JP2007083562A - Card producing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card producing method which prevents poor printing, even if the card has a deposit stuck firmly on the surface, the card has flashes generated at the card ends or at the end of the embedded portion of an IC chip mounted on the card, or the card has a substance attached on its surface and inhibiting the transfer of ink while printing, or the like. <P>SOLUTION: In the card producing method, a plurality of blank cards are cut from a substrate, a recessed part is formed on the upper surface of each blank card, and then thermal transfer printing is carried out on the surface other than the recessed part of the upper surface of each blank card, to produce a card. Before carrying out the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card, the blank card is polished with a polishing cloth coated with polishing material, so as to flatten the flashes generated on the surface of the blank card when the card is cut and the flashes generated at the recessed part when the recessed part is formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a card manufacturing method for recording desired information such as characters, images and magnetic information on a blank card.

  With the advent of the card era, various cards are widely used. For example, an ID card (card type identification card) printed with an image such as a face photo on the surface of the card, or a credit card with an IC chip with memory embedded in the card And bank cards with holograms, and various thin prepaid cards.

In Patent Document 1, as a method of printing such a card, the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon is heated and transferred to the intermediate transfer film as characters or images, and is formed on the intermediate transfer film. A so-called retransfer printing method is described in which characters and images are heated again and retransferred onto the surface of a printed material such as a card or sheet.
FIG. 6 shows a printing apparatus 101 used in the card printing method based on the retransfer method, FIG. 7 shows a card size, and FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the printing apparatus 101 includes a card storage unit 102, a card 103, a pickup roller 104, a pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 105, a reversing mechanism 106, a transport mechanism 107, and an ink ribbon 108. Ink ribbon supply reel 109, ink ribbon take-up reel 110, intermediate transfer film 111, intermediate transfer film 111 supply reel 112, intermediate transfer film 111 take-up reel 113, thermal head 114, A heat roller 115, a film peeling roller 116, and a paper discharge roller 117 are included.

The card storage unit 102 stores a plurality of unrecorded blank cards (cards 103, also referred to as white cards) used for printing in the vertical direction.
The card 103 is a blank card for printing images and characters, and is loaded with a magnetic medium for recording a magnetic code, an IC chip with a memory, a hologram for enhancing security, and the like as necessary. And it has a card size as shown in FIG. 7A is a blank card for printing on the entire surface and has a size of about 86 mm × 54 mm × 0.76 mm, and FIG. 7B is about 12 mm × 12 mm × 0. An embedded portion 3a of a 5 mm IC chip is set, and an IC chip is embedded therein to form an IC card. The IC card is defined in “JIS X6303” “Physical characteristics of IC card with external terminal”, for example.
The pickup roller 104 is attached to the end of the card storage unit 102, rotates in one direction while contacting the card 103, moves the cards one by one upward, and sends them to the next pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 105. .

The pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 105 has an adhesive surface made of rubber or the like that absorbs dust, dust, dust or the like on the roller surface, and both surfaces of the card 103 sent from the pickup roller 104 are attached to the cleaning adhesive. Dust, dust, dust and the like adhering to the surface of the card 103 are removed by being brought into close contact with the adhesive surface of the roller 105.
The reversing mechanism 106 is installed in the reversing mechanism 106 after temporarily holding the card 103 sent from the cleaning adhesive roller 105 in the upward direction (vertical direction) and rotating to change the orientation of the card 103 in the horizontal direction. The pair of feed rollers are rotated and fed to the transport mechanism 107.
The transport mechanism 107 includes a magnetic code recording unit and a transport roller, records the magnetic code of the card 103 sent from the reversing mechanism 106, and transfers the card 103 to the pair of heat rollers 115 by the rotation of the transport roller. send.

The ink ribbon 108 is made of a film coated with a plurality of colors of thermal transfer ink, and the plurality of colors of thermal transfer ink are Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan) and K ( Black) is used.
The ink ribbon 108 is wound and stored on a supply reel 109 before being used for printing. At the time of printing, the ink ribbon 108 and the intermediate transfer film 111 are brought into close contact with each other and sent to the thermal head 114, and the thermal ribbon 114 is heated. Thermal transfer ink is applied to the intermediate transfer film 111 in close contact with the thermal transfer ink side of the ink ribbon 108 by heating the head 114 according to the image and characters from the surface opposite to the surface of the ink ribbon 108 where the thermal transfer ink is applied. After printing the image and characters, the printed ink ribbon 108 is taken up on the take-up reel 110.
The intermediate transfer film 111 is a film in which a thermal transfer receiving layer (printing surface) and a protective layer (film surface) are coated, and the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon 108 is transferred to the thermal transfer receiving layer side. Images and text are printed.
The intermediate transfer film 111 is wound and stored on the supply reel 112 before printing, and is wound on the take-up reel 113 after printing.

The thermal head 114 is composed of a plurality of heating resistors and generates heat according to the image or character to be printed, thereby heating the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon 108 and transferring it to the thermal transfer receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film 111. Print.
The pair of heat rollers 115 is composed of a roller with a built-in heater at the top and a surface made of a rubber material, and a roller with a surface made of a rubber material without a built-in heater at the bottom. In order to maintain heat balance, a heater may be incorporated in the lower part.
The pair of heat rollers 115 bring the card 103 sent from the transport mechanism 107 and the heat transfer receiving layer of the printed intermediate transfer film 111 into close contact with each other, and the upper surface of the intermediate transfer film 111 back surface (thermal transfer). The pair of heat rollers 115 is rotated while being heated and pressurized from the opposite side of the receiving layer for feeding to the pair of film peeling rollers 116.
The pair of film peeling rollers 116 rotate while pinching only the card 103 and feed the card 103 to the pair of paper discharge rollers 117, and the intermediate transfer film 111 is wound around the take-up reel 113, so that the heat roller 115 The heated card 103 and the intermediate transfer film 111 are peeled off. At this time, the printed heat transfer receiving layer and protective layer are transferred onto the printing surface of the card 103. After peeling, the surface of the card 103 has the protective layer on top so that the thermal transfer ink printed on the thermal transfer receiving layer is protected.
The pair of paper discharge rollers 117 discharges the printed card 103 sent from the pair of film peeling rollers 116 and is stored in a tray or the like installed outside.

Next, the operation will be described.
First, the card 103 stored in the card storage unit 102 is sent to the pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 105 by the rotation of the single pickup roller 104, and both surfaces of the card 103 are brought into close contact with the adhesive surfaces of the pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 105. Then, dust, dust, dust and the like adhering to the surface of the card 103 are adsorbed and removed by the adhesive surface of the surface of the cleaning adhesive roller 105.
Then, the reversing mechanism 106 changes the direction of the card 103 that has been sent vertically from the cleaning adhesive roller 105 to the horizontal direction and sends it to the transport mechanism 107, records the magnetic code of the card 103, and sends it to the heat roller 115.

Before the card 103 is sent to the heat roller 115, the thermal transfer ink of the ink ribbon 108 and the thermal transfer receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film 111 are brought into close contact with each other, and then the thermal head 114 is caused to generate heat according to the image to be printed. The ink for thermal transfer on the ribbon 108 is transferred to the thermal transfer receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film 111 and printed.
The printed transfer surface of the intermediate transfer film 111 and the printed surface of the card 103 sent from the transport mechanism 107 are brought into close contact with each other and sent to the heat roller 115 (the back surface of the intermediate transfer film 111 (the thermal transfer receiving layer). Heat from the opposite side.
Subsequently, when the card 103 and the intermediate transfer film 111 heated and adhered by the heat roller 115 are peeled off by the film peeling roller 116, the printed heat transfer receiving layer and the protective layer remain on the printed surface of the card 103, and this remains. The card 103 is discharged by the discharge roller 117 and stored in a tray or the like installed outside, and the printing is finished.

In this way, the cleaning adhesive roller 105 removes dust, dust, dust, and the like adhering to the surface of the card 103 before printing, and a predetermined print is performed, thereby obtaining a print image free from defects. It was.
JP 2000-187712 A

However, the card 103 can be easily removed by adhering to the adhesive layer on the surface of the cleaning adhesive roller 105, in addition to dust, dust, dust, etc., when a blank card as shown in FIG. When a card is used to punch out cards one by one from a plate-like card material, a convex burr generated at the end of the card, or an embedded portion of an IC chip mounted on a blank card as shown in FIG. A convex burr at the end of the embedded portion that occurs when the card material is deleted, an adherent that is strongly stuck to the card surface as shown in FIG. 8C, or a print as shown in FIG. In some cases, a material that obstructs the transfer of ink, for example, a fluid oil film material such as silicon, cannot be removed by adsorption to the adhesive layer of the cleaning adhesive roller 105, and cannot be removed. The remaining problem to say that would cause a printing defect is there on the surface.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a card manufacturing method that does not cause printing defects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of blank cards are cut out from the substrate, a recess is formed on the upper surface of each blank card, and then thermal transfer printing is performed on a surface other than the recess on the upper surface of each blank card. In the card manufacturing method, the burrs generated on the surface of the blank card when cut out and the burrs generated in the recess when forming the recess are flattened before the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card. In order to achieve this, there is provided a card manufacturing method characterized in that each blank card is polished with an abrasive cloth coated with an abrasive.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of blank cards are cut out from the substrate, a recess is formed on the upper surface of each blank card, and then thermal transfer printing is performed on a surface other than the recess on the upper surface of each blank card. In the card manufacturing method, the burrs generated on the surface of the blank card when cut out and the burrs generated in the recess when forming the recess are flattened before the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card. In order to make it possible, after polishing each blank card with a polishing cloth coated with the first abrasive, polishing with a second abrasive having smaller abrasive grains than the first abrasive is applied. Polishing is performed with a cloth, and the first abrasive is an abrasive material of # 500 to # 2000, and the second abrasive is an abrasive material of # 4000 to # 6000, or To provide a card making method which is a Le abrasive.

  According to the present invention, after a plurality of blank cards are cut out from the substrate and a recess is formed on the upper surface of each blank card, the card is prepared by performing thermal transfer printing on a surface other than the recess on the upper surface of each blank card. In the manufacturing method, before the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card, each blank card is formed in order to flatten the burrs generated on the surface of the blank card when cut out and the burrs generated in the recess when the recess is formed. By polishing with an abrasive cloth coated with abrasive material, convex burrs generated at the edge of the card and the embedded part of the IC chip mounted on the card at the time of blank card production, or adhered matter strongly stuck to the card surface In addition, a fluid oil film substance or the like adhering to the surface of the card can be removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of an IC card manufacturing method according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings of FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a blank card polishing mechanism according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining details of the blank card polishing mechanism according to the present invention, (A) is a view showing a card polishing mechanism portion viewed from the top, and (B) is a cross section viewed from the front. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a printing procedure on a blank card. (A) is a figure which shows the cross section of an intermediate transfer film, (B) is a cross section when the ink for thermal transfer applied to the ink ribbon is transferred (printed) to the ink receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film of (A). (C) is a figure which shows the cross section when the ink for thermal transfer transcribe | transferred to the ink receiving layer of an intermediate transfer film is retransferred (printed) on the blank card surface.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the color arrangement of the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is the same as that of the conventional printing apparatus 101 except that a polishing mechanism for polishing the card surface is added, and a card storage unit 2, a card 3, and a pickup roller 4. The first supply reels 5a and 5b, the first traveling rollers 6a and 6b, the first take-up rollers 7a and 7b, the first polishing cloths 8a and 8b, and the second supply reel 9a, 9b, second traveling rollers 10a and 10b, second take-up rollers 11a and 11b, second polishing cloths 12a and 12b, cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b, a reversing mechanism 14, and a transport mechanism. 15, an ink ribbon 16, an ink ribbon supply reel 17, an ink ribbon take-up reel 18, an intermediate transfer film 19, an intermediate transfer film supply reel 20, and an intermediate transfer film And it can take-up reel 21, a thermal head 22, the heat roller 23, the film peeling roller 24, a paper discharge roller 25, and more constructed.

The card storage unit 2 stores a plurality of unrecorded blank cards (cards 3 also referred to as white cards) used for printing in the vertical direction.
The card 3 is a blank card for printing images and characters, and is loaded with a magnetic medium for recording a magnetic code, an IC chip with a memory, a hologram for enhancing security, and the like as necessary.
The pickup roller 4 is attached to the end of the card storage unit 2 and is a polishing mechanism that rotates in one direction while contacting the card 3 to move the cards 3 one by one upward to polish the next card surface. It is sent between the first traveling rollers 6a and 6b. (The polishing mechanism for polishing the card surface includes first supply reels 5a and 5b, first traveling rollers 6a and 6b, first take-up rollers 7a and 7b, and first polishing cloths 8a and 8b. The second supply reels 9a and 9b, the second traveling rollers 10a and 10b, the second take-up rollers 11a and 11b, and the second polishing cloths 12a and 12b are provided.)

A tape-shaped first polishing cloth 8a before polishing is wound around the first supply reel 5a, and after passing through the first traveling roller 6a, one surface of the card 3 is polished and then the first winding roller 7a. It is wound on.
The first supply reel 5b is wound with a tape-like first polishing cloth 8b before polishing, and after passing through the first traveling roller 6b, the other surface of the card 3 is polished and then the first winding is taken up. It is wound around a roller 7b.
The first supply reels 5a and 5b, the first traveling rollers 6a and 6b, the first winding rollers 7a and 7b, and the first polishing cloths 8a and 8b are a pair.
Then, when one card 3 is fed between the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b by the rotation of the pickup roller 4, the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b is rotated slowly to remove the card 3. By moving and sending between the next pair of second traveling rollers 10a and 10b, both surfaces of the card 3 are simultaneously polished by the pair of first polishing cloths 8a and 8b.
Next, the second supply reel 9a is wound with a tape-like second polishing cloth 12a before polishing. After passing through the second traveling roller 10a, one side of the card 3 is polished and then the second winding is taken up. It is wound around a roller 11a.
The second supply reel 9b is wound with a tape-like second polishing cloth 12b before polishing. After passing through the second traveling roller 10b, the other side of the card 3 is polished and then the second winding is taken up. It is wound around a roller 11b.
The second supply reels 9a and 9b, the second traveling rollers 10a and 10b, the second winding rollers 11a and 11b, and the second polishing cloths 12a and 12b are a pair.
When one card 3 is fed between the pair of second traveling rollers 10a and 10b by the rotation of the pair of traveling rollers 6a and 6b, the pair of second traveling rollers 10a and 10b slowly rotate to cause the card. 3 is moved and sent between the next pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b, whereby both sides of the card 3 are simultaneously polished by the pair of second polishing cloths 12a and 12b.

The pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 13 has an adhesive surface made of rubber or the like that adsorbs dust, dust, dust or the like on the roller surface, and the card 3 sent from the pair of second traveling rollers 10a and 10b. The two surfaces are adhered to the adhesive surfaces of the cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b and rotated to adsorb and remove dust, dust, dust and the like adhering to the surface of the card 3.
The reversing mechanism 14 rotates the adhesive rollers 13a and 13b for cleaning to temporarily hold the card 3 sent in the upward direction (vertical direction), and then rotates to change the orientation of the card 3 in the horizontal direction. Then, a pair of feed rollers installed in the reversing mechanism 14 are rotated and fed to the transport mechanism 15.
The transport mechanism 15 includes a magnetic code recording unit and a transport roller, records the magnetic code of the card 3 sent from the reversing mechanism 14, and transfers the card 3 to the pair of heat rollers 23 by the rotation of the transport roller. send.

The ink ribbon 16 is made of a film coated with a plurality of colors of thermal transfer ink, and the plurality of colors of thermal transfer ink are Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan) and K ( Black) is used.
The ink ribbon 16 is wound and stored on the supply reel 17 before being used for printing. At the time of printing, the ink ribbon 16 and the intermediate transfer film 19 are brought into close contact with each other and sent to the thermal head 22 to be thermally transferred. The intermediate transfer film 19 that is in close contact with the thermal transfer ink side of the ink ribbon 16 is heated from the surface of the ink ribbon 16 on the opposite side of the ink transfer surface of the ink ribbon 16 in accordance with the image and characters. After printing and printing images and characters, the printed ink ribbon 16 is taken up on the take-up reel 18.
The intermediate transfer film 19 is a film in which a thermal transfer receiving layer (printing surface) and a protective layer (film surface) are applied, and the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon 16 is transferred to the thermal transfer receiving layer side. Print images and text.
The intermediate transfer film 19 is wound and stored on the supply reel 20 before printing, and is wound on the take-up reel 21 after printing.

The thermal head 22 is composed of a plurality of heating resistors and generates heat according to the image or character to be printed, thereby heating the thermal transfer ink applied to the ink ribbon 16 and transferring it to the thermal transfer receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film 19. Print images and text.
The pair of heat rollers 23 includes a roller with a built-in heater at the top and a surface formed of a rubber material and a roller with a surface formed of a rubber material without a heater at the bottom. In order to maintain balance, a heater may be incorporated in the lower part.
The pair of heat rollers 23 bring the card 3 sent from the transport mechanism 15 and the heat transfer receiving layer of the printed intermediate transfer film 19 into close contact with each other, and the upper roller causes the back surface of the intermediate transfer film 19 ( The pair of heat rollers 23 is rotated while being heated and pressurized from the opposite side of the heat transfer receiving layer) and sent to the pair of film peeling rollers 24.
The pair of film peeling rollers 24 rotate while pinching only the card 3 to feed the card 3 to the pair of paper discharge rollers 25, and the intermediate transfer film 19 is taken up by the take-up reel 21. The heated card 3 and the intermediate transfer film 19 are peeled off. At this time, the printed heat transfer receiving layer and protective layer are transferred onto the printing surface of the card 3. After peeling, the surface of the card 3 has the protective layer on top so that the thermal transfer ink printed on the thermal transfer receiving layer is protected.
The pair of paper discharge rollers 25 discharges the printed card 3 sent from the pair of film peeling rollers 24 and stores it in a tray or the like installed outside.

As shown in FIG. 2, the basic structure of the polishing mechanism for polishing the card surface is a card storage unit 2 that stores a plurality of unrecorded blank cards 3 used for printing, and a card storage unit that stores cards 3 during printing. The first supply reel 5a on which the pickup roller 4 and the tape-like first polishing cloths 8a and 8b before polishing of the card 3 are wound by rotating upward from the card storage unit 2 one by one. 5b and the first polishing cloth 8a, 8b wound around the first polishing cloth supply reels 5a, 5b are brought into contact with the surface of the card 3 taken out from the card storage portion 2 to polish the surface of the card 3. First running rollers 6a and 6b that are caused to run, first winding rollers 7a and 7b that wind up the first polishing cloth 8a and 8b after polishing the card 3, and first polishing cloths 8a and 8b. The surface is polished by Cleaning adhesive roller 13a to remove dust both sides of the de 3 by close contact with the adhesive surface is in close contact with the surface of the card 3, dust, dirt, etc., and 13b, made of.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the intermediate transfer film 19 is a base film 19a made of PET having a thickness of 6 μm to 25 μm, and the ink receiving layer 19d and the protective layer 19c are peeled from the base film 19a by heating. It comprises a release layer 19b having a thickness of 0 μm or less, a protective layer 19c made of a transparent heat-meltable binder of 1.5 μm to 6 μm, and an ink receiving layer 19d having a thickness of 0.5 μm to 5 μm.
As shown in FIG. 4B, the thermal transfer ink 16 a applied to the ink ribbon 16 is transferred (printed) to the ink receiving layer 19 d of the intermediate transfer film 19 by heating of the thermal head 22.
As shown in FIG. 4C, the printed card 3 is transferred with the ink receiving layer 19d having the thermal transfer ink 12a transferred to the surface of the card 3 and the protective layer 19c. In this case, the protective layer 19c is formed on the top of the card surface.

As shown in FIG. 5, the ink ribbon 16 is made of 4 of Y (yellow) 16 y, M (magenta) 16 m, C (cyan) 16 c and K (black) 16 k on a PET having a thickness of 2.5 μm to 8 μm. Each color ink forms one frame at a thickness of 0.5 μm to 6 μm, and is applied to a plurality of frames. Thermal transfer inks have heat melting properties and heat sublimation properties.

Next, the operation will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the card 3 stored in the card storage unit 2 is rotated between the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b by rotating the pickup roller 4 and a pair of first polishing cloths 8a. , 8b. Then, the burrs and deposits which are convex on the polishing surfaces of the first polishing cloths 8a and 8b and both surfaces of the card 3 are brought into contact with each other to polish and remove them.

The performance required for the polishing cloth includes polishing power, finished surface, durability, strength, ease of use, and the like, which are required simultaneously or separately. Generally, there is a tendency to require a polishing cloth with good polishing power and a fine finished surface, but there is a correlation between the polishing power and the finished surface, and when the polishing power is improved, the finished surface becomes rougher and the finished surface becomes better. Then, the polishing power decreases.
For this reason, the first polishing cloths 8a and 8b are those having improved polishing power, polish burrs and deposits that are convex on the card surface, and the surface of the card 3 is the first surface. It is set so that the surface of the card 3 is not damaged by polishing so that the polishing cloths 8a and 8b are not in direct contact with each other.

Then, the card 3 polished by the pair of first polishing cloths 8a and 8b is rotated to the second traveling rollers 10a and 10b by rotating the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b. , 12b. Then, both the surfaces of the card 3 are polished by bringing the polishing surfaces of the second polishing cloths 12 a and 12 b into contact with both surfaces of the card 3.

As the second polishing cloths 12a and 12b, a polishing cloth having a fine finished surface is used to polish the surface of the card 3 so as to improve the finished surface, and the oil film is absorbed and removed to the polishing cloth side.

Next, the card 3 whose surface is polished with the first and second polishing cloths is sent to the cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b, and both surfaces of the card 3 are brought into close contact with the adhesive surfaces of the cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b and rotated. By doing so, dust, dust, dust, etc. remaining on the surface of the card 3 after polishing are adsorbed and removed by the adhesive layer on the adhesive surface of the cleaning adhesive rollers 13a, 13b.
Then, the reversing mechanism 14 rotates the cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b to hold the card 3 which has been sent vertically, temporarily holds it, changes the direction to the horizontal direction, and sends it to the transport mechanism 15. After recording the magnetic code, it is sent to the heat roller 23.

Next, before the card 3 is sent to the heat roller 23, the thermal transfer ink on the ink ribbon 16 and the thermal transfer receiving layer on the intermediate transfer film 19 are brought into close contact with each other, and then the thermal head 22 is printed in accordance with the image or character to be printed. By generating heat, the thermal transfer ink of the ink ribbon 16 is transferred to the thermal transfer receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film 19 to print images and characters.

Then, the printed transfer surface of the intermediate transfer film 19 and the printed surface of the card 3 are brought into close contact with each other and sent to the heat roller 23, and heated from the back surface of the intermediate transfer film 19 (opposite to the received layer for thermal transfer).
When the intermediate transfer film 19 is peeled off by rotating the card 3 and the intermediate transfer film 19 heated and adhered by the heat roller 23 while sandwiching only the card 3 with the film peeling roller 24, the printed surface of the card 3 is printed. The thermal transfer receiving layer and the protective layer thus transferred are transferred and remain, and the card 3 is discharged by the rotation of the discharge roller 25 and stored in a tray or the like installed outside, and the printing is finished.

Next, the operation of the basic structure of the polishing mechanism for polishing the surface of the card will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 2, the card 3 stored in the card storage unit 2 is sent together with the pair of first polishing cloths 8a and 8b between the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b by the rotation of the single pickup roller 4. Then, the pair of first traveling rollers 6a and 6b are caused to travel slowly so that the card 3 moves in the direction of the pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b. At this time, the pair of first supply reels 5a and 5b and the pair of first winding rollers 7a and 7b are operated so that the pair of first polishing cloths 8a and 8b reciprocally move back and forth finely in the front-rear direction. The burrs and deposits that are convex on both sides of the card 3 are polished by the polishing surfaces of the first polishing cloths 8a and 8b to remove them.
Then, the polished card 3 is sent to the pair of cleaning adhesive rollers 13a and 13b, and the polished dust, dust, dust and the like attached to the surface of the card 3 are removed.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the traveling roller 6 of the first polishing cloth (a pair of traveling rollers 6 a and 6 b is one for simplification of explanation; the same shall apply hereinafter) and the card 3. The gap is opened by the thickness of the first polishing pad 8 + about 10 μm. This is because the first polishing cloth with improved polishing power is used to polish burrs and deposits that are convex on the card surface, and the surface of the card 3 is covered with the first polishing cloth 8. It is set so as not to be damaged by direct contact. For the first polishing cloth, for example, a plain weave cloth sheet is used to polish the burrs and deposits that are convex on the card surface of 10 μm to 100 μm. Use abrasive cloth coated with material.

As described above, the operation of the basic structure of the polishing mechanism for polishing the surface of the card is to polish burrs and deposits using the first polishing cloth 8 without damaging the surface of the card 3. However, since burrs and deposits of 10 μm or less remain as they are, the burrs and deposits of 10 μm or less on the surface of the card 3 are directly polished using the second polishing cloth 12.
When the card 3 polished with the first polishing cloth 8 is polished more smoothly using the second polishing cloth 12, the operation is the same as that of the basic configuration of FIG. The operation is performed using the second polishing pad 12. Then, the gap between the traveling roller 6 of the first polishing cloth 8 and the card 3 shown in FIG. 3 between the thickness of the first polishing cloth 8 and approximately 10 μm is omitted, and the second polishing cloth 12 and the card 3 are omitted. Directly contacts and polishes the surface of the card 3.
In order to polish the surface of the card 3 as smoothly as possible with the second polishing cloth 12, for example, a polishing cloth coated with an abrasive material having a surface roughness of # 4000 to # 6000 using a cloth sheet of an automatic loom is used. use. Alternatively, the surface of the card 3 is polished using a chemical abrasive such as alumina, cesium, or cerium oxide.

In this way, the first polishing cloth 8 is used to first grind the burrs and deposits that are convex on the card 3 surface, and then the second polishing cloth 12 is used to smooth the card 3 surface. The card 3 having a smooth surface state free from burrs and deposits, which is optimal for printing, can be obtained.
Depending on the condition of the surface of the card 3 (when there are no burrs or deposits of 10 μm or more), the polishing with the first polishing cloth 8 may be omitted and only the polishing with the second polishing cloth 12 may be used. It is.

  As described above, according to the IC card manufacturing method of the present invention, before printing is performed by bringing the intermediate transfer film 19 into contact with the surface of the card 3 that is a blank card, the card 3 is made of the first abrasive. After rough polishing with the applied polishing cloths 8a and 8b, the surface of the card 3 is smoothly polished with the polishing cloths 12a and 12b to which the second abrasive is applied, so that the card 3 sticks firmly to the surface. Silicon that obstructs the transfer of ink during printing, sticking burrs generated on the edge of the card or the embedded part of the IC chip mounted on the card when the card 3 is manufactured, or on the surface of the card The fluid oil film substance such as can be easily removed.

