JPH0481515B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a head mounting structure for a recording device such as a printer, and in particular, to a structure for mounting a plurality of recording heads on a carriage that moves along a sheet of paper so that they can be accurately replaced independently of each other. This invention relates to a head mounting structure.

[Prior art]

Recording devices such as printers and facsimiles generally have a recording head mounted on a carriage that moves along the paper, and dot forming elements such as multiple heating resistors and inkjet nozzles provided on the recording head for printing data. It is configured to be driven based on a signal.

When performing color printing with this type of recording device, multiple printers (for example, black, red, blue,
It is equipped with four (4) recording heads for yellow. In this case, since color printing is formed by overlapping printing of a plurality of colors, each recording head must be accurately positioned and mounted relative to each other.

By the way, as a conventional structure for mounting a plurality of recording heads, a unit structure in which the plurality of recording heads are integrated is used, and this is positioned and fixed on a carriage.

However, with such an integrated structure, it is not possible to select and replace recording heads one by one, and if one recording head breaks down, all the recording heads must be replaced, making it difficult to diversify recording methods. There was a problem that it was difficult to deal with and the maintenance costs were high.

Therefore, it is conceivable to mount a plurality of recording heads so that they can be replaced independently on a single head mounting base provided on the carriage, but in this case, it is not possible to easily and accurately position and mount each recording head. The question is whether or not.

〔the purpose〕

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art and to provide a recording head mounting structure that allows a plurality of recording heads to be easily replaced independently and to be mounted accurately.

[Summary]

In the present invention, each recording head is formed with a seating surface and a downward protrusion, a support surface and a plurality of openings are formed in a head mounting base provided on a carriage, and the downward protrusion is inserted into the opening, so that the front and rear The upper and lower positions are determined by bringing the seating surface into contact with the supporting surface, and the plurality of wedge-shaped head holding members inserted between each opening and the side surface of each recording head are attached to the head mounting base. The above object is achieved by mounting each recording head on one side of each opening for horizontal positioning.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 shows the main parts of a recording apparatus suitable for applying the present invention. In front of the platen roller 2, which backs up the paper 1 and feeds the paper in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined pitch, there is a guide shaft 3 parallel to the platen roller 2.
A carriage 4 that reciprocates along the paper 1 in the direction of arrow PR is supported on the guide shaft, and a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) recording heads 5 are mounted on the carriage. It is installed. These recording heads are mounted (fixed) on a head mount 6 fixed to the carriage 4.

In the case of a recording device for color printing, a plurality of recording heads (for example, four for each color ink of black, red, blue, and yellow) are used, and a plurality of recording heads provided on the front side (printing surface) of each recording head are used. Dots are recorded on the paper 1 by driving dot forming elements (heating resistors in thermal recording devices, nozzles in inkjet recording devices, wires in wire dot recording devices, etc.) based on print data signals. Particularly in the case of color printing, overlapping printing is performed using recording heads of different colors.

Although the carriage 4 and the recording head 5 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 have shapes and structures suitable for use in an inkjet recording device, the technical idea of the present invention is applicable to other types such as a thermal type. It can be similarly applied to other types of recording devices.

In Figures 1 to 4, there is 1 on the carriage 4.
Head mounts 6 are mounted so that their positions can be adjusted. In other words, the pin 7 implanted on the lower surface of the head mounting base 6 is formed on the upper surface of the carriage 4 in the front-rear direction (direction approaching and away from the platen roller 2).
It is fitted into the elongated hole 8 of the head mount 6 and is attached to the carriage 4 by means of elongated holes 9 and screws 10 in the longitudinal direction formed on both sides of the head mount 6. In this case, the left and right (carriage traveling direction) positioning of the head mount 6 is regulated by the engagement of the pin 7 and the elongated hole 8, but the elongated holes 8 and 9 restrict the positioning of the head mount 6 in the front and rear direction. The position can be adjusted, and the swing position of the head mounting base 6 around the pin 7, that is, the parallelism with the platen roller 2 can be adjusted by the pin 7 and the elongated holes 9, 9 on both sides. It's becoming like that.

