JP4720082B2 - Carriage and recording apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention comprises a damper unit having a damper that temporarily stores supplied ink, and a head unit having a recording head that discharges the ink supplied from the damper, and a carriage that can reciprocate in the main scanning direction; The present invention relates to a recording apparatus including a carriage and a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  An ink jet printer, which is one of recording apparatuses, takes out a sheet stored in a sheet feeding tray by a sheet feeding roller, and sandwiches the sheet by a sheet feeding roller and a driven roller to feed the sheet to a platen. Then, recording is performed by a recording head mounted on a carriage that reciprocates in the main scanning direction, and the sheet is sandwiched between a discharge roller and its driven roller and discharged onto a discharge tray. Among such ink jet printers, a relatively small ink jet printer consumes a relatively small amount of ink, so that an ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage. On the other hand, since a relatively large ink jet printer consumes a relatively large amount of ink, the ink tank is disposed at a location different from the carriage. The ink tank and the recording head are connected via an ink tube or the like.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-175631

  In the large-scale ink jet printer described above, a recording head is attached to the lower part of the carriage, and an ink tube or the like is attached to the upper part of the carriage. For this reason, when performing a maintenance operation or the like of the recording head, it is necessary to first remove the ink tube and then remove the recording head, which is a laborious operation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a carriage on which a recording head capable of easily performing maintenance work and the like, a recording apparatus including the carriage, and a liquid jet. To provide an apparatus.

To achieve the above object, the carriage of the present invention is equipped with a head unit having a recording head of a recording apparatus that discharges ink from the nozzle opening of the recording head toward the recording surface of the recording medium, and reciprocates in the main scanning direction. freely a carriage which is supported in the liquid injection device is disposed on top of the carriage, it has a damper for temporarily storing the ink supplied to the recording head, and a damper unit which is fixed to the carriage, A position adjustment mechanism that adjusts the inclination of the damper unit about the axis perpendicular to the recording surface and the inclination about the axis in the main scanning direction, and is supported by the recording apparatus so as to be reciprocally movable in the main scanning direction. A first sliding portion fixed to the carriage, and supported by the recording apparatus so as to be reciprocally movable in a main scanning direction so that the carriage can be removed. It includes a second sliding portion which is movably mounted on the carriage, and the head unit is disposed under the carriage, detachably mounted from the nozzle opening side of the recording head relative to the damper unit It is characterized by being. Thereby, when performing the maintenance operation of the recording head, it is only necessary to remove the head unit, so the operation of removing other components can be omitted, and the maintenance operation efficiency can be improved. Since the position adjustment of the recording head with respect to the carriage can be performed after the carriage position adjustment is completed, the adjustment work efficiency can be improved.

In addition, the position adjustment mechanism includes a cam mechanism that tilts the damper unit to which the head unit is attached in the tilt direction. Thereby, since adjustment work can be performed simply, adjustment work efficiency can be improved. In addition, the position adjusting mechanism includes an urging unit that urges the damper unit to which the head unit after the tilt adjustment is attached. As a result, rattling at the time of adjustment can be suppressed, and adjustment accuracy can be improved.

In order to achieve the above object, in the carriage of the present invention, the first sliding portion is composed of two rolling means fixed to the carriage and abutting on the main guide shaft, and the second sliding portion. Is fixed to the movable pedestal, and is fixed to the movable pedestal, and is attached to the auxiliary guide shaft. It is characterized by comprising two rolling means in contact. In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium, and includes the carriages described above. Thereby, a recording apparatus that exhibits the above-described effects can be provided.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an overall appearance configuration of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, as viewed obliquely from the front. The ink jet printer 100 is a desktop large-sized printer that can record on a relatively large size so-called cut paper and roll-shaped paper such as JIS standard A4 size to JIS standard A2 size. The housing 101 is covered with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 101 extending in the width direction.

  A rectangular window portion 102 is formed on the upper surface of the housing 101. The window 102 is covered with a transparent or translucent window cover 103. The window cover 103 is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow a in the figure around the upper rotation shaft. The user can perform maintenance work of the internal mechanism through the window portion 102 by lifting the window cover 103 and opening the window portion 102.

  On both sides of the front surface of the housing 101, cartridge storage portions 104 into which a plurality of ink cartridges are inserted and removed are formed. Each ink cartridge stores ink of each color for recording. Each cartridge housing portion 104 is covered with a transparent or translucent cartridge cover 105. The cartridge cover 105 is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow b shown in the figure around a rotation shaft at the lower part thereof. The user can perform an ink cartridge replacement operation or the like by lightly pressing the cartridge cover 105 to release the locking portion and opening the cartridge storage portion 104.

  An operation unit 110 for instructing a printer operation is disposed on an upper portion of the cartridge housing unit 104 on the right side of the front surface of the housing 101. The operation unit 110 displays buttons 111 such as a power system for turning on / off the power, an operation system for operating a cueing of a paper sheet or operating ink flushing, a processing system for performing image processing, and the like. A liquid crystal panel 112 and the like are provided. The user can operate the button 111 while looking at the liquid crystal panel 112 for confirmation.

  A tank housing portion 106 into which the waste liquid tank 120 is inserted and removed is formed at the lower part of the cartridge housing portion 104 on the right side of the front surface of the housing 101. The waste liquid tank 120 stores waste ink that is discarded when the recording head 162 (see FIG. 5) is cleaned or when the ink cartridge is replaced. By pulling out the waste liquid tank 120, the user can perform a work of discarding the waste ink accumulated inside.

