration mark are matched and rotated until a predetermined shift distance is displayed. Accordingly, there is provided a plate phasing device capable of obtaining a required preset accuracy in a plate drum even by an unskilled operator. The use of a plate cylinder cart allows for external setup, so the preparation time for item switching can be shortened.
The plate phase matching method according to claim 2 of the present invention is a plate phase matching method using the plate phase matching device according to claim 1, and is projected onto the plate surface by the indicator light projection means in the reference positioning process. The rotation angle of the plate cylinder is adjusted to the reference position where the indicator light and the registration mark formed on the printing plate match, and the predetermined shift from the reference position is observed while observing the shift distance displayed by the distance measuring means in the predetermined shift process. The plate cylinder is rotated by the distance, and the transmission gear having a predetermined shaft angle is fixed to the plate cylinder shaft shifted by a predetermined shift distance with respect to the plate cylinder carriage in the transmission gear fixing process. Therefore, there is provided a plate phasing method capable of obtaining the required preset accuracy in a plate drum even by an unskilled operator. The use of a plate cylinder cart allows for external setup, so the preparation time for item switching can be shortened.

  Embodiments of the plate phase matching apparatus and method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An example of the configuration of the plate phase matching apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIG. An example of the plate phase matching process using the plate phase matching apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIGS. An example of a transmission gear mounting mechanism in a plate cylinder to which the plate phase matching apparatus and method of the present invention are applied is shown in FIG. 1-4, 1 is a laser pointer, 2 is a roller encoder, 21 is a roller encoder head, 22 is a roller encoder body, 3 is a plate cylinder carriage, 4 is a transmission gear support mechanism, 5 is a plate cylinder support mechanism, 6 Is a plate cylinder moving mechanism, 7 is a collet, 8 is a transmission gear, 9 is a bolt, 10 is a washer, 100 is a plate cylinder, 101 is a plate cylinder shaft (tip), and 102 is a reference mark.

  The laser pointer 1 is instruction light projection means for projecting instruction light for instructing the reference position onto the surface of the plate cylinder 100 placed on the plate cylinder carriage 3. The laser pointer 1 is an example of an instruction light projection unit, and may be an instruction light projection unit using a light source other than a laser, such as an incandescent lamp or an LED. The indicator light can have any shape such as a laser spot, a cross mark, a round cross mark, a straight line, or the like. The laser pointer 1 is supported by a transmission gear support mechanism 4 and is adjusted and fixed so as to project in a predetermined direction.

The roller encoder head 21 is a shift distance measuring means for measuring the shift distance. The shift distance is based on the position of the plate cylinder 100 where the registration mark formed on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100 coincides with the instruction light projected by the laser pointer 1, and the position of the plate cylinder 100 is determined from the reference position. This is the distance when the axial angle of the shift plate cylinder 100 is changed.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the roller encoder head 21 is supported by a plate cylinder carriage 3 (not shown) via a support member such as an arm, and is biased toward the circumferential surface of the plate cylinder 100 by a spring or the like. Yes. A roller is attached to the roller encoder head 21, and the roller comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100 due to the negative force of a spring or the like, and a frictional force acts between the roller and the peripheral surface. When the axial angle of the plate cylinder 100 is changed, that is, when the plate cylinder 100 is rotated, the contact position between the roller and the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100 is shifted. At that time, the roller is rotated by the frictional force between the roller and the peripheral surface. When the roller rotates, the roller encoder head 21 outputs a pulse signal corresponding to the rotation amount.

  The roller encoder body 22 receives the pulse signal output from the roller encoder head 21, calculates the amount of rotation of the roller from the pulse signal, and further performs data processing for calculating the above-described shift distance based on the amount of rotation and the diameter of the roller. Do. The roller encoder body 22 displays the calculated shift distance on the display unit. For example, the shift distance is displayed in units of 0.1 mm.

