JP2692915B2 - Manufacturing method of rubber coated roller - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a rubber-coated roller, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing a rubber-coated roller used as a fixing roller and a pressure roller of a copying machine.

[Prior Art] A roller used in a heat fixing portion of a copying machine or the like is an important component that directly affects image quality, and is mainly used in a silicone rubber-coated roller because it has excellent heat resistance, wear resistance, and moldability. Used. Further, there are a rubber-coated roller provided with a fluoro rubber latex on a silicone rubber layer (hereinafter referred to as an FS roller) and a roller provided with a fluoro resin on a fluoro rubber layer (hereinafter referred to as an FF roller).

By the way, as shown in FIG. 5, such a rubber-coated roller is formed by coating a surface-treated and primer-coated core metal with a rubber material, cross-linking it, and then grinding it to make it several tens of μm.
-Manufactured by forming a rubber film of several hundred mm. In the case of an FS roller or an FF roller having an outer layer, fluororubber latex or fluororesin or the like is applied (applied) to the rubber film after grinding and baked and cured. Here, the coating cross-linking step differs depending on the rubber material used, and there are pressure curing such as casting curing method, press molding method, injection molding method, spray coating method, dip coating method, etc., but without passing through the grinding step. The latter three methods are generally used to form a rubber film having a thickness of 1 mm or less on the outer peripheral surface of the roller.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, such a conventional method of manufacturing a rubber-coated roller has the following disadvantages. That is, in pressure molding, a grinding step is required after molding, the surface roughness becomes large due to the grinding, and it is not possible to meet the demand for high image quality by fixing, and in the case of the spray coating method, material loss occurs. Many, again
In order to form a uniform film, it is necessary to set the amount of coating once to about several μm, and to form a thick film of several tens of μm or more, repeated coating is required and there are problems such as poor productivity.
Air bubbles easily enter the formed film, and particularly when the rubber film is the outermost layer of the roller, pinholes caused by the air bubbles directly lower the image quality.

On the other hand, in the case of the dip coating method, since the core metal is dipped in a container containing a rubber material to coat it, it is difficult to control the film thickness and make it uniform.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such conventional problems, and a method for producing a rubber-coated roller capable of forming a rubber film having no material loss and having excellent film thickness uniformity and other performances. The purpose is to provide.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method for manufacturing a rubber-coated roller of the present invention which achieves such an object is a method for manufacturing a rubber-coated roller by coating a rubber material on the outside of the roller and then curing the rubber material. The roller is held horizontally, a blade is arranged so as to face the roller and have a predetermined gap with the outer periphery of the roller, and the rubber material is supplied between the blade and the roller, and at the same time the roller is provided. To apply the rubber material to the outer circumference of the roller, and further apply the rubber material to the outer circumference of the roller, and then the blade is retracted from the roller to further rotate the roller. It is intended to make the thickness of the rubber material applied to the uniform.

[Operation] By rotating the roller while supplying the rubber material between the roller and the blade, the rubber material having a film thickness determined by the gap between the roller and the blade is coated on the outer circumference of the roller. Here, the rubber material may be supplied only in an amount substantially equal to the amount required for the rubber film to be formed. After coating, by idly rotating the roller, the thickness of the coating film on the outer circumference of the roller is made uniform, the traces of the blade disappear, and a uniform film thickness can be obtained.

 Then, the applied coating film is thermally cured.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, preferred examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The roller 1 (FIGS. 1 to 4) is composed of a core metal coated with a primer for surface treatment such as degreasing and for improving adhesion with a rubber material, and is held horizontally by a predetermined rotating means and in a predetermined direction. Predetermined peripheral speed in the direction of arrow A, for example, peripheral speed 2 cm / sec
It can rotate at ~ 60mm / sec.

On the other hand, the blade 2 is installed so as to be horizontal to the axial direction of the roller 1 and to have a predetermined gap with the outer periphery of the roller 1. The blade 2 has a length substantially the same as the length of the roller 1 in the longitudinal direction, and the cutting edge 20 thereof has an inclined portion 21 inclined at an angle of approximately 30 ° with respect to the lower surface. The rubber material supply unit 3 is configured. Further, the blade 2 can be horizontally moved in a direction toward or away from the roller 1 (direction of arrow B) by a driving means (not shown) and can be rotated upward (direction of arrow C).

The gap between the outer circumference of the roller and the blade edge determines the thickness of the rubber film to be formed, and can be adjusted to a predetermined value by moving the blade 2 in the horizontal direction.

The rubber material 4 is a substance that becomes a material of a rubber film formed on the outer periphery of the roller 1, and is, for example, liquid silicone rubber, an organic solvent solution of silicone rubber, an organic solvent solution of fluororubber,
In the case of fluororesin and fluororubber, it is latex or the like and has a viscosity of 500 to 2000 cp. These rubber materials, for example, blended in a proper blending ratio and adjusted to a proper viscosity, are fed to a feeding section 3 constituted by a blade tip 20 of the blade 2 and a roller outer periphery by a predetermined feeding system. The supply amount of the rubber material can be manually or automatically adjusted by opening and closing a valve or the like of the supply system.

In the above structure, first, the roller 1 is attached to the rotating means, the horizontal position of the blade 2 is adjusted, and the gap between the roller 1 and the blade 2 is set to a predetermined value. Then, while the roller 1 is rotated at a predetermined peripheral speed, the rubber material is supplied from the rubber material supply system (FIG. 2).

The rubber is supplied at a rate substantially equal to the quantity of rubber material required to form a rubber film of a predetermined thickness when the roller 1 makes one rotation, and this is set manually or by a preset value. Automatically control based on.

Therefore, when the roller makes one rotation, the rubber material is evenly applied to the outer periphery of the roller 1.

Next, the blade 2 is slightly separated from the roller 1 and rapidly swung in the direction of arrow C (FIGS. 3 and 4). As a result, excess rubber material does not adhere to the roller surface, and the blade 2 is separated from the roller 1 without making a knife mark on the formed coating surface.

After that, the roller 1 is idled at, for example, about 2 cm / sec to 60 cm / sec. As a result, the rubber material having fluidity is further made uniform on the roller surface, and the marks of the blade disappear, and the rubber coating 5 having extremely high uniformity is formed.

Then, the solvent in the rubber material is removed by a known vulcanization or curing process, and the rubber material is vulcanized and cured to obtain a rubber-coated roller.

The rubber-coated roller thus obtained is itself used as a pressure roller or a fixing roller, but a primer is further applied to this rubber film, and a fluororubber latex or the like is applied in the same manner as described above. You may form the coating of a rubber material.

That is, the method of manufacturing a rubber-coated roller of the present invention is applicable to rubber films of any rollers, such as an outer layer or an inner layer rubber film formed on a cored bar, and further, an outermost layer rubber film formed on an inner layer rubber film. Can be applied.

In addition, rubber-like high-viscosity silicone rubber is used as the rubber material.
Using a 30% toluene solution (viscosity 700 cp),
An offset prevention layer of a fixing roller for a copying machine was formed by the method of the present invention. The fixing roller had a rubber coating layer having a uniform film thickness and no bubbles, and a high quality image could be obtained.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above embodiments, according to the method for manufacturing a rubber-coated roller of the present invention, since only the necessary rubber material is supplied, there is no material loss, and By optimizing the concentration of the rubber material and the gap between the roller and the blade, it is possible to efficiently produce a rubber film having a uniform film thickness and containing no bubbles.

Further, since a uniform rubber coating can be formed, the grinding step is unnecessary and the productivity can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 4 are explanatory views showing a method for manufacturing a rubber covered roller of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a view showing a manufacturing process for the rubber covered roller. 1 ... Roller 2 ... Blade 4 ... Rubber material

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigetoshi Kusaka 2-1-1 Oda Sakae, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Showa Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd. (72) Masaaki Oya Oda, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Sakae 2-1-1 No. 1 Showa Electric Wire & Cable Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP 63-4287 (JP, A) JP 63-172160 (JP, A) JP 63-27873 (JP, A) ) JP-A-55-129370 (JP, A) JP-A-49-38961 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a rubber-coated roller by coating a rubber material on the outside of the roller and then curing the rubber material, wherein the roller is held horizontally, and the tip of the roller is fixed to the outer periphery of the roller and is opposed to the roller. A rubber coating characterized in that a blade is arranged so as to have a gap, and the rubber material is supplied between the blade and the roller and at the same time the roller is rotated to apply the rubber material to the outer periphery of the roller. Roller manufacturing method. 2. A method for manufacturing a rubber-coated roller according to claim 1, wherein after the rubber material is applied to the outer periphery of the roller, the blade is retracted from the roller and the roller is further rotated to apply the rubber material to the roller. A method for manufacturing a rubber-covered roller, characterized in that the thickness of the formed rubber material is made uniform.