JP2820033B2 - Rail carriage guide device for pen lettering machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pen lettering machine for writing characters and symbols on drawings and the like under the control of a computer, and more particularly to a rail carriage guide device of the pen lettering machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional rail carriage guiding device of a pen lettering machine will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 shows a pen lettering machine 1, in which a pair of rack rails 3 and 3 are arranged on the left and right sides of a frame 2 in the Y direction. The rack rails 3, 3 have a rack 3a engraved on the lower surface, and are mounted on the base frame 2 via legs 3b, 3b provided at both front and rear ends. The rail carriages 4, 5 engaging with the rack rails 3, 3 are connected by a guide rail 6 in the X direction, and a rotating shaft 7 parallel to the guide rail 6 passes through the left and right rail carriages 4, 5.
Rollers 8, 8 and pinion gears 9, 9 having a smaller diameter than the roller 8 are fitted to both ends of the rotating shaft 7, respectively, so that the left and right rollers 8, 8 and the pinion gears 9, 9 are interlocked.

As shown in FIG. 5, the roller 8 contacts the upper surface of the base frame 2, and the pinion gear 9 meshes with the rack 3a of the upper rack rail 3 so that the rail carriages 4, 5
Up and down movement. As shown in FIG. 4, gear pulleys 10 and 11 are pivotally supported in the vicinity of one rack rail 3 (left in FIG. 4).
A timing belt 12 is mounted on 0 and 11, and one point of the timing belt 12 is fixed to the rail carriage 4. The front pulley 11 is driven by a Y-axis drive motor 14 via a second timing belt 13, and the rail carriage 4 engaged with the timing belt 12 moves along the guide groove 15. At this time, the roller 8 rolls on the base frame 2, and the pinion gear 9 meshed with the rack 3 a of the rack rail 3 rotates in conjunction with the other pinion gear 9 connected via the rotation shaft 7. The left and right rail carriages 4 and 5 run on the base frame 2 in synchronization with each other.

[0004]

A conventional rail carriage in which a pinion gear is provided coaxially with a roller grounded on a base frame, and a rack provided on the base frame is meshed with the pinion gear to synchronize the left and right rollers and the pinion gear. In the support device, the accuracy of the gap between the roller rolling surface of the base frame and the rack on the base frame is important, and if the gap is too large, the backlash between the pinion gear and the rack becomes large and the running noise increases. , The drawing accuracy deteriorates. On the other hand, if the distance is small, the rotational resistance of the pinion gear and the rollers increases, and the excessive running load accelerates the wear of the rolling surfaces of the pinion gear, the rack and the base frame, or the stepping motor loses synchronism and the position of the rail carriage. Inconveniences such as a displacement between the designated position and an image formation failure occur. However, when using a base frame formed by, for example, plastic injection molding or aluminum extrusion, it is difficult to control the tolerance of the flatness of the frame surface to a certain value or less, and the surface grinding of the roller rolling surface is difficult. Processing is often required, which causes an increase in production cost.

[0005] Therefore, technical problems to be solved arise in order to improve productivity by eliminating an additional step and to improve drawing accuracy and durability, and the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems. Aim.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention proposes the above-mentioned object, in which a rail carriage is fixed to both ends of a guide rail in which a pen carriage is engaged. At both ends of the rotating shaft, a roller and a pinion gear are fitted at both ends of the rotating shaft, and legs are provided at both front and rear ends of a rack rail having a rack engraved on the lower surface. The rack rails are installed in parallel on a base frame, the guide rails are arranged between the pair of rack rails, the rollers are grounded to the base frame, and the pinion gears are respectively meshed with the racks of the rack rails. In a rail carriage guiding device of a pen lettering machine having a rail carriage synchronizing mechanism, the leg of the rack rail is And a shaft such as a pin with a head or a screw is loosely inserted into the hole to fix the shaft to the base frame, and a spring is interposed between the head of the shaft and the rack rail. The rack rail is pressed against a base frame and the rack rail is held so as to be able to float.

[0007]

A rail carriage is fixed to both ends of a guide rail on which a pen carriage is mounted so as to be freely movable.
The rail carriages at both ends are provided with rotating shafts, and rollers and pinion gears are fitted to both ends of the rotating shafts. The roller is grounded to the base frame, and a rack rail is provided above the roller rolling surface.A rack provided on the lower surface of the rack rail faces the base frame, and the rack meshes with the pinion gear of the rail carriage from above. Thus, the vertical position of the rail carriage is regulated by the base frame and the rack rail, and the rail carriage can travel in the front-rear direction. Both ends of the rack rail are fixed to the base frame by pins and the like, and are pressed against the base frame by the bias of the spring interposed between the head of the pins and the rack rail.

When the rail carriage and the guide rail travel, the roller and the pinion gear connected by the rotating shaft rotate in synchronization, and the guide rail and the pair of rail carriages travel along the rack rail. At this time, in a portion where the interval between the roller rolling surface of the base frame and the rack is reduced due to the warpage of the base frame, the pinion gear pushes up the rack rail against the urging of the spring, so that the roller and the pinion gear are moved. The rail carriage travels smoothly and with high precision without being overloaded.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. For convenience of explanation, technical matters belonging to the related art will be described at the same time. FIG. 1 shows a state in which an outer casing of a pen lettering machine 21 is removed. A pen carriage 23 having a pen arm 22 pivotally movable up and down has two guide rollers 24 at a rear part and one at a front part (not shown). Z)
The guide rollers 24, 24, 24 are engaged with the front and rear edges of the guide rail 25 in the X direction. Rail carriages 26 are provided on both left and right ends of the guide rail 25.
Rollers 29, 29 are respectively attached to both ends of a rotating shaft 28 supported by left and right rail carriages 26, 27.
And the pinion gears 30, 30 are fitted.

A pair of left and right rack rails 31, 31 for guiding the rail carriages 26, 27 are provided with a rack 31a on the lower surface.
Are mounted on the base frame 32 via the legs 31b at the front and rear ends and float from the base frame 32. The rail carriage 26 is mounted on the rack 31a.
The 27 pinion gears 30, 30 are in mesh. Accordingly, the rail carriages 26 and 27 are connected to the base frame 32 where the rollers 29 and 29 are in contact with the pinion gears 30 and
The vertical movement is regulated by the rack rails 31, 31 meshing with the upper side of the base frame 30, so that the rack rails 31 can move in parallel on the base frame 32 in the Y direction. Reference numeral 33 denotes a writing implement attached to the pen arm 22.

The left and right rail carriages 26, 27
Gear pulleys 34 and 35 are attached to the, and the pen carriage 23 is coupled to an X-axis timing belt 36 mounted on the left and right gear pulleys 34 and 35. As shown in FIG. 3, the gear pulley 34 rotatably fitted to the left rail carriage 26 in FIG.
A center hole 34a having a D-shaped cross section is formed by drilling a center hole 34a having a D-shaped cross section.
And is loosely fitted into the center hole 34a of the gear pulley 34.

As shown in FIG. 1, the front and rear ends of the X drive shaft 37 are provided with bearings 38, 38 erected on the base frame 32.
A timing belt 42 is mounted on a gear pulley 39 fitted on the rear end and a gear pulley 41 of the X-axis drive motor 40. The Y-axis timing belt 44 mounted on the gear pulleys 43 provided on the front and rear bearings 38 is connected to the rail carriage 26, and is coaxial with the gear pulley 43 at the front (upper side in the figure). By driving 45 by a Y-axis drive motor 47 via a timing belt 46, the rail carriage 26 fixed to the Y-axis timing belt 44 runs along the X drive shaft 37 in the Y direction. At this time, the left and right pinion gears 30 connected by the rotating shaft 28,
By the synchronous rotation of the rails 30, the left and right rail carriages 26, 27 run in conjunction with the rails 33, 33 and the rack rails 31, 31, and the guide rails 2.
5 moves in parallel.

On the other hand, when the X-axis drive motor 40 is driven, X
The drive shaft 37 rotates, and the gear pulley 34 of the rail carriage 26 loosely fitted to the X drive shaft 37 rotates in conjunction therewith, and the pen carriage 23 coupled to the X-axis timing belt 36
Is linked to the X-axis timing belt 36 to guide rail 2
Drive on 5

A lift lever 48 is provided between the front portions of the rack rails 31, 31. In a standby state, the lift lever 48 is pressed against the lower surface of the pen arm 22 by the bias of the spring 49 to raise the pen arm 22. Let me. The lift lever 48 is connected to a solenoid actuator 51 via a cable 50. When the solenoid actuator 51 is turned on, the lift lever 4
8, the pen arm 22 is lowered by the urging of the spring 52 provided on the pen carriage 23, and the writing implement 33 is pressed against the paper surface.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rack rail 31 has
Holes 31c and 31 penetrating vertically through legs 31b at both ends
c is opened, and a head pin 53 is loosely inserted into the holes 31 c, 31 c, and is attached to the base frame 32 by the head pins 53, 53. The headed pin 53 is longer than the overall height of the rack rail 31 and has a threaded portion 53a formed at the lower end.
Is screwed into the base frame 32 and fixed.
A compression coil spring 54 is interposed between the rack rail 31 and the rack rail 31. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
1 is pressed against the base frame 32 by the resilient force of the compression coil spring 54, and can rise while maintaining a parallel posture to the base frame 32 when an external force in a rising direction is applied. Therefore, the rail carriages 26, 2
7, the rack rail 31 is pushed up by the pinion gear 30 in response to the vertical displacement of the rail carriages 26 and 27 due to the warpage of the base frame 32 and the like, absorbing the influence of the warpage of the base frame 32, and engaging the pinion gear with the rack. Pressure is limited to a certain value or less, so that the rail carriage can travel extremely smoothly.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is obvious that various modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention. Of course.

[0017]

According to the present invention, as described in detail in the above-described embodiment, the rack rail is engaged with the synchronizing pinion gear of the rail carriage from above so that the rollers of the rail carriage roll on the base frame. In the pen lettering machine described above, since the rack rail is attached to the base frame via the spring, the rack rail moves up and down to absorb the fluctuation of the contact pressure between the pinion gear and the rack caused by the tolerance of the flatness of the base frame. Therefore, unlike the conventional rack rail is fixed,
The running resistance and position accuracy of the rail carriage are not affected by the tolerance of the flatness of the base frame.
The drawing accuracy is improved, and wear of the traveling mechanism and running noise can be prevented, which is effective in improving the drawing quality and durability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pen lettering machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the rail carriage guide device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example, and is a perspective view of a pen lettering machine.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the rail carriage guide device shown in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 Pen Lettering Machine 22 Pen Arm 23 Pen Carriage 25 Guide Rail 26, 27 Rail Carriage 28 Rotating Axis 29 Roller 30 Pinion Gear 31 Rack Rail 31a Rack 31b Leg 31c Hole 32 Base Frame 36 X-axis Timing Belt 37 X Drive Axis 44 Y-Axis Timing Belt 53 Head pin 53b Head 54 Compression coil spring

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A rail carriage (2) is provided at both ends of a guide rail (25) with which a pen carriage (23) is engaged.
6, 27), and the pair of rail carriages (2
6, 27), both ends of the rotary shaft (28) are supported, rollers (29) and pinion gears (30) are fitted to both ends of the rotary shaft (28), and a rack ( Legs (31b, 31b) are provided at both ends of a rack rail (31) engraved with 31a), and the pair of rack rails (31, 31) are installed in parallel on a base frame (32). The guide rail (25) is disposed between the rack rails (31, 31) of the roller (29).
To the base frame (32), and the pinion gears (30) mesh with the racks (31a) of the rack rails (31), respectively.
27) In the rail carriage guide device of the pen lettering machine having the synchronization mechanism of (27), the rack rail (3)
The leg (31b) of (1) is provided with a hole (31c) vertically penetrating the leg (31b), and a shaft such as a pin with head (53) or a screw is loosely inserted into the hole (31c). Is fixed to the base frame (32), and a spring (5) is attached to the head (53b) of the shaft and the rack rail (31).
A rail carriage guiding device for a pen lettering machine, characterized in that the rack rail (31) is pressed against the base frame (32) with the interposition of 4), and the rack rail (31) is held so as to float. .