  On the back surface of the housing 101, a paper feed unit 130 that feeds roll-shaped paper is disposed so as to protrude rearward from the upper part. A roll paper holder (not shown) capable of setting one roll-shaped paper is disposed inside the paper supply unit 130, and a flip-up-type openable and rollable roll paper cover 131 is provided on the front surface of the paper supply unit 130. Is attached so as to cover a roll paper holder (not shown). The user can perform operations such as attaching / removing roll paper by lifting the roll paper cover 131 and opening the paper supply unit 130. Note that the upper surface of the roll paper cover 131 is formed as a paper feed guide surface capable of manually feeding the cut paper.

  Between the front center of the housing 101, that is, between the pair of cartridge storage portions 104, a paper supply / discharge tray 200 on which cut sheets before recording and cut sheets after recording or roll-shaped sheets are stacked is inserted and removed. A paper feed / discharge unit 140 is formed. The paper supply / discharge unit 140 is also formed so that thick paper that cannot be bent during conveyance can be manually fed.

  A front portion of the paper supply / discharge tray 200 is inserted into the paper supply / discharge portion 140 and fixed so that the rear portion of the paper supply / discharge tray 200 protrudes. The paper supply / discharge tray 200 is formed in a cassette type, and cut sheets to be fed before recording are stacked and stored therein, and cut sheets or roll-shaped sheets to be discharged after recording are stacked on the upper side. Sheets are stacked and placed. The detailed structure of such a paper supply / discharge tray 200 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the entire external configuration of the paper feed / discharge tray 200 as viewed obliquely from the front. The paper feed / discharge tray 200 includes a paper feed tray 210 formed in a box shape and a paper discharge tray 230 formed in a lid shape covering the upper surface of the paper feed tray 210. The paper supply / discharge tray 200 is formed to be extendable and retractable in the paper supply / discharge direction, and can be stored compactly when not in use, and corresponds to cut sheets of various sizes when used. It is possible.

  3 and 4 are perspective views showing the paper supply / discharge unit 140 with the paper supply / discharge tray 200 mounted thereon. When the cut sheets are stacked and placed, as shown in FIG. 3, the roll paper guide unit 240 is stored in the upper surface of the paper discharge member 239a, that is, the upper surface of the paper discharge member 239a is flat. As a result, the cut sheet discharged through the sheet discharge roller 155 (see FIG. 5) has a side surface and a bottom surface of the guide portion 145 having an L-shaped cross section and upper surfaces of the sheet discharge members 239a to 239d. Are smoothly stacked and placed on the sheet receiving surface formed by

  Note that a sponge mat 145 a is attached to the bottom surface of the guide portion 145. The sponge mat 145a is configured such that when the second cut sheet is ejected after the first cut sheet is placed, the leading end of the second cut sheet is the first sheet. It has a non-slip function for preventing the cut sheet from sticking out and falling off the sheet receiving surface.

  On the other hand, when stacking roll-shaped sheets, as shown in FIG. 4, on the other long side of the first guide plate 241 of the roll sheet guide 240 stored on the upper surface of the sheet discharge member 239a. The user puts his finger and turns it backward. Then, the second guide plate 242 is pulled by the first guide plate 241, the one end side in the longitudinal direction is lifted, and the other end side in the longitudinal direction is along the groove 239aa formed on the upper surface of the paper discharge member 239a. Slide backwards. Then, the first guide plate 241 is turned until the angle formed by the first guide plate 241 and the second guide plate 242 becomes an acute angle.

  Thus, the second guide plate 242 has a slide-like shape in which one end side in the longitudinal direction is close to the top of the side surface of the guide portion. For this reason, even if the roll-shaped paper discharged through the paper discharge roller is curled, the leading end thereof is not caught in the guide portion side, and the leading end is a slide-like second guide plate. It slides on 242 and is guided to the upper surface side of the paper discharge members 239a to 239d. Therefore, the roll-shaped paper is smoothly stacked and placed on the paper discharge receiving surface formed by the second guide plate 242 and the upper surfaces of the paper discharge members 239a to 239d.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional side view showing an outline of the internal configuration of the ink jet printer 100 of FIG. In the housing 101, a paper supply / discharge unit 140, a transport unit 150, a recording unit 160 including a characteristic portion of the present invention, and the like are disposed. The paper supply / discharge unit 140 is provided with a hopper 141, a paper supply roller 142, a separation member 143, and the like for feeding cut paper. The hopper 141 is formed in a flat plate shape on which a cut sheet can be placed. One end of the hopper 141 is located in the vicinity of the paper feed roller 142 and the separating member 143 and the other end of the paper feed / discharge tray 200 is mounted. It is disposed so as to be located in the vicinity of the bottom surface of the paper feeding unit 210. The hopper 141 has the other end of the compression spring 144 attached at one end to the bottom surface of the housing 101 on the back surface at one end side, and the one end side pivots around the other end side by the expansion and contraction of the compression spring 144. It is arranged like this.