  The plate cylinder carriage 3 is used to transport the plate cylinder 100, which is formed on the peripheral surface of the printing cylinder in the pre-printing process and stored in the storage location, to the side of the printing machine for mounting in the printing unit. It is a trolley. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the plate drum 3 includes a control mechanism and a traveling mechanism that travel along a predetermined path under predetermined conditions. The plate cylinder carriage 3 includes a transmission gear support mechanism 4 and a plate cylinder support mechanism 5 as mechanisms for supporting the plate cylinder 100. Further, a plate cylinder moving mechanism 6 is provided as a mechanism for moving the supported plate cylinder 100 in a predetermined direction in the plate cylinder carriage 3. Further, the plate cylinder carriage 3 includes a roller encoder 2.

  The transmission gear support member 4 supports the transmission gear 8 so that the key groove formed in the transmission gear 8 is at a predetermined position. For example, the transmission gear support member 4 and the transmission gear 8 are fitted by a fitting structure. As shown in FIG. 4, the transmission gear 8 is attached to the tip portion of the plate cylinder shaft 101 of the plate cylinder 100 via the collet 7. That is, the transmission gear support member 4 can also support the plate cylinder 100 on one plate cylinder shaft 101 a of the plate cylinder 100. However, since the plate cylinder 100 is mounted on the printing unit via a bearing, a bearing is mounted on the base portion of the plate cylinder shaft 101a of the plate cylinder 100, and the bearing is supported by one plate cylinder support mechanism (front side) 5. Like that.

When the transmission gear 8 supported by the transmission gear support member 4 is attached to the plate cylinder shaft 101 in a semi-fixed state, the plate cylinder 100 can be rotated. At this time, the front end portion of the plate cylinder shaft 101 rotates, but the transmission gear 8 does not rotate because the inner or outer peripheral surface of the collet 7 slips. When the transmission gear 8 is completely fixed, the transmission gear support member 4 and the transmission gear 8 are fitted together, and the plate cylinder 100 cannot be rotated.
Moreover, the transmission gear support member 4 supports the laser pointer 1 in the example shown in FIG. The transmission gear support member 4 itself is supported by the plate cylinder carriage 3 via the plate cylinder moving mechanism 6.

The plate cylinder support mechanism 5 supports the plate cylinder 100 via a bearing when the plate cylinder 100 is mounted on the printing unit (not shown). A bearing is attached to the plate cylinder shaft (front side) 101a of the plate cylinder 100, and the plate cylinder support mechanism (front side) 5 described above supports the bearing. Further, a bearing is attached to the plate cylinder shaft (back side) 101b of the plate cylinder 100, and the plate cylinder support mechanism (back side) 5 described above supports the bearing. The plate cylinder support mechanism 5 itself is supported by the plate cylinder carriage 3 via the plate cylinder moving mechanism 6.
The plate cylinder moving mechanism 6 is a mechanism for moving and stopping the plate cylinder 100 to a predetermined position in the axial direction of the plate cylinder shaft 101. When the plate cylinder 100 is transferred from the plate cylinder carriage 3 to the printing unit, the plate cylinder moving mechanism 6 facilitates the transfer.

  The collet 7 has an outer peripheral surface for contact coupling with an inner peripheral surface of the transmission gear 8 which is a shaft hole of the transmission gear 8. The collet 7 has an inner peripheral surface for contact-bonding with the outer peripheral surface at the tip of the plate cylinder shaft 101. At least one of the inner peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface of the collet 7 has a tapered shape. The collet 7 has a cylindrical shape having such an inner peripheral surface and an outer peripheral surface. The cylinder forming the collet 7 is provided with a cut in the axial direction. From one side (front side) of the cylinder to a predetermined position just before the other side (back side), and at an axial angle that is just in the middle of these cuts, the other side (back side) of the cylinder A notch is provided up to a predetermined position in front. These notches are provided so that the diameters of the outer peripheral surface and inner peripheral surface of the collet 7, that is, the inner diameter and the outer diameter can be changed by receiving an external force.

  The transmission gear 8 is a gear for transmitting a force for rotationally driving the plate cylinder 100. The printing machine has a mechanism for connecting the plate cylinder drive shaft and the plate cylinder shaft 101 of each printing unit. The transmission gear 8 is a mechanism on the plate cylinder 100 side for the connection. On the printing unit side, as shown in FIG. 3, the plate cylinder drive shaft is provided with an internal gear that fits with the transmission gear 8 that is an external gear. By fitting the external gear and the internal gear together, the plate cylinder drive shaft of the printing unit and the plate cylinder shaft 101 of the plate cylinder 100 can be coupled. A keyway 21 is formed in a part of the outer teeth of the transmission gear 8. In addition, a key groove is provided in a part of the inner teeth of the plate cylinder drive shaft (not shown). Both keyways are integrated by connecting using a key. As a result, the plate cylinder drive shaft and the transmission gear 2 are always coupled at a predetermined shaft angle (see FIG. 3).

