JPH024553A - Device for formation of multicolor image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily adjust the positional deviation of a line head with high accuracy by providing first and second printing position fine adjusting mechanisms moving a line head in parallel to and in perpendicular to the platen axis at both ends of each line head, respectively. CONSTITUTION:A first printing position fine adjusting mechanism 11 for moving a line head 3 perpendicularly to the long axial direction of a platen 4 of a width scanning direction is provided at one end of each line head 3, and a second printing position fine adjusting mechanism 12 for moving the head 3 in the long axial direction of the platen 4 of a main scanning direction is provided at the other end. The adjustment is first conducted by driving a device to record, and then grasping a deviation by means such as visual observation or by a microscope or the like. Then, the mechanism 11 is operated to adjust the inclination of the head 3. After the adjustment of the inclination is finished, the mechanism 12 is operated to adjust the main scanning direction of the head 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding the structure of a multicolor image forming apparatus equipped with a plurality of line heads in parallel, it has been found that the printing position of the line heads can be easily adjusted in order to prevent color misregistration. In a multicolor image forming apparatus having a plurality of line heads each having an ink ribbon of a different color and provided in parallel facing a platen,
A first printing position fine adjustment mechanism is provided at one end of each line head to move the line head in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen, and a first printing position fine adjustment mechanism is provided at the other end to move the line head in the axial direction of the platen. A second print position fine adjustment mechanism is provided.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to the structure of a multicolor image forming apparatus including a plurality of line heads in parallel.

In recent years, there has been a strong demand for full-color recording, and image forming apparatuses of various types have been realized.

The thermal transfer multicolor image forming device can print yellow, magenta,
Four thermal heads corresponding to each color, cyan and black, are used to record by overlapping the media, but there is a demand for greater efficiency when recording only black, which is the most common6 (conventional Technique] As shown in the side view of FIG. 4, the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied includes ink ribbons 1v, IM, 1 (, I B
L are stored in cassettes 2v, 2M-, 2c, and 211L, respectively, and ink ribbons 1v-1, 4, and IC118L are respectively stored in cassettes 2v, 2M-, 2c, and 211L.
are respectively provided with thermal line heads (hereinafter referred to as line heads) 3v, 3M, 3C, and 3i+t facing each other.

And cassette 2V, 2, 2. The cassettes 2nt are arranged so as to face the first platen 4 in combination as shown in the figure, and the cassette 2nt is arranged to face the other second platen 5.

For recording, the medium 6 is fed out from a hopper 7 by a feeding roller 8, and is supplied between the first platen 4 and the ink ribbon 1v.

Then, the ink ribbon 1 is heated by the heat of the line head 3V.
The ink No. 7 is dissolved and transferred to the medium 6 to perform yellow recording.

Thereafter, in the same manner, the medium 6 is sequentially sent to each cassette 2, 4.2c by rotation of the first platen 4, and recording in each color of magenta and cyan is performed.

Thereafter, the medium 6 is transferred to the second platen 5 and the ink ribbon IB.
The blank color toning is recorded.

Media 6 that has completed recording of all the necessary colors in this way
are discharged by the discharge roller 9 and stacked on the stacker 10.

Note that recording of each of the above colors is performed by selecting only the necessary colors, and the medium 6 passes through the portions of colors that are not recorded.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Multicolor recording is performed as described above, but if there is a misalignment in the installation of each line head, the printing position will be misaligned.
This results in color fading, which seriously deteriorates print quality.

In such a case, adjustment operations such as loosening and re-fastening the many mounting screws that attach the line head to the cassette or the main body of the apparatus are repeatedly performed.

Such adjustment work is not only complicated, but also requires skill and an extremely large number of man-hours.

The object of the present invention is to enable easy adjustment of the printing position of the line head in order to prevent color misregistration.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, FIG.
As shown in the front view of a), one end of each line head 3 has a first printing position fine adjustment mechanism 11 for moving the line head 3 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen, and the other end has a first printing position fine adjustment mechanism 11. A second printing position fine adjustment mechanism 12 that moves the line head 3 in the axial direction of the platen is provided.

[Effect]

The apparatus is operated to perform recording, and if there is a color shift, the amount of shift is ascertained, and then the sub-scanning direction (tilt) of the line head is adjusted by the first printing position fine adjustment mechanism.

Next, the line head is adjusted in the main scanning direction by the second printing position fine adjustment mechanism.

〔Example〕

1 to 3 show one embodiment of the present invention.

Identical parts are designated by the same reference numerals throughout the figures.

In the present invention, FIG. 1 (a front view of al.
As shown in the side view of FIG. A first print position fine adjustment mechanism 11 that moves the head 3 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen (arrow E-F direction), which is the sub-scanning direction, and a line head 3 that moves the line head 3 in the main scanning direction at the other end. A second printing position fine adjustment mechanism 12 that moves in the axial length direction of the platen (arrow P-Q direction) is provided.

The first print position weak mechanism 11 is configured by attaching the rad 3 to the line in the main body of the device, as shown in the front view shown in FIG. For installation, the worm 13a is rotatably incorporated into the frame 18a,
a worm wheel 14a meshing with the worm 13a;
It consists of an eccentric shaft 15a with one end fixed to a worm wheel 14a, and the eccentric shaft 15a is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, it is movably engaged with a support block 17a that supports one end of the line head 3 via a linear ball bearing 16a.

The linear ball bearing 16a slides into the long hole 19 of the support block 17a, which is bored perpendicularly to the axial direction of the worm 13a, as shown in the HH sectional view of FIG. movably engaged.

