JP2017001299A - Ink jet printer with cutting head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet printer with a cutting head capable of cutting an object to be processed accurately.SOLUTION: An ink jet printer with a cutting head comprises: an ink jet head 22 for printing which is movable along a first direction; a cutting head 20 for cutting which is movable along the first direction; an endless belt conveyor 26 capable of conveying and lifting an object 24 to be processed in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction while placing the object to be processed thereon; and suction means for sucking the object to be processed from the lower side of the object to be processed. The belt conveyor comprises: an endless belt having air permeability, whose at least a portion for placing the object to be processed is formed of a metal material; a base part formed of a material having air permeability; and a bristle planting part in which bristles having predetermined strength are planted in the base part at a predetermined density so as to have air permeability. The base part comprises a bristle planting member 34 fixed to a surface of the belt.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an inkjet printer with a cutting head, and more particularly to an inkjet printer with a cutting head that can print a desired image and a desired shape on a workpiece.

  In the present specification, the “object to be processed” includes not only various recording papers such as plain paper, but also other resins such as PCV, polyester, etc., aluminum, iron, wood, etc. Thin materials and thick materials made of various materials are included.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink jet printer in which various functions such as an ink jet printer are equipped with a cutting function in addition to a printing function is known.

  As an ink jet printer equipped with a cutting function, for example, there is an ink jet printer with a cutting head disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4874531.

This inkjet printer with a cutting head has a belt conveyor that conveys the object to be processed, and the object to be processed is printed and cut on the belt conveyor.

  In an inkjet printer with a cutting head equipped with a conventional belt conveyor as described above, the belt conveyor is formed of a material such as rubber and is configured to be movable up and down.

  Then, an object to be processed is placed on the belt conveyor, printing is performed by an ink jet head disposed above the object to be processed, and cutting is performed by a cutting head disposed above the object to be processed. It is what is said.

Here, when cutting, the workpiece is cut by the cutter provided in the cutting head, but the blade edge of the cutter damages the material of the belt conveyor at the time of cutting, so that the surface of the belt conveyor is uniform. Therefore, there is a problem that the workpiece cannot be cut with high accuracy.

  In addition, the cutting of the object to be processed is to cut the object to be processed for each block divided by a predetermined area, but when each block is continuously cut, the object to be processed and the cutting head are cut. There is a possibility that the distance between them may be shifted, and there is a problem that the workpiece cannot be cut with high accuracy.

Japanese Patent No. 4874531

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described various problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet printer with a cutting head capable of cutting an object to be processed with high accuracy. Is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, an inkjet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention is to be treated on a flocked member of a belt conveyor having a flocked member in which hair having a predetermined strength is flocked so as to have a predetermined density. An object is placed on it.

In addition, the inkjet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention adjusts the distance between the object to be processed and the cutting head for each block when the object to be processed is cut.

  That is, the present invention is movable along the first direction, ejects ink onto the object to be processed, performs printing, and is movable in the first direction. A cutting head that is disposed adjacent to the head and cuts the workpiece, and can be moved up and down in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction by placing the workpiece. A cutting head comprising: an endless belt conveyor; and a suction means disposed on a lower side of a surface of the belt conveyor that conveys the workpiece, and sucks the workpiece from the lower side of the workpiece. In the attached ink jet printer, the belt conveyor has an air permeability, and at least a portion on which the workpiece is placed is formed of an endless belt made of a metal material, and has an air permeability. A base portion made of a material, and a flocked portion in which bristles having a predetermined strength are planted at a predetermined density so that the base portion has air permeability, and the base portion is fixed to the surface of the belt. It has a flocking member.

  Further, according to the present invention, in the above-described invention, before the workpiece is cut by the cutting head, the distance between the surface of the workpiece and the cutting head is measured, and the distance is a distance that can be cut. If the distance is a severable distance, the workpiece is cut. If the distance is not a severable distance, the distance is a severable distance. Thus, the belt conveyor is moved up and down to adjust the distance between the surface of the workpiece and the cutting head, and then the workpiece is cut.

  In the present invention described above, the belt is formed of steel on the entire periphery, and the flocking member is disposed on the entire periphery on the outer peripheral surface of the belt.

  Since the present invention is configured as described above, there is an excellent effect that the workpiece can be cut with high accuracy.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration explanatory view showing an example of an embodiment of an inkjet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional explanatory diagram showing the cross-sectional shape of the inkjet printer with a cutting head taken along the line II-II shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration explanatory diagram showing an enlarged main part of the ink jet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of an inkjet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic structural explanatory diagram of an ink jet printer with a cutting head according to the present invention.

In the “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION” section, the “inkjet printer with cutting head” is simply referred to as “inkjet printer” as appropriate.

An ink jet printer 10 with a cutting head shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called flat bed type ink jet printer, and has a cutting function by mounting a cutting head together with the ink jet head.

The inkjet printer 10 includes a lower base 12, an upper frame 14 that is supported by the lower base 12 and extends in the first direction (main scanning direction), and upper frames at both left and right ends of the upper frame 14. The side members 16L and 16R that support the motor 14, the linear motion rail 18 that extends in the main scanning direction on the wall surface 14a on the front side of the upper frame 14, and the linear motion rail 18 are slidable. A cutting head 20 having a cutting function disposed on the inkjet head 22, an inkjet head 22 having a printing function adjacent to the cutting head 20 and slidably disposed on the linear motion rail 18, the cutting head 20 and the inkjet head. The object to be processed 24, which is disposed in the region below 22 and is to be printed and cut, is placed in the main scanning direction. An endless belt conveyor 26 that conveys in the intersecting second direction (sub-scanning direction), a belt conveyor support frame 28 that supports the belt conveyor 26 to be movable up and down, and between the lower base 12 and the belt conveyor support frame 28. The four guide rods 30 disposed on the belt conveyor 26 to support the belt conveyor support frame 28 so as to be movable up and down, and the workpiece 24 placed on the belt conveyor 26 by the belt conveyor 26 being wound can be conveyed. Drive pulley 32a and driven pulley 32b, an intake box 36 disposed in the belt conveyor 26 and provided to suck the workpiece 24 from below the workpiece 24, and an intake duct 38 from the intake box 36. And an exhaust blower 40 that takes in air through the air and a control device 42 that controls the overall operation of the ink jet printer 10.

  The drive pulley 32a that supports the belt conveyor 26 is driven by a drive source (not shown).

  The belt conveyor support frame 28 includes a pair of side surface portions 28a and 28b, and a bottom surface portion 28c. The side surface portions 28a and 28b are respectively provided on both sides of the belt conveyor 26 along the sub-scanning direction. Be placed.

The driving pulley 32a and the driven pulley 32b are arranged such that their respective end portions are rotatably disposed on the inner surface side of the side surface portion 28a and the side surface portion 28b of the belt conveyor support frame 28.

  The cutting head 20 and the ink jet head 22 disposed on the linear motion rail 18 are disposed adjacent to each other, and are configured to be detachable by a magnet 20a and a magnet 22a included therein.

  Thereby, the cutting head 20 and the inkjet head 22 can operate together, and after the printing by the inkjet head 22 is finished, the connection between the cutting head 20 and the inkjet head 22 is released, and the inkjet head 22 Only the cutting head 20 can be slid to move the workpiece 24 to a standby position (not shown), and the workpiece 24 can be cut.

In addition, the inkjet head 22 includes an inkjet head sensor 22 c that detects the distance between the workpiece 24 and the inkjet head 22 on the front surface of the inkjet head 22 in the sub-scanning direction.

  On the front surface of the cutting head 20, a cutter 20 b that cuts the workpiece 24 and a cutting head sensor 20 c that detects the distance between the cutting head 20 and the workpiece 24 are arranged.

  The cutting head 20 is a tangential cut head, and the cutter 20b uses an NT cutter (registered trademark) blade.

The cutter 20 b can move up and down, and such up and down movement is performed by a solenoid (not shown) mounted on the cutting head 20.

  The belt conveyor 26 includes an endless belt 26a made of a metal material such as steel that is not likely to be cut by the cutter 20b, and a flocking member 34 disposed so as to cover the outer peripheral surface of the belt 26a. The flocking member 34 is fixed to the surface of the belt 26a.

  The belt 26a is wound around a drive pulley 32a and a driven pulley 32b that are arranged such that the rotation axis direction is parallel to the main scanning direction.

  Further, the belt 26a passes through the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface so that air sucked through the intake box 36 disposed between the driving pulley 32a and the driven pulley 32b can be ventilated. A plurality of holes 26aa are formed. The holes 26aa are formed at predetermined intervals over the entire surface of the belt 26a.

In the present embodiment, the entire circumference of the belt 26a is made of a metal material. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only the portion on which the workpiece 24 is placed may be made of a metal material. That is, only a region that may be damaged when the workpiece 24 is cut may be made of a metal material.

  The hair planting member 34 is made of a material having air permeability and is configured to wind the belt 26a around the entire circumference of the belt 26a, and hair having a predetermined strength is planted at a predetermined density on the base portion 34a to make the air permeability. The hair transplantation part 34b comprised so that it may have, and the to-be-processed object 24 can be mounted in the surface of the hair transplantation member 34. FIG.

