JPH0623966A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically carry out trial printing without mounting an expensive base plate on a printing device when operation of the printing device is started. CONSTITUTION:When operation of a printing device is started in flexography, a film 32 wound around a printing roll 30 disposed in parallel with a plate cylinder 25 is taken up on a winding roll 33 by driving a motor 34 while pressing the film 32 against a form plate 26. In this case, the film 32 is wound on the winding roll while the winding tension of the film 32 is kept constant so that relative speed between the form plate 26 of the plate cylinder 25 and the film 32 becomes the same, and trial printing, which is done for stabilizing ink transfer to the form plate 26, is carried out automatically with the inexpensive film 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as flexographic printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printing apparatus, in order to print with a uniform and extremely thin film thickness, it was necessary to perform waste printing on a printing material at the start of equipment operation to stabilize ink transfer to a plate. In recent years, an alignment film of liquid crystal has been printed on a glass substrate by flexographic printing. However, since the glass substrate for liquid crystal is expensive, the waste printing using the glass substrate for liquid crystal is disadvantageous in terms of production cost, and the work for removing the glass substrate on which the waste printing is performed is required, which is inexpensive. There is a demand for a printing apparatus that automatically performs waste printing by using a printing material for waste printing.

The above-mentioned conventional printing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a conventional printing apparatus. In FIG. 2, the pinion gear 1 and the rack 2 mesh with each other, and rotation of the pinion gear 1 causes the rack 2 to rotate.
Can be driven in the direction of arrow A. A table 3 is fixed to the rack 2, and a substrate 4, which is an object to be printed, is fixed to the table 3 by vacuum suction. Further, a rubber plate 6 for printing is fixed to the peripheral portion of the plate cylinder 5. In addition, the anilox roll 7 has ink 6
Transfer to. The rubber doctor roll 8 spreads the ink evenly over the anilox roll 7 and scrapes off the excess ink. These plate cylinder 5, anilox roll 7 and doctor roll 8 are all arranged parallel to the axial direction. Further, the cylinder unit 9 supplies an appropriate amount of ink to the anilox roll 7.

Here, the drive motor 10 drives the pinion gear 1 and the gear 11 to rotate in the direction of arrow B, the gear 12 works in conjunction with the gear 11 to rotate the plate cylinder 5 in the direction of arrow C, and the gear 13 to the gear 12.
The anilox roll 7 is rotated in the direction of arrow D in conjunction with, and the gear 14 is rotated in conjunction with the gear 13 to rotate the doctor roll 8 in the direction of arrow E.

The operation of the conventional printing apparatus having the above structure will be described below. First, the substrate 4, which is the material to be printed, is set on the table 3. Then, the drive motor 10 drives the pinion gear 1 to convey the table 3 together with the rack 2 toward the plate cylinder 5. At this time, the plate cylinder 5, the anilox roll 7, and the doctor roll 8 also rotate, and the table 3 passes through the plate cylinder 5, so that the ink supplied from the cylinder unit 9 in which the ink is stored is transferred from the anilox roll 7 to the plate 6. And finally transferred onto the substrate 4 as a print.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional configuration, when performing printing of the ink supplied from the cylinder unit 9 to the plate 6 stably at the start of operation of the printing apparatus, it is necessary to perform waste printing. However, the expensive substrate 4 has to be charged until the ink transfer is stabilized, which causes a problem of increased running cost.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of automatically handling waste printing at the start of operation of equipment without throwing an expensive substrate into the printing apparatus. To do.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the printing apparatus of the present invention comprises a rotatably supported plate cylinder on which a printing plate to which ink is supplied is fixed, and the plate cylinder. And a roll arranged in parallel to the axial direction, a film wound around the roll, and rotatably supporting the roll,
An actuator unit that moves the film in the radial direction of the plate cylinder together with a roll to abut or separate from the plate of the plate cylinder, and a winding roll that winds the film.
A motor for driving the winding roll to rotate, and a motor connected to the shaft of the motor and the winding roll, when winding the film with the winding roll, the relative speed when the plate and the film abut. And a clutch for keeping the winding tension of the film constant so as to be the same.

[0009]

With the above construction, when the printing apparatus is started, when the film wound on the roll arranged in parallel with the plate cylinder is pressed against the plate and the motor is driven to wind the film by the take-up roll. In addition, since the film winding tension is kept constant so that the relative speed of the plate on the plate cylinder and the film are the same, and discard printing is performed on the film, it is not necessary to insert a substrate for discard printing as in the past. Therefore, the waste printing of the printing device can be automated.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the pinion gear 21 meshes with the rack 22 to convert the rotational force of the pinion gear 21 into the driving force of the rack 22 in the direction of arrow a. This rack 22
The table 23 is fixed to the
The substrate 24, which is the material to be printed, is fixed by vacuum suction. Further, a rubber plate 26 for printing is fixed to the periphery of the plate cylinder 25. The anilox roll 27 transfers the ink to the plate 26, and the rubber doctor roll 28 spreads the ink evenly over the anilox roll 27 to scrape off the excess ink. The plate cylinder 25, the anilox roll 27 and the doctor roll 28 are all arranged parallel to the axial direction. Further, the cylinder unit 29 supplies an appropriate amount of ink to the anilox roll 27.

The printing roll 30 is arranged in parallel with the plate cylinder 25 having a printing plate 26 in the axial direction. Further, the actuator unit 31 supports the printing roll 30 with a rotary bearing, and moves the film 32 together with the printing roll 30 in the normal direction of the plate cylinder 25, that is, in the radial direction of the plate cylinder 25 to move the plate of the plate cylinder 25.
Abut or separate from 26. Film 32 is printing roll 30
The take-up roll 33 winds the film 32 wound around the printing roll 30. The motor 34 is connected to the rotation shaft of the winding roll 33 to drive the winding roll 33 to rotate. The clutch 35 is attached between the shafts of the winding roll 33 and the motor 34, and slips when a load equal to or greater than a set torque is applied.

Here, regarding the drive mechanism, the drive motor
36 rotates pinion gear 21 and gear 37 in the direction of arrow b, gear 38 works in conjunction with gear 37 to rotate plate cylinder 25 in the direction of arrow c, and gear 39 works in conjunction with gear 38 to anilox roll.
27 is rotated in the direction of arrow d, and further, the gear 40 is interlocked with the gear 39 to rotate the doctor roll 28 in the direction of arrow e.

The operation of the printing apparatus configured as described above will be described below. When performing the discard printing, the substrate 24 of the printing object is not set on the table 23.
First, activate the actuator unit 31 to activate the printing roll.
Press the film 32 of 30 against the plate 26. Next, the ink is supplied from the cylinder unit 29 to the anilox roll 27. Further, the driving mechanism rotates the plate cylinder 25, the anilox roll 27, and the doctor roll 28, and at the same time, drives the motor 34 connected to the rotation shaft of the winding roll 33 to wind the film 32 from the printing roll 30. At this time, the rotation speed of the motor 34 is set so that the feed speed of the film 32 is always higher than the peripheral speed of the plate 26. Further, the slip torque of the clutch 35 is set so that the relative speed when the plate 26 and the film 32 contact each other becomes zero. After this torque setting is completed, the printing device is operated to perform waste printing on the film 32 until the ink transfer is stabilized.

Therefore, by providing the film 32 for performing waste printing, the take-up roll 33, the clutch 35 and the motor 34 connected to the take-up roll shaft, in flexographic printing, at the start of operation of the printing apparatus. It is possible to automatically perform the waste printing for stabilizing the ink transfer to the plate 26 without using the expensive substrate to be printed on the inexpensive film.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing a film for waste printing and providing a clutch for controlling the winding tension of the film, it is possible to dispense with an expensive waste printing substrate. The transfer of the ink to the plate can be stabilized, automation of the work at the start of operation of the printing apparatus can be achieved, and the production cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 25 Plate cylinder 26 Plate 27 Anilox roll 28 Doctor roll 30 Printing roll 31 Actuator unit 32 Film 33 Take-up roll 34 Motor 35 Clutch

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotatably supported plate cylinder to which a printing plate to which ink is supplied is fixed, a roll arranged in parallel with the plate cylinder in an axial direction, and wound around the roll. Film, an actuator unit that rotatably rotatably supports the roll, moves the film together with the roll in the radial direction of the plate cylinder to abut or separate from the plate of the plate cylinder, and winding to wind the film. A take-up roll, a motor for rotating the take-up roll, and a shaft connected between the motor and the take-up roll. When the film is wound by the take-up roll, the plate and the film come into contact with each other. A printing device having a clutch for keeping the winding tension of the film constant so that the relative speeds of the films are the same.