JPH0742637Y2 - Driving device for cutting plotter - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a cutting plotter for cutting a sheet-shaped medium such as paper and marking film used for decoration of outdoor signs and windshields into a predetermined shape. In particular, the present invention relates to a driving device for a cutting plotter which drives the cutter after adjusting the contact pressure of the cutter against the sheet-shaped medium.

[Conventional technology]

In this type of cutting plotter, since marking films of various materials and thicknesses are cut out, it is essential to adjust the pressure contact pressure (cutter pressure) of the cutter to the sheet-shaped medium according to the sheet-shaped medium used by the user. Become. That is, if the cutter pressure is too high, the mount on which the sheet-shaped medium is placed may be cut, and the mount may be cut off, the sheet-shaped medium may be turned up, or the blade of the cutter may be worn away, and the cutter pressure is too weak. In this case, uncut characters occur and the cut-out characters are difficult to peel off.

By the way, the permissible width of the cutter pressure in each sheet medium is not so large, in order to correspond to various general vinyl chloride marking films commercially available as sheet medium, 50 to 150 g. It is necessary to be able to set the cutter pressure in at least about 10 steps in between.

Conventionally, the cutter pressure adjustment method used in this type of cutting plotter is to place a weight of an appropriate weight on the cutting head, attach a dial to the cutting head, and compress the return spring to return the cutter. There is a method in which the cutter pressure is changed by adjusting the rotation angle of the dial, or a method in which a solenoid is mounted on the cutting head and the current flowing through the coil is controlled to change the cutter pressure.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional one in which a solenoid is placed in the above-mentioned cutting block, and a guide rod 3 extending in the vertical direction is supported between the upper wall 2A and the lower wall 2B of the cutting head 1. A support sleeve 4 is supported on the guide rod 3 so as to be vertically movable.
At the upper and lower ends of the supporting sleeve 4, supporting plates 5 and 5 projecting outward of the cutting head 1 are provided, and a cutter body 7 projects from the lower ends of both supporting plates 5 and 5. The pen-shaped cutter 6 provided is supported. Further, between the lower wall 2B of the cutting head 1 and the support sleeve 4, there is interposed a coil spring 9 for floating the support sleeve 4 in order to separate the cutter body 7 of the cutter 6 from the sheet medium 8. .

A coil fixing plate 10 extending in the side wall 2C direction of the cutting head 1 is projectingly provided at a lower end portion of the support sleeve 4, and the coil fixing plate 10 is wound in an annular shape on the coil fixing plate 10. The coil 11 is fixed. The coil is provided on the upper wall 2A and the side wall 2C of the cutting head 1.
A yoke 12 located inside and outside 11 is attached, and an annular permanent magnet 13 is attached to an upper wall 2A immediately above the coil 11. The coil 11 is wound in such a direction as to form a magnetic field in a direction opposite to the magnetic field formed by the permanent magnet 13, and these coil fixing plate 10, coil 11, yoke 12 and permanent magnet 13 are provided. Constitutes the solenoid 14.

According to the above-mentioned configuration, the coil 11 repels the permanent magnet 13 by the current flowing through the yoke 12 and descends against the coil spring 9, so that the cutter body 7 at the lower end of the cutter 6 is pressed against the sheet medium 8. Will be descended to do.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, in order to adjust the cutter pressure of the cutter body 7 of the cutter 6 with respect to the sheet-shaped medium 8 in the above-mentioned FIG. 6, it is necessary to control the current flowing through the coil spring 9, and a drive control circuit therefor. Is required, which may complicate the device. Further, in the structure shown in FIG. 6, during cutting work of the sheet-shaped medium 8 by the cutter body 7 of the cutter 6, a current must be continuously applied to the coil 11, which causes a problem that power consumption is large. there were.

On the other hand, in the one that adjusts the cutter pressure by placing the above-mentioned weight, there is a troublesome operation in which a human re-places the weight of various weights, or shifts it, The weight of the cutting head has increased, and a large and expensive motor has been required to move the cutting head.

On the other hand, if the dial is attached to the cutting head, the structure of the cutting head is relatively simple, but it is difficult to determine how much the cutter pressure is currently met.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a driving device for a cutting plotter that overcomes the above-mentioned problems in the conventional device and can easily adjust the cutter pressure with a simple structure.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a driving device for a cutting plotter according to the present invention is a cutting plotter having a moving means for moving a cutting head, which supports the cutter in the Z direction, relative to the cutting medium in the XY directions. , A motor for moving the cutter in the Z direction, a worm gear rotatably driven by the motor, a worm wheel supported by the cutting head and meshed with the worm gear, and an elastic member as the worm wheel rotates. Stores power and Z
And elastic means for urging in the direction.

[Action]

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the cutter pressure can be changed by changing the elastic force stored in the elastic means according to the rotation angle of the motor, and the rotation of the motor can be changed by the engagement of the worm gear and the worm wheel. Since it is transmitted to the elastic means, the cutting pressure can be maintained even when the motor is de-energized, so that the cutting plotter can be formed with an inexpensive circuit and mechanism structure.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. It should be noted that the same or corresponding configurations as those of the above-described conventional one will be described with the same reference numerals.

2A and 2B show a main part of a cutting plotter to which the driving device according to the present invention is applied. Side plates 17A and 17B are provided upright on both sides of the base 16, and both side plates are provided. A rotating shaft 18 having a square cross section facing the upper side of the base 16 and a rotating shaft 19 having a circular cross section located below the base 16 are rotatably supported between the 17A and 17B. The rotary shaft 18 and the rotary shaft 19 are rotationally driven by motors 20 and 21 attached to the side plate 17B, respectively. Of these, a sleeve 22 that can rotate integrally with the rotary shaft 18 is attached to the rotary shaft 18 so as to be movable in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 18, and the worm gear is attached to the outer periphery of the sleeve 22. 23 are formed. Further, a pair of paper feed rollers 24, 24 are fitted to the rotary shaft 19 so as to be spaced apart in the axial direction so as to rotate integrally with the rotary shaft 19, and each paper feed roller 24 is It slightly projects above the base 16 through a window hole 25 formed in the base 16. On the other hand, brackets 26 are provided so as to project inside the side plates 17A and 17B.
A paper feed roller 27 that is pressed against and driven by 24 is rotatably supported. Then, the sheet-like medium 8 is sandwiched between two pairs of paper feed rollers 24 and 27, and the motor 21 drives each paper feed roller 24.
The sheet medium 8 can be conveyed in the Y direction by rotating the.

On the outside of the side plate 17A, a bracket 28A extending in the horizontal direction is provided, and on the outside of the side plate 17B, a bracket 28B also extending in the horizontal direction is provided so as to project. A drive pulley 29 is rotatably supported on the bracket 28, and a driven pulley 30 is rotatably supported on the bracket 28. The drive pulley 29 is rotationally driven by a motor 31 attached to the bracket 28A, and a timing belt 32 is wound around the drive pulley 29 and the driven pulley 30. Further, the cutting head 1 is fixed to the timing belt 32, and the traveling of the timing belt 32 by the motor 20 allows the cutting head 1 to be moved in the X direction. A guide shaft 33 is installed between the upper portions of the side plates 17A and 17B, and the guide shaft 33 is inserted through an opening 34 formed in the upper portion of the cutting head 1 so that the X of the cutting head 1 is inserted. It is designed to guide the movement in the direction.

Details of the cutting head 1 are shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the inside of the cutting head 1 includes a first chamber 35 and a second chamber 35 which are spaced apart in the front-back direction of the base 16.
Divided into chambers 36, these first chamber 35 and second chamber
A partition wall 37 in which a large communication opening 38 is formed from the upper end to the lower end is provided between the spaces 36. Also, the first
Side wall 2C and partition wall of cutting head 1 in chamber 35
37, downward step portions 39, 40 are formed on the same horizontal plane, respectively, and an annular spring seat 41 having an outer diameter capable of engaging with both step portions 39, 40 is provided with both step portions 39, 40. Lower first chamber 35
It is arranged so that it can move up and down. Further, between the lower wall 2B of the cutting head 1 and the spring seat 41, a return spring 42, which is a coil spring for urging the spring seat 41 upward, is interposed. Furthermore, a vertical through hole 43 is formed in the lower wall 2B of the cutting head 1 at the center of the first chamber 35.

