JP2007261602A - Transfer printing tray - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transfer printing tray free from any color irregularity and capable of providing a clear transfer pattern even to an object M to be dyed having three-dimensional irregularities. <P>SOLUTION: In the transfer printing tray 10 equipped with an upper tray plate 11u with a plurality of suction holes 13 and 13 formed therein, a lower tray plate 11d overlapped with the upper tray plate 11u while forming a space communicating with suction pipes 14 and 14 between the upper tray plate 11u and itself, and a rubber sheet G which is arranged above the upper tray plate 11u to tightly attach the object M to be dyed to a transfer sheet S between the upper tray plate 11u and itself, a projecting wall 16 is projected over the entire outer peripheries of the suction holes 13 and 13 in an upper surface of the upper tray plate 11u, and the rubber sheet G is fixed by a fixing frame 17 over its entire side end. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a transfer printing tray for providing a clear transfer printing pattern without color unevenness even when the transfer object is three-dimensionally complex when forming a transfer printing pattern on the object to be dyed. .

  When a transfer sheet coated with a sublimation dye in a predetermined pattern is in close contact with the resin-coated substrate, the dye sublimated from the transfer sheet penetrates into the surface resin layer of the substrate, and the thickness direction of the resin layer A dye-dyed layer extending to Since the dye dyeing layer is formed following the pattern of the sublimable dye applied to the transfer sheet, a predetermined transfer pattern is imparted to the article to be dyed. As long as a resin layer that is receptive to sublimation dyes is provided on the surface, the object to be dyed is a painted metal plate, painted tile, woven / nonwoven fabric, painted glass plate, painted ceramic board, resin molded body. Various materials can be used.

  In order to impart a transfer pattern free of color unevenness to the object to be dyed, it is necessary to uniformly adhere the transfer sheet to the object to be dyed. A relatively small transfer device can adopt a method in which a hot plate is attached to an upper lid that opens and closes in a hinged manner. However, when the printing area is increased, the hinged opening and closing mechanism hinders work. In view of this, the present inventors have introduced an apparatus that incorporates a drawer-type work table in place of opening and closing the upper lid on which a hot plate is mounted, and enables transfer printing on a large object to be dyed (Patent Document 1).

  In this transfer device, two upper and lower work platforms 1d and 1u are incorporated into the machine frame 2 by a drawer method (FIG. 1). Work efficiency is achieved by simultaneously performing work on the work table 1d or 1u, which superimposes the object to be dyed and the transfer sheet on the heat-resistant sheet 3, and work on the work table 1u or 1d, which is sublimated and transferred to the object to be dyed. Is improved. The work tables 1d and 1u are reinforced by frame bodies 7d and 7u on the periphery, move back and forth in the depth direction along the guide rail 6, and are finely adjusted by an operation while grasping the handles 8d and 8u.

And when the hot plate 4 is moved up and down by the air cylinders 5a to 5d arranged in the vicinity of the four corners of the machine frame 2 and the transfer sheet is evenly adhered to the transfer object at the transfer position, the transfer object is dyed with the dye sublimated from the transfer sheet. Is dyed. The method of superimposing the object to be dyed and the transfer sheet on the heat-resistant sheet 3 on the work tables 1d and 1u, and lowering the hot plate 4 to pressurize and heat is suitable for transfer printing of a flat object to be dyed. In a dyed article having three-dimensional unevenness, uneven color tends to occur in the transferred pattern.
Color unevenness is caused by the fact that the three-dimensional unevenness of the object to be dyed adversely affects the adhesion state of the object to be dyed / transfer sheet, and a sufficient amount of sublimation dye does not migrate from the transfer sheet to the object to be dyed at the poor adhesion part. There is a cause. The fact that the three-dimensional unevenness tends to cause wrinkles on the transfer sheet is also a cause of printing defects, in particular, the transfer pattern becomes unclear.

If the adherend / transfer sheet can be securely adhered before pressurization and heating, printing due to poor adhesion or wrinkle of the transfer sheet can be achieved even when transferring and printing a three-dimensional uneven substrate. An error can be prevented.
Therefore, the present inventors have proposed a transfer printing apparatus that employs a system in which a transfer sheet is brought into close contact with an object to be dyed by vacuum suction instead of a hot press. The apparatus further employs a method in which the transfer sheet is heated after the transfer sheet is brought into close contact with the object to be dyed, and the transfer printing proceeds.
JP 2003-137239 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-259358

  The transfer printing apparatus proposed in Patent Document 2 employs a structure in which a transfer sheet is superposed on an object to be dyed placed on a tray having a vacuum suction mechanism, and the transfer sheet is brought into close contact with the object to be dyed by a vacuum suction force. ing. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, a tray 10 having a vacuum suction mechanism is composed of an upper tray plate 11u and a lower tray plate 11d made of a metal plate having good thermal conductivity, and packings 12, 12 Thus, the upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d are hermetically sealed. A plurality of suction holes 13, 13 are formed in the upper tray plate 11u, and the suction holes 13, 13 communicate with the suction pipes 14, 14 through a gap between the upper and lower tray plates 11u, 11d. When the upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d are connected by the fasteners 15 such as screws and bolts with the packings 12 and 12 sandwiched therebetween, a vacuum suction source (not shown) passes through the gap between the suction tube 14 and the upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d. A vacuum suction path that reaches the suction hole 13 and opens on the upper tray plate 11u is formed.