  In addition, the base 34a of the flocking member 34 can ventilate the air sucked into the intake box 36 in the same manner as the belt 26a.

That is, the workpiece 24 is sucked downward in the height direction on the flocking member 34, and is stably disposed on the flocking member 34 by suction, and in the sub-scanning direction in accordance with the operation of the belt conveyor 26. Printing and cutting processes are performed while being conveyed along.

  Here, as a material for forming the base portion 34a, in addition to a woven fabric such as a cloth, a resin such as a non-woven fabric or a chemical fiber may be used.

  Moreover, as a material which forms the hair transplant part 34b, resin, such as a chemical fiber, animal hair, etc. are mentioned.

Specifically, for example, a structure such as a hook-and-loop fastener can be used as the flocking member 34.

The intake box 36 is a box-like body, and has a plurality of ventilation holes 36a on the upper surface thereof, and is connected to the internal space by the exhaust blower 40 via an intake duct 38 connected to the connection hole 36c in the internal space 36b. The air 36b is sucked.

  The lifting mechanism 44 that allows the belt conveyor support frame 28 to be lifted is disposed on the lower base 12 below the bottom surface portion 28c of the belt conveyor support frame 28, and is drilled in the central region of the bottom surface portion 28c. A part of the hole 28d is inserted therethrough.

When the belt conveyor support frame 28 is raised and lowered, the four guide bars 30 serve as guides and move up and down along the four guide bars 30.

A detailed description of the configuration and operation other than the belt conveyor 26 and the cutting head sensor 20c, such as the cutting head 20, the inkjet head 22, and the lifting mechanism 44, has been publicly known from the prior art described in Japanese Patent No. 4874531. Since this technique can be applied, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the above configuration, printing and cutting are performed on the object to be processed 24 by the ink jet printer 10. First, a case in which printing processing is performed on the object to be processed 24 using the ink jet printer 10 will be described.

During the printing process, the height between the inkjet head 22 and the workpiece 24 is measured by the inkjet head sensor 22c for each pass, and when adjusting the height, the belt conveyor 26 is moved up and down.

More specifically, the object to be processed 24 is placed on the belt conveyor 26, and the belt conveyor 26 is conveyed so that the object 24 to be processed is aligned with the origin position.

  Next, the height of the workpiece 24 on the belt conveyor 26 is measured by the inkjet head sensor 22c, and the measured height of the workpiece 24 is compared with a reference value.

  Here, the reference value is a value set in advance for the distance between the surface position of the object to be processed 24 and the inkjet head 22, and the distance between the object to be processed and the inkjet head 22 is within the range of the reference value. If the distance between the object to be processed 24 and the inkjet head 22 is determined to be a printable distance, and if the distance between the object to be processed 24 and the inkjet head 22 is outside the range of the reference value, the object to be processed is determined. It is determined that the distance between the processed object 24 and the inkjet head 22 is not a printable distance.

When it is within the range of the reference value, printing for the first pass is performed as it is, and when it is outside the range of the reference value, the height of the belt conveyor 26 is adjusted by the lifting mechanism 44, After the distance between the object to be processed 24 and the inkjet head 22 is set within the range of the reference value, printing for the first pass is performed.

After the printing for the first pass is completed, the printing process for all passes is repeated in the same manner as described above, and the printing is finished.

  Next, a case where a cutting process is performed on the workpiece 24 using the inkjet printer 10 will be described.

During the cutting process, the height between the cutting head 20 and the workpiece 24 is measured by the cutting head sensor 20c for each predetermined block, and when adjusting the height, the belt conveyor 26 is moved up and down. .

  That is, the cutting operation of the workpiece 24 is performed for each block, and the workpiece 24 is divided into a plurality of areas each having a predetermined area, and each divided area is defined as one block.

  And in the cutting process of the to-be-processed object 24, the cutting | disconnection location which exists in the range of 1 block is cut | disconnected by the cutter 20b.

That is, the cutting process is performed for all the cutting points existing in one block, and when the cutting process is completed for the one block, the process proceeds to the next block, and the cutting process is performed for all the cutting points in the block. The cutting process is performed for all blocks of the workpiece 24.

More specifically, the object to be processed 24 is placed on the belt conveyor 26, and the belt conveyor 26 is conveyed so that the object 24 to be processed is aligned with the origin position.

  Next, the height of the workpiece 24 on the belt conveyor 26 is measured by the cutting head sensor 20c, and the measured height of the workpiece 24 is compared with a reference value.

  Here, the reference value is a value set in advance for the distance between the surface position of the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20, and the distance between the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20 is within the range of the reference value. If it is determined that the distance between the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20 is a distance suitable for cutting, and if the distance between the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20 is outside the range of the reference value, It is determined that the distance between the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20 is not a suitable distance for cutting.

  If it is within the range of the reference value, the first block is cut as it is. If it is outside the range of the reference value, the height of the belt conveyor 26 is adjusted by the lifting mechanism 44 to After the distance between the processed object 24 and the cutting head 20 is within the range of the reference value, the first one block is cut.

Since the reference value is confirmed for each block, there is no possibility that the deviation of the workpiece 24 generated in the previous cutting process will be carried over in the next cutting process.

  Here, when the workpiece 24 is cut by the cutter 20b, the cutter 20b penetrates the workpiece 24, and the tip of the cutter 20b is attached to the flocked portion 34b of the flocked member 34 that winds the outer peripheral surface of the belt 26a. To reach.

  Since the flocked portion 34b is densely planted and has a predetermined strength, when the cutter 20b reaches the flocked member 34, the portion of the flocked portion touching the tip of the cutter 20b avoids the cutter 20b. It will be.

That is, the tip of the cutter 20b enters between the flocked portions of the flocked portion 34b, and the cutting process is performed without damaging the flocked portion 34b and the belt 26a (see FIG. 3).

After the first one block has been cut, the cutting process for all the blocks is repeated in the same manner as described above, and the cutting process is terminated.

  As described above, the inkjet printer 10 with a cutting head according to the present invention is configured such that the belt conveyor 26 has flocking having a predetermined density and a predetermined strength on the outer peripheral surface of the belt 26a. The flocking member 34 is arranged.

In addition, the inkjet printer 10 with a cutting head according to the present invention measures the distance between the workpiece 24 and the cutting head 20 every time the cutting process is performed, and the height of the belt conveyor 26 is increased. The position was adjusted.

As a result, the workpiece 24 can be accurately cut.

  The embodiment described above can be modified as shown in the following (1) to (3).

  (1) In the above-described embodiment, the flocking member 34 is arranged so as to cover the entire circumference on the outer circumferential surface of the belt 26a. You may make it arrange | position only to one part on belts 26a, such as the part in which the thing 24 is mounted.

  (2) In the embodiment described above, the distance between the cutting head 20 and the workpiece 24 is measured by the cutting sensor 20c during the cutting process, the height of the belt conveyor 26 is adjusted, and the reference value is used for the cutting process. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the height of the cutter 20b may be adjusted to a distance suitable for the cutting process.

  (3) You may make it combine the above-mentioned embodiment and the modification shown in above-mentioned (1) and (2) suitably.

  The present invention can be used when a workpiece is cut into a desired shape.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Inkjet printer, 12 Lower base, 14 Upper frame, 16R, 16L Side member, 18 Linear motion rail, 20 Cutting head, 20b Cutter, 22 Inkjet head, 24 Work piece, 26 Belt conveyor, 28 Belt conveyor support frame, 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d Guide rod, 32a Drive pulley, 32b Driven pulley, 34 Flocking member, 36 Intake box, 38 Intake duct, 40 Exhaust blower, 42 Control device, 44 Lifting mechanism

Claims (3)

An inkjet head that is movable along a first direction and that performs printing by ejecting ink onto a workpiece;
A cutting head that is movable in the first direction and is disposed adjacent to the inkjet head and that cuts the workpiece;
An endless belt conveyor that is placed on the workpiece and can be transported in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction and is movable up and down;
In an inkjet printer with a cutting head, which is disposed below a surface of the belt conveyor that conveys the object to be processed, and has suction means for sucking the object to be processed from below the object to be processed.
The belt conveyor is
An endless belt having air permeability, and at least a portion on which the workpiece is placed is formed of a metal material;
A base portion made of a material having breathability, and a flocked portion in which bristles having a predetermined strength are planted at a predetermined density so that the base portion has breathability, and the base portion is formed on the surface of the belt. An inkjet printer with a cutting head, comprising: a fixed flocking member. The inkjet printer with a cutting head according to claim 1,
Before cutting the object to be processed by the cutting head, measure the distance between the surface of the object to be processed and the cutting head, determine whether the distance is a severable distance, and the distance is When the distance is cuttable, the workpiece is cut. When the distance is not cuttable, the belt conveyor is moved up and down so that the distance is cuttable. An inkjet printer with a cutting head, wherein the object to be processed is cut after adjusting the distance between the surface of the object and the cutting head. The inkjet printer with a cutting head according to any one of claims 1 and 2,
The belt is formed of steel all around the circumference,
The hair-implanting member is disposed on the entire circumference on the outer peripheral surface of the belt. An inkjet printer with a cutting head, wherein: