JP3991370B2 - Embossed plate manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an embossed plate used when embossing patterns are imparted to a plastic material or the like, and in particular, a method for manufacturing an embossed plate capable of approximately expressing the unevenness of a real document having continuous unevenness. About.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, several methods for producing an embossed plate are known and used in practice. For example, a negative (or positive) film produced by taking a photograph of the original, and a photo-etching method using a photosensitive resin, a mother mill engraving made from the original, or direct plating on the original An electroforming method or the like that captures the reverse shape is common.
[0003]
However, the simple etching method described above has poor three-dimensional shape reproducibility, and has a three-dimensional shape even in a multi-stage etching method using several types of negative (or positive) films in order to add embossing depth. It was difficult to reproduce the manuscript.
Further, the engraving method cannot be applied to a large pattern such as a wood grain pattern. Furthermore, although the uneven pattern in the electroforming method is excellent in design, it takes a long time for electroforming plating and has to be an embossed plate that is very expensive in terms of cost.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the problem is to provide an embossed plate manufacturing method that is inexpensive, can be manufactured in a short time, and is excellent in design. There is to do.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve these problems, the invention according to the first aspect of the present invention provides a method for producing an embossed plate by an etching method using a photosensitive resin.
Scanning the surface of a flat uneven document held horizontally with a stylus or laser light;
The information on the depth of the concave portion obtained by the scanning is compared with a predetermined threshold, a portion deeper than the threshold is converted into an ON signal, a portion shallower than the threshold is converted as an OFF signal, and obtained by one scanning. Storing information in a storage device;
While rotating the embossing plate cylinder coated with photosensitive resin in advance in synchronization with the scanning, the ON / OFF information for one rotation stored in the storage device is converted to ON / OFF of the laser beam, and a constant pitch is obtained. The process of directly exposing the entire circumference of the embossed cylinder while moving with
After the exposure, the photosensitive resin film on the cylinder surface is developed, etched, and stripped to form a concavo-convex pattern on the cylinder surface, and
In addition, the threshold value is set in a plurality of stages according to the unevenness depth of the uneven document, the step of scanning the stylus or laser light in order of the threshold value while accurately adjusting the position, and the obtained information is stored. A process for producing an embossed plate , wherein a step of storing in an apparatus, the exposure step, and the step of developing, etching, and stripping are repeated a plurality of times to form a continuous uneven pattern.
[0008]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by embodiments.
In the present invention, the uneven shape on the surface of the original is read using a stylus or a laser displacement meter, and the read data is input to a laser drawing apparatus and drawn directly on an embossed cylinder coated with a photosensitive resin. That is, when reading the surface shape of the document, a threshold is set in advance so as to identify only a portion having an arbitrary depth or more, and a portion deeper than the threshold is recorded as an ON signal, and a portion shallower than the threshold is recorded as an OFF signal. Then, the displacement meter is set, the data is sent to the drawing apparatus, the photosensitive resin corresponding to the part is irradiated with laser light, the resin is directly exposed and cured, developed with a developer, and then the first time. Etching is performed.
[0009]
Next, the depth reading setting of the displacement meter is made shallower than the setting described above, reading is performed again, drawing, development, and a second etching operation are performed. By repeating such an operation several times and performing multi-stage etching, a smooth surface having a concavo-convex pattern opposite to the concavo-convex pattern of the original is formed. Therefore, if the depth reading of the displacement meter is set at a fine pitch, the reproducibility of the uneven shape will be good accordingly, but in practice it is sufficient to repeat about three times.
[0010]
The resolution of the laser displacement meter used for reading is preferably small, but it is preferable to select the resolution appropriately depending on the size of the unevenness of the document to be read. The laser drawing apparatus for curing the photosensitive resin needs to have a function equivalent to that of a laser displacement meter for reading.
[0011]
The photosensitive resin to be used is not particularly limited, but it is necessary to have a resolution level equivalent to at least the resolution when reading or drawing. The etching solution used for etching may be ferric chloride, cupric chloride, nitric acid, chromic acid, sulfate, etc. if the embossed plate is made of copper, but usually ferric chloride is generally used. Is used.
[0012]
【Example】
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a method for producing an embossed plate according to the present invention. Reference numeral 10 denotes a document, 11 denotes a stylus or laser light, 12 denotes a laser displacement meter body, 13 denotes a laser drawing device, 14 denotes laser light, and 15 denotes an embossed plate (practically a cylinder) coated with a photosensitive resin.
[0013]
That is, the depth of the concavo-convex shape on the surface of the document 10 is read using a stylus or laser light 11, and the read depth data of the concavo-convex shape is input from the laser displacement meter body 12 to the laser drawing device 13, and photosensitive resin is used. It shows that the photosensitive resin film of a coated metal plate (practically a metal embossed plate cylinder) is directly drawn by irradiating a laser beam 14. When reading the uneven shape on the surface of the document 10, the displacement meter main body 12 sets a threshold value in advance to identify only a portion having an arbitrary depth or more, and uses a portion deeper than the threshold value as an ON signal, which is shallower than the threshold value. This part is recorded as an OFF signal.
[0014]
FIG. 2 is a simple explanatory view of a depth reading position, a drawing portion, and a post-etching shape in the embossed plate manufacturing method of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, as the first time, a displacement meter is set at a position slightly shallower than the deepest part of the document, measured with a stylus or laser light, sent to the drawing apparatus, and the embossed plate surface corresponding to that part The photosensitive resin film is irradiated with a laser beam, directly exposed, cured, developed, and then subjected to a first etching, whereby a convex shape opposite to the original is formed. Next, the depth reading displacement meter is set to be shallower than the first threshold value, and is read again, drawing, developing, and second etching are performed to form a second-stage convex shape. The figure repeats this step in sequence and shows reading, drawing, developing and etching up to the fifth time, but the concavo-convex pattern can be sufficiently reproduced in about three times practically.
[0015]
FIG. 3 shows a conceptual diagram of the embossed plate manufacturing method of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3 (a), when reading the irregularities on the surface of the document with a laser displacement meter, first the depth of the place assumed to be the deepest is measured, and the surface is scanned at a slightly shallower depth. Is converted into an ON-OFF signal, and a portion corresponding to a portion deeper than the depth being scanned is drawn on the embossed plate surface by a laser drawing device. At this time, the scanning operation of the laser displacement meter and the operation of the laser drawing apparatus need to be synchronized. The read data must be temporarily stored in a storage device such as a memory and read out in synchronization with the rotation of the embossed cylinder. Next, the uncured photosensitive resin applied on the embossed plate is removed with a developing solution, and etching is performed with the etching solution to form the deepest inverted portion of the convex shape.
[0016]
Next, after washing and removing the etching solution, a photosensitive resin is further applied to the embossed plate cylinder. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the second scanning depth is performed at a portion shallower than the first scanning depth. Further, after drawing is performed while accurately synchronizing with the drawing position of the first time, development and etching are performed again, and the second convex shape is formed in synchronization with the lower stage of the first convex shape. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3C, the third scanning depth is performed at a portion shallower than the second scanning depth, and the above procedure is repeated.
[0017]
By repeating such an operation a plurality of times, multi-stage etching can be performed. Further, it is possible to change the height of the embossed convex portion by changing the etching conditions, and it is possible to improve the reproducibility of the embossing by setting the scanning depth pitch to be small.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
According to the embossing plate manufacturing method as described above, a more realistic expression can be achieved by an inexpensive etching method, and the emboss depth and reproducibility can be arbitrarily changed.
In other words, since a flat-shaped document is directly scanned and drawn directly, it is easy to produce an embossed plate, and scanning with a stylus or laser light does not damage the document. Thus, the embossed plate can be easily remade.
Furthermore, since the endless joining process can be performed at the stage of the original document, various excellent effects can be obtained such that an endless embossed plate can be easily obtained even with a large pattern such as a grain pattern.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a method for producing an embossed plate in one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a depth reading position, a drawing portion, and a shape after etching in an embossed plate manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of a method for manufacturing an embossed plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is an explanatory view showing a reading depth of the first deepest part and a convex shape thereof; It is explanatory drawing which shows the 2nd reading depth and its convex shape, (c) is explanatory drawing which shows the 3rd reading depth and its convex shape.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Original 11 ... Laser displacement meter 12 ... Laser displacement meter body 13 ... Laser drawing apparatus 14 ... Laser beam 15 ... Embossed plate

Claims (1)

In the method for producing an embossed plate by an etching method using a photosensitive resin,
Scanning the surface of a flat uneven document held horizontally with a stylus or laser light;
The information on the depth of the concave portion obtained by the scanning is compared with a predetermined threshold, a portion deeper than the threshold is converted into an ON signal, a portion shallower than the threshold is converted as an OFF signal, and obtained by one scanning. Storing information in a storage device;
While rotating the embossing plate cylinder coated with photosensitive resin in advance in synchronization with the scanning, the ON / OFF information for one rotation stored in the storage device is converted to ON / OFF of the laser beam, and a constant pitch is obtained. The process of directly exposing the entire circumference of the embossed cylinder while moving with
After the exposure, the photosensitive resin film on the cylinder surface is developed, etched, and stripped to form a concavo-convex pattern on the cylinder surface, and
In addition, the threshold value is set in a plurality of stages according to the unevenness depth of the uneven document, the step of scanning the stylus or laser light in order of the threshold value while accurately adjusting the position, and the obtained information is stored. A process for producing an embossed plate , wherein a step of storing in an apparatus, the exposure step, and the step of developing, etching, and stripping are repeated a plurality of times to form a continuous uneven pattern.

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