JPH0584887A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To offer a printer which can deal with cloth of whatever thickness as a printer with an ink output device. CONSTITUTION:A table 8 is arranged in such a manner that it can move vertically. A sensor for detecting a distance between a holding frame 12 which holds cloth 31 and a machine frame 7 so that a distance between an ink head and the cloth 31 which changes according to the thickness of the cloth 31 is corrected, is provided on the machine frame 7. A control means moves the table vertically based on a value detected by the sensor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer for printing a pattern on cloth or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a printer for printing a pattern on a cloth, a thermal transfer sheet having a coloring material attached is prepared based on an original image of the pattern, and the thermal transfer sheet is placed on the cloth and pressed from the upper surface. -The method of printing by heating is generally used.

[0003]

In the method using the thermal transfer sheet, printing can be performed by pressing and heating from above the thermal transfer sheet, so that the printing state does not change even if the thickness of the cloth changes. It prints beautifully, but the thermal transfer sheet is expensive to make and is not particularly suitable for small-volume printing. Also, when ink is applied directly to the cloth using the ink output device without using the thermal transfer sheet, the ink will not be applied well unless the distance between the ink output section and the cloth is set correctly. Ink could not be beautifully applied if the thickness of the cloth changed and the distance changed.

Therefore, it is a technical object of the present invention to provide a printer using an ink output device, which can cope with cloth of any thickness.

[0005]

[Constitution of the invention]

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above-mentioned problems, a technical solution provided by the present invention is a machine frame, a holding frame which is fixed to the machine frame and holds fabric, and a lower surface of the holding frame. A table that is vertically movable to support the cloth from the lower surface, a table driving unit that moves the table up and down, and a table that is movable in a plane above the holding frame to apply ink to the cloth. A printing unit having an ink output unit, a moving unit that moves the printing unit, a storage unit that stores pattern data, a detection unit that detects a distance between the machine frame and the holding frame, and The printing device further includes control means for controlling the drive of the moving means based on the pattern data stored in the storage means and for controlling the drive of the table driving means based on the distance detected by the detection means. It is.

[0007]

The above means operates as follows. That is, when the table is raised to the uppermost position in the initial state, when the cloth is held by the holding frame, the holding frame is more than the machine frame because the cloth is present between the table and the holding frame. To rise. The detection means detects the distance between the machine frame and the holding frame and transmits it to the control means, and the control means receives this and the distance between the holding frame and the machine frame, that is, the distance between the cloth and the ink output device is predetermined. The table driving means is driven to lower the position of the table so that the distance becomes. In this way, the distance between the fabric and the ink output device is always kept constant, so that the printer can be used for fabrics of any thickness.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the printer of this embodiment. The printer 3 of this embodiment is connected to the editing machine 2, and the editing machine 2 is connected to the image input device 1. As the image input device 1, for example, a scan scanner or the like can be used. The image information read from the image input device 1 is edited as an image by the editing machine 2, the color to be printed is designated, and becomes new print information, which is transferred to the microcomputer 3 via the input device 4 of the printer 3 (hereinafter, (Referred to as MPU) 5. The print information is sequentially or collectively input to the RAM 6 connected to the MPU 5 according to an instruction from the operation panel 29 of the printer 3.

FIG. 2 shows an overall view of the printer 3. As described above, the machine frame 7 of the printer 3 has an inverted U shape, and the table 8 is vertically movable in the central portion. An operation panel 29 for inputting to the MPU 5 is provided on the upper surface of the machine casing 7, and the heater 3 is provided at the end of the machine casing 7.
A warm air blower 35, which includes 5a and a fan 35b (FIG. 1) and blows warm air toward the upper surface of the fabric 31, is provided.
Grooves 7a (only one of which is shown) are formed on both side surfaces of the machine frame 7, and the ends of Y moving bars 9 that move in the Y direction along the grooves 7a are hooked on the grooves 7a. A groove 9a is also formed on the side surface of the Y moving bar 9, and the groove 9a is formed.
An X moving arm 10 having a printing unit 11 at its tip is provided at a and is movable in the X direction. When a driving instruction is input from the MPU 5 to the XY motor drive 30 (FIG. 1), the X motor 10b and the Y motor 9b rotate according to the moving distance,
The X-moving arm 10 and the Y-moving bar 9 move so that the printing unit 11 can be moved in a plane.