  The paper feed roller 142 is formed in a D shape with a part of a cross section cut out, and rotates intermittently to frictionally convey the cut paper on the hopper 141. The separation member 143 is formed with a rough upper surface, and when the paper cut by the paper feed roller 142 is double fed, the lower cut paper is frictionally separated from the uppermost cut paper. It has become. Here, the relationship between the cut sheet placed on the hopper 141 and the paper feed roller 142 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a contact state between the cut sheet placed on the hopper 141 and the sheet feeding roller 142. FIG. 6A shows a case where the maximum number of cut sheets P is placed on the hopper 141. In this case, when the hopper 141 is raised, the uppermost cut sheet P1 is fed to the paper feed roller. It adjusts so that it may not contact the notch part of 142 but may contact at least the circumference after the circular arc start point 142a.

  FIG. 6B shows a case where the minimum number (one) of cut sheets P1 is placed on the hopper 141. In this case, when the hopper 141 is lifted, the cut sheets P1. Is adjusted so as to come into contact with a point 142b slightly rotated from the arc start point 142a of the paper feed roller 142. The contact point 142b has a circumferential length from the contact point 142b to the arc end point 142c equal to the distance a from the leading edge ps of the paper P1 to the contact point 151a between the sub roller 151 and its driven roller 152a. This is the point.

  By adjusting as described above, when the number of the cut sheets P placed on the hopper 141 is equal to or less than the maximum number, the leading edge ps of the uppermost cut sheet P1 is moved to the sub roller 151 and its driven roller 152a. The cut paper P1 is not released from the paper feed roller 142 until it reaches the contact point 151a, so that the cut paper P1 can be reliably delivered to the sub-roller 151, and a paper feed error can be eliminated.

  The transport unit 150 includes a sub roller 151 for transporting paper and its driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c, a paper feed roller 153 and its driven roller 154, a discharge roller 155 and its driven roller 156, and a detection sensor for detecting the paper. 157a, 157b and the like are provided. The sub roller 151 sandwiches the cut sheet together with the driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c and reverses it into a U-shape in order to discharge the cut sheet fed from the sheet feeding tray 210 to the sheet discharge tray 230. It is designed to be transported. Further, the sub-roller 151 sandwiches and conveys the roll-shaped paper together with the driven roller 152c in order to eject the roll-shaped paper fed from the paper feeding section 130 to the paper ejection section 230. .

  The paper feed roller 153 sandwiches the cut paper that has been reversely conveyed or the roll-shaped paper that is fed together with the driven roller 154 and feeds it to the platen 163. The paper discharge roller 155 supports the paper passing through the platen 163 alone or sandwiches it together with the driven roller 156 and discharges it onto the paper discharge tray 230. The detection sensor 157a detects the transport amount when the skew of the cut paper that is fed is taken. The detection sensor 157b is configured to detect a conveyance amount when cueing a cut sheet that is reversely conveyed or a roll-shaped sheet that is conveyed.

  The driven roller 156 includes a serrated roller 11 and a roller 12 that are in contact with or separated from the recording surface of the sheet conveyed onto the paper discharge roller 155, and a switching shaft 14 that switches between contact and separation of these rollers 11 and 12. I have. The serrated roller 11 has a saw blade-like protrusion formed on its peripheral surface, and is surely conveyed by biting into the recording surface of the paper and sandwiching the paper with the paper discharge roller 155.

  The roller roller 12 has a smooth peripheral surface, and is surely conveyed by pressing the recording surface of the paper and sandwiching the paper with the paper discharge roller 155. Further, on the peripheral surface of the switching shaft 14, the release roller 13, in which the roller roller 11, the roller roller 12, the roller roller 11, and the roller roller 12 are not disposed, is disposed at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction. A plurality of sets are arranged at predetermined intervals.

  According to such a driven roller 156, by rotating the switching shaft 14, it is possible to arbitrarily switch between the jagged roller 11 and the roller 12, the jagged roller 11 and the release unit 13, and the roller 12 and the release unit 13. The switching between the jagged roller 11 and the release unit 13 or the roller roller 12 and the release unit 13 is a pseudo contact / separation of the jagged roller 11 or the roller roller 12 with respect to the recording surface of the sheet. Therefore, it is possible to deal with paper having many attributes by the above switching. The follower roller 156 is provided with three kinds of the roller roller 156, the roller roller 12, and the release part 13 one by one. However, the invention is not limited to this. You may make it arrange | position by arbitrary combinations.

  The recording unit 160 is provided with a carriage 161 and a recording head 162, a platen 163, a support rib 164, and the like, which are characteristic parts of the present invention. The carriage 161 is connected to a carriage belt 165 (see FIG. 7 and the like). When the carriage belt 165 is actuated by a carriage motor 166 (see FIG. 7 and the like), the carriage 161 is entrained in the movement of the carriage belt 165 and the main guide shaft 61 ( 7) and the auxiliary guide shaft 62 (see FIG. 7 etc.), and reciprocates on the paper in the conveyance orthogonal direction.

  The carriage 161 includes a head unit 180 (see FIG. 14 and the like) having a recording head 162 that can eject ink droplets toward a lower sheet, and a damper 191 (see FIG. 12 and the like) that temporarily stores ink to be supplied to the recording head 162. And a position adjustment mechanism 200 (see FIG. 12 and the like) for adjusting the position (tilt) of the recording head 162.

  The recording head 162 includes, for example, a plurality of black ink recording heads that eject two types of black ink, and a plurality of color inks that respectively eject six ink droplets of yellow, dark yellow, cyan, light cyan, magenta, and light magenta. Recording head. The recording head 162 is provided with a pressure generation chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generation chamber. The ink is stored in the pressure generation chamber and pressurized at a predetermined pressure to control the recording head 162 from the nozzle opening toward the sheet on the platen 163. Ink droplets of a specified size are ejected. The platen 163 supports and guides the paper conveyed from the paper feed roller 153 and the driven roller 154 toward the paper discharge roller 155 and the driven roller 156 on the recording guide surface 163a which is the upper surface thereof, or the support rib 164. It is designed to support and guide you.

  Here, in order to enable recording on paper having many attributes, that is, paper having different thicknesses, the paper is conveyed onto the nozzle formation surface of the recording head 162 mounted on the carriage 161 and the recording guide surface 163a of the platen 163. A gap adjusting mechanism 170 (see FIG. 20 and the like) for adjusting a gap with the recording surface of the sheet that has been provided is provided. The main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 are configured to be rotatable about an eccentric rotation shaft, and the gap adjusting mechanism 170 rotates the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 in synchronization with each other. Adjust so that the gap is always constant.

  The support rib 164 includes a rib 21 that protrudes or retracts from a slit 163b formed in the recording guide surface 163a of the platen 163, and a switching shaft 22 that switches the protrusion / retraction of the rib 21. The rib 21 is formed in a substantially triangular plate shape, and a corner portion of the arc shape protrudes from the recording guide surface 163a to support the sheet. Both ends of the switching shaft 22 are supported by the side surface 163 c of the platen 163. A plurality of ribs 21 are arranged on the circumferential surface of the switching shaft 22 at predetermined intervals in the axial direction.

  According to such a support rib 164, by rotating the switching shaft 22, in the slit 163 b formed in the recording guide surface 163 a of the platen 163, the arc-shaped corner portion and the flat portion of the rib 21 can be arbitrarily set. You can switch to That is, the rib 21 can be projected by positioning the arc-shaped corner of the rib 21 in the slit 163b formed in the recording guide surface 163a of the platen 163, and the flat portion of the rib 21 is positioned. The rib 21 can be retracted. Therefore, it is possible to deal with paper having many attributes that will be described in detail later by the above switching.

  7 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of the peripheral portion of the carriage 161, FIG. 8 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA. A main guide shaft 61 is disposed in the main scanning direction on the back side of the carriage 161, and a sub guide shaft 62 is arranged in parallel with the main guide shaft 61 on the front side of the carriage 161. The main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 are formed in a round bar shape, and both ends are supported and fixed to a side frame (not shown).

  The main guide shaft 61 is provided with a long rectangular main guide plate 63 extending from one end to the other end, and the sub guide shaft 62 is a long rectangular sub guide extending from one end to the other end. A guide plate 64 is provided. The main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 are arranged in parallel in the circumferential direction so as to cover the substantially half circumferential surface of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 on the carriage 161 side. That is, each of the two main guide plates 63 and the sub guide plates 64 is disposed so as to cover the upper and lower portions of the substantially half circumferential surfaces of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 facing each other.

  The main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 have both ends on the long side bent slightly toward the main guide shaft 61 side and the sub guide shaft 62 side, and the cross section is formed in a substantially C shape. By having such a cross-sectional shape, when the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 are attached to the peripheral surfaces of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62, the peripheral surfaces of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 are arranged. The leading ends of the main guide plate 63 and the sub-guide plate 64 are in contact with each other, and the central portions of the main guide plate 63 and the sub-guide plate 64 are slightly lifted from the peripheral surfaces of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub-guide shaft 62. That is, a play is formed.

  The carriage 161 is provided with the same sliding portion 70 at both ends on the back side and the same sliding portion 80 at both ends on the front side. Two radial bearings 71 are attached to a fixed base 72 screwed to the carriage 161 so that the two radial bearings 71 are vertically open at a substantially right angle. That is, the two radial bearings 71 are in contact with the two main guide plates 63 attached to the main guide shaft 61, respectively, and can be slid along the longitudinal direction of the main guide plate 63. 72 is supported by the shaft.

  Two radial bearings 81 are attached to a movable base 82 that is movably mounted on the carriage 161 so that the two radial bearings 81 are vertically open at a substantially right angle. That is, the two radial bearings 81 are in contact with the two sub guide plates 64 attached to the sub guide shaft 62, respectively, and are movable pedestals so that they can slide along the longitudinal direction of the sub guide plate 64. A shaft 82 supports the shaft. The movable pedestal 82 has a shaft 83 whose one end is fixed to the fixed pedestal 72, and the other end is inserted through a spring 84. Accordingly, the movable pedestal 82 is movable along the shaft 83. By adjusting the length of the support portion of the shaft 83 in the vicinity of the movable pedestal 82, it is possible to remove the backlash when the movable pedestal 82 moves.

  According to the carriage 161 having such a configuration, the sliding portions 70 and 80 are not in direct contact with the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62, so that the wear of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 can be eliminated. . Therefore, the reciprocating movement of the carriage 161 in the main scanning direction can be maintained with high accuracy. Furthermore, since the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 are made of a material that is difficult to wear, for example, stainless steel, the wear of the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 can be reduced. The reciprocal movement in the direction can be maintained with high accuracy.

  Further, since the radial bearing 81 of the sliding portion 80 presses the sub guide plate 64 attached to the sub guide shaft 62 by the restoring force of the spring 84, the radial bearing 71 of the sliding portion 70 is caused by the reaction force. The main guide plate 63 can be pressed and bent by the amount of play to be pressed against the main guide shaft 61. Therefore, since the carriage 161 always slides along the main guide shaft 61, the reciprocating movement in the main scanning direction can be maintained with high accuracy. Since the radial bearings 71 and 81 are used instead of the conventionally used thrust bearings, the cost can be reduced.

  Here, as described above, since both ends of the main guide shaft 61 are supported and fixed to the side frames, there is a possibility that the main guide shaft 61 may be bent by a load by the spring 84 applied in the radial direction. Therefore, a support member 65 for supporting this load is disposed on the back side at the center of the main guide shaft 61. However, the gap between the nozzle formation surface of the recording head 162 mounted on the carriage 161 and the recording surface of the paper conveyed on the recording guide surface 163a of the platen 163 is always constant even if the thickness of the paper is different. For this reason, the main guide shaft 61 is rotatable about an eccentric rotation shaft. For this reason, when a simple support member is disposed on the back side of the center of the main guide shaft 61, a gap is generated between the support member and the main guide shaft 61 depending on the rotational position of the main guide shaft 61. There is a case. Therefore, in order to prevent the occurrence of this gap, the support member 65 has the following configuration.

  FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing details of the support member 65, and FIG. 11 is a sectional view thereof. The support member 65 includes a pressing member 65a and an adjustment member 65b. The pressing member 65 a is fixed to the frame 107 disposed on the back side of the main guide shaft 61 with screws. The adjustment member 65 b is embedded in the back side at the center of the main guide shaft 61. The pressing member 65a and the adjustment member 65b are brought into contact with each other so that the load by the spring 84 applied in the radial direction of the main guide shaft 61 is supported.

  The contact surface of the pressing member 65a is formed as a flat surface, but the contact surface of the adjustment member 65b does not change the distance from the eccentric rotation axis R of the main guide shaft 61 depending on the shaft rotation position. The curved surface is always constant. Accordingly, even when the gap adjustment is performed by rotating the main guide shaft 61, no gap is generated between the support member 65 and the main guide shaft 61. Therefore, the support member 65 can always support the load applied by the spring 84 applied in the radial direction of the main guide shaft 61, and the occurrence of bending due to this load can be prevented to maintain the recording accuracy with high accuracy.

  12 to 14 are a perspective view of the details of the carriage 161, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, seen from the left front, a perspective view seen from the right front, and a perspective view seen from the bottom side. As described above, the carriage 161 includes the head unit 180, the damper unit 190, and the position adjustment mechanism 300. The carriage 161 is formed in a rectangular frame shape. The head unit 180 and the damper unit 190 are inserted into the frame with a clearance, and the position adjusting mechanism 300 is disposed between the frame and the damper unit 190. .

  The head unit 180 is disposed below the carriage 161 and includes a head cover 181 that covers the recording head 162 and the like. The damper unit 190 is disposed on the carriage 161 with the head unit 180 attached thereto, and includes a damper cover 194 that covers the damper 191 (see FIG. 15 and the like), the ink tube 192, the flexible cable 193, and the like. The position adjustment mechanism 300 is attached to the carriage 161, and a first inclination that adjusts the inclination around the axis perpendicular to the recording surface of the paper in the recording head 162 of the head unit 180 attached to the damper unit 190. A biasing unit that biases the carriage 161 with the adjusting unit (cam mechanism) 310 and the second tilt adjusting unit (cam mechanism) 320 that adjusts the tilt around the axis in the main scanning direction, and the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached. A member (biasing means) 330 (see FIG. 16 and the like) is provided.

  FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the mounting structure of the head unit 180. The head unit 180 is detachably attached to the damper unit 190 with screws 182. At the time of maintenance work of the conventional recording head, it is necessary to remove the recording head after removing the ink tube and the flexible cable and removing the damper. However, in the present embodiment, as described above, the movable base 82 of the sliding portion 80 is moved to remove the carriage 161 from between the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62, and the head unit 180 is removed from the damper unit 190. Only the maintenance work of the recording head 162 can be performed, so that the working efficiency can be greatly improved.

  FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing details of the first inclination adjusting unit 310 and its peripheral part, and FIG. 17 is a plan view thereof. The first inclination adjustment unit 310 includes a first inclination adjustment lever 311, a first inclination adjustment shaft 312, and a first inclination adjustment cam 313. The first tilt adjustment lever 311 is formed in a rod shape and is swingably disposed at the rear side of the right side surface of the carriage 161. The first tilt adjusting shaft 312 is pivotally supported at one end of the first tilt adjusting lever 311 and is rotatably disposed following the swing of the first tilt adjusting lever 311. The first inclination adjustment cam 313 is formed eccentrically with respect to the first inclination adjustment shaft 312 and is rotatably disposed following the swing of the first inclination adjustment lever 311. Further, the first inclination adjusting cam 312 is formed so as to abut on the tip of the convex portion 194 a formed on the right back surface portion of the damper cover 194 of the damper unit 190.

  On the other hand, the damper unit 190 is axially supported by the carriage 161 so as to be rotatable in a direction Z around an axis perpendicular to the recording surface around a protrusion 190a formed on the left rear surface. Further, the upper surface of the damper unit 190 is biased by the biasing member 330. The urging member 330 is a leaf spring, one end of which is locked by a screw 331 on the upper right side of the carriage 161 and the other end of which is locked by a coil spring 332 that is locked on the upper left side of the carriage 161. Yes.

  According to such a configuration, the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached is moved by swinging the first tilt adjusting lever 311 and rotating the first tilt adjusting cam 313 so as to press the convex portion 194a. The projection 190a can be rotated in one direction around the axis perpendicular to the recording surface of the sheet. Further, the biasing member 330 is pulled by the coil spring 332 and the head unit 180 is attached by swinging the first tilt adjusting lever 311 and rotating the first tilt adjusting cam 313 away from the convex portion 194a. Since the damper unit 190 is pressed, the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached can be rotated in the other direction around the axis perpendicular to the recording surface of the sheet with the protrusion 190a as the center. Therefore, the inclination of the direction Z around the axis perpendicular to the recording surface of the paper in the recording head 162 can be adjusted. After the tilt adjustment, the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached can be fixed to the carriage 161 by tightening the screw 333 of the biasing member 330.

  18 is a perspective view showing details of the second inclination adjusting unit 320 and its peripheral part, and FIG. 19 is a side view thereof. The second inclination adjustment unit 320 includes a second inclination adjustment lever 321, a second inclination adjustment shaft 322, and a pair of second inclination adjustment cams 323. The second tilt adjustment lever 321 is formed in a fan shape and is swingably disposed at the front portion of the left side surface of the carriage 161. The second tilt adjustment shaft 322 is pivotally supported at a right angle to the center of the second tilt adjustment lever 321 and is rotatably arranged following the rotation of the second tilt adjustment lever 321. The pair of second inclination adjustment cams 323 are formed eccentrically at both ends of the second inclination adjustment shaft 322 and are rotatably arranged following the rotation of the second inclination adjustment lever 321. Further, the pair of second inclination adjusting cams 322 are formed so as to contact the lower surfaces of the pair of convex portions 194 b formed on the left and right front portions of the damper cover 194 of the damper unit 190.

  On the other hand, the damper unit 190 is supported by the carriage 161 so as to be rotatable in the direction Y around the axis in the main scanning direction around the lower surface of the protrusion 190b formed at the center of the back surface. Further, the upper surface of the damper unit 190 is biased by the biasing member 330. One end of the biasing member 330 is locked to the upper part of the right side surface of the carriage 161 by a screw 331 and the other end is locked to a coil spring 332 that is locked to the upper side of the left side surface of the carriage 161.

  According to such a configuration, the second inclination adjusting lever 321 is rotated so that the second inclination adjusting cam 323 is rotated so as to press the lower surface of the convex portion 194b, whereby the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached. Can be rotated in one direction around the axis in the main scanning direction around the lower surface of the protrusion 190b. Further, by rotating the second inclination adjusting lever 321 so that the second inclination adjusting cam 323 is separated from the lower surface of the convex portion 194b, the biasing member 330 is pulled by the coil spring 195, and the head unit 180 is attached. Since the damper unit 190 is pressed, the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached can be rotated in the other direction around the axis in the main scanning direction around the lower surface of the protrusion 190b. Therefore, the inclination of the recording head 162 in the direction Y around the axis in the main scanning direction can be adjusted. After the tilt adjustment, the damper unit 190 to which the head unit 180 is attached can be fixed to the carriage 161 by tightening the screw 333 of the biasing member 330.

  20 is a plan view showing the gap adjusting mechanism 170 and its peripheral part, FIGS. 21A and 21B are right side views and left side views thereof, and FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing details of the right side face. 23A and 23B are perspective views showing details of the left side surface. The gap adjusting mechanism 170 includes an eccentric bushing 171a, 171b, 172a, 172b that supports the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 in an eccentric state, a belt 173 that synchronously rotates the eccentric bushes 171a, 172a on one side, A tension pulley 174 for applying tension to both sides of the belt 173 is provided. Furthermore, a gear mechanism 176 that connects the motor 175 and the eccentric bushes 171a and 172a to the motor 175, a first fixing member 177 and a second fixing member 178 that fix the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 are provided.

  As shown in FIGS. 20 to 23, each of the eccentric bushes 171a, 171b, 172a, and 172b is fixed to both ends of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 and is rotatably attached to both side frames (not shown). . Thereby, the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 can be eccentrically rotated. As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, the belt 173 is stretched between the eccentric bushes 171a and 172a. Thereby, the backlash which arises when using a gear can be eliminated. As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, the tension pulley 174 is fixed to a side frame (not shown) with screws. Thereby, the phase shift at the time of rotation of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 can be prevented.

  As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, the gear mechanism 176 includes a bush gear 176a fitted into one end of an eccentric bush 171a, a first intermediate gear 176b that meshes with the motor 175, a planetary gear 176c that meshes with the first intermediate gear 176b, A second intermediate gear 176d that intermittently meshes with the planetary gear 176c, a third intermediate gear 176e that meshes with the second intermediate gear 176d, and a fourth intermediate gear 176f that meshes with the third intermediate gear 176e and the bush gear 176a are provided. . The planetary gear 176c has a function of switching between gap adjustment driving, switching driving of the switching shafts 14 and 22, and release driving of the driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c by forward and reverse rotation of the motor 175.

  As shown in FIGS. 20 to 23, the first fixing member 177 is fixed to the eccentric bushes 171a, 171b, 172a, 172b. The first fixing member 177 is screwed and fixed to both side frames (not shown) after adjusting the level of the plane formed by the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62. As shown in FIGS. 20, 21, and 23, the second fixing member 178 is attached to the eccentric bush 171b on the other side. The second fixing member 178 is screwed and fixed to a flange portion 171ba formed integrally with the eccentric bush 171b after adjusting the gap due to the eccentric rotation of the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62.