It is a figure which shows the block diagram of the printing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the basic composition of the blank card grinding | polishing mechanism which concerns on this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the detail of the blank card | curd polishing mechanism which concerns on this invention, (A) is a figure which shows the card | curd polishing mechanism part seen from the upper surface, (B) is a figure which shows the cross section seen from the front. is there. It is a figure which shows the printing procedure to a blank card. (A) is a figure which shows the cross section of an intermediate transfer film, (B) is a cross section when the ink for thermal transfer applied to the ink ribbon is transferred (printed) to the ink receiving layer of the intermediate transfer film of (A). (C) is a figure which shows the cross section when the ink for thermal transfer transcribe | transferred to the ink receiving layer of an intermediate transfer film is retransferred (printed) on the blank card surface. It is a figure which shows the example of a color arrangement | sequence of the ink for thermal transfer apply | coated to the ink ribbon. FIG. 6 shows a printing apparatus 101 used in the card printing method based on the retransfer method, FIG. 7 shows a card size, and FIG. 8 shows a card surface state that causes a printing defect during printing. It is a figure which shows the printing apparatus used for the card printing method by the conventional retransfer system. It is a figure which shows the dimension of the card | curd used for printing. It is a figure which shows the card | curd surface state which produces a printing defect at the time of printing.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing apparatus, 2 ... Card storage part, 3 ... Card (blank card), 4 ... Pick-up roller, 5a, 5b ... 1st supply reel, 6, 6a, 6b ..First traveling roller (a pair of rollers), 7a, 7b... First winding roller, 8, 8a, 8b... First polishing cloth (polishing with first abrasive applied) Cloth), 9a, 9b... Second supply reel, 10a, 10b... Second traveling roller (a pair of rollers), 11a, 11b... Second winding roller, 12, 12a, 12b ... second abrasive cloth (abrasive cloth coated with the second abrasive), 13a, 13b ... cleaning adhesive roller, 14 ... reversing mechanism, 15 ... conveying mechanism, ...・ Ink ribbon, 16a, 16y, 16m, 16c, 16k ... thermal transfer ink 17 ... Ink ribbon supply reel, 18 ... Ink ribbon take-up reel, 19 ... Intermediate transfer film (printing film), 19a ... Base film, 19c ... Protective layer, 19d ..Ink-receiving layer 19d, 20 ... Intermediate transfer film supply reel, 21 ... Intermediate transfer film take-up reel, 22 ... Thermal head, 23 ... Heat roller, 24 ... Film peeling Roller, 25 ... paper discharge roller

Claims (2)

In the card manufacturing method of cutting out a plurality of blank cards from the substrate, forming a recess on the upper surface of each blank card, and then performing thermal transfer printing on a surface other than the recess on the upper surface of each blank card,
In order to flatten the burrs generated on the surface of the blank card when cut out and the burrs generated in the recesses when the recesses are formed before the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card, the blanks A method for producing a card, comprising polishing the card with an abrasive cloth coated with an abrasive. In the card manufacturing method of cutting out a plurality of blank cards from the substrate, forming a recess on the upper surface of each blank card, and then performing thermal transfer printing on a surface other than the recess on the upper surface of each blank card,
In order to flatten the burrs generated on the surface of the blank card when cut out and the burrs generated in the recesses when the recesses are formed before the thermal transfer printing on the upper surface of the blank card, the blanks The card is polished with a polishing cloth coated with a first polishing material, and then polished with a polishing cloth coated with a second polishing material having abrasive grains smaller than the first polishing material. 1 is an abrasive material of # 500 to # 2000, and the second abrasive material is an abrasive material of # 4000 to # 6000 or a chemical abrasive. Method.

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