JP5540195B2 - Method for producing metal soap block or metal soap bar and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a metal soap block or metal soap bar used as a member such as a lubricant, a cleaning aid, a release agent, etc. in an image pickup apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing device, a fuck simil, a scanner, and the like. Relates to the device.

  This type of metal soap block or metal soap bar is generally manufactured by melting a powdered higher fatty acid metal salt, press-fitting it into a cavity in a mold, and cooling (Patent Document 1, Claims). . In order to prevent distortion and warping of the product due to non-uniform temperature distribution after press-fitting, the mold is usually preheated at a temperature about 10 ° C. lower than the melting point of the higher fatty acid metal salt before press-fitting. (Patent Document 2, paragraph 0013). In order to prevent cracks in the product, it has also been proposed to reduce the pressure inside the mold and press-fit under reduced pressure (Patent Document 2, claims and paragraphs 0003-0006).

JP 2001-1360 A JP 2000-319224 A

However, in the conventional manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus, it takes a long time for cooling, or it is necessary to attach a cooling device for cooling in a short time. Therefore, the productivity is inferior or the manufacturing apparatus is expensive. In addition, cracks and voids are not sufficiently prevented.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a metal soap block or a metal soap bar that is inexpensive and excellent in productivity and can prevent generation of cracks and voids.

In order to solve the problem, the method for producing a metal soap block or metal soap bar of the present invention comprises:
A method of manufacturing a metal soap block or metal soap bar for filling a cavity inside a mold with a stearic acid-based material and using it as a member used in a copying machine, a printing machine, a facsimile or a scanner,
Creating a pseudo-vacuum state by depressurizing the cavity with an air pump;
A step of press-fitting the material into the cavity without closing the exhaust hole communicating with the cavity, to and preheating the die,
Opening the exhaust hole after press-fitting the material;
And a step of naturally cooling the filled material.

According to the method of the present invention, since the mold is not preheated, it does not take a long time for cooling. Therefore, it is not necessary to attach an expensive cooling device. Since the material is press-fitted under a pseudo-vacuum, cracks and voids are hardly generated without preheating. Moreover, since the exhaust hole is opened after press-fitting the material , the air accumulated in the material is released. Therefore, the generation of voids is further suppressed.

Then, in the step of the material to cool, until the material is solidified, to maintain the pressure on the material. This is because cracks and voids can be almost certainly prevented.
The material filled in the cavity may be heated and melted so that it is heated from the outside of the mold to be in a molten state from a fine powder state. The form of the resin material may be a fine powder or a plate-shaped piece.

The press fitting, the material was poured into the cylinder front plunger is loaded to the rear leads to the cavity, is made by advancing the plunger, while confirming the position of the plunger at a position sensor, of the exhaust hole opening, after the material into the cavity is detected based on the position of the plunger that has been filled, performing. This is because if the exhaust hole is opened too early, the material may leak from the exhaust hole.

Therefore, an apparatus suitable for the method of manufacturing the metal soap block or metal soap bar of the present invention is:
In an apparatus for press-fitting a stearic acid material and cooling to form a block or bar,
A first mold and a second mold that are faced together and form a cavity at the mating surface;
At least one of the first and second molds is provided with a decompression path that leads to the outside from a position different from the cavity on the mating surface, and reciprocates with respect to the cavity in one or the other of the first and second molds. A plunger is attached.

  In this apparatus, it is preferable that a metal mold capable of producing one or more metal soap blocks or metal soap bars in the shape and shape can be replaced as necessary. This is because a single device can produce a plurality of or a plurality of types of products and is excellent in productivity. For example, when the first and second molds have a built-in mold temperature controller, the mold to which the plunger is not attached is an intermediate mold having a cavity and a mold temperature controller. This can be done by using a mold.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the mold is press-fitted under a pseudo vacuum without preheating at a high temperature, it is possible to cool naturally in a short time while suppressing generation of voids and cracks. it can. Furthermore, by naturally cooling while applying pressure, the generation of voids and cracks can be almost certainly prevented.

It is a vertical direction exploded sectional view showing a manufacturing device applied to an embodiment of this invention. (A) is a top view which shows the metal soap bar manufactured by embodiment of this invention, (b) is a vertical direction sectional view which shows the apparatus in the first half step of the manufacturing method of embodiment. It is a vertical direction sectional view showing an apparatus in the latter half of a manufacturing method of an embodiment. It is a top view which shows various intermediate molds, Comprising: (a) is for taking 4 pieces of metal soap bars with a single plunger, (b) is also for taking 8 pieces, (c ) Is for taking four metal soap bars with four plungers.

  A manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment, the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as an exploded vertical sectional view is applied. The illustrated apparatus is a mold for transfer-molding a metal soap bar 1 shown as a plan view in FIG. 2 (a), and is an upper mold 2 that forms a cavity 4 on the mating surface. And a lower mold 3. In this embodiment, the metal soap bar 1 is composed of a rectangular portion and a circular portion having a diameter larger than the short side connected to the short side in a plan view, the thickness is uniformly flat, and is referred to as a stearic acid coating bar. This is a member for coating zinc acid on the photosensitive drum of a copying machine. The cavity 4 has an inner peripheral surface that is complementary to the outer peripheral surface of the metal soap bar 1.

  The upper and lower molds 2 and 3 each have a built-in mold temperature controller 9. The upper mold 2 includes an intermediate mold 10 having a cavity 4 and an outer mold 11 which is connected to the upper mold 10 and incorporates a mold temperature controller 9. In FIG. 2B and FIG. 3, the dividing line between the intermediate mold 10 and the outer mold 11 is omitted, and is shown as a single upper mold 2. A seal ring 7 made of an elastic material is disposed between the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 over the entire circumference surrounding the cavity 4.

  The upper mold 2 is provided with an exhaust hole 8 as a decompression path that is different from the cavity 4 on the mating surface and communicates with the outside from a position opposite to the circular portion of the cavity 4. The lower mold 3 is formed with a cylinder portion 12 facing the circular portion of the cavity 4 in the vertical direction, and is loaded with a plunger 6 that reciprocates in the cylinder portion 12. A position sensor (not shown) for detecting the position of the plunger 6 is attached in the vicinity of the plunger 6.

The metal soap bar 1 is manufactured by the following procedure.
A suitable intermediate mold is selected and combined with the outer mold 11 to form the upper mold 2. The plunger 6 is lowered and the mold temperature controller 9 is turned off. A fine powdery material mainly containing zinc stearate is heated and melted in a supply section (not shown). A predetermined amount of molten material 5 substantially equal to the inner volume of the cavity 4 is put into the cylinder portion 12, and the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are opposed to each other through the seal ring 7 (FIG. 2B). ). An air pump (not shown) is connected to the exhaust hole 8 to operate, and the sealed space surrounded by the upper mold 2, the lower mold 3, and the seal ring 7 is depressurized until a pseudo-vacuum state is obtained.

  Once the exhaust hole 8 is closed, the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are clamped against the elasticity of the seal ring 7. By raising the plunger 6, the material 5 in the cylinder 12 is press-fitted into the cavity 4 (FIG. 3). The raising and lowering of the plunger 6 is controlled by a computer, and its rising speed and pressure are stored as a program in the computer. The position sensor confirms that the tip surface of the plunger 6 is flush with the mating surface of the lower mold 3, and stops the plunger 6 from rising. In this state, the exhaust hole 8 is opened and naturally cooled. After the temperature of the material 5 is lowered to room temperature, the upper mold 2 and the lower mold 3 are separated, and the molded material 5 is taken out. A metal soap bar 1 made of material 5 is obtained.

  According to the method of this embodiment, since the mold is not preheated, even natural cooling can be cooled in a short time. Then, the molding material is press-fitted with the inside of the cavity 4 in a pseudo-vacuum state, and after that, the exhaust hole 8 is opened and cooled in a state where the pressure is maintained, so that it is difficult for air to accumulate inside the material. Get out of it. For this reason, voids and cracks do not occur in the obtained metal soap bar 1.

The exhaust hole 8 serves both as a decompression path before the molding material is press-fitted and an air vent path after the press-fitting. The raising / lowering program for the plunger 6 may be set and changed according to the type and amount of the molding material. In addition to zinc stearate, a small amount of additives is mixed in the molding material. Further, depending on the type and amount of the molding material, the exhaust hole 8 may remain closed during cooling.

  When four or eight metal soap bars 1 are obtained at the same time, an intermediate mold shown as a plan view in FIG. 4 (a) or (b) may be selected. When the intermediate mold shown in FIG. 4 (c) is selected by taking four pieces, a lower mold having a plurality of plungers is used.

1 Metal soap bar 2 Upper mold 3 Lower mold 4 Cavity 5 Material 6 Plunger 7 Seal ring 8 Exhaust hole 9 Mold temperature controller 10 Intermediate mold 11 Outer mold 12 Cylinder part

Claims (4)

A method of manufacturing a metal soap block or metal soap bar for filling a cavity inside a mold with a stearic acid-based material and using it as a member used in a copying machine, a printing machine, a facsimile or a scanner,
Creating a pseudo-vacuum state by depressurizing the cavity with an air pump;
A step of press-fitting the material into the cavity without closing the exhaust hole communicating with the cavity, to and preheating the die,
Opening the exhaust hole after press-fitting the material;
A step of naturally cooling the filled material,
The press-fitting is performed by feeding the material into a cylinder in which the front passes through the cavity and the plunger is loaded in the rear and advances the plunger. While confirming the position of the plunger with a position sensor, Opening is performed after detecting that the cavity is filled with the material based on the position of the plunger, and maintaining the pressure on the material until the material is solidified. A method for producing a metal soap block or metal soap bar.   The method for manufacturing a metal soap block or metal soap bar according to claim 1, wherein the material filled in the cavity is in a molten state by being heated.   The metal soap block or the metal soap bar according to claim 2, wherein the material filled in the cavity is heated from outside a mold to be melted from a fine powder state. Method.   The method of manufacturing a metal soap block or metal soap bar according to claim 1, wherein the resin material filled in the cavity is in the form of fine powder or plate-like pieces.

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