The holding frame 12 for holding the cloth 31 has a circular frame body 12a (FIG. 3) and an engaging frame 12b for engaging the inner circumference of the frame body 12a and holding the cloth 31 between the frame body 12a.
And a mounting portion 12c fixed so as to extend toward both sides of the frame body 12a toward the machine frame 7.
A pair of step portions 7c is formed on the upper surface of the machine frame 7, and the holding frame 12 is fixed by screwing the attachment portion 12c to the step portion 7c. As shown in FIG. 3, a sensor 14 is disposed on the upper surface of the machine frame 7 just below one mounting portion 12c. The sensor 14 is M
It is connected to the PU 5 and detects the distance between the machine frame 7 and the mounting portion 12c to notify the MPU 5 of the distance.

A pinion 15 is formed on the inner surface of the machine frame 7. In addition, the pinion 15 is provided on both sides of the table 8.
A pair of racks 16 meshing with is pivotally supported, and a belt 17 is wound around the rack 16. A stepping motor 18 to which a rotary shaft 19 is attached is arranged in the table 8, and a belt 17 is meshed with the rotary shaft 19. In this way, when the MPU 5 gives a driving instruction to the stepping motor 18 via the motor drive 20 (FIG. 1), the belt 17 and the rack 16 are rotated.
At this time, since the belt 17 is twisted and wound around the one rack 16, the rotation of the stepping motor 18 causes the racks 16 to rotate in opposite directions.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the stepping motor 18 rotates clockwise in FIG. 3, the table 8 rises, and when it rotates counterclockwise, the table 8 descends.

Next, the printing section 11 provided at the tip of the X moving arm 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, the printing unit 11 of this embodiment includes three ink heads 21 that store inks of three primary colors of blue, red, and green, respectively. The ink head 21 is fixed to the ink head holding member 22, and when a print instruction is input from the MPU 5 to the head drive 24 (FIG. 1), the ink head 21 having a designated color is lowered from the ink head holding member 22 and the cloth 3
It is designed to print on 1. A sensor 28 is attached to each ink head 21 of the ink head holding member 22.
It is arranged corresponding to. The sensor 28 detects the distance to the cloth 31 and sends it to the MPU 5. Further, both ends of the ink head holding member 22 are passed through a pair of guide bars 23 arranged in the X moving arm 10. X
Pulleys 25a and 25b are arranged vertically adjacent to each other on the inner wall of the moving arm 10, and an ink head motor 27 is arranged on the pulley 25a. A belt 26 is wound around the pulleys 25a and 25b, and an end portion of the ink head holding member 22 is attached to the belt 26. Thus, when the ink head motor 27 operates and the pulleys 25a and 25b rotate, the belt 26 rotates to drive the ink head holding member 22 up and down along the guide bar 23.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the cloth 31 is set on the holding frame 12 in a state where the screw 13 for fixing the holding frame 12 on the machine frame 7 is loosened. At this time, the table 8 is raised to the highest position, and by setting the cloth on the holding frame 12, the thickness of the cloth 31 is reduced by Δ.
The mounting portion 12c of the holding frame 12 is raised by d (FIG. 4). Here, when an instruction to correct the height of the table 8 is issued from the operation panel 29, the sensor 14 causes the machine frame 7 and the mounting portion 1
Measure the distance from 2c and send to MPU5. MPU5
In response to this, the motor drive 20 is instructed to rotate the stepping motor 18 to lower the table 8 by Δd. In this way, the machine frame 7 and the mounting portion 12c are adjusted so that the distance between them is d, and at the same time, the distance between the ink head 21 and the cloth 31 is adjusted (FIG. 5). Next, when a print start instruction is input from the operation panel 29, the MPU 5 scans the X moving arm 10Y moving bar 9 for each line or multiple lines based on the print information input to the RAM 6, and three colors are set. The ink head 21 is moved up and down according to the digital data of the printing information to print on the fabric 31.