  In addition, since the carriage 161 moves up and down during the gap adjustment, the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 disposed between the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 may be displaced. However, since the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 are attached with the back frame having a backlash, sheet metal alignment can be performed simply, and then the carriage 161 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction. By doing so, the main guide plate 63 and the sub guide plate 64 can be leveled to perform sheet metal alignment completely.

  According to the gap adjusting mechanism 170 having such a configuration, the carriage 161 can be moved up and down by automatically rotating the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 eccentrically in the same phase. Accordingly, the gap between the nozzle forming surface of the recording head 162 mounted on the carriage 161 and the recording surface of the sheet conveyed on the recording guide surface 163a of the platen 163 is always constant even if the sheet thickness is different. Highly accurate gap adjustment can be performed.

  Since the carriage 161 moves up and down during gap adjustment, the recognition sensor of the carriage 161 moves up and down in synchronization therewith. Further, the linear encoder scale constituting the position sensor of the carriage 161 needs to be kept in a non-contact state with the linear encoder attached to the carriage 161, and can be adjusted by levers attached to both sides of the linear encoder scale. It is like that.

  In the adjustment procedure around the recording head 162 configured as described above, first, a flat surface formed by the main guide shaft 61 and the sub guide shaft 62 is formed. Next, in the recording head 162 of the head unit 180 attached to the damper unit 190, the inclination about the axis in the vertical direction with respect to the recording surface of the paper is adjusted, and then the inclination about the axis in the main scanning direction is adjusted. . The inclination around the axis in the sub-scanning direction is adjusted. This adjustment is automatically and automatically adjusted for each nozzle of the recording head 162. Finally, the gap between the nozzle formation surface of the recording head 162 and the recording surface of the paper is adjusted. With the above adjustment, highly accurate recording can be performed.

  With such a configuration, an operation when recording on a sheet cut by the ink jet printer 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25. FIG. First, the control unit automatically switches the driven roller 156 and the support rib 164 corresponding to the cut sheet. That is, the driven roller 156 is switched to the jagged roller 11, and the rib 21 of the support rib 164 is retracted. The cut sheets P stacked and housed in the sheet feeding tray 210 of the sheet feeding / discharging tray 200 attached to the sheet feeding / discharging unit 140 are compressed with the sheet bundle mechanically synchronized with the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 142. When the hopper 141 is raised by the restoration of the spring 144, it is pressed against the paper feed roller 142, and only the uppermost cut sheet P is separated by the separating member 143 and fed to the transport unit 150.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 24A, when the cut sheet P to be fed reaches the contact point 151a between the sub roller 151 and the driven roller 152a, the cut sheet P is skewed. This skew removing method is different depending on the sheet thickness. That is, in the case of a thin cut sheet of plain paper or less, the front end of the cut sheet is slightly bitten between the sub-roller 151 and its driven roller 152a, and then the rollers 151 and 152a are reversed and cut. By bending the cut paper, a method is adopted in which the front ends of the cut paper are aligned and the skew is removed.

  On the other hand, in the case of paper that has been cut thicker than plain paper, the leading edge of the cut paper is abutted against the contact point 151a between the sub-roller 151 and its driven roller 152a, and the paper feed roller 142 is slipped. A method of removing skew by aligning the leading ends of the paper is employed. The amount of biting and the amount of butting are detected by the detection sensor 157a, and the skew removal is controlled according to the detection amount.

  In this way, the skew removal method varies depending on the paper thickness because the thin cut paper is not stiff, and the paper feed roller 142 sends out the cut paper without slipping on the cut paper. This is because the thick cut paper has a structure in which the thin cut paper is bonded, and may peel off when the rollers 151 and 152a are reversed. is there.

  The cut sheet P after the skew removal is sandwiched between the sub-roller 151 and its driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c driven by a paper feed motor (not shown) and reversed in the U-shaped path, that is, opposite to the paper feeding direction. Conveyed in the direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 24B, when the leading edge of the cut paper P reaches the detection position DP of the detection sensor 157b, cueing that is the recording start positioning of the cut paper P is performed.

  That is, the leading edge of the cut paper P is conveyed by the detection sensor 157b from the detection position DP until it reaches the cueing position HP shown in FIG. 25A through between the paper feed roller 153 and the driven roller 154. The amount is detected, and cueing is controlled according to the detected amount. The conventional cueing is performed by the detection sensor 157a disposed on the upstream side of the sub-roller 151, but this cueing is performed by the detection sensor 157b disposed on the downstream side of the sub-roller 151. The amount can be reduced, and particularly the cueing error due to the paper thickness can be eliminated and the cueing accuracy can be improved.

  After that, the cut sheet P for which the cueing has been completed is nipped by a paper feed roller 153 driven by a paper feed motor (not shown) and its driven roller 154 and conveyed to the recording unit 160. Therefore, the nipping of the cut paper P by the sub roller 151 and its driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c causes deterioration of the conveyance accuracy. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25B, each of the driven rollers 152a, 152b, and 152c. Releases from the sub-roller 151.

  The cut sheet P to be conveyed is sucked and flattened on a platen 163 by a suction pump (not shown), and is recorded by a recording head 162 mounted on a carriage 161 that is scanned by a carriage motor and a timing belt (not shown). . At this time, the control unit of the ink jet printer 100 supplies each color ink from a total of seven ink cartridges, for example, yellow, light yellow, magenta, light magenta, cyan, light cyan, and black, to the recording head 162 and discharges each color ink. The timing and driving of the carriage 161 and the paper feed roller 153 are controlled to execute highly accurate ink dot control, halftone processing, and the like. Then, the cut sheet P for which recording has been completed is sandwiched between a sheet discharge roller 155 and a notch roller 11 driven by a sheet feed motor (not shown), and is discharged to the sheet supply / discharge unit 140, and the sheet supply / discharge tray 200. Are stacked on the paper discharge tray 230.

  As described above, according to the ink jet printer 100 of the present embodiment, since the head unit 180 is detachably attached to the damper unit 190, when performing the maintenance work of the recording head 162, only the head unit 180 is used. The operation of removing the damper 191, the ink tube 192, the flexible cable 193 and the like can be omitted, and the maintenance work efficiency can be improved. Further, since the position adjustment mechanism 300 is provided, the position adjustment of the recording head 162 with respect to the carriage 161 can be performed after the position adjustment of the carriage 161 is completed, and the adjustment work efficiency can be improved.

  Any recording apparatus including a carriage equipped with a recording head can be applied to, for example, a facsimile apparatus, a copying apparatus, and the like. In addition to a recording apparatus, the meaning of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid corresponding to its use from a liquid ejecting head onto an ejected medium instead of ink and attaches the liquid to the ejected medium is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like Color material jet head used for manufacturing color filters, electrode material (conductive paste) jet head used for electrode formation for organic EL display and surface emitting display (FED), bio-organic jet head used for biochip manufacturing, precision pipette The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus equipped with a sample ejection head or the like.

1 is a perspective view of an overall appearance configuration of an ink jet printer that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a paper supply / discharge tray of the printer of FIG. 1. It is a perspective view which shows the usage condition of the paper supply / discharge tray of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows another usage pattern of the paper supply / discharge tray of FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view illustrating an outline of an internal configuration of the printer of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the contact state of the paper and paper feed roller on a hopper. It is a perspective view which shows the detailed structure of the peripheral part of a carriage. FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of a supporting member. It is sectional drawing of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the detail of the carriage from the left front. It is the perspective view seen from the right front of FIG. It is the perspective view seen from the bottom face side of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the attachment structure of a head unit. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of a 1st inclination adjustment part and its peripheral part. FIG. 17 is a plan view of FIG. 16. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of a 2nd inclination adjustment part and its peripheral part. It is a top view of FIG. It is a top view which shows a gap adjustment mechanism and its peripheral part. FIG. 21 is a right side view and a left side view of FIG. 20. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of the right side surface of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of the left side surface of FIG. FIG. 2 is a first diagram illustrating a paper conveyance state of the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a second diagram illustrating a paper conveyance state of the printer of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

11 Giza roller, 12 Roller roller, 13 Release part, 14 Switching shaft, 21 Rib, 22 Switching shaft, 61 Main guide shaft, 62 Sub guide shaft, 63 Main guide plate, 64 Sub guide plate, 65 Support member, 65a Holding member, 65b Adjustment member, 70, 80 Sliding part, 71, 81 Radial bearing, 72 Fixed base, 82 Movable base, 83 Axis, 84 Spring, 100 Inkjet printer, 101 Housing, 104 Cartridge storage part, 105 Cartridge cover, 110 Operation part , 111 button, 112 liquid crystal panel, 130 paper feed unit, 140 paper feed / discharge unit, 141 hopper, 142 paper feed roller, 143 separation member, 150 transport unit, 151 sub roller, 152a, 152b, 152c driven roller, 153 paper feed roller , 154 driven roller 155 discharge roller, 156 driven roller, 160 recording unit, 161 carriage, 162 recording head, 163 platen, 163a recording guide surface, 164 support rib, 165 carriage belt, 166 carriage motor, 170 gap adjustment mechanism, 171a, 171b, 172a, 172b eccentric bush, 173 belt, 174 tension pulley, 175 motor, 176 gear mechanism, 180 head unit, 190 damper unit, 200 paper feed / discharge tray, 210 paper feed tray, 230 paper discharge tray, 300 position adjustment mechanism, 310 first tilt adjustment unit, 320 second gradient adjusting section, 330 urging member

Claims (2)

Disposed over the key Yarijji has a damper for temporarily storing the ink supplied to the recording head, and a damper unit which is fixed to the carriage,
A position adjusting mechanism for adjusting the inclination of the damper unit around the axis in the direction perpendicular to the recording surface and the inclination around the axis in the main scanning direction ;
Disposed below the front Symbol carriage, a head unit is detachably attached from the nozzle opening side of the recording head relative to the damper unit,
A fixed pedestal with a radial bearing attached to the main guide plate;
A movable pedestal equipped with a radial bearing that comes into contact with the sub-guide plate;
A shaft connecting the fixed base and the movable base;
A spring for urging the movable pedestal against the sub guide plate;
With
At the time of recording on the recording medium, the radial bearing mounted on the fixed base by the reaction force of the restoring force of the spring presses and bends the main guide plate, along the main guide plate and the sub guide plate. the carriage Te can be slidingly,
During maintenance, the spring is compressed by pressing the radial bearing mounted on the movable pedestal in the direction of the main guide plate, and the movable pedestal is mounted on the movable pedestal by moving in the direction of the main guide plate. The carriage is configured such that the radial bearing is detached from the sub guide plate and the carriage can be removed . A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium,
A recording apparatus comprising the carriage according to claim 1 .

Images