JP2591419B2 - Screen printing machine cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a screen of a screen printing machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows a conventional cleaning device 100 for cleaning a screen of a screen printing machine. The main body 101 of the device 100 is movable along the guide rail 102 in the Y direction. The main body 101 is provided with a supply roller 104 for the cleaning paper 103, a take-up roller 105, a roller-shaped pad 106 that can move up and down, and the like. The cleaning paper 103 sent from the supply roller 104 is wound around the pad 106 and then wound up by the winding roller 105.

At the time of cleaning, the main body 101 is set below the screen 107, and the pad 106 is raised to
07 is pressed from the side (substrate side) on which the substrate to be printed is placed. Then, the main body 101 reciprocates in the Y direction.

When the cleaning device 100 as described above is not used, the screen 107 is manually cleaned using a cleaning paper 108 impregnated with an organic solvent as shown in FIG.

[0005]

According to the above-described conventional cleaning device 100, the paste on the periphery of the image hole adhering to the substrate side of the screen 107 can be relatively easily removed. For this reason, the occurrence of a blurring defect in an image during printing after cleaning is rare. However, the clogging defect in which the paste remains in the image hole of the screen 107 is difficult to be eliminated by the conventional cleaning device 100 that wipes only the surface of the screen 107. In particular, it is difficult to remove clogging by the cleaning device 100 particularly in a screen used for high-definition screen printing in recent years.

Therefore, in such a case, the screen must be manually cleaned as described above. However, in this method that relies on manual labor, the operation requires skill and the number of steps increases, and the organic solvent is further removed. There is a problem that the working environment is bad for the worker to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device which can clean not only the surface of the screen on the substrate side but also the inside of the image hole to reliably eliminate clogging.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cleaning apparatus for a screen printing machine, which cleans a screen applied to the screen printing machine with a cleaning sheet. It has a supply section for an organic solvent to be impregnated, and a pressing surface for pressing the cleaning sheet against the screen, and a pad provided with a large number of uneven portions on the pressing surface.
Further, in the apparatus, a driving unit that drives the pad in at least two directions while the cleaning sheet is pressed against the screen may be provided, or a gas ejecting apparatus that blows gas on the screen may be provided. .

[0009]

The supply unit impregnates the cleaning sheet with the organic solvent.
A pad presses the cleaning sheet against the screen. Driving means drives the pad in at least two directions. The organic solvent extracted from the cleaning sheet enters the screen.
The paste in the screen dissolved in the organic solvent flows out of the screen in the recess of the pad and is absorbed by the cleaning sheet. A gas injection device blows gas on the screen to dry the organic solvent attached to the screen.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The main body 2 of the cleaning device 1 is movable in the Y direction along the guide rail 3 by a driving unit (not shown). The main body 2 has a supply roller 5 on which a cleaning paper 4 which is a long cleaning sheet is wound.
And a take-up roller 6 for taking up the used cleaning paper 4. The cleaning paper 4 fed from the supply roller 5 is wound around a pad 8 via a guide roller 7, and is further wound around the winding roller 6 via a guide roller 9.

The pad 8 and its driving means will be described. First, a guide shaft 10 is provided at an upper portion of the main body 2 along an X direction orthogonal to a Y direction in a horizontal plane.
A base 11 is provided on the guide shaft 10 so as to be reciprocally movable, and can be swung in the X direction by a cylinder 12 as a driving means. On the upper surface of the base 11, X
A rectangular substrate 13 long in the direction is provided. Base 11
Is provided with a driving means 14 such as a motor crank mechanism (not shown), which can rotate the substrate 13 in a horizontal plane while keeping the substrate 13 parallel to the X direction.

On both sides of the substrate 13 around the base 11, an air cylinder 1
5 and 15 are provided respectively. Double air cylinder 1
At the ends of the rods 5 and 15, a base plate 16 is provided. The base plate 16 is a rectangle elongated in the X direction, and the dimension in the X direction matches the width of the screen 17 to be cleaned. The pads 8 having substantially the same shape are attached to the upper surface of the base plate 16. Therefore, if the rod is extended upward by driving the air cylinder 15, the pad 8 can be pressed against the lower surface (printing surface) of the upper screen 17.

The pad 8 is made of a soft material such as urethane rubber, and its upper surface has a substantially flat pressing surface 8a as a whole.
However, a large number of uneven portions 18 are formed on the pressing surface 8a. Although the shape of the uneven portion 18 is arbitrary, for example, a mountain shape shown in FIG. 3A, a cross mountain shape shown in FIG. 3B, a wave shape shown in FIG. Etc. can be given.