In this way, printing is performed while the desired distance between the cloth 31 and the ink head 21 is maintained. As shown in FIG. 7, a partial separate cloth 32 such as an appliqué is superposed on the upper surface of the cloth 31. In the case of occurrence of height, the height between the ink head 21 and the separate cloth 32 is adjusted as follows. The sensor 28 disposed adjacent to the ink head 21 includes the tip of the ink head 21, the cloth 31, and the separate cloth 3
2 is always detected and sent to the MPU 5, but when this distance exceeds a predetermined distance, the MPU 5 instructs the motor drive 20 to drive the ink head motor 27 and move the ink head holding member 22 upward. Move to.
When the step on the cloth 31 disappears, the step is detected again and the ink head holding portion 22 is moved downward.

Further, at the time of printing, if warm air is instructed from the operation panel 29, the MPU 5 instructs the heater 35a and the fan 35b to be energized, and the warm air is blown from the warm air blower 35 onto the cloth 31. ing.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the height of the table 8 is first adjusted, the distance between the ink head 21 and the cloth 31 can be adjusted to an appropriate height, and the cloth 31 can be adjusted. It is possible to perform printing using the ink head regardless of the thickness of the ink. Further, since the sensor 28 detects the distance between the ink head 21 and the cloth 31 and adjusts the height of the ink head 21, the unevenness on the cloth 31 can be dealt with.

Further, in this embodiment, since the warm air blower 35 is provided, the printed ink is dried immediately.

[0018]

According to the present invention, since the table moves up and down in accordance with the thickness of the cloth to be printed, the distance between the ink head output portion and the cloth is constant regardless of the thickness of the cloth. Therefore, it is possible to reliably print.

Further, when the ink output unit driving means is provided, the ink output unit can be moved up and down according to the thickness of another cloth even if another cloth is laid on the upper surface of the cloth.
It is also possible to deal with slight irregularities on the fabric.

Further, if the warm air means is provided, the ink on the cloth can be dried more quickly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the printer in the X direction.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the printer when a thick fabric is held.

5 shows a cross-sectional view of the printer after adjusting the height of the table according to the thickness of the fabric of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an ink output unit.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a printer in which a cloth to which another cloth is applied is arranged.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 printer 5 MPU (control means) 6 RAM (storage means) 7 machine frame 8 table 9 X moving arm (moving means) 10 Y moving bar (moving means) 11 printing section (printing means) 12 holding frame 14 sensor (detecting means) ) 18 stepping motor (table drive means) 21 ink head (ink output section) 27 ink head motor (ink output section drive means) 28 sensor (detection means) 31 cloth 35 warm air machine (warm air means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A machine frame, a holding frame which is fixed to the machine frame and holds cloth, a table which is vertically movable on the lower surface of the holding frame and supports the cloth from the lower surface, and the table which moves vertically. Table driving means, a printing means provided with an ink output part for movably planarly arranged above the holding frame and applying ink to the cloth, a moving means for moving the printing means, and a pattern Storage means for storing data, detection means for detecting the distance between the machine frame and the holding frame, drive means for the moving means based on the pattern data stored in the storage means, and the detection means A printer comprising control means for controlling the drive of the table drive means based on the distance detected by the printer. 2. A machine frame, a holding frame which is fixed to the machine frame and holds cloth, a table which is arranged on the lower surface of the holding frame and supports the cloth from the lower surface, and a plane above the holding frame. A printing unit having an ink output unit that is movably arranged to apply ink to the cloth, a moving unit that moves the printing unit, an ink output unit driving unit that moves the ink output unit up and down, and a pattern. Storage means for storing data, detection means for detecting a distance between the ink output section and the cloth, and control for driving the moving means based on the pattern data stored in the storage means and the detection means. A printer comprising control means for controlling the drive of the ink output section drive means based on the distance detected by the printer. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer includes a warm air unit that blows warm air toward the upper surface of the fabric.