JP4917743B2 - Image creation and cropping device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image creation and cropping apparatus capable of creating a desired image and cropping a desired image.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various printing apparatuses such as an ink jet printer have been proposed that include an ink jet head that creates a desired image and a cutting head that cuts out a desired image in an integrated manner in order to reduce sales costs.

However, this ink jet printer needs to be capped at the time of cutting in order to prevent drying of the nozzles of the ink jet head, and therefore requires a lock device for fixing at the capping position.

Since the locking device is arranged at the end of the scanning direction of the inkjet head, not only the width of the inkjet printer is increased, but also the cost is increased due to an increase in the number of parts. There was a fear.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-256960

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems associated with the conventional techniques as described above, and an object of the present invention is to create an image creation and clipping apparatus that can simplify the configuration and reduce the cost. Is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 of the present invention is an image creation and cropping apparatus that creates a desired image and crops an image based on image data, and moves the sheet in the X direction. And a moving means that is supported in a movable manner in the Y direction along a guide rail that extends in the Y direction perpendicular to the X direction, which is the advancing direction of the sheet moved by the moving means. A cutting head having a cutter that cuts out based on a desired image, and is supported so as to be movable in the Y direction along the guide rail, and is arranged side by side so as to be positioned laterally in the Y direction of the cutting head, An inkjet head that creates a desired image on a sheet; and the guide rails of the cutting head and the inkjet head Control means for controlling the movement in the Y direction based on the image data; and a first means disposed on the ink jet head side in the Y direction of the cutting head and detachably connected to the ink jet head. And a second connecting means which is disposed on the cutting head side in the Y direction of the ink jet head and is connectable to the first connecting means and detachably connects the ink jet head to the cutting head. A coupling means and a latch disposed on a lower surface side of the inkjet head in the Z-axis direction of the inkjet head, and latching the inkjet head to a fixing system portion of the image creation and clipping device so as to be detachable. Means for creating an image based on the image data The detaching means causes the ink jet head to be detached from the fixing system portion of the image creating and clipping device, and the first connecting means and the second connecting means are connected to each other to cut the cutting head and the cutting head. An inkjet head is connected, and the control unit moves the inkjet head and the cutting head integrally in the Y direction along the guide rail based on the image data, and the desired position on the sheet. When the image is created and the image is cut out based on the image data, the locking unit engages the inkjet head with a fixed system portion of the image creation and clipping device, and 1 connecting means and the second connecting means are separated from each other so that the ink jet head and the coupling are separated. And the control means moves only the cutting head in the Y direction along the guide rail based on the image data to cut out the sheet based on a desired image. It is also. In the invention described in claim 2 among the present inventions, the first connecting means and the second connecting means in the invention described in claim 1 are each provided with a magnet. In the invention according to claim 3 of the present invention, the locking means is provided with a capping device for maintaining the inkjet head.

The image creation and cropping apparatus according to the present invention has an excellent effect that the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of an image creation and clipping device according to the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view (perspective view) showing an example of an embodiment of an image creation and clipping device according to the present invention. FIGS. 2A to 2C are front views showing a connection state between a cutting head and an inkjet head. It is.
3A to 3B are a partial cross-sectional view in a capping state of the ink jet head and a partial cross-sectional view in a connection state of the cutting head and the ink jet head.
4A to 4B are diagrams showing a linear motion guide.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of the image creation and cropping device.
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the cap device.

  In the image creation and clipping device 10, a sheet 100 such as a single sheet or a long wound sheet is used. Hereinafter, the width direction of the sheet 100 is referred to as a “main scanning direction”, and a direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction (that is, the longitudinal direction of the sheet and the conveyance direction of the sheet) is hereinafter referred to as a “sub-scanning direction”. Also, the main scanning direction is made to coincide with the Y-axis direction in the XYZ orthogonal coordinate system (see the reference diagram showing the coordinate system shown in the figure), and the sub-scanning direction is made to coincide with the X-axis direction. ing. The image creating and cutting apparatus 10 prints a desired image on a sheet in accordance with an instruction from a personal computer or the like, which will be described later, and cuts the printed outer shape with a cutter provided on the cutting head.

A main body 11 of the image creation and cropping apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a fixed base member 20 extended in the main scanning direction, and stands R and L 18 that support the base member 20. . The main body 11 includes an inkjet head 40 that outputs printing ink, a cutting head 49 having a cutter, a linear motion rail 31 that serves as a guide for moving the inkjet head 40 in the main scanning direction, and one end of the main body 11. The operation panel 13 provided in the unit, the ink cartridge stocker 14 for storing the ink cartridge 15, and the side covers 12 provided at both end portions of the main body 11 are configured. The operation panel 13 includes a display unit for displaying an operation state, cursor keys for designating the positions of the inkjet head 40 and the cutting head 50, and an area of a predetermined part where image creation or clipping should be started based on a signal of image data. A start area setting key for designating an image, an operation start key for starting creation or clipping of an image from the set start area, and the like are provided.

A front cover 21 is provided on the front surface of the main body 11, and a platen 22 is provided below the inkjet head 40 and the cutting head 49 of the main body 11. A pinch roll lever 19 is provided at the left end portion of the main body 11 for pinching a sheet of paper on the platen 22 with a pinch roll (not shown) when printing with the inkjet head 40 and cutting with the cutting head. Next, the inkjet head 40 and the cutting head 49 will be described. 2A to 2B are front views showing the operations of the inkjet head 40 and the cutting head 49. FIG. 2C is a plan view showing a state in which the inkjet head 40 and the cutting head 50 are attached to the linear motion rail. 2A to 2B, the inkjet head 40 is held by the inkjet head carriage 42, and the cutting head 49 is held by the cutting head carriage 50. The inkjet head carriage 42 and the cutting head carriage 50 are connected to each other, and are driven by the motor 26 via the wire 27 along the linear motion rail 31 in the main scanning direction. In contrast, the paper to be printed is driven while being pressed by a pinch roller (not shown) in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. The inkjet head 40 includes inkjet nozzles 41 and 43 that output yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) inks, respectively.

The cutting head 49 has a cutter holder 29, and the cutter 51 is held at a predetermined position by the cutter holder 29. The cutter 51 is normally pulled upward by a coil spring (not shown). When cutting the paper or the like using the cutter 51, the solenoid 52 provided in the cutting head 49 is operated, and the plunger 58 is moved down against the coil spring by the plunger 58 to the cutting surface. The cutter 51 is attached to a predetermined attachment portion. The attachment portion includes a swivel knife method, a rotation method, and the like, and an arbitrary cutter such as an ultrasonic cutter or a heat heat cutter as well as a normal blade. Can be attached.

In addition, it is also possible to change the cutter holder to a pen holder at a predetermined attachment portion and hold an image creation pen such as an ink pen, a sign pen, a ballpoint pen, or a pencil, and create an image based on the image data. Next, a connection portion between the inkjet head carriage 42 and the cutting head carriage 50 will be described. FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a connection portion between the inkjet head carriage 42 and the cutting head carriage 50, and is a diagram illustrating a state before the inkjet head carriage 42 reaches the capping position.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the inkjet head carriage 42 is provided on the linear motion rail 31 so as to be positioned on the right side of the cutting head carriage 50. The magnet 44 provided on the right side of the cutting carriage 50 corresponds to the first connecting portion, and the magnet 45 fixed to the left side wall of the inkjet head carriage 42 corresponds to the first connecting portion. Note that, instead of using two magnets to connect the two, one of them may be a magnet and the other may be a sheet metal or the like.

The inkjet head carriage 42 and the cutting head carriage 50 can be connected or separated. The cutting head carriage 50 is driven by the wire 27, and the inkjet head carriage 42 is moved following the driving. The details will be described later. Next, a plan view of a portion indicated by ZZ is shown in FIG. 2C. Referring to FIG. 2C, the ink jet head carriage 42 is attached to the ink jet head attaching portion 62 and attached to the linear motion rail 31 via two linear motion blocks 32a and 32b. Similarly, the cutting head carriage 50 is attached to the cutting head attachment portion 36, and is attached to the linear motion rail 31 via two linear motion blocks 32c and 32d.

Next, the linear motion guide 30 will be described. 4A is a cross-sectional view of the portion indicated by YY in FIG. 2A in FIG. 2A, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing details of the linear motion guide 30. With reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the linear guide 31 is attached to the guide rail 16. The linear motion guide 30 includes a linear motion block 32 that moves while sliding on the linear motion rail 31. As described above, the inkjet head mounting portion 62 and the cutting head mounting portion 36 are attached to the linear motion block 32. As shown in FIG. 4B, grooves 34 a and 34 b that can roll between the linear motion block 32 and the linear motion rail 31 are provided, so that the linear motion block 32 moves smoothly and accurately on the linear motion rail 31. It is possible. Here, the plurality of balls 33 circulate in the linear motion block 32.

Next, a capping state in which the inkjet nozzles 41 and 43 are engaged with the capping device 60 will be described. FIG. 3A is a partial sectional view showing this state. The inkjet head carriage 42 is moved to the capping position at the right end by the cutting head carriage 50. When this position is reached, the capping holder 61 slidably attached in the Z direction of the capping device 60 moves vertically upward, The inkjet nozzles 41 and 43 of the inkjet head 40 are capped.

3A to 3B are partial cross-sectional views of a capping device that protects the inkjet head. As shown in FIG. 6, the cap members 33 and 34 covering the inkjet nozzles 41 and 43 have their suction ports 33a and 34a connected to one ends of tubes 37 and 38 constituting a part of the pumps 35 and 36, respectively. It is designed to receive power. The cap member is provided so as to be urged upward by a spring to seal the nozzle surface. An edge portion 62 of the elevating slider 61 in which the cap members 33 and 34 are accommodated has a locking portion 63 that fits with the ink jet head 40 and restricts the movement of the ink jet carriage 42.

Further, the elevating slider 61 is provided with guide holes 65 for sliding in the Z direction along a shaft 64 described later, and a bush 66 is mounted in the guide hole 65. A screw nut 68 is fixed to the center of the lift slider 61. The shaft 64 is fixed to a position corresponding to the bush 66 on the slider base 67 positioned below the elevating slider 61, and a Z screw 73 is attached to the shaft 70 of the motor 69 fixed substantially at the center of the slider base 67. Is fixed rotatably via a bearing housing 72. The Z screw 73 is rotatably engaged with the screw nut 68. Referring to FIG. 2A, a wire 27 wound around a pulley 25 connected to a motor 26 (FIGS. 2A and 2B) is driven at the drive side end of the image creation and clipping device 10. As described above, the wire 27 is connected to the cutting head carriage 49, whereby the inkjet head carriage 42 attracted and connected by the magnet 44 disposed on the cutting head carriage 49 is moved in the main scanning direction.

With reference to FIG. 3A, the procedure for fixing the inkjet head 40 to the capping positions of the inkjet nozzles 41 and 43 will be described. When the inkjet head carriage 42 connected to the cutting head carriage 50 by the magnet 44 reaches the capping position at the driving side end, as shown in FIG. 3B, the inkjet head carriage 42 is stopped at that position. Then, by rotating the Z screw 73 by the motor 69, the elevating slider 61 is raised, and the cap member comes into contact with the nozzle surface 41, and at the same time, the edge 62 of the elevating slider 61 is fitted to the convex portion 80 of the inkjet head. The inkjet head carriage is fixed at the capping position.

The microcomputer 106 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 108a, a read only memory (ROM) 108b storing a program executed by the CPU 108a, a buffer memory for temporarily storing data signals from the host computer 104, and a program executed by the CPU 108a. A random access memory (RAM) 108c as a working area in which various registers necessary for execution are set.

Further, the CPU 108a has drivers 110a, 110b, and 110c that respectively perform on / off control of the X motor 114, the Y motor 26, the Z motor 115, and the actuator 52 via a bus, and a driver 110e that controls the inkjet head 40. A driver 110f that controls the Z motor 115 that raises and lowers the elevating slider 61 is connected to an operation panel 13 on which a switch for turning on / off the power and various operation keys are arranged.

In the above-described embodiment of the control method, the case where stepping motors are used for the X motor 114, the Y motor 26, and the actuator 52 has been described. However, a servo motor can also be used. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, encoders 92a and 92b and height detector 112 are connected to X motor 114, Y motor 26 and actuator 52, respectively, and the states of X motor 114, Y motor 26 and actuator 52 are Can be detected at all times, and the position of the cutting carriage 50 with respect to the sheet 100 is always stored in the RAM 108c via the CPU 108a so as to be readable. The encoders 92a and 92b and the height detector 76 can always detect the states of the X motor 114, the Y motor 26, and the actuator 52 regardless of whether the X motor 80, the Y motor 82, and the actuator 52 are on / off. .

In the above configuration, as a procedure for cutting, as described above, when the cutting carriage is moved leftward with the inkjet head carriage 42 fixed at the capping position, the edge 62 of the lift slider 61 is moved to the edge 62. Since the movement of the locked inkjet carriage 42 is restricted, the magnet attraction is released, and only the cutting carriage 50 can be moved in the main scanning direction. The driver can be controlled to activate the X motor 114, the Y motor 26, and the actuator 52, and the sheet 100 can be cut by the cutter 51 held by the cutting head 50.

  Next, as a printing procedure, the magnet 44 and the magnet 45 are attracted to each other, and a desired carriage is applied to the sheet 100 in a state where the inkjet carriage 40 having the inkjet head 42 is connected to the cutting carriage 50 having the cutting head 49 installed. When creating an image, the image data signal output from the host computer 104 is read and stored in the buffer memory of the RAM 108c. The CPU 108a sequentially reads the image data in the RAM 108c, controls the drivers 110a, 110b, 110c, and 110e in accordance with the read image data to drive the X motor 114, the Y motor 26, and the actuator 52, and is installed in the inkjet head 40. A desired image is created on the surface of the sheet 100 by the inkjet nozzle.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in image creation and clipping that can create an image and cut out a desired image.

1 is an external view of an example of an embodiment of an image creation and clipping device according to the present invention. (A) (B) (C) It is a front view which shows the connection state of a cutting head and an inkjet head. (A) (B) It is a fragmentary sectional view of the capping device which protects an inkjet head. (A) (B) is a figure which shows a linear motion guide. It is block configuration explanatory drawing explaining the other control method of the image preparation and clipping apparatus by this invention. It is a top view of a cap apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10 Image creation and cropping device 11 Body 14 Ink cartridge stocker 18 Stand R, L
20 base member 22 platen 31 linear motion rail 40 ink jet head 42 ink jet head carriage 49 cutting head 50 cutting head carriage

Claims (1)

In an image creation and cropping device that creates a desired image and crops an image based on image data,
Moving means for moving the sheet in the X direction;
Based on a desired image, the sheet is supported so as to be movable in the Y direction along a guide rail extended in the Y direction perpendicular to the X direction, which is the traveling direction of the sheet moved by the moving means. Cutting head with a cutter to cut out,
An inkjet head that is supported so as to be movable in the Y direction along the guide rail and is arranged side by side so as to be positioned laterally in the Y direction of the cutting head, and creates a desired image on the sheet;
Control means for controlling movement of the cutting head and the inkjet head in the Y direction along the guide rail based on the image data;
A first connecting means disposed on the ink jet head side in the Y direction of the cutting head and detachably connecting the cutting head to the ink jet head;
A second connecting means disposed on the cutting head side in the Y direction of the inkjet head, connectable to the first connecting means, and detachably connecting the inkjet head to the cutting head;
The ink jet head is disposed only on the lower surface side of the ink jet head in the Z direction orthogonal to the X direction and the Y direction, so that the ink jet head can be freely engaged with and detached from a fixing system portion of the image creating and clipping device. Locking means for locking,
In the case of creating an image based on the image data, the locking unit causes the inkjet head to be detached from a fixing system part of the image creation and clipping device, and the first coupling unit and the second coupling unit are separated. A connecting means is connected to connect the cutting head and the ink jet head. The control means integrally connects the ink jet head and the cutting head along the guide rail based on the image data. Create a desired image on the sheet by moving in the direction,
When cropping an image based on the image data, the locking unit engages the inkjet head with a fixed system portion of the image creation and cropping device, and the first connecting unit and the first coupling unit. 2 is separated from the ink jet head and the cutting head, and only the cutting head is moved in the Y direction along the guide rail based on the image data by the control means. Cut out the sheet based on the desired image ,
The locking means includes a locking portion that can be engaged with a lower edge of the inkjet head, and an elevating slider that moves the locking portion in the Z direction,
The elevating slider includes a cap member that engages with the inkjet head, a plurality of through holes that are provided to extend in the Z direction so as to surround the cap member, and a screw nut that is provided in a central portion. Including
The elevating slider is moved in the Z direction by a Z screw that is rotatably engaged with the screw nut,
When the ink jet head is engaged with the fixing part of the image creation and clipping device by the locking means, the elevating slider is moved in the Z direction by the Z screw, and the plurality of through holes are provided outside. Moved along a plurality of shafts extending in the Z direction, and the inkjet head is fixed at a capping position by the locking means ,
Each of the first connecting means and the second connecting means is an image creating and clipping device configured by a magnet .

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