The bolt 9 is a bolt for setting the coupling between the transmission gear 8 and the plate cylinder shaft 101 in a semi-fixed state when the bolt 9 is kept loose, and bringing the coupling in a fully fixed state when tightening. A female screw that matches a male screw provided on the bolt 9 is provided on the center of the plate cylinder shaft 101. The bolt 9 passes through a combination of the collet 7 and the transmission gear 8 through a washer 10 and is coupled to a female screw provided on the plate cylinder shaft 101.
The washer 10 is a washer interposed between the head of the bolt 9 and the end face of the collet 7. When the bolt 9 coupled to the plate cylinder shaft 101 is rotated, its head moves in the axial direction, and the movement can be transmitted to the collet 7 via the washer 10.

When the bolt 9 coupled to the plate cylinder shaft 101 is left loose, contact coupling between the outer peripheral surface of the collet 7 and the inner peripheral surface of the transmission gear 8 or the inner peripheral surface of the collet 7 and the outer peripheral surface of the plate cylinder shaft 101 is performed. At least one of the contact couplings to the surface is insufficient and can be slid on the contact coupling surface by an external force. That is, it becomes a semi-fixed state.
When the bolt 9 is tightened, the collet 7 moves in a direction to be pushed into the plate cylinder shaft 101. Since the movement in the axial direction is a direction to narrow the gap in the tapered contact coupling surface, the gap can be eliminated. In addition, since the two slopes of the screw 3 and the tapered slope are used, the coupling force of the contact coupling surface can be made extremely high. Therefore, both the contact coupling between the outer circumferential surface of the collet 1 and the inner circumferential surface of the transmission gear 2 and the contact coupling between the inner circumferential surface of the collet 1 and the outer circumferential surface of the plate cylinder shaft 101 become sufficient, and the contact coupling surface is caused by an external force. Can not slide. That is, it is in a fully fixed state.

  In this way, when the coupling is in a semi-fixed state, the transmission gear 2 can be changed to an arbitrary shaft angle around the shaft in the plate cylinder shaft 101. In addition, when the coupling is fully fixed, the shaft angle cannot be changed. Therefore, in the semi-fixed state, the plate cylinder 100 is rotated so that the instruction light projected by the laser pointer 1 coincides with the position of the reference mark 102 formed on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100. At this time, the transmission gear 8 is fixed at a predetermined shaft angle by the transmission gear support mechanism 4, and is formed on the key groove of the transmission gear 8 or the position of a specific tooth of the transmission gear 2 and the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100. The position of the reference mark 102 matches. Therefore, if the state is fully fixed in this state, the key groove of the transmission gear 8 or the position of the specific tooth of the transmission gear 2 and the pattern formed on the plate cylinder 100 can be aligned and fixed (the following description) To do).

Next, the operation of the plate phase matching apparatus and the plate phase matching method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 mainly.
The plate phasing of the present invention is performed in a plate cylinder to perform a good print registration preset before the start of printing. This printing register preset is performed as an adjustment for presetting the inter-unit path length to an integral multiple of the plate cylinder circumference. As already described, in a printing press where the movable stroke of the compensator roller is short, it is necessary to shift the phase of the plate cylinder in advance so as to compensate for the shortage of the stroke. The plate phasing of the present invention is performed for that purpose.

  First, in a first step, a predetermined plate cylinder 100 is taken out from the storage location of the plate cylinder on which the plate surface is formed, and placed on the plate cylinder carriage 3. In this placement, the transmission gear 8 is mounted in a semi-fixed state on the front end portion of the plate cylinder shaft 101 a of the plate cylinder 100 using the collet 7, the bolt 9, and the washer 10. In this placement, the transmission gear 8 is fitted with the transmission gear support mechanism 4 of the plate drum 3 at a predetermined shaft angle. That is, the position of the key groove of the transmission gear 8 is directly above the transmission gear support mechanism 4 and coincides with the position of the instruction light projected by the laser pointer 1.