The object to be dyed M is placed on the tray 10 equipped with the vacuum suction mechanism, and the transfer sheet S and the rubber sheet G coated with the sublimation dye D in a predetermined pattern are sequentially stacked on the object to be dyed M (FIG. 2a). When the vacuum system is activated, the object to be dyed M and the transfer sheet S are adsorbed and adhered to the tray 10 through the suction holes 13 opened in the upper tray plate 11u (FIG. 2b). In addition, when the transfer sheet S is vacuum-adsorbed to the object to be dyed M, the air permeability between the transfer sheet S and the rubber sheet G is ensured by the cloth C, and there is no residual air on a part of the transfer surface, which is uniform. The transfer sheet S is brought into close contact with the object to be dyed M by the vacuum adsorption force.
Thus, even if the transfer printing apparatus proposed in Patent Document 2 is a three-dimensionally complicated shape product, for example, as shown in FIG. Since the adhesion state of the transfer sheet S to the object to be dyed M can be confirmed by visual observation before heating and heat transfer can be performed after correcting the adhesion failure, there is an advantage that the frequency of defective products is reduced.

  However, in the apparatus proposed in Patent Document 2, the tray 10 has a structure in which the four side ends of the rubber sheet G in FIG. 2 are fixed with a fixed frame (not shown) and fixed with the fixed frame when used in the field. The formed rubber sheet G is placed on the transfer sheet S. Then, the transfer sheet S and the rubber sheet G are brought into close contact with the object to be dyed M by vacuum suction, and then carried into the heating region of the hot plate 4 shown in FIG. 1, and the hot plate 4 ′ shown in FIG. Heating and transferring.

  Since the rubber sheet G is fixed by a fixed frame, the rubber sheet is fixed when heated with the dyed article M and the transfer sheet S in close contact between the upper tray plate 11u of the tray 10 and the rubber sheet G. The frame and the tray plate generate thermal strain separately. Due to the difference in thermal strain between the two, the seal between the rubber sheet and the upper tray plate is not stable, and the possibility of seal leakage increases. Even when the fixed frame is not used, the rubber sheet and the upper tray plate are likely to be displaced due to thermal strain of the tray plate, and seal leakage is likely to occur. If the seal leaks, the transfer sheet S covering the object to be dyed M may be wrinkled or poorly adhered, resulting in a blurred transfer pattern or uneven color.

  The present invention has been devised in order to solve such problems, and as a tray used in a printing apparatus for heating and sublimating and transferring after a transfer sheet is brought into close contact with an object to be dyed by a vacuum suction force, Even if an object to be dyed with a three-dimensionally complex shape is interposed between the upper tray plate constituting the tray and the rubber sheet disposed on the upper surface, the leakage of the seal between the upper tray plate and the rubber sheet can be prevented. An object of the present invention is to provide a tray for transfer printing capable of eliminating the occurrence of color unevenness due to poor adhesion between the object to be dyed and the transfer sheet and giving a clear transfer pattern to the object to be dyed with good yield. .

In order to achieve the object, the transfer printing tray of the present invention communicates with the suction pipes 14, 14 between the upper tray plate 11u having a plurality of suction holes 13, 13 and the upper tray plate 11u. A lower tray plate 11d overlapped with the upper tray plate 11u with a gap formed between the upper tray plate 11u and the upper tray plate 11u, and the adherend M and the transfer sheet S are in close contact with the upper tray plate 11u. The tray 10 is provided with a rubber sheet G to be protruded, and a convex wall 16 is projected over the entire outer periphery of the suction holes 13, 13 on the upper surface of the upper tray plate 11u, and the rubber sheet G The side end is fixed to the fixed frame 17.
The convex wall 16 may be provided in two or more rounds over the entire circumference.

In the transfer printing tray of the present invention, the convex wall 16 protrudes from the entire circumference of the outer four sides of the suction holes 13, 13 on the upper surface of the upper tray plate 11u constituting the tray. For this reason, even after the upper tray plate 11u and the rubber sheet G sandwiching the object to be dyed and the transfer sheet in between, the rubber sheet G remains on the upper end of the convex wall 16 even if the whole is heated for transfer printing. Since it expands and contracts while being in contact, the sealed state between the upper tray plate 11u and the rubber sheet G is maintained. That is, the occurrence of seal leakage can be avoided.
Therefore, by using the transfer printing tray of the present invention, even if the article to be dyed has a three-dimensionally complicated shape, there is no color unevenness and a clear pattern is transferred and printed with a high yield. It becomes possible.

The inventors of the present invention, when performing transfer printing using a tray having a conventional vacuum suction mechanism, if the object to be dyed has a three-dimensionally complicated shape, color unevenness may occur in the printed pattern. Various investigations were made on the cause of the blurring itself and countermeasures.
As a result, as described above, it was presumed that the cause was a seal leakage that occurred between the upper tray plate and the rubber sheet during heating.
And the structure which can prevent the seal leak between an upper tray board and a rubber sheet even if it was at the time of a heating was examined.
As a result, it has been found that it is effective to project a convex wall on the upper surface of the upper tray plate. That is, it has been found that it is effective to seal between the convex wall and the rubber sheet and to perform vacuum pressure bonding inside the convex wall.
The details will be described below.

  The transfer printing tray 10 of the present invention is provided with upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d that are superposed on each other and a rubber sheet G that covers the upper surface thereof, as in the conventional product, as a basic structure. The upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d have a structure in which the two are hermetically sealed with packings 12 and 12 (FIG. 2). A plurality of suction holes 13, 13 are formed in the upper tray plate 11u, and the suction holes 13, 13 communicate with the suction pipes 14, 14 through a gap between the upper and lower tray plates 11u, 11d. When the upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d are connected by the fasteners 15 such as screws and bolts with the packings 12 and 12 sandwiched therebetween, a vacuum suction source (not shown) passes through the gap between the suction tube 14 and the upper and lower tray plates 11u and 11d. A vacuum suction path that reaches the suction hole 13 and opens on the upper tray plate 11u is formed.

  A feature of the transfer printing tray of the present invention is that, first, as shown in FIG. 3, a convex wall 16 is projected from the upper surface of the upper tray plate 11u. The convex wall 16 needs to be provided outside the suction holes 13 and over the entire circumference. Considering that the tray is usually rectangular, stick-shaped rubber having a rectangular cross section may be fixed using an adhesive that does not deteriorate during heating over the entire four sides of the upper tray plate. The upper tray plate itself may be shaved to leave the convex wall. However, the upper end surface of the convex wall 16 is preferably kept smooth over the entire circumference of the four sides in order to prevent seal leakage. Then, the upper tray plate upper surface area surrounded by the convex wall 16 is vacuum-sucked.

The convex wall 16 is preferably about 2 to 30 mm in height. If it is less than 2 mm, the vacuum seal strength between the rubber sheet and the convex wall is too weak, so that the possibility of seal leakage due to deformation of the tray plate increases. On the other hand, if the height exceeds 30 mm, the deformation of the rubber sheet at the upper end of the convex wall becomes too large, and the rubber sheet is likely to be torn or deformed, leading to seal leakage.
The convex wall 16 may be provided in two or more rounds over the entire circumference. In this case, the suction holes 13, 13 may be provided inside the outermost convex wall.

  The next feature of the tray for transfer printing according to the present invention is that a rubber sheet G covering the upper surface of the upper tray plate 11u is fixed to the fixed frame 17 at the four side ends. There is no limitation on the fixing mode. An adhesive that does not deteriorate during heating may be used, or it may be pressed with a metal fitting. The fixed frame 17 may be composed of two members and sandwiched between them. The rubber sheet is usually preferably made of silicon rubber or fluorine rubber. The thickness is preferably about 0.1 to 3.0 mm. If it is less than 0.1 mm, the tensile strength becomes insufficient, so that the possibility of breakage due to tension increases. Moreover, since the tensile strength will be too strong when it exceeds 3.0 mm, the deformation | transformation of the rubber sheet which followed the unevenness | corrugation of the to-be-dyed material will become inadequate.

A rubber sheet, particularly a silicon rubber sheet, has a large expansion and contraction when subjected to heat. It is necessary to fix the rubber sheet in advance in a state where the rubber sheet is stretched to such an extent that the rubber sheet does not wrinkle due to elongation at high temperature. If the rubber sheet is fixed to the fixed frame without sufficiently extending, the rubber sheet is thermally expanded during heating, and a gap is generated in the seal portion, thereby increasing the possibility of causing seal leakage.
The fixing frame 17 to which the rubber sheet G is fixed is preferably attached to the tray plate so as to be openable and closable using a hinge on one side of the upper tray plate 11u (see FIG. 4a).

Next, an embodiment in which the transfer sheet is adhered to the object to be dyed using the transfer printing tray of the present invention will be described.
The object to be dyed M in the next step is placed on the upper tray plate 11u of the transfer printing tray 10 at the preparatory work position, and the transfer sheet S coated with the sublimable dye D in a predetermined pattern is superimposed on the object to be dyed M. Further, after the rubber sheets G are superposed, the vacuum system is activated and the inside of the convex wall 16 is vacuum-sucked through the suction holes 13 opened in the upper tray plate 11u. Is adsorbed onto the upper tray plate 11u.

The suction holes 13 are opened on the entire surface of the upper tray plate 11u. In the case of transferring and printing an object to be dyed such as a woven fabric or a non-woven fabric having air permeability, the entire surface of the object to be dyed is vacuum-adsorbed on the upper tray plate 11u. When the printing object M (FIG. 3) such as a coated steel plate or a ceramic board having no air permeability is transferred and printed, the transfer sheet S is obtained by vacuum suction through the suction hole 13 opened at a position protruding from the printing object M. Adheres to the object to be dyed M.
When the material to be dyed M and the transfer sheet S are adsorbed on the upper tray plate 11u, if the cloth C having air permeability between the transfer sheet S and the rubber sheet G is sandwiched, the air permeability between the two is ensured and the transfer is performed. There is no air remaining on a part of the surface, and the transfer sheet S adheres to the object to be dyed M with a uniform vacuum adsorption force. In addition, when the to-be-dyed material M itself has air permeability, the cloth C is not particularly required.

After the preparatory work is completed, the tray 10 that adsorbs the object to be dyed M to which the transfer sheet S adheres is set at the contact printing work position of the transfer device. In this working position, the tray 10 is usually set at a position straddling the hot plate 4 ', and a pressurizing mechanism (not shown) is provided above the tray 10. As the pressurizing mechanism, a mechanism is generally employed in which a push plate is supported by a spring or the like and connected to an air cylinder. The pressing force of the pressing plate is transmitted to the transfer printing tray, and the lower surface of the transfer printing tray and the hot plate 4 ′ are in close contact with each other with equal pressure.
In this state, the object to be dyed M and the transfer sheet S are heated from below by the hot plate 4 ′, the sublimation dye D of the transfer sheet S is transferred to the object to be dyed M, and the object to be dyed M is transferred and printed.

The tray according to the present invention includes a convex wall projecting from the upper surface end of the tray plate. For this reason, even when the convex wall is deformed at the time of the heating / transfer, or a different amount of thermal strain occurs in the rubber sheet fixing frame and the tray plate, the relative displacement between the rubber sheet and the tray plate increases. However, at the upper end of the convex wall fixed to the tray plate, the rubber sheet is freely stretched and contracted in accordance with the deformation amount of each part while being in close contact with the convex wall.
Since the rubber sheet can freely expand and contract while in close contact with the convex wall, even if the shape of the object to be dyed is a three-dimensionally complicated shape, the close relationship between the upper tray plate and the rubber sheet is impaired. Absent. For this reason, it is possible to maintain a stable sealing state, and it is possible to prevent the transfer pattern from becoming unclear or causing color unevenness without causing seal leakage.

Schematic showing a transfer printing apparatus equipped with a two-stage work table that the inventors previously proposed Diagram explaining the process of transfer printing using the previously proposed tray A perspective view for explaining a tray (a) of the present invention and a state (b) in which a material to be dyed, a transfer sheet, and a cloth are sequentially stacked on the tray. The figure explaining the process of carrying out transfer printing using the tray of this invention

Explanation of symbols

M: Material to be dyed S: Transfer sheet R: Reinforced part formed on both right and left sides of the material to be dyed D: Sublimation dye C: Cloth G: Rubber sheet B: Heat-resistant cushioning material
10: Tray 11u, 11d: Upper and lower tray plates 12: Packing 13: Suction hole
14: Suction tube 15: Fastener (screw) 16: Convex wall 17: Rubber sheet fixing frame
4 ': Hot plate

Claims (2)

  An upper tray plate (11u) having a plurality of suction holes (13, 13) formed therein, and a gap communicating with the suction pipe (14, 14) is formed between the upper tray plate (11u) and the upper tray plate (11u). A lower tray plate (11d) overlapped with the plate (11u) and the upper tray plate (11u) are arranged above the upper tray plate (11u). S is a tray (10) provided with a rubber sheet (G) for closely contacting S), and a convex wall (16) is formed over the entire outer periphery of the suction hole (13, 13) on the upper surface of the upper tray plate (11u). The transfer printing tray is characterized in that the rubber sheet (G) is protruded and all side edges of the rubber sheet (G) are fixed to a fixed frame (17).   The tray for transfer printing according to claim 1, wherein the convex wall (16) is provided in two or more rounds over the entire circumference.

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