Each recording head 5 is attached to a head mounting base 6.
Although each can be replaced independently, they are mounted in precisely positioned positions, and the mounting structure will be explained below.

Each recording head 5 has a seating surface 1 for regulating the vertical position.
1 and a downwardly protruding portion 1 that protrudes downward from the seating surface.
2 is formed, and on the other hand, a head mounting base 6 is formed.
A support surface 13 on which the seating surface 11 comes into contact, and openings 14 (provided at four locations corresponding to each recording head 5) into which the downward protrusion 12 fits are formed.

The front-to-back length of each opening 14 is made the same as the front-to-back length of the corresponding downward protrusion 12, and each opening 14 is precisely machined so as to fit together without backlash in the front-back direction.

In this way, the position of each recording head 5 in the front-rear direction and the vertical direction is regulated by the opening 14 and the support surface 13.

A wedge-shaped head holding member 15 is used to mount (fix) each recording head 5 to the head mounting base 6. This head holding member is prepared for each recording head 5, and its tapered part is inserted between one side of the opening 14 and the side of the recording head 5 as shown in the figure, and a bolt is screwed into the head mounting base 6. 16, the recording head 5 is pressed against one side of the opening 14 due to its wedge effect.

In this way, each recording head 5 is fixed in pressure contact with the side surface of each opening 14 with each head holding member 15, so that the left-right position and verticality are determined (regulated to an accurate position and posture). . At the same time, the above-mentioned longitudinal and vertical positioning is also achieved and is accurately fixed to the head mount 6, although each is separate. Therefore, the nozzle group 1 of each recording head 5
7 (see FIG. 2) can be accurately set with respect to the head mounting base 6.

According to the structure of the embodiment described above, by simply processing the head mount 6, a plurality of recording heads 5 can be accurately mounted on the head mount 6 independently and replaceably.

Further, since the head mounting base 6 is fixed to the carriage 4 so that its position can be adjusted, the platen roller 2 can be fixed using a jig or a gauge block.
The relative position (including parallelism) can be easily and accurately adjusted and positioned.

In this way, the relative position of the nozzle group 17 of each recording head 5 with respect to the platen roller 2 (or paper 1) can be set accurately, and high-quality recording without color misalignment or dot misalignment can be achieved even when overlapping printing such as color printing is performed. can be done.

Furthermore, if the main body (support part) of each recording head 5 and the head mounting base 6 are made of a material with excellent thermal conductivity such as aluminum, the heat dissipation effect when each nozzle group 17 is driven can be improved to maintain a predetermined temperature. It is also possible to improve the printing speed and print quality.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and accurately position and fix a plurality of recording heads independently, and it is possible to improve printing quality by eliminating color shift in color printing. A recording device is obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the main parts of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway front view taken along the line - in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line - in Fig. 2.
FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of the main parts of a recording apparatus suitable for applying the present invention. 1...paper, 4...carriage, 5...recording head, 6...head mounting base, 11...seating surface, 1
2...Downward protrusion, 13...Supporting surface, 14...
Opening, 15...Head holding member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a head mounting structure of a recording device in which a plurality of recording heads are mounted on a single head mounting base provided on a carriage that moves along the paper, each recording head is formed with a seating surface and a downward protrusion, and the head mounting structure is A support surface and a plurality of openings are formed in the base, front and rear positioning is performed by inserting the downward protrusion into the openings, vertical positioning is performed by bringing the seating surface into contact with the support surface, and each opening By attaching a plurality of wedge-shaped head holding members inserted between the head holder and the side surface of the multi-recording head to the head mounting base, each recording head is pressed against one side of each opening, and the horizontal and vertical positions can be determined. Head mounting structure constructed.