Next, in the second step, the switch of the laser pointer 1 provided in the transmission gear support mechanism 4 is turned on and the instruction light is projected onto the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder.
Next, in a third step, the plate cylinder 100 mounted on the plate cylinder carriage 3 is rotated, the position of the indication light projected by the laser pointer 1 and the position of the reference mark 102 formed on the peripheral surface of the plate cylinder 100. The rotation angle of the plate cylinder 100 is adjusted to a reference position where the and match.
Next, in the fourth step, the display distance of the roller encoder body 22 is reset to zero while maintaining the reference position.

Next, in a fifth step, the plate cylinder is rotated from the reference position by a predetermined shift amount. If the resolution of the roller encoder 2 is 0.1 mm, when it is desired to shift the 50 mm plate phase, the plate cylinder is rotated until the display distance is 50.1 mm (counter display 500). Assuming that the plate phase alignment accuracy is plus or minus 1 mm, it is sufficient that the alignment can be performed with an accuracy of about 1/10.
Next, in a sixth step, a transmission gear 8 for transmitting a rotational driving force to the plate cylinder 100 in a state where the plate cylinder is rotated by a predetermined shift amount is provided at the front end portion of the plate cylinder shaft 101a of the plate cylinder 100. Fix it. That is, the bolt 9 is tightened.
Through the above process, the relative position between the pattern of the plate formed on the plate cylinder 100 and the keyway of the transmission gear 8 becomes a predetermined position. That is, plate phase alignment is completed.

  The plate cylinder 100 for which the plate phase alignment has been completed is placed on the plate cylinder carriage 3 and conveyed by the printing unit. Then, the plate cylinder 100 is removed from the plate cylinder carriage 3 and attached to the printing unit. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the internal gear provided on the plate cylinder drive shaft of the printing unit and the transmission gear 8 are fitted together. The key groove provided in the internal gear and the key groove provided in the transmission gear 8 are positioned by attaching a key. Accordingly, the plate cylinder 100 is attached at a predetermined plate phase in the printing unit. As a result, a good print registration preset is performed.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure in the plate phase alignment apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the process of plate phase alignment using the plate phase alignment apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows a state when the plate cylinder which carried out plate phase alignment is mounted in a printing unit. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state attached to the front-end | tip of a plate cylinder axis | shaft using a transmission gear and a collet.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser pointer 2 Roller encoder 21 Roller encoder head 22 Roller encoder main body 3 Plate cylinder carriage 4 Transmission gear support mechanism 5 Plate cylinder support mechanism 6 Plate cylinder movement mechanism 7 Collet 8 Transmission gear 9 Bolt 10 Washer 100 Plate cylinder 101 Plate cylinder shaft ( tip)
102 fiducial mark

Claims (2)

An indicator light projection means for projecting indicator light indicating a predetermined position with respect to the plate cylinder carriage on the surface of the plate cylinder placed on the plate cylinder carriage;
The position of the plate cylinder where the registration mark formed on the plate cylinder circumferential surface and the indicator light coincide with each other as a reference position, and the shift distance when the plate cylinder is rotated from the reference position and the position is shifted is measured. Shifting distance measuring means for displaying,
Transmission gear fixing means for fixing a transmission gear having a predetermined axial angle with respect to the plate cylinder carriage and an arbitrary shaft angle with respect to the plate cylinder to the axis of the plate cylinder;
A plate phase matching device comprising: A plate phasing method using the plate phasing device according to claim 1,
A reference alignment process for adjusting the rotation angle of the printing cylinder to a reference position where the instruction light projected on the printing plate by the indicating light projection means and the registration mark formed on the printing plate coincide with each other;
A predetermined amount shifting process of rotating the plate cylinder by a predetermined shifting distance from the reference position while looking at the shifting distance displayed by the distance measuring means;
A transmission gear fixing process for fixing a transmission gear of a predetermined shaft angle to the plate cylinder carriage to a plate cylinder shaft shifted by the predetermined shift distance;
A plate phasing method comprising:

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