JPH04284266A - Surface polishing device for thermal print head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a surface of a projected part of a resistor in a thermal print head to be finished smoothly by polishing at low cost without causing irregularity in polishing. CONSTITUTION:A narrow width tape like abrasive sheet 12 is pushed against a projected part 6 of a resistor in a thermal print head 1 with fluid such as air or water and the like which are jetted from a nozzle 24. The thermal head print head 1 above-mentioned is reciprocated in a longitudinal direction of the projected part 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface polishing apparatus for polishing the surface of a protective film layer made of glass or the like to a smooth surface when manufacturing a thermal print head.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In general, this type of thermal print head 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, has a pattern layer 3 of various electrode wirings formed on the surface of a strip-shaped insulating substrate 2. It is manufactured by forming a narrow resistor 4 so as to extend in a straight line on the upper surface of the pattern layer 3, and then forming a protective film layer 5 of glass or the like on the entire surface of the resistor 4. When forming the protective film layer 5, the surface of the protective film layer 5 is uneven. By the way, this thermal print head 1 has the narrow resistor 4.
is printed by generating heat while the paper is in contact with the raised portion 6 of the resistor 4. Therefore, the surface of the portion of the protective film layer 5 that covers the resistor 4 and the raised portion 6 of the resistor 4 are printed. If the surface is uneven, problems such as uneven printing will occur.

Therefore, when manufacturing the thermal print head 1, after forming the protective film layer 5 of glass or the like, the surface of the portion of the protective film layer 5 that covers the resistor 4, that is, the raised The surface of the portion 6 is polished to make it smooth.

[0004] Conventionally, when polishing the surface, a polishing apparatus constructed as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 has been used. That is, the conventional surface polishing device has a wide polishing sheet 8 approximately equal to the length L of the thermal print head 1 on the outer peripheral surface of a roller 7 made of a soft elastic material such as rubber.
The polishing sheet 8 is pressed against the surface of the resistor raised part 6 in the thermal print head 1 while being fed and moved in the direction of the arrow by the rotation of the roller 7, thereby polishing the surface of the resistor raised part 6. It is configured to be polished.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in this conventional surface polishing device, the polishing sheet 8 is made into a wide shape that is approximately equal to the length L of the thermal print head 1, and the polishing sheet 8 is made into a wide shape that is approximately equal to the length L of the thermal print head 1. Since the contact area with the thermal print head 1 is large, the pressing force per unit area is low, and therefore the amount of polishing per unit time is small.
Since it takes a long time to polish the entire resistor raised portion 6 in the thermal print head 1, the polishing efficiency is quite low, and the wide polishing sheet 8 is partially worn out. In this case, the entire polishing sheet 8 must be replaced with a new one, and the running cost required to replace the polishing sheet 8 increases considerably.This, combined with the low polishing efficiency,
There was a problem in that the cost required for polishing increased significantly. Moreover, when the polishing sheet 8 is pressed against the resistor raised portion 6 of the thermal print head 1 by the rotating soft elastic rubber roller 7, the polishing sheet 8 is pressed against the resistor raised portion 6 of the thermal print head 1. Although the surface of the resistor raised portion 5 on the front side with respect to the moving direction of the polishing sheet 8 is surely pressed, the surface of the resistor raised portion 5 with respect to the moving direction of the polishing sheet 8 is surely pressed. With respect to the front surface, as shown in FIG. 12, the base of the resistor raised portion 6 tends to rise and the base of the resistor raised portion 6 cannot be polished sufficiently.
There is also a problem in that the entire surface of the resistor 5 cannot be polished to the same level, and uneven polishing occurs on the surface of the resistor raised portion 5.

[0006] The technical object of the present invention is to provide a surface polishing device which can solve these problems and can perform surface polishing at low cost and without causing polishing unevenness. It is something to do.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this technical object, the present invention provides reciprocating means for reciprocating a thermal print head in the longitudinal direction of a raised portion of a resistor, and a narrow tape-shaped reciprocating means. a transfer path configured to intermittently feed an abrasive sheet of appropriate length along the surface of the thermal print head; At least one nozzle is disposed on the sheet so as to eject the abrasive sheet in a direction that presses the abrasive sheet against the thermal print head.

[0008]

[Operation] In this configuration, when the conveyance of the narrow tape-shaped polishing sheet is stopped, fluid such as air or water is jetted against the polishing sheet from at least one nozzle, so that the sand Since the thermal print head is pressed against the protrusion on the resistor of the print head, in this state, the reciprocating means reciprocates the thermal print head in the longitudinal direction of the protrusion on the resistor, thereby polishing the print head. Since the sheet can be rubbed against the ridges on the resistor of the thermal print head, the surface of the ridges on the resistor can be polished. In this case, the polishing sheet is
By pressing air, water, etc. ejected from at least one nozzle against the protrusion on the resistor of the thermal print head, the polishing sheet is deformed according to the shape of the protrusion on the resistor, and Since it is pressed against the entire surface of the ridge on the resistor, it is possible to reliably polish the entire surface of the ridge on the resistor up to the base of the ridge on the resistor, and the polishing rate is also low. can be significantly improved. Further, when the polishing surface of the polishing sheet is worn out, the polishing surface is renewed by feeding and transporting the polishing sheet by an appropriate length.

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably polish the entire surface of the raised portion of the resistor of the thermal print head evenly and without polishing unevenness, including the base of the raised portion. , the time required for polishing can be significantly reduced. Moreover, the present invention uses a narrow tape-shaped polishing sheet, and performs polishing while renewing the polishing surface by transporting the narrow tape-shaped polishing sheet by an appropriate length in the longitudinal direction. Therefore, compared to the conventional method that uses a wide-width polishing sheet, the running cost required for replacing the polishing sheet can be significantly reduced, which is combined with the ability to shorten the polishing time as described above. Therefore, the cost required for polishing can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, since the abrasive sheet is pressed against the thermal print head by ejecting fluid such as air or water from a nozzle, no unreasonable force is applied to the abrasive tape, so when the abrasive tape is fed and transferred, This also has the effect of reducing the possibility of the polishing tape being cut.

0010

[Example] The following is an example of the present invention in the drawings (Figs. 3 to 6).
I will explain about it. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a reciprocating movement in which the thermal print heads 1 placed in a line on the upper surface are reciprocated by an appropriate distance in the longitudinal direction (correctly, the same distance as the length L of the thermal print heads 1). Indicates the means of movement. Reference numeral 11 indicates a support frame installed on the side of the reciprocating means 10, and on the upper front surface of the support frame 11 there is a feed reel 13 around which a narrow tape-shaped abrasive sheet 12 is wound, and the narrow width A take-up reel 14 for the tape-shaped abrasive sheet 12 is provided, and the abrasive sheet 12 fed out from the feed reel 13 is
The tension roller 17 is attached to the tip of a lever 16 whose base end is pivoted to the support frame 11 and biased by a spring 15, a pair of guide rollers 18, 19, and a pair of feed rollers 20, 21. Take-up reel 14
The paper is wound around the paper and is configured to be intermittently transferred in appropriate length increments by the rotation of the pair of feed rollers 20 and 21. In this case, the feed reel 13 includes:
While a certain brake is applied to the feeding of the abrasive tape 12, a tension roller 17 attached to the tip of the lever 16 is placed at a position where the abrasive sheet 1
A tape break detection sensor 22 is provided, which the tension roller 17 comes into contact with when the tape 2 breaks.

Reference numeral 23 indicates the pair of guide rollers 18.
, 19, the head member 23 is attached to the support frame 11, and a plurality of nozzles 24 are provided on the lower surface of the head member 23. Compressed air compressed by an air compressor (not shown) is installed inside the hollow head member 23 along the longitudinal direction of the raised portions 6 of the resistor of the thermal print head 1 at appropriate pitch intervals. is supplied via a conduit 25 such as a hose.

In this configuration, when compressed air is supplied into the hollow head member 23, this compressed air is jetted downward from each nozzle 24, and this jetting of air causes
A portion of the narrow tape-shaped abrasive sheet 12 between the pair of guide rollers 18 and 19 is pressed against the raised portion 6 of the resistor of the Saul print head 1. Therefore, by reciprocating the thermal print head 1 using its reciprocating means 10 in the longitudinal direction of the protrusion 6 on the resistor, the abrasive sheet 12 is moved around the protrusion 6 on the resistor of the thermal print head 1. Since it can be rubbed against the resistor, the surface of the raised portion 6 on the resistor can be polished. and,
During this polishing, if the polishing surface of the polishing sheet 12 is worn, the polishing tape 12 is fed and transferred by an appropriate length to renew the polishing surface.

Note that during this polishing, a nozzle 2 is inserted between the surface of the thermal print head 1 and the polishing sheet 12.
By supplying water from 6 or by supplying water in the form of a mist, polishing can be performed in a so-called wet state, which can improve the polishing speed and prevent dust from scattering around. has advantages.

[0014] Furthermore, although the above embodiment has shown the case where air is ejected from each nozzle 24, instead of ejecting air in this way, it may be configured to eject liquid such as water, or Alternatively, it may be configured to eject a mixture of water and air. Furthermore, instead of arranging the plurality of nozzles 24 in a straight line, the plurality of nozzles 24 may be arranged in two or three rows along the raised portion 6 of the resistor of the thermal print head 1. It's good. In addition, the nozzle 24 is not limited to a plurality of nozzles, and may be configured as a single nozzle. When configured as a single nozzle, the nozzle 24 is formed on the raised portion 6 of the resistor of the thermal print head 1. It may also be configured in the form of a slit extending along the line.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a thermal print head.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing the main part of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view taken along VI-VI in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7;

9 is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG. 7. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Thermal print head 2
Insulating substrate 4 Resistor 5 Protective film layer 6 Resistor raised portion 10
Thermal print head reciprocating means 11
Support frame 12 Narrow tape-shaped polishing sheet 13
Feed reel 14 Take-up reel 18, 19 Guide rollers 20, 21 Feed roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Reciprocating means for reciprocating a thermal print head in the longitudinal direction of a protrusion on a resistor, and a narrow tape-shaped abrasive sheet stretched along the surface of the thermal print head for an appropriate length. a transfer path configured to intermittently feed and transfer the abrasive sheet, and further, during the transfer path, a fluid such as air or water is applied to the abrasive sheet in a direction that presses the abrasive sheet against the thermal print head. 1. A surface polishing device for a thermal print head, comprising at least one nozzle configured to eject water.