JP2012055990A - Cutting plotter, and cutting method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cutting plotter capable of reducing time and effort required for cutting work to simply carrying out the cutting work, when carrying out the cutting work without print-forming marks.SOLUTION: The cutting plotter 1 includes: a support plate 21 for supporting a medium 2 to be worked; a drill 43 for carrying out the cutting work of the medium 2 to be worked; an X-axis driving mechanism 35, a Y-axis driving mechanism 45 and a drill driving mechanism which move the drill 43 relative to the medium 2 to be worked; a function of a drive controller 51 and a calculator 55 configured to carry out a desired cutting work on the medium 2 to be worked with the drill 43, which forms a plurality of reference holes by carrying out desired cutting work on the medium 2 to be worked with the drill 43; a reference hole detector 44 for detecting positions of the reference holes on the support plate 21; and a function of the drive controller 51 and the calculator 55 which controls relative movement of the drill 43 based on the positions of the reference holes on the support plate 21 detected by the reference hole detector 44 to carry out the desired cutting work on the medium 2 to be worked.

Description

  The present invention relates to a cutting plotter for performing a desired cutting process on a flat medium, and a cutting method using the cutting plotter.

  Conventionally, as a device for cutting a sheet-like paper or fabric medium into a desired shape, a cutter blade is pressed against the medium held on a flat bed, and this cutter blade is used as the medium. A cutting plotter configured to perform a cutting process on a desired shape by relatively moving the cutting plotter is known. The cut process performed in this way is performed by using a cut pattern (for example, a pattern that is cut along the contour of the image) that corresponds to a desired image that has been printed on the medium. There is. In this case, in order to accurately correspond the image printing position and the cut processing position, it is known to print and form a positioning mark when printing a desired image (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  In recent years, there has been a demand for performing a desired cutting process on a medium such as flat acrylic or wood having a certain thickness by using the operating principle of the cutting plotter as described above. In order to meet such demands, a desired cutting process can be performed on a medium with a certain thickness by moving a tool such as a drill or end mill that rotates at high speed in place of the cutter blade while pressing against the medium. Cutting plotters have been developed.

JP 2001-260443 A

  By the way, when a desired cutting process is performed by pressing a drill against a medium such as acrylic or wood having a certain thickness, the product is completed by performing only the cutting process without printing a desired image on the medium. There is. At this time, since the positioning mark is naturally not printed on the medium, when the medium is placed at an arbitrary position on the bed, not only the position of the medium on the bed but also a desired cutting process on the medium is performed. The application position cannot be grasped by the cutting plotter. Therefore, conventionally, for example, a positioning jig for placing the medium at a predetermined position on the bed is provided, and the operator needs to place the medium in a state where the medium is aligned with the positioning jig. As described above, since the medium is placed on the bed in a state where the medium is positioned, labor for the cutting process increases, and there is a problem that the cutting process tends to be complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a cutting plotter capable of reducing the labor and simplifying the cutting process when performing the cutting process without printing the mark, and a cutting method thereof The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, a cutting plotter according to the present invention supports a base member (for example, a support plate 21 in the embodiment) capable of supporting a medium (for example, the workpiece medium 2 in the embodiment) and the base member. Cutting means (for example, the drill 43 in the embodiment) for cutting the formed medium, and relative moving means (for example, the X axis in the embodiment) for moving the cutting means relative to the medium supported by the base member A cutting plotter having a driving mechanism 35, a Y-axis driving mechanism 45, and a drill driving mechanism 46), and performing a desired cutting process on the medium by the cutting means relatively moved by the relative moving means. The relative movement of the cutting means is controlled by the cutting means, and the cutting hand is applied to the medium supported by the base member. Mark forming control means (for example, drive control unit 51, calculation unit 55 in the embodiment) for forming a plurality of reference marks (for example, the reference holes 2a to 2d in the embodiment) by performing cutting processing on the base member Mark position detecting means for detecting the position of the reference mark on the base member in a state where the medium is supported (for example, the reference hole detecting unit 44 in the embodiment), and the base detected by the mark position detecting means. By performing relative movement control of the cutting means by the relative movement means based on the position of the reference mark on the member, cut processing control means for performing the desired cutting processing on the medium (for example, drive control in the embodiment) Unit 51 and calculation unit 55).

  In the above-described cutting plotter, it is preferable that at least three reference marks are formed on the medium by the mark formation control unit.

  The cutting method according to the present invention includes a base member capable of supporting a medium, a cutting means for cutting the medium supported by the base member, and the cutting means relative to the medium supported by the base member. A cutting method using a cutting plotter that performs a desired cutting process on the medium by the cutting means that is relatively moved by the relative moving means, and is supported by the base member. A mark forming step of forming a plurality of reference marks by cutting the medium with the cutting means; and the medium on which the reference marks are formed in the mark forming step is supported by the base member, A mark position detecting step for detecting a position of the reference mark on the member; and the mark A cut processing step for performing the desired cut processing on the medium by performing relative movement control of the cutting means by the relative movement means based on the position of the reference mark in the base member detected by the position detection step. With.

  A cutting plotter according to the present invention includes a mark formation control unit that forms a plurality of reference marks by performing cutting with a cutting unit, a mark position detection unit that detects the position of the reference mark on the base member, and a reference mark on the base member And cutting processing control means for performing a desired cutting process on the medium by performing relative movement control of the cutting means on the basis of the positions. Therefore, by detecting the position of the reference mark by the mark position detection means, it is possible to grasp the position where the desired cutting process is performed with the position of the reference mark as the origin position. Therefore, when performing the cutting process without printing the mark, for example, the medium need not be positioned and placed by the positioning jig, and the cutting process can be easily performed with less labor.

  In the above-described cutting plotter, it is preferable that at least three reference marks are formed on the medium. In this case, based on the detected position of the reference mark, it is possible to determine the position where the base member is to be cut.

  The cutting method according to the present invention includes a mark forming step for forming a plurality of reference marks by cutting with a cutting means, a mark position detecting step for detecting the positions of the reference marks on the base member, and a reference mark on the base member. A cutting process step of performing a desired cutting process on the medium by performing relative movement control of the cutting unit by the relative movement unit based on the position. Therefore, by detecting the position of the reference mark, it is possible to grasp the position where the desired cutting process is performed with the position of the reference mark as the origin position. Therefore, when performing the cut process without printing the mark, for example, it is not necessary to position and place the medium with the positioning jig, and the cut process can be easily performed.

It is a perspective view of a cutting plotter to which the present invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows said control system. (A) is a plan view of the cutting plotter, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III (b) -III (b) in FIG. 3 (a). It is a flowchart when performing a cutting process using the said cutting plotter.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As an example of a cutting plotter to which the present invention is applied, a drill is moved in two orthogonal axes (X axis-Y axis) in a horizontal plane with respect to a flat plate-like workpiece medium fixedly held on a machining table, and up and down ( FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a so-called XY plotter type (flat bed type) cutting plotter 1 that lifts and lowers the workpiece medium in a desired shape by moving it up and down in the Z axis direction, and outlines the control configuration. A block diagram is shown in FIG. In the following description, for convenience of explanation, explanation will be made using the directions of arrows written in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cutting plotter 1 supports a processing table 20 horizontally and a main body frame 10 as a mounting base for each mechanism, a processing table 20 for fixing and holding the placed processing medium 2, An X-axis carriage 30 supported above the processing table 20 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction (X-axis direction) and moved back and forth by the X-axis drive mechanism 35, and moved in the left-right direction (Y-axis direction) by the X-axis carriage 30 A cutting head 40 that is supported and moved left and right by a Y-axis drive mechanism 45, an X-axis drive mechanism 35, a Y-axis drive mechanism 45, a drill drive mechanism 46 (see FIG. 2) provided on the cutting head 40, and the like. By controlling the horizontal movement of the X-axis carriage 30 and the cutting head 40 and the vertical movement of the drill 43, etc. Configured with a control unit 50 for controlling the cutting of a work medium 2 is fixed and held on the processing table 20 Ri.

  The processing table 20 has a flat support plate 21 in which a large number of fine suction holes penetrating vertically are formed, a decompression chamber 22 provided on the lower surface side of the support plate 21, and air in the decompression chamber 22 is exhausted to be negative. And a vacuum blower 23 for setting the pressure. Therefore, by setting the decompression chamber 22 to a negative pressure by the vacuum blower 23, the workpiece medium 2 is vacuum-adsorbed to the support plate 21 and fixedly held.

  The X-axis carriage 30 extends in parallel in the front-rear direction across the support table 21 on the upper part of the processing table 20, and a pair of left and right guide rails 31, 31 are fixed to the guide rails 31, 31. A guide bar 32 is supported so as to be movable back and forth. As the guide rail 31, a support rail of a linear motion bearing also referred to as a linear motion guide or a linear guide is used, and the left end portion of the guide bar 32 is fitted to slide blocks 33 and 34 fitted to the left and right guide rails 31 and 31, respectively. And the right end is fixed, and thereby the guide bar 32 is supported so as to be slidable back and forth while straddling the upper side of the support board 21. Since various known drive mechanisms can be used for the X-axis drive mechanism 35, detailed illustration is omitted in the present specification. It can be configured by a ball screw provided, a servo motor that rotationally drives the ball screw, and a ball nut fitted and supported by the ball screw and fixed to the X-axis carriage 30.

  The cutting head 40 is fitted to a guide rail 32a that extends to the left and right on the front surface of the guide bar 32 and is supported so as to be slidable left and right. The cutting head 40 is detachably supported on the front side of the slider 41. Reference hole detection provided with a drill holder 42, a light emitting unit (not shown) that emits inspection light downward, and a light receiving unit (not shown) that receives the inspection light emitted and reflected from the light emitting unit And a portion 44. A drill 43 is attached to the tip of the drill holder 42, and the work medium 2 can be cut by pressing the work piece 2 with the drill 43 rotated at a high speed. It has become. The drill 43 is handled as a unit while being attached to the drill holder 42, and the drill holder 42 can be moved up and down by the drill drive mechanism 46 so that the drill 43 can be moved up and down.

  The Y-axis drive mechanism 45 is not shown in detail in the same manner as the X-axis drive mechanism 35. For example, a drive pulley and a driven pulley that are rotatably provided on the left end side and the right end side of the guide bar 32, respectively, It is composed of a servo motor that rotationally drives a pulley, and an endless belt-like drive belt that is wound around a drive pulley and a driven pulley, and the cutting head 40 (slider 41) is fixed to the middle portion of the drive belt. Can do. Further, the driving belt 40 is moved (moving direction, moving speed, left / right position, etc.) by using a timing belt having a large number of teeth on the inner peripheral surface thereof and a timing pulley as the driving pulley and driven pulley. Can be finely controlled.

  The cutting head 40 has a processing position and a processing medium in which the drill 43 attached to the drill holder 42 is pressed against the processing medium 2 sucked and held on the support plate 21 with a predetermined cutting depth based on a processing program. A drill driving mechanism 46 (Z-axis driving mechanism) is provided that moves the drill 43 up and down to a separation position that is spaced from 2 and rotates the drill 43. The drill 43 has a circular shape in cross section, and has a center (rotation center) portion protruding downward. For this reason, when the drill 43 is pressed against the workpiece medium 2 while being rotated, a hole with a sharp center portion is formed as shown in FIG.

  The control unit 50 has a drive control unit 51 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus including each axis drive mechanism of the cutting plotter 1 (see FIG. 2), and based on a predetermined machining program, the X-axis drive mechanism 35, Y By controlling the operations of the shaft drive mechanism 45 and the drill drive mechanism 46, the horizontal movement of the X-axis carriage 30 and the cutting head 40 and the vertical movement and rotation of the drill 43 are controlled. Thereby, it is comprised so that the cutting process with respect to the to-be-processed medium 2 fixedly hold | maintained at the process table 20 may be controlled.

  In addition to the drive control unit 51, the control unit 50 is also provided with a cut shape data reading unit 57, a calculation unit 55, an input unit 56, and a display unit 58. The cut shape data reading unit 57 reads shape data to be cut and outputs the read shape data to the calculation unit 55. And the calculating part 55 outputs the control signal based on the input shape data to the drive control part 51, and the cutting process based on the read shape data is performed. The input unit 56 is for giving an auxiliary instruction at the time of cutting (for example, an instruction for a cutting condition such as a cutting speed and a pressing force). The input condition, the cut shape, and the like are displayed on the display unit. 58. In addition, the detection result in the reference hole detection unit 44 is input to the calculation unit 55.

  So far, the overall configuration of the cutting plotter 1 has been described. In the following, a case where the cutting medium 2 is cut using the cutting plotter 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 4 and a flowchart shown in FIG. Note that the cutting plotter 1 to which the present invention is applied is desirable even when the processing medium 2 on which the mark is not printed is placed at an arbitrary position on the support board 21 as described below. It is characterized in that it can be cut.

  First, in step S <b> 81 shown in FIG. 4, the processing medium 2 is placed at an arbitrary position on the support plate 21. Here, in order to form the reference holes 21a to 21d to be described later, it is not necessary to position and place them at a predetermined position on the support board 21.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S <b> 82, and the mounting position of the workpiece medium 2 on the support plate 21 is detected by causing the support plate 21 to scan the cutting head 40 (reference hole detection unit 44). At this time, the detection result (light reception result) in the reference hole detection unit 44 is output to the calculation unit 55. The computing unit 55 uses the fact that the received light intensity of the inspection light reflected on the surface of the support plate 21 and the received light intensity of the inspection light reflected on the surface of the processing medium 2 are different in the support plate 21. The position of the workpiece medium 2 is detected.

  Subsequently, in step S83, the drill 43 is placed in the vicinity of the four corners of the processing medium 2 (a part avoiding a region where cut processing described later is performed) based on the position of the processing medium 2 detected in step S82. The reference holes 2a to 2d having a predetermined depth are formed by using them (see FIGS. 3A and 3B).

  Next, it progresses to step S84 and the reference | standard hole detection part 44 is scanned with respect to the to-be-processed medium 2. FIG. By doing so, the calculation unit 55 performs the same processing as step S82, thereby detecting the center positions of the four reference holes 2a to 2d formed in step S83 with respect to the support plate 21. Here, as shown in FIG. 3B, each of the reference holes 2a to 2d is formed by deepening the center portion thereof. Therefore, when the reference hole detection unit 44 is scanned with respect to the processing medium 2, the inspection light reflected by the central portion 83b is detected with higher intensity at the light receiving portion than the inspection light reflected by the inclined surface portion 83a. Is done. By detecting such a change in the received light intensity in the calculation unit 55, the center positions of the four reference holes 2a to 2d can be accurately detected based on the intensity change of the reflected light.

  Subsequently, in step S85, any one of the center positions of the reference holes 2a to 2d detected in step S84 is cut at the product portion 2e (the hatched portion in FIG. 3A). Set to the origin position when machining. In the following description, the case where the position of the reference hole 2a is set to the origin position will be described as an example.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S86, where the calculation unit 55 uses the shape data from the cut shape data reading unit 5 (shape data set with the machine origin of the cutting plotter 1 as the origin position), and the position of the reference hole 2a as the origin position. A process of converting into the shape data is performed. As a result, the coordinates of the product part 2e are set as coordinates with the position of the reference hole 2a as the origin position.

  Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S87, and a control signal based on the shape data set with the position of the reference hole 2a as the origin position in step S86 is output from the calculation unit 55 to the drive control unit 51. By doing so, the operations of the X-axis drive mechanism 35, the Y-axis drive mechanism 45, the drill drive mechanism 46, and the like are controlled by the drive control unit 51, and a desired cutting process is performed on the product portion 2e in FIG. Is done. And this flow is complete | finished when the cutting process to the product part 2e is completed.

  As described above, by forming the reference holes 2a to 2d using the cutting drill 43 before cutting the product portion 2e, the shape set with the machine origin of the cutting plotter 1 as the origin position The data can be reset to shape data corresponding to the mounting position of the workpiece medium 2 on the support plate 21 (the shape data can be reset with any of the reference holes 2a to 2d as the origin position). Therefore, regardless of the part on the support plate 21 where the workpiece medium 2 is placed, the shape data with any of the reference holes 2a to 2d as the origin position can be set and based on the shape data. Can be cut. Therefore, for example, it is not necessary to provide a positioning jig or the like to place the workpiece medium 2 at a predetermined position on the support board 21, and the operator can place the work medium 2 at an arbitrary position on the support board 21 (for example, a position where it can be easily placed). It is only necessary to place the workpiece medium 2. For this reason, compared with the structure using the conventional positioning jig, the labor in a cutting process can be saved and the cutting process can be simplified.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration example using the drill 43 as the tool for forming the reference holes 2a to 2d has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this configuration. For example, instead of the drill 43, an end mill may be used. Further, a configuration may be employed in which a reference mark as a reference hole is cut and formed using a cutting blade mounted on the cutting head 40. Further, a mark as a reference hole may be drawn using a drawing pen mounted on the cutting head 40.

  In the above-described embodiment, after forming the reference holes 2a to 2d, the workpiece medium 2 is not removed from the support plate 21 (without changing the placement position of the workpiece medium 2 on the support plate 21). Although the cutting method for detecting the positions of the reference holes 2a to 2d has been described as an example, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, after forming the reference holes 2a to 2d, the processing medium 2 is removed from the support plate 21, and the position of the reference holes 2a to 2d is detected by fixing the processing medium 2 on the support plate 21 again. Also good.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration example using the reference hole detection unit 44 that emits and receives inspection light as the means for detecting the position of the processing medium 2 and the reference holes 2a to 2d has been described. Is not limited to this configuration. For example, instead of the reference hole detection unit 44, a configuration using a CCD camera that images the support plate 21 on which the processing medium 2 is placed from above may be used. In the case of this configuration, the position of the processing medium 2 on the support plate 21 can be detected by extracting the contour line of the processing medium 2 from the captured image data, and the reference holes 2a to 2d can be detected from the image data. By extracting the contour line (or center point), the center positions of the reference holes 2a to 2d in the support plate 21 can be detected.

  Moreover, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the structure which forms the four reference holes 2a-2d with respect to the to-be-processed medium 2 was illustrated and demonstrated, this invention is not limited and limited to this structure. That is, it is only necessary to determine the position of the shape data on the workpiece medium 2. For example, a configuration in which three reference holes are formed or a configuration in which five or more reference holes are formed may be used.

  In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the deepest cut portion of each of the reference holes 2a to 2d is detected as the center position for convenience is described using the drill 43 whose center portion protrudes downward. However, the present invention is not construed as being limited to this configuration. For example, a configuration in which the reference positions of the reference holes 2a to 2d are detected by finely scanning the reference holes detection unit 44 with respect to the reference holes 2a to 2d may be employed. According to this configuration, even if the reference hole is formed using an end mill whose center portion does not protrude downward instead of the drill 43, the center position of each reference hole can be detected.

1 Cutting plotter 2 Work medium (medium)
2a, 2b, 2c, 2d Reference hole (reference mark)
21 Support board (base member)
35 X-axis drive mechanism (relative movement means)
43 Drill (cutting means)
44 Reference hole detector (mark position detector)
45 Y-axis drive mechanism (relative movement means)
46 Drill drive mechanism (relative movement means)
51 Drive control unit (mark position forming means, cut processing control means)
55 Calculation unit (mark position forming means, cutting processing control means)

Claims (3)

A base member capable of supporting the medium; a cutting means for cutting the medium supported by the base member; and a relative moving means for moving the cutting means relative to the medium supported by the base member. In a cutting plotter that performs a desired cutting process on the medium by the cutting means that is relatively moved by the relative moving means,
Mark formation control means for performing relative movement control of the cutting means by the relative movement means, and performing cutting processing on the medium supported by the base member by the cutting means to form a plurality of reference marks;
Mark position detection means for detecting the position of the reference mark on the base member in a state where the medium is supported on the base member;
A cut for performing the desired cut processing on the medium by performing relative movement control of the cutting means by the relative movement means based on the position of the reference mark in the base member detected by the mark position detection means. A cutting plotter comprising processing control means.   The cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein at least three reference marks are formed on the medium by the mark formation control unit. A base member capable of supporting the medium; a cutting means for cutting the medium supported by the base member; and a relative moving means for moving the cutting means relative to the medium supported by the base member. And a cutting method performed using a cutting plotter that performs a desired cutting process on the medium by the cutting means that is relatively moved by the relative moving means,
A mark forming step of forming a plurality of reference marks by cutting the medium supported by the base member by the cutting means;
A mark position detecting step of detecting the position of the reference mark on the base member by supporting the medium on which the reference mark is formed in the mark forming step on the base member;
A cut for performing the desired cut processing on the medium by performing relative movement control of the cutting means by the relative movement means based on the position of the reference mark in the base member detected by the mark position detection step. A cutting method comprising: a processing step.

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