In addition to the main body 2, the present apparatus 1 has an organic solvent supply section 19 next to the screen 17. The supply unit 19 includes a solenoid valve 21 that is movable in the X direction by a rodless cylinder 20 and a discharge nozzle 22 connected to the solenoid valve 21. A supply pipe for an organic solvent (not shown) is connected to the solenoid valve 21. The discharge nozzle 22 of the solenoid valve 21 has a longitudinal dimension equal to the width of the pad 8 in the Y direction, and is arranged in parallel with the Y direction. Accordingly, the main body 2 is moved below the supply section 19 and the cleaning paper 4 wrapped around the pad 8 is moved.
When the organic solvent is injected and impregnated into the nozzle, the rodless cylinder 20 discharges the discharge nozzle 2 while the organic solvent is injected.
By moving 2 in the X direction, the organic solvent can be efficiently supplied to the area of the cleaning paper 4 that matches the area of the pad 8. In addition, as the organic solvent, in addition to xylene,
Acetone or thinner can be used.

An air jet device 23 is provided at one end of the main body 2 in the Y direction near the pad 8. The air ejecting device 23 faces upward, and is configured to blow air to the screen 17 cleaned by the cleaning paper 4 and the pad 8 impregnated with the organic solvent to evaporate the remaining organic solvent. I have.

Next, a method of cleaning the screen 17 using the present apparatus 1 will be described. The main body 2 is set below the supply unit 19, and the cleaning paper 4 wrapped around the pad 8 is supplied and impregnated with the organic solvent.

The main body 2 is set below the end of the screen 17 in the Y direction. The air cylinder 15 is driven, and the pad 8 is pushed into the screen 17 via the cleaning paper 4 from below. The screen 17 is lifted slightly upward only at the portion pressed by the pad 8 via the cleaning paper 4.

The main body 2 is reciprocated in the Y direction while the pad 8 is swung in the X direction by the cylinder 12. The locus of a certain point on the pad 8 is as shown in FIG. The pad operation wipes the lower surface of the screen 17 once.

During the above-mentioned pad operation, the organic solvent extracted from the pressed cleaning paper 4 enters into the fine image holes formed in the screen 17. The paste that has clogged the holes is dissolved and fluidized by the organic solvent. Then, the paste dissolved in the organic solvent flows out of the hole of the screen 17 in the recess of the pad 8 and is absorbed by the cleaning paper 4. The paste adhering to the lower surface of the screen 17 is wiped off by moving the cleaning paper 4 impregnated with the organic solvent by pressing the convex portion of the pad against the lower surface.

After wiping once, the main body 2 is moved below the supply section 19 again, and the supply roller 5 and the take-up roller 6 are driven to take up the cleaning paper 4 only once. The cleaning paper 4 is subjected to cleaning, and the portion that is soiled advances first, and an unused portion is set on the pad 8.

The cleaning by the pad operation described above is further performed for two more times.
Three times in total. The feeding of the cleaning paper 4 and the impregnation with the organic solvent are performed each time.

Next, after the cleaning paper 4 is fed and renewed, the cleaning is performed by the above-described pad operation in a dry state without impregnation with the organic solvent. At this time, the organic solvent remaining in the hole of the screen 17 is surely sucked by the dried cleaning paper 4 at a portion corresponding to the concave portion of the pad 8.

Next, the air cylinder 15 is driven to lower the pad 8. The main body 2 is moved in the Y direction from one end of the screen 17 to the other end while blowing air on the screen 17 with the air injection device 23. by this,
The screen 17 cleaned with the organic solvent and wiped with the cleaning paper 4 is completely dried. When cleaning is performed using an organic solvent, the organic solvent may adhere to the upper surface (squeegee surface) of the screen 17 through the holes. If this is left as it is, the paste will be thinned and easily flowed when printing later, causing dripping. However, according to the present embodiment, such an inconvenience does not occur because the residual organic solvent is completely evaporated by air jetting after cleaning.

The pad operation is performed in addition to the above-described operation.
A spiral shape as shown in FIG. This behavior is
It is obtained by reciprocating the main body 2 in the Y direction while rotating the pad 8 by the driving means 14 of the base 11.

[0025]

According to the present invention, a cleaning sheet impregnated with an organic solvent can be pressed by a pad having an uneven portion against a screen to perform cleaning by a complicated operation. Therefore, regardless of the skill level of the work, stable cleaning work of high quality can be performed by the machine, and the worker can be released from the work environment using the organic solvent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention as viewed from an X direction.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention as viewed from a Y direction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the shape of a pad according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an organic solvent supply unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a pad operation in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional cleaning device.

FIG. 7 is a view showing conventional cleaning by manual operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning device 4 Cleaning paper as a cleaning sheet 8 Pad 8a Pressing surface 12 Cylinder as a driving means 14 Driving means 15 Air cylinder as a driving means 17 Screen 18 Uneven part 19 Supply part

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] A cleaning device for cleaning a screen applied to the screen printing machine with a cleaning sheet, wherein a supply unit of an organic solvent for impregnating the cleaning sheet with an organic solvent; A cleaning device for a screen printing machine, comprising: a pad having a pressing surface to be press-bonded, and a pad provided with a number of uneven portions on the pressing surface. 2. A cleaning device for a screen printing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a driving means for driving said pad in at least two directions while said cleaning sheet is pressed against said screen. 3. The cleaning device for a screen printing machine according to claim 1, further comprising a gas injection device for blowing gas onto said screen.