The cutter 6 is arranged in the first chamber 35 so as to be vertically movable. The cutter 6 is composed of an upper half portion 44A and a lower half portion 44B which are connected to each other, and a central hole 45 extending upward is formed at the lower end of the cutter 6. Within this center hole 45, there are 1
A pair of bearings 46, 46 are provided, and a long cutter body 7 rotatably supported by the bearings 46, 46 is provided in the center hole 45 so that the tip of its lower end is located outside the center hole 45. It is arranged to face.

A flange 47 that can be seated on the spring seat 41 is provided around the outer peripheral surface of the cutter 6, and the spring seat 41 is in contact with the step portions 39 and 40 by the action of the return spring 42. When the flange 47 of the cutter 6 is seated on the spring seat 41, the lower end of the cutter 6 is inserted through the through hole 43 of the lower wall 2B of the cutting head 1 and protrudes below the lower wall 2B. Further, the lower end portion of the cutter 6 can be further inserted into the through hole 43 so as to be able to move further downward from this state.

A communication opening 38 of the partition wall 37 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cutter 6.
A protrusion 48 is provided so as to face the inside of the second chamber 36 via the. On the other hand, in the second chamber 36, a support frame 50 that supports a worm wheel 49 that meshes with the worm gear 23 and the like is disposed. A sleeve 51, which is attached to the guide shaft 33 and is slidable along the guide shaft 33, is provided at the upper end of the support frame 50 in a protruding manner, and a vertical center portion of the support frame 50 is provided. A boss 52 is formed on the. Further, at the lower end of the support frame 50, the cutting head 1 is integrally formed with the worm gear 23 and the rotary shaft 18.
A pair of pinching arms 53, 53 for pinching the worm gear 23 from both ends are provided so as to project along the worm gear 23 so that the worm gear 23 can move along the worm gear 23.

A horizontally extending support shaft 54 is attached to the boss 52 of the support frame 50, and the worm wheel 49 meshing with the worm gear 23 is rotatably supported on the support shaft 54. ing. This worm wheel 49
As shown in FIG. 3, the partial gear has teeth formed only over a range of about 210 degrees. Further, the lead angle of the worm gear 23 is set smaller than the critical value for reverse rotation, so that the worm gear 23 is not driven by the rotation of the worm wheel 49, and the worm gear 23 is rotated only by the rotation of the rotary shaft 18. ing. Further, a guide protrusion 56 extending in the circumferential direction is provided on the end surface 55 of the worm wheel 49 on the counterclockwise side.

A pushing member 57, which is also rotatably supported by the support shaft 54, is disposed adjacent to the worm wheel 49. The pushing member 57 is provided above the protrusion 48 of the cutter 6. A push-out projection 58 is provided which is engaged with the cutter 6 and pushes down the cutter 6 against the return spring 42. Also, the pushing member
57 is provided with guide protrusions 59 that extend substantially in the circumferential direction and that face the guide protrusions 56.
A connection spring 60, which is a coil spring as an example of elastic means, is interposed between the 56 and the guide protrusion 59 so as not to fall off even if the relative positions of the worm wheel 49 and the pushing member 57 in the circumferential direction change. There is. Further, the support frame
A stopper 61 is projectingly provided on the 50, and the pushing member 57 abuts the stopper 61 in the clockwise direction in a state where the pushing protrusion 58 thereof is separated from the protrusion 48, and the pushing movement thereafter. An abutting arm 62 for restraining the rotation of the member 57 in the same direction is provided in a protruding manner.

By the way, a motor 20 for rotating the worm gear 23 via the rotary shaft 18 and other motors 21, 31
Are both stepping motors, and the cutter pressure, which is the pressure contact pressure of the cutter body 7 against the sheet-shaped medium 8, is controlled by controlling the number of rotation steps of the motor 20.

FIG. 4 shows a control system for this purpose. Cutting data, which is data such as figures and characters for cutting out the sheet-shaped medium 8 inputted to the host computer 63, is cut from the host computer 63 by the cutting plotter 64. It is adapted to be input to the arithmetic processing unit 66 via the interface circuit 65 of FIG. The arithmetic processing unit 66 is for arithmetic processing of the cutting data and the like from the host computer 63, a motor drive circuit 67 is connected to the arithmetic processing unit 66, by the arithmetic processing in the arithmetic processing unit 66. The formed motor drive signal is input to the motor drive circuit 67.

The arithmetic processing unit 66 includes a RAM 68 for temporarily holding cutting data and the like, and a motor 2 corresponding to the cutter pressure.
ROM for storing the number of rotation steps of 0 as a table
69 and are connected. In addition, the arithmetic processing unit 66,
The cutter pressure setting switch 70 provided on the operation panel of the plotter body (not shown) and the indicator 71 for displaying the rank of the cutter pressure are connected.

Each of the motors 20, 21, 31 is connected to the motor drive circuit 67, and the motors 21, 31 are rotationally driven at a predetermined timing according to the cutting data from the host computer 63, and the switches are also provided. The corresponding step number is read from the ROM 69 according to the cutter pressure input signal from the cutter 70, and the cutter body 7 is pressed against the sheet medium 8 at a desired pressure. The timing of pressing and separating the cutter body 7 with respect to the sheet-shaped medium 8 is controlled by the cutting data from the host computer 63.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described.

The control of driving and stopping of each of the motors 20, 21, 31 is performed by the arithmetic processing unit 66 and the motor drive circuit 67 according to the cutting data from the host computer 63, and the sheet shape of the cutter body 7 of the cutter 6 is used. The adjustment of the cutter pressure for the medium 8 is performed by using the switch 70 to input the rank of the cutter pressure corresponding to the material and thickness of the sheet-shaped medium 8 to be cut.

The movement of the cutting head 1 in the X direction is performed by traveling the timing belt 32 by the rotational driving of the motor 31 in either the forward or reverse direction. In addition, the sheet medium 8
In the Y direction, the rotation shaft 19 is rotated by the rotation drive of the motor 21 in either the forward or reverse direction, and the paper feed rollers 24 and 24 fitted to the rotation shaft 19 and the paper feed rollers 24. The sheet-like medium 8 is sandwiched between the sheet feeding rollers 27 and 27 which are pressed against each other, and each sheet feeding roller 24 is rotationally driven.

By the way, the movement of the cutter 6 in the Z direction including the adjustment of the cutter pressure is performed as shown in FIG. In addition, in FIG. 3, both overlapping lines in the front-rear direction are shown by solid lines.

When the power is turned on, the pushing member 57 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 3 by the rotation of the rotary shaft 18, the worm gear 23, and the worm wheel 49 by driving the motor 20, and the contact arm 62 of the pushing member 57 is rotated. Support frame 50 stopper 61
And comes to a stop in the state shown in FIG. 3A. Since the motor 20 is a stepping motor, the contact arm 62 is held in contact with the stopper 61 by the step-out method, and this position is the initial position. Further, in this state, since the pushing protrusion 58 of the pushing member 57 is separated from the protrusion 48 of the cutter 6, the cutter 6 and the like can be freely replaced.

In order to lower the cutter 6 from the state shown in FIG. 3A to bring the cutter body 7 into pressure contact with the sheet-shaped medium 8, the motor 20 is driven and the worm wheel 49 is rotated through the worm gear 23 in FIG. 3A. Rotate clockwise. Then, since the connection spring 60 interposed between the worm wheel 49 and the pushing member 57 is pushed by the worm wheel 49, the pushing member 57 also moves counterclockwise via the connecting spring 60. When it is moved forward, its pushing protrusion 58 engages with the protrusion 48 of the cutter 6 from above, and pushes the protrusion 48 downward against the spring force of the return spring 42. Then, the cutter 6 provided with the projection 48 is lowered, and finally the tip of the cutter body 7 protruding from the lower end of the cutter 6 hits the sheet-like medium 8 as shown in FIG. 3B. The cutter 6 stops descending upon contact.

By the way, as described above, the drive of the motor 20 is not immediately stopped in the state where the tip of the cutter body 7 is in contact with the sheet-shaped medium 8, and a predetermined cutter pressure of the cutter body 7 with respect to the sheet-shaped medium 8 is obtained. Therefore, the drive of the motor 20 is continued. Then, the worm wheel 49 is further rotated counterclockwise, and the pushing protrusion 58 comes into contact with the protrusion 48 of the cutter 6, whereby the pushing member held in the stopped state is held.
The connection spring 60, which is interposed between 57 and 57, will be compressed. Then, the spring force (elastic force) stored in the connection spring 60 changes according to the compression state of the connection spring 60. Therefore, in order to obtain a weak cutter pressure, the worm wheel 49 is changed to the one shown in FIG. 3C. It may be rotated to the position shown, or the worm wheel 49 may be rotated to the position shown in FIG. 3D to obtain a strong touch pressure.

Then, in a state where the tip of the cutter body 7 is in pressure contact with the sheet-shaped medium 8 with a predetermined cutter pressure, the motor is driven based on the cutting data from the host computer 63.
31 to drive the cutting head 1 in the X direction,
By driving the motor 21 to move the sheet-shaped medium 8 in the Y direction, the sheet-shaped medium 8 can be appropriately cut with a predetermined cutter pressure. Since the cutter body 7 is rotatable, the cutter body 7 is always oriented in the cutting direction of the sheet medium 8 due to the resistance of the sheet medium 8 when the sheet medium 8 is cut by the cutter body 7. The strip-shaped medium 8 can be cut well.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by compressing the connection spring 60 in accordance with the rotation of the worm wheel 49, a predetermined cutter pressure of the cutter body 7 of the cutter 6 against the sheet-shaped medium 8 is obtained. , The spring constant of the connection spring 60 is designed to be an appropriate value, and the desired cutter pressure is obtained by variably controlling the rotation amount of the protrusion 48, that is, the rotation amount of the motor 20, which is a stepping motor, using the switch 70. You can

Further, according to the present embodiment, the worm gear 23 and the protrusion 48 are
In addition, since the advance angle of the worm gear 23 is smaller than the reverse rotation critical value, even if the return spring 42 urges the cutter 6 away from the sheet-shaped medium 8, the worm gear 23 is urged by the protrusion 48. Since it is not driven, it is not necessary to keep the power supply to the motor 20 to prevent reverse rotation, and the power consumption can be reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, since it is not necessary to mount a heavy object such as a motor on the cutting head 1, it is possible to reduce the weight of the cutting head 1 and to deteriorate the positioning accuracy of the cutting head 1 in the X direction due to inertia. In addition, since the torque for accelerating the inertia is reduced, it is possible to use a motor having a low torque and a low price.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made if necessary. For example, the elastic means is not limited to the spring described in the embodiment, but may be rubber or the like.

[Effect of device]

As described above, the cutting plotter driving device according to the present invention has a practical effect that the cutter can be easily adjusted with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of a cutting plotter to which the driving device according to the present invention is applied, and FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views from above and below showing the main part of the driving device of FIG. 1,
3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are front views showing the operation of this embodiment, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the main part showing a conventional example. is there. 1 ... Cutting head, 6 ... Cutter, 7 ... Cutter body, 8 ... Sheet medium, 16 ... Base, 17A, 17B
...... Side plate, 18,19 …… Rotary shaft, 20,21,31 …… Motor, 23
...... Worm gear, 24,27 …… Feeding roller, 29 …… Drive pulley, 30 …… Drive pulley, 32 …… Timing belt,
35 …… First chamber, 36 …… Second chamber, 37 …… Partition wall, 42 …… Return spring, 48 …… Projection, 49 …… Worm wheel, 50 ……
Support frame, 57 ... Pushing member, 58 ... Pushing protrusion, 60 ...
… Connection spring, 61 …… Stopper, 62 …… Abutting arm, 63…
… Host computer, 64… Cutting plotter,
65 ... Interface circuit, 66 ... Arithmetic processing unit, 67 ...
… Motor drive circuit, 68 …… RAM, 69 …… ROM, 70 …… Switch, 71 …… Display.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cutting head, which supports a cutter so as to be movable in the Z direction, is provided in XY relative to a cutting medium.
In a cutting plotter provided with a moving means for moving in the direction, a motor for moving the cutter in the Z direction, and a worm gear rotatably driven by the motor,
A cutting plotter comprising: a worm wheel supported by the cutting head and meshed with the worm gear; and elastic means for accumulating elastic force in accordance with the rotation of the worm wheel and biasing the cutter in the Z direction. Drive.