Therefore, as shown in the same figure (a), the worm 13a is
When the worm wheel 14a rotates in the -B direction, the worm wheel 14a rotates in the arrow C-D direction as shown in FIG.
7a is moved in the axial direction of the worm 13a, that is, in the sub-scanning direction, by the amount of eccentricity as shown by the arrow E-F to adjust the inclination of the line head 3.

At this time, the action of the eccentricity of the eccentric shaft 15a is caused by the arrow E-
It works only in the F direction, and does not work in other directions because it escapes due to the elongated hole 19 in which the linear ball bearing 16a is engaged.

In addition, by setting the reduction ratio of the worm 13a and the worm wheel 14a to, for example, 1/30, the amount of movement of the line head 3 can be reduced by approximately 0.05 per rotation of the worm 13a.
It can be made into mm.

On the other hand, the second print position fine adjustment mechanism 12 has a line radiator 3 attached to the main body of the apparatus, as shown in the front view shown in FIG. The mounting for attaching is composed of a worm 13b that is rotatably and axially swingably incorporated into the frame 18b, a worm wheel 14b that meshes with the worm 13b, and an eccentric shaft 15b that has one end fixed to the worm wheel 14b. The eccentric shaft 15b is movably engaged with a support block 17b that supports the other end of the line head 3 via a linear ball bearing 16b, as shown in FIG.

The frame 18b is installed as shown in Figure (A) in Figure (C).
, and the first elongated hole in which the boss 20 (indicated by a two-dot chain line) of the worm wheel 14b is slidably engaged, as shown in the same figure (d+) (as shown in the M-M cross-sectional view of C1). 21a and the second elongated hole 2 in which the eccentric shirt eye 5b is slidably engaged.
1b.

The first elongated hole 21a is provided parallel to the axial direction of the worm 13b, and the second elongated hole 21b is provided so that its longitudinal direction is orthogonal to the center of the first elongated hole 21a.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
When the worm wheel 14b rotates in the -B direction, the worm wheel 14b rotates in the arrow C-D direction as shown in FIG.

When the eccentric shaft 15b rotates, the action in the direction of the arrow E-F due to the eccentricity shown in FIG.
4b does not reach the line head 3 because it moves within the first elongated hole 21a.

Therefore, the eccentric component of the eccentric shaft 15b acts only in the direction of the arrow P-Q where the boss 20 is stopped in the first elongated hole 21a, that is, in the main scanning direction of the line head 3, causing positional deviation in the main scanning direction. Adjust.

Furthermore, by setting the reduction ratio of the worm 13b and the worm wheel 14b to, for example, 1/30, the amount of movement of the line head 3 can be reduced by approximately 0.01 per rotation of the worm 13a.
It can be set as tm.

For adjustment, first, the device is driven to record, and if there is a printing misalignment (dot misalignment), the amount of misalignment is determined visually or by means such as a microscope.

Next, the first fine adjustment mechanism 11 is operated to adjust the inclination of the line head 3.

After the tilt adjustment is completed, the second fine adjustment mechanism 12 is operated to adjust the main scanning direction of the line head 3.

This is because if the tilt is adjusted before the adjustment in the main scanning direction, a positional shift occurs in the main scanning direction and readjustment is required.

After the adjustment, the line head 3 is biased by a spring means 23 wound around a support shaft 23 provided in the cassette 2 and supporting the line head 3, as shown in FIG. 1(a).
Printing is performed by pressing the ink ribbon and medium against the platen 4 with a predetermined pressure.

〔Effect of the invention〕

By applying the present invention to an image forming apparatus, it becomes possible to adjust the positional deviation of each line head easily and with high precision in a short time, and the precision of related parts is also lowered, resulting in lower costs.

Furthermore, high-quality multicolor images can be formed and reliability is improved, resulting in great economic and industrial effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(a) is a front view showing the HTEI mechanism of the line head in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 1(b) is a front view of the same figure (al), and FIG. ! Side view of the fine adjustment mechanism in No. 1, Figure 2 (b)
2(C) is a sectional view along line H-H in the same figure (al), FIG. 3(a) is a front view of the second fine adjustment mechanism, and FIG. b) is the J arrow view of the same figure (a), Figure 3 (e)
Figure 3 (dl) is a cross-sectional view of the same figure (fa), and Figure 3 (dl is the same figure (C).
), and FIG. 4 is a side view of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 3 is the line head, II is the first fine adjustment mechanism, 12 is the second RIM mechanism, ) 3a, 13b are the worms, 14
a, 14b are worm wheels, 15a, 15b are eccentric shafts, 15a, 16b are linear ball bearings, 17a, 1
7b is a support block, 18a and 18b are mounting frames, 19 is a long hole, 20 is a boss,
21a is a first long hole, 21b is a second long hole, 22 is a support shaft, and 23 is a spring means. Same figure (,1)Tap-°j plane 1(I)) 1 figure (Z) 10th row R1'4-f) Front view large □F office nPri (αnmesei, [11 figure (b) Figure 2 (Part 1) Figure (α) / 7 -K Noh mask (C) Figure (Sf) Shiy town map (Li-) Figure 35 (Kume Z) (C) Difference Figure (Mu 2) (a) Figure (Zo/71) Kikan Akira ζ, the tatami-ebi-ro-ga-hōgata he pear t-page 1st page.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a multicolor image forming apparatus having a plurality of line heads (3) each having an ink ribbon of a different color and provided in parallel facing a platen, one end of each of the line heads (3) is provided. A first printing position fine adjustment mechanism (11) that moves the line head (3) in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen, and a first printing position fine adjustment mechanism (11) that moves the line head (3) in the axial direction of the platen at the other end. The second printing position fine adjustment mechanism (1
2) A multicolor image forming apparatus comprising: