JPH08132260A - Laser beam machining method and production of liquid ejection recording head using above - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To avoid troubles due to the by-product of the laser beam machining. CONSTITUTION: A front face 10a of a base board 10 of a resin top plate, etc., of a liquid ejection recording head is applied with surfactant, etc., and a liquid protective film 12 is provided. A prescribe part of the base board 10 is irradiated with a laser beam A of the excimer laser, etc., a groove 11 is formed, and the by-product B in this time is caught with the liquid protective film 12. By only lightly wiping the liquid protective film 12 after laser beam machining, the by-product B can be removed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser processing method for carrying out groove processing and boring processing on a liquid jet recording head and the like, and a method for manufacturing a liquid jet recording head using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A liquid jet recording head for recording (printing) a recording liquid (ink) on a recording medium (recording paper or the like) by ejecting recording liquid (ink) from a fine discharge port (orifice) as flying droplets is known. It has a substrate (heater board) having an electrothermal conversion element and its lead electrode, and a resin nozzle layer forming a liquid flow path (nozzle) and a common liquid chamber is laminated on the substrate, It is common to stack glass top plates with supply pipes, but recently, glass top plates have been omitted, and in addition to the liquid flow path and common liquid chamber, recording liquid supply pipes, etc. have been installed. A resin-made top plate member (hereinafter referred to as "resin-made top plate") integrally provided is manufactured by injection molding or the like, and
A liquid jet recording head has been developed which is pressed against a substrate by an elastic member to be integrated. Such a liquid jet recording head is expected to greatly contribute to the low cost of the liquid jet recording apparatus, since the number of parts to be assembled is greatly reduced and the assembling process is extremely simplified.

FIG. 15 shows a main part of a liquid jet recording head E ₀ using a resin top plate in a state in which a part of the resin top plate is broken. This is a plurality of electrothermal conversion elements 10.
Substrate 1001 having 01a and each electrothermal conversion element 10
01a, a resin top plate 1002 having a liquid flow channel 1002a and a common liquid chamber 1002b communicating with the liquid flow channel 1002a is provided. The resin top plate 1002 has discharge ports (orifices) communicating with the respective liquid flow channels 1002a. ) A cylindrical protrusion 10 having an orifice plate portion 1002d having 1002c and a recording liquid supply port 1002e opening to the common liquid chamber 1002b.
02f is integrally provided.

In this way, the liquid flow path 1002a and the common liquid chamber 1
In addition to 002b, a resin top plate 1002 having an orifice plate portion 1002d and a cylindrical protruding portion 1002f is integrally formed by injection molding or the like, and each liquid flow channel 1002a is located on the electrothermal conversion element 1001a of the substrate 1001. After positioning as described above, the resin top plate 1002 is pressed against the substrate 1001 by an elastic member (not shown), and is integrally connected with the substrate 1001. The board 1001 is fixed on the base plate 1004 by a known method such as screwing together with the wiring board 1003 in which a drive circuit for generating an electric signal is mounted on each electrothermal conversion element 1001a.

The resin top plate 1002 has a liquid flow path 1002a.
Upon which is integrally formed by injection molding or the like before the blank comprising a front of the orifice plate portion 1002d to provide a body portion and an orifice 1002c providing, as shown in FIG. 13, by using a laser beam A ₀ such as an excimer laser resin It is manufactured by grooving each liquid flow path 1002a in the main body portion of the ceiling plate 1002, and then piercing each orifice 1002c in the orifice plate portion 1002d using the same laser light.

As described above, by combining the injection molding and the laser processing, the resin top plate 1002 can be manufactured at a low cost, so that the cost reduction of the liquid jet recording head can be further promoted.

[0007]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional technique, when the injection-molded blank is grooved by the laser beam, the by-product B ₀ containing carbon as a main component is generated, and each by-product B ₀ is generated. It is deposited on the end faces such as ribs between the liquid flow paths 1002a. In addition, the orifice plate portion 100
Even when the hole 2d is drilled, as shown in FIG. 14, powder D ₀ such as carbon is deposited around each orifice 1002c.

These laser processing by-products are generally:
Since the bonding force with the resin is strong, it cannot be removed by rubbing the end face of the resin top plate and the surface of the orifice plate portion lightly.

Therefore, a cleaning method such as using an adhesive tape, blowing a helium gas, or adopting ultrasonic cleaning has been proposed, but the surface of the resin top plate is relatively soft. , Using adhesive tape, or rubbing strongly, ultrasonic cleaning may impair the precision of the shape of the fine liquid flow path and orifice,
Further, the method of blowing the helium gas not only invites an increase in the cost of the liquid jet recording head because the helium gas is expensive, but it is difficult to uniformly blow the helium gas, and a sufficient effect cannot be expected.

In addition, a protective film made of an easily soluble resin is applied to the surface of the resin top plate in advance, a by-product produced by laser processing is captured by the protective film, and the protective film is removed after the laser processing is completed. Has also been developed (JP-A-4-2793).
55), the protective film is welded to the surface of the resin top plate due to the heat generated by the laser processing, which makes it difficult to remove the protective film.

If the laser processing by-product and the unnecessary protective film are left on the surface of the resin top plate or the like to be assembled on the substrate or the like, a significant assembling error occurs to improve the performance of the liquid jet recording apparatus. Problems such as deterioration and contamination of recording paper due to carbon powder accumulated around the orifice occur.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned unsolved problems of the prior art, in which a groove or a hole is formed on a resin top plate of a liquid jet recording head by using a laser beam. An object of the present invention is to provide a laser processing method and a method of manufacturing a liquid jet recording head using the laser processing method, by which troubles due to by-products of laser processing accumulated on the surface of a workpiece can be easily avoided. .

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the laser processing method of the present invention provides a liquid or mousse-shaped coating film on the surface of a workpiece, and then laser light is applied to the workpiece. The method is characterized by having a step of performing processing by irradiation and a step of removing a liquid or mousse-like coating film from the processed object.

Further, it is characterized in that it has a step of irradiating the work piece with a laser beam for processing, and a step of applying a thermal shock to the processed work piece to separate the by-products of the work. .

It is preferable that the workpiece be immersed in liquid nitrogen at room temperature or heated water and then subjected to thermal shock.

Further, a step of forming a hard film made of metal or ceramic on the surface of the work piece and then irradiating the work piece with a laser beam for processing, and a hard film of the processed work piece. It has a process of cleaning the surface of the.

Further, there are a step of irradiating the work piece with a laser beam for processing and a step of providing a hard film made of metal or ceramic on the surface of the processed work piece to cover a by-product of the work. It is characterized by having.

[0018]

According to the laser processing method described above, the liquid or mousse-like coating film provided on the surface of the object to be processed makes it possible to capture the accessory components of the processing and lightly wipe off after processing.

Since it is only wiped lightly, there is no danger of damaging the work piece after processing.

Further, according to the laser processing method, there is a step of irradiating the processed object with a laser beam for processing, and a step of applying a thermal shock to the processed object to separate the by-products of the processing. For example, by-products of processing can be separated and removed without giving any mechanical stimulus to the surface of the processed object.

Therefore, there is no possibility of deteriorating the shape accuracy of the workpiece after processing, which is particularly suitable for fine laser processing.

Further, a step of forming a hard film made of metal or ceramic on the surface of the work piece and then irradiating the work piece with a laser beam to perform the working, and a hard film of the worked work piece. According to the laser processing method including the step of cleaning the surface of, the by-product of processing is deposited on the surface of the hard film, so that it is extremely easy to wipe it off. In addition, the hard film has an advantage that the strength of the workpiece is improved.

Further, there are a step of irradiating the work with laser light and a step of providing a hard film made of metal or ceramic on the surface of the worked work to cover the by-products of the work. According to the laser processing method, since the by-product of processing is covered with the hard film, troubles such as contamination of an object adjacent to the workpiece by the by-product can be avoided. In addition, the hard film has an advantage that the strength of the workpiece is improved.

[0024]

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

FIG. 1 illustrates a laser processing method according to the first embodiment. A laser beam A ₁ (λ of a KrF excimer laser is applied to a substrate 10 made of polysulfone resin, which is a workpiece.
= 248 nm) to process the groove 11, first, as shown in (a), a surfactant (Safinol S-141) is applied to the surface 10a of the substrate 10 to form a liquid protective film. 12 is provided. When the laser beam A ₁ is irradiated, the surface of the substrate 10 is locally melted by the laser energy transmitted through the liquid protective film 12, and the groove 11 is formed as shown in (b). As a by-product generated at this time, B ₁ is the surface 1 of the substrate 10 as shown in (c).
0a, which is captured by the liquid protective film 12 and covers the substrate 10
The surface 10a is not directly and firmly adhered to the surface of the liquid protective film 12 as shown in (d). After finishing the groove processing with the laser light A ₁ , the surface 10a of the base 10 is simply wiped to remove the by-product B ₁ from the liquid protective film 12.
Can be removed together.

When the laser machining method according to the present embodiment is used, the resin top plate 2 of the liquid jet recording head shown in FIG. 2 is perforated to form the orifice 2a and grooved to form the liquid flow path 2b. The portion where the cleaning was insufficient and the by-product B ₁ remained remained was about 10% of the entire contaminated area, and the defective product generation rate of the liquid jet recording head as a product was 0%.

FIG. 3 shows a modification of the first embodiment. Instead of the liquid protective film 12 such as a surfactant, (a)
As shown in (b), a foam coating film 22 is provided which is a mousse-like coating film using a foaming agent containing triethanolamine, benzine alcohol, and polyoxyethylene lanolin as main components. Further, the by-product B ₂ generated by the irradiation of the laser beam A ₁ is taken into the bubbles of the foam coating film 22 and floats on the foam coating film 22 as shown in (c).

Since the foam coating film 22 does not adhere to the surface 10a of the substrate 10, it has the advantage that it can be wiped off more easily than the liquid protective film 12.

When the groove processing for forming the liquid flow path was performed on the resin top plate of the liquid jet recording head by using the laser processing method according to the present modification in the same manner as described above, the by-product B ₁ remained. The portion was about 5% of the entire contaminated area, and the defective product occurrence rate of the liquid jet recording head as a product was 0%.

Further, instead of the foaming agent, a foaming agent containing stearylmethylammonium chloride, distearyldimethylammonium chloride, cetanol, edetate, benzoate or paraben as a main component may be used. When the groove processing for forming the liquid flow path was performed on the resin top plate of the liquid jet recording head by this method in the same manner as described above, the portion where the cleaning was insufficient was approximately 5% of the entire contaminated area. The occurrence rate of defective products of the liquid jet recording head as a product was 0%. The liquid jet recording head has a plurality of electrothermal conversion elements 1 on the surface 1a as shown in FIG.
The substrate 1 having b is covered with the resin top plate 2 shown in the state (a) turned over, and the substrate 1 is formed by using an elastic member (not shown).
It is assembled by integrating the resin top plate 2 with the above. Regarding the defective product generation rate of the liquid jet recording head, a test method is adopted in which 100 liquid jet recording heads assembled as described above are taken as samples and printed, and those which have not reached a predetermined printing quality are defective products. Adopted.

According to this embodiment, when the resin top plate of the liquid jet recording head is subjected to laser processing, a liquid protective film or a foamed coating film is previously provided on the surface on which the by-products of the laser processing are deposited. Only by doing so, the removal of by-products after laser processing can be performed extremely easily.

Therefore, as in the conventional example, the product is scratched in the step of removing the by-product, and the yield of the product is reduced,
It is possible to greatly contribute to the reduction of the manufacturing cost of the liquid jet recording head or the like without requiring expensive helium gas or the like.

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for removing by-products according to the second embodiment. This is a resin top plate 32 on which a groove for a liquid flow path and a hole for an orifice are formed by laser light.
While being held by the auto handle 30 and immersed in normal temperature or heated pure water 33a in the water tank 33, and then submerged in the ultra-low temperature tank 34 containing liquid nitrogen 34a and rapidly cooled to give a thermal shock By repeating the above for a predetermined number of cycles, the by-product of the laser processing is separated, finally immersed in pure water 35a in the water washing tank 35 for cleaning, and dried by the N ₂ blow 36.

The carbon powder having a thickness of 3 μm, for example, deposited on the end surface of the resin top plate 32 and the orifice plate portion by laser processing is separated by thermal shock, and is separated in the pure water 33a in the water tank 33 or the liquid nitrogen in the ultra low temperature tank 34. It is presumed that it diffuses into 34a.

According to this embodiment, almost 100% of the by-products of laser processing can be removed without applying any mechanical stimulus to the resin top plate 32. Therefore, there is no possibility of impairing the accuracy of the shape of the liquid flow paths and nozzles of the liquid jet recording head, and an extremely miniaturized and high performance liquid jet recording head can be manufactured.

In the pure water 33a in the water tank 33, for example, 1
% Of a surfactant is added, it is possible to obtain a by-product of laser processing in about 10 cycles in a smaller number of cycles than in the case of 100% pure water.
It is known that 0% can be removed. As the surfactant used in this case, Safinol S-141, Safinol 465, Safinol 104E and the like are desirable.

Further, instead of processing the resin top plates one by one with the auto handle 30, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of resin top plates 42 may be put in the wire netting basket 40 and processed together. That is, the wire net basket 4 containing the resin top plate 42
0 is repeatedly dipped in the water tank 33 and the ultra-low temperature tank 34, then carried to the water washing tank 35, and finally carried into the clean oven 46 instead of the N ₂ blow 36. Next, a specific example of this embodiment will be described. (First specific example) A blank of a resin top plate obtained by injection-molding polysulfone was laser-processed with a laser beam (λ = 248 nm) of a KrF excimer laser to process a liquid flow path and an orifice, and a pure temperature of 96 ° C. After soaking in water for 10 seconds, -1
A heat shock process of immersing in 96 ° C. liquid nitrogen for 10 seconds was repeated 30 cycles, and dried by N ₂ blow for 20 seconds. When the surface of the resin top plate was examined, 100% of the by-products by laser processing were removed. In this case 10
Since 0% pure water was used, washing with a washing tank is unnecessary. (Second specific example) The same thermal shock step as in the first specific example was repeated for 10 cycles except that 1% of a surfactant (Safinol S-141) was added to pure water at 96 ° C. Soak for 20 seconds and dry with N ₂ blow for 20 seconds. When the surface of the resin top plate was examined, 100% of the by-products by laser processing were removed. (Third Concrete Example) As in the first concrete example, 20 resin-made top plates were placed in a wire netting basket and pure water at 96 ° C. to which 1% of a surfactant (Safynol S-141) was added. -1
The heat shock step of alternately immersing in 96 ° C. liquid nitrogen was repeated 10 cycles, and then immersed in a washing bath for 20 seconds and dried in a clean oven at 80 ° C. for 120 seconds. When the surfaces of the 20 resin top plates were examined, the by-products of the laser processing were 100% removed from all the resin top plates.

The resin top plate of the first concrete example is sample A, the same treatment is performed by changing the cycle number of the heat shock step and the temperature of pure water, and samples B and C are the resin top plate of the second concrete example. Sample D, samples E to I treated in the same manner by changing the temperature of pure water and the type of surfactant added thereto are replaced with pure water (IP) at 24 ° C. instead of pure water.
The sample treated with A) is sample J, the samples treated with alkaline ionized water containing 1% safinol S-141 instead of pure water at different temperatures are placed in water tanks K and L. Table 1 shows the results of examining the surface of each sample after treating the sample M as a sample M in which only the step of immersing in liquid nitrogen was repeated 10 times.

[0039]

[Table 1] FIG. 6 illustrates a laser processing method according to the third embodiment, in which a resin substrate 50 such as polysulfone, polypropylene or polystyrene as shown in (a) is drilled using laser light such as KrF excimer laser. When performing the process, first, as shown in (b), a coating film of a metal or ceramic glass, which is a hard film, is formed on the inner surface of the surface 50a of the substrate 50 and the groove 51 formed on the opposite side by plating or vapor deposition. 52 is deposited, and as shown in (c), laser light A ₃ is irradiated from the groove 51 side to form a through hole 53 such as an orifice. At this time, the by-product B ₃ such as carbon powder generated by laser processing is covered with the coating film 5.
2 is deposited on the surface. Then, the substrate 50 is immersed in pure water,
Wipe off the by-product B ₃ with a silicone rubber blade.

Since the surface on which the by-product B ₃ is deposited is covered with the hard metal or glass coating film 52, there is no possibility that the by-product will be welded by the heat during laser processing. Therefore, it can be easily removed by wiping as described above.

The coating film 52 is formed, for example, as follows. The substrate 50 is immersed in a chromium sulfuric acid solution at 70 ° C. for 10 minutes for etching, neutralized, treated with a catalyst or a reaction accelerator, and immersed in an electroless nickel bath at 40 ° C. for 15 minutes to obtain 0.5 μm nickel. Apply plating.

In the case of a coating film made of glass, for example, a SiO ₂ film or the like may be deposited by using a known film forming apparatus such as vapor deposition.

In the present embodiment, if the substrate 50 is the resin top plate of the liquid jet recording head, a by-product formed by punching to form an orifice in the orifice plate portion remains on the orifice plate portion and reacts with the ink. Not only is there no risk of deterioration in the printing quality, but the strength of the orifice plate is greatly enhanced by the coating film of metal or glass, so that a liquid jet recording head with stable printing performance can be obtained. FIG. 7 shows a laser processing method according to a modification of the third embodiment. This is the base 6 shown in (a).
0, first, as shown in (b), the through hole 63 is formed by the laser beam A ₄ , and then, as shown in (c), the surface 60a of the base 60 and the inner surface of the groove 61 are covered with metal or glass. The cover film 62 is applied. By covering the laser processing by-product B ₄ with the coating film 62, troubles such as print quality deterioration due to the by-product B ₄ are avoided, and the substrate 60
The strength of can be improved.

Next, the liquid jet recording head according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "inkjet head unit").
Inkjet head cartridge for mounting (hereinafter,
It is called a "cartridge". ) IJC is shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on.

The cartridge IJC is fixedly supported by the positioning means and electrical contacts, which will be described later, of the carriage (HC) (see FIG. 12) mounted on the ink jet recording apparatus main body (IJRA) which is a liquid jet recording apparatus. , Is a disposable type that can be attached to and detached from the carriage HC.

The cartridge IJC is a bubble jet type unit for recording by using an electrothermal conversion element which is an electrothermal conversion element for generating heat energy for causing film boiling to the ink in response to an electric signal. .

In FIG. 8, reference numeral 100 denotes a heater board which is a substrate. The heater board 100 includes electrothermal converters (discharge heaters) arranged in a plurality of rows on a Si substrate.
Electric wiring such as A1 for supplying electric power to this is formed by a film forming technique. Reference numeral 200 denotes a wiring board for the heater board 100. The wiring board 200 corresponds to the wiring of the heater board 100 (for example, is connected by wire bonding), and the pad 201 located at the end of the wiring and receiving an electric signal from the inside of the main body. have.

Reference numeral 1300 denotes a resin top plate (hereinafter referred to as “top plate”) having the discharge port forming member 400.
300 is provided with a partition wall for partitioning ink flow paths, which are a plurality of liquid flow paths (not shown), and a common liquid chamber for accommodating ink for supplying ink to each ink flow path. Ink receiving port (supply port) for receiving the ink supplied from the ink tank IT and introducing it into the common liquid chamber described above.
1500 and a discharge port forming member 400 having a plurality of discharge ports corresponding to the respective ink flow paths are integrally molded with the top plate 1300. Polysulfone is preferable as the integrally molded material, but other molding resin materials may be used.

Reference numeral 300 denotes, for example, a metal support that supports the back surface of the wiring board 200 on a flat surface, and serves as a bottom plate of the ink jet head unit (IJU). Reference numeral 500 denotes a presser spring that is an elastic member, and has a substantially M shape.
The central portion of the character presses the vicinity of a common liquid chamber (not shown) of the top plate 1300 with a light pressure, and at the same time, the front slant portion 501 forms a part of the liquid passage.
Preferably, the area near the orifice of the discharge port is concentratedly pressed by the linear pressure. Thus, the presser foot leg is provided in the hole 3 of the support 300.
The heater board 100 and the top plate 1300 are attached to the support body 300 by engaging with the rear surface side of the support body 300 through the support body 300.
They can be engaged with each other while being sandwiched between them, and the heater board 100 and the top plate 1300 are pressure-bonded to each other by the concentrated biasing force of the pressing spring 500 and its front slant 501.

The support 300 is the ink tank IT.
Two positioning protrusions 1012 and positioning holes 312, 1900, 2000 for engaging with the positioning and heat-fusion-holding protrusions 1800, 1801 (see FIG. 10), and for positioning the apparatus main body IJRA with respect to the carriage HC. The projections 2500 and 2600 are provided on the back surface side.
In addition, the support 300 also has a hole 320 that allows an ink supply pipe 2200 (described later) having a function of supplying ink from the ink tank IT to penetrate therethrough. The wiring board 200 is attached to such a support 300 with an adhesive or the like.

Also, the recesses 2400, 24 of the support 300
01 is the projections 2500 and 2600 for positioning, respectively.
In the assembled cartridge IJC (FIG. 9), which is provided in the vicinity of the
In the extension area of the tip of the inkjet head unit IJU defined by the plurality of parallel grooves 3000 and 3001 formed on the sides, unnecessary objects such as dust and ink are projected 25.
It does not reach 00, 2600.

As can be seen from FIGS. 8 and 9, the lid member 800 forms an outer wall of the cartridge IJC and a space portion for accommodating the ink jet head unit IJU between the ink tank IT and the ink tank IT. Also,
On the side of the ink supply member 600 where the parallel groove 3001 is formed, the supply pipe 2200 side of the ink conduit 1600 that is continuous with the ink supply pipe 2200 described above is formed as a fixed cantilever, and A sealing pin 602 for ensuring a capillarity is inserted between the fixed side and the ink supply tube 2200. Incidentally, 601
Is a packing for coupling and sealing the ink tank IT and the supply pipe 2200, and 700 is a filter provided at the end of the supply pipe 2200 on the tank side.

The ink supply member 600 is molded, is inexpensive, has high positional accuracy, does not reduce the accuracy of formation, and has a cantilever structure for the conduit 1600, which allows a large amount of ink. In the production, a stable pressure contact state of the conduit 1600 with the above-mentioned ink receiving port 1500 can be obtained. In this example, by simply pouring the sealing adhesive from the ink supply member 600 side under such a pressure contact state, a more complete communication state can be surely obtained. The support 300 of the ink supply member 600
Is fixed to the holes 1901, 1902 of the support 300.
Against the back side pin of the ink supply member 600 (not shown)
Is made to pass through and the portion protruding to the back surface side of the support body 300 is heat-fused to facilitate this. In addition,
The heat-sealed slight protrusion area of the back surface portion is accommodated in the recess (not shown) in the side wall surface of the ink jet head unit IJU mounting surface of the ink tank IT, so that the positioning surface of the ink jet head unit IJU is accurately secured. be able to.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the ink tank IT includes a cartridge main body 1000, an ink absorber 900 which will be described in detail later, and the ink jet head unit IJ of the cartridge main body 1000.
After being inserted from the side surface opposite to the U attachment surface, a lid member 1100 for sealing this is formed.

Reference numeral 900 denotes an absorber for impregnating ink, which is arranged in the cartridge body 1000.

The ink supply port 1200 includes the above parts 100 to 100.
It is a supply port for supplying ink to the ink jet head unit IJU composed of 600, and by injecting the ink in the process before disposing the ink jet head unit IJU inside the cartridge body 1000, It is also an injection port for performing ink impregnation.

In the ink tank IT of the present example, the portion to which ink can be supplied is the atmosphere communication port 1401 and this ink supply port 1200, but in order to perform good ink supply from the ink absorber 900. Cartridge body 10
00 is provided with ribs 2300, and lid member 1100 is provided with partial ribs 2301 and 2302, and there is an in-tank air existence region formed by these ribs. Supply port 1
Since it is continuously formed over the corner area farthest from the ink container 200, the ink can be satisfactorily and uniformly supplied to the ink absorber 900 from the supply port 1200 side.

This is extremely effective in practice, and the ink tank IT has four ribs 2300 parallel to the carriage movement direction on the rear surface of the cartridge main body 1000, so that the ink absorber 900 adheres to the rear surface. To prevent. In addition, the partial ribs 2301 and 2302 correspond to the ribs 2300 and the lid member 1100 on the extension thereof.
Although it is provided on the inner surface of the, unlike the rib 2300,
It is in a divided state, and the existing space of air is increased from the former. Note that the partial ribs 2301 and 2302
Are distributed on less than half of the total area of the lid member 1100, thus these ribs allow the ink absorber 900 to
Of the ink supply port 1200, the ink in the corner area farthest from the ink supply port 1200 is made more stable and more reliably.
It can be guided by the capillary force on the 200 side. 1400 is a liquid repellent material arranged inside the atmosphere communication port 1401.
This prevents ink from leaking from the atmosphere communication port 1401.

The ink storage space of the ink tank IT described above has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the long side thereof is the cartridge body 1.
However, the rib arrangement configuration described above is particularly effective because it has a long side in the moving direction of the carriage or is a cube, and the ribs are provided on the entire lid member 1100. The ink supply from the absorber 900 can be stabilized. The rectangular parallelepiped shape is suitable for storing ink in the limited space as much as possible, but in order to use the stored ink for recording without waste, as described above, it is close to the corner area. It is important to receive ribs in the two-sided area that can perform the above-mentioned actions.

Furthermore, the ink tank IT in this embodiment
Since the inner surface ribs are arranged in a substantially uniform distribution in the thickness direction of the rectangular parallelepiped-shaped ink absorber 900, this makes the atmospheric pressure distribution uniform with respect to the ink consumption of the entire ink absorber 900. At the same time, the remaining amount of ink can be almost eliminated, which is an important configuration. Further, when describing the technical idea of the arrangement of the ribs in detail, when a circular arc having a long side as a radius is drawn around the projected position of the ink supply port 1200 on the upper surface of the rectangular parallelepiped, the outside of the circular arc is drawn. It is important to dispose the ribs on the outer surface of the arc so that the atmospheric pressure state can be given to the ink absorber 900 located at. in this case,
Needless to say, the atmosphere communication port of the ink tank IT is not limited to the position of this example as long as the atmosphere can be introduced into the rib arrangement area.

In addition, in this embodiment, the cartridge IJ
Since the rear surface of the head IJH of C is flattened to minimize the required space when incorporated in the apparatus and maximize the ink storage amount, it is not only possible to downsize the apparatus. In addition, there is an advantage that the replacement frequency of the cartridge IJC can be reduced. Then, by utilizing the rear portion of the space for integrating the inkjet head unit IJU, a protruding portion for the atmosphere communication port 1401 is formed there, and the inside of this protruding portion is hollowed out, as described above. Absorber 9
An atmospheric pressure supply space 1402 is formed for the entire thickness of 00. With such a configuration, it was possible to provide an excellent cartridge that has never been seen before.

The atmospheric pressure supply space 1402 is a space much larger than the conventional one, and the atmosphere communication port 1
Since 401 is located above, even if the ink is released from the absorber 900 due to some abnormality, the ink is temporarily held by the atmospheric pressure supply space 1402,
The ink can be surely collected in the absorber 900 again.

FIG. 10 shows the ink tank IT as seen from the surface side on which the ink jet head unit IJU is attached. L ₁ passes through almost the center of the ejection port array of the ink ejection port forming member 400, and the ink tank IT Is a straight line parallel to the mounting reference plane of the bottom surface of the carriage or the carriage surface, and two positioning protrusions 1012 and 1012 that engage with the holes 312 and 312 of the support 300 shown in FIG. 8 are on this straight line L _1. . The height of the protrusion 1012 is slightly lower than the thickness of the support 300, and the support 300 is positioned. Further, on the extension of the straight line L _{1 in} FIG. 10, a positioning hook 4001 for positioning the carriage HC shown in FIG.
Is provided with a claw 2100 with which the 90 ° angle engaging surface 4002 is engaged, and the positioning force for the carriage HC acts in a surface area including the straight line L ₁ and parallel to the reference surface. Has been done. As will be described later with reference to FIG. 11, such a relationship has the effect of enhancing the positioning accuracy of the ink tank itself to the same level as the ejection port positioning accuracy of the head IJH.

The protrusions 1800 and 1801 of the ink tank corresponding to the fixing holes 1900 and 2000 on the side surface of the ink tank of the support member 300 are the protrusions 10 described above.
It is for fixing the support body 300 to the side surface by heat-welding a portion that is longer than 12 and penetrates the support body 300 and projects. Therefore, the protrusion 1 is perpendicular to the straight line L ₁ described above.
A straight line passing through 800 is L ₃ , and a straight line passing through the protrusion 1801 is L
₂ , the ink supply port 120 is on the straight line L _3.
Since the center of 0 is located, the ink supply port 12
00 and the supply pipe 2200 are stabilized, and the load on these combined states can be reduced even when dropped or impacted. Further, the straight lines L ₂ and L ₃ do not coincide with each other, and the protrusions 1800 and 1801 exist around the protrusion 1012 on the ejection port side of the head IJH. Is obtained. The curve indicated by L ₄ is the outer wall position when the ink supply member 600 is mounted. Protrusion 1800,1
Since the 801 is along the curve L ₄ , the head IJH
Sufficient strength and positional accuracy are given to the weight of the tip side structure. Reference numeral 2700 denotes a front end flange of the ink tank IT, which is a front plate 4000 of the carriage HC as shown in FIG.
It is inserted in the slot of the ink tank IT to prepare for an abnormal case where the displacement of the ink tank IT becomes extremely bad. Also, FIG.
0 and 2101 shown in FIG. 11 are retainers for the carriage HC and are provided for a bar (not shown) of the carriage HC, and the cartridge IJC enters below the bar at a position where the cartridge IJC is pivotally mounted as described later. The protective member is for maintaining the mounted state even if an upward force that unnecessarily separates from the positioning position acts.

After the ink tank IT and the ink jet unit IJU are attached, the ink jet unit IJU is covered by the lid 800 so as to surround the ink jet unit IJU except for the lower opening.
Since the lower opening for mounting on the carriage HC is close to the carriage HC, a four-way surrounding space is substantially formed here. Therefore, the heat generated from the head IJH in the enclosed space is accumulated in this space, which is effective as a heat retaining effect, but in the case of long-term continuous use, the temperature rises slightly. For this reason, in this embodiment, a slit 1700 having a width smaller than this space is provided on the upper surface of the cartridge IJC in order to assist natural heat dissipation of the support 300, and the temperature distribution of the entire ink jet unit IJU is prevented while preventing noise reduction. It was made uniform and was not affected by the environment.

Now, when assembled as the cartridge IJC, the ink is supplied inside the cartridge through the supply port 120.
0, a hole 320 provided in the support 300 and an introduction port (not shown) provided on the inner and back surfaces of the ink tank IT, and is supplied into the tank. After passing through the inside, an appropriate supply pipe and It flows into the common liquid chamber through the ink introduction port 1500 of the top plate 1300. A packing made of, for example, silicon rubber or butyl rubber is provided in the connection portion for ink communication described above, and sealing is performed by this to secure an ink supply path.

In this embodiment, the top plate 1300 of the head IJH is made of polysulfone having excellent ink resistance,
Polyether sulfone, polyphenylene oxide,
A resin such as polypropylene is used, and it is integrally molded together with the ink ejection port forming member 400 in a mold.

As described above, since the ink supply member 600, the member in which the top plate 300 and the ink discharge port forming member 400 are integrated, and the cartridge body 1000 are integrally molded parts, respectively, the assembling accuracy is not only high. It is extremely effective in improving the quality of mass production. Further, since the number of parts can be reduced as compared with the conventional one, excellent desired characteristics can be surely exhibited.

Further, in the present embodiment, in the shape after assembly, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, the ink supply member 600 has the upper surface portion 603 of the ink tank IT.
8, a slit S is formed between the end portion 4008 of the roof portion having the slit 1700, and the lower surface portion 604 of the ink supply member 600 and the bottom lid 800 are adhered to each other. A slit (not shown) similar to the slit S is formed between the side end portion 4011 and the side end portion 4011. In this way, the ink tank IT and the ink supply member 600
Due to the slit formed between
In addition to substantially promoting the heat dissipation of 0, even if there is an unnecessary pressure applied to the ink tank IT, this is directly supplied to the member, that is, the inkjet unit I.
The effect of preventing it from affecting the JU is obtained.

The above-mentioned structure is a structure which has not been found in the prior art.
Each of them can independently bring about an effective effect, and also in combination, various synergistic effects can be brought about by each constituent requirement.

In FIG. 11, a platen roller 5000 guides the recording medium P from the lower side to the upper side of the drawing. The carriage HC moves along the platen roller 5000, and the carriage HC is provided on the front platen side of the carriage HC.
A front plate 4000 (thickness of 2 mm, for example) located on the front side of the cartridge body 1000 of the cartridge IJC;
A flexible sheet 4005 having a pad 2011 corresponding to the pad 201 of the wiring board 200 of the cartridge IJC and a rubber sheet 4007 with a potch for generating an elastic force that presses the flexible sheet 4005 against the pads 2011 from the back surface side are protected. Support plate for electric connection part 4003
And a positioning hook 4001 for fixing the cartridge IJC to the recording position.

The front plate 4000 has a positioning protruding surface 4010.
2 corresponding to the above-mentioned positioning protrusions 2500 and 2600 of the support member 300 of the cartridge IJC, respectively, and a vertical force is applied to the positioning protrusion surface 4010 after the cartridge IJC is mounted. For this reason, a plurality of reinforcing ribs (not shown) are provided on the platen roller side of the front plate 4000 along the direction of force. The rib also forms a head protection protrusion that protrudes slightly (about 0.1 mm) toward the platen roller from the front position L5 when the cartridge IJC is mounted.

The supporting plate 4003 for electrical connection portion has a plurality of reinforcing ribs 4004 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and gradually reduces the protrusion rate from the platen 5000 side toward the hook 4001 side. Thus, it has a function of inclining the position when the cartridge is mounted as shown in the figure. Further, in order to stabilize the electrical contact state of the support plate 4003, positioning on the hook side for exerting an acting force on the cartridge IJC in a direction opposite to the acting direction of the two positioning protruding surfaces 4010 on the cartridge IJC. There are two surfaces 4006 corresponding to the positioning protruding surfaces 4010, a pad contact area is formed between them, and a padded rubber sheet 400 corresponding to the pad 2011 is provided.
The amount of deformation of the 7 potch is uniquely specified. These positioning surfaces 4006 are kept in contact with the surface of the wiring board 300 when the cartridge IJC is fixed at a recordable position.

In this embodiment, the wiring board 30 is further used.
Since the pads 201 of 0 are distributed symmetrically with respect to the straight line L ₁ described above, the rubber sheet 4 with a potch
The pad 2001 is formed by equalizing the deformation amount of each potch of 007
The contact pressure between the contact points 201 and 201 can be further stabilized.
The distribution of the pads 201 of this embodiment is upward, downward, and vertically in two rows.

The hook 4001 has a long hole that engages with the fixed shaft 4009, and the platen roller 500 is rotated after rotating counterclockwise from the position shown in the figure using the moving space of the long hole.
The cartridge IJC is positioned with respect to the carriage HC by moving to the left along 0. The hook 4001 may be moved by any means, but it is preferable that the hook 4001 can be moved by a lever or the like. In any case, when the hook 4001 rotates, the cartridge IJC moves to the platen roller 5000 side, and the positioning protrusions 2500, 2
600 moves to a position where it can contact the positioning projection surface 4010 of the front plate, and the hook 4001 moves to the left side to move to 9
While the 0 ° hook surface 4002 is in close contact with the 90 ° surface of the claw 2100 of the cartridge body 100, the cartridge IJC is swung in the horizontal plane about the contact area between the positioning projecting surface 2500 and the positioning projecting surface 4010, and finally. The pads 201 and 2011 come into contact with each other.

Thus, when the hook 4001 is held at the predetermined position, that is, the fixed position, the pads 201 and 2011
90% face 40, and 90 ° face 40
02 and its claws on the 39 ° side of the wiring, and the wiring board 3
00 and the positioning surface 4006 are formed at the same time, and the holding of the cartridge IJC with respect to the carriage HC is completed.

FIG. 12 shows the entire ink jet recording apparatus which is a liquid jet recording apparatus. Here, 5003 is a guide shaft for guiding the carriage HC in the directions of arrows a and b, 5
Reference numeral 004 denotes a spiral groove formed in the lead screw 5005, and the carriage HC has a lead screw 5005.
It moves in the direction of arrow a or b along the guide shaft 5003 in accordance with the forward or reverse rotation of. Then, while moving, the carriage H
Recording is performed toward the recording sheet P by the inkjet head IJH of the cartridge IJC mounted on C.

5013 is a carriage drive motor, 500
9, 5011 are gears for transmitting the driving force of the carriage drive motor 5013 to the lead screw 5005,
A sheet pressing plate 002 presses the recording sheet P toward the platen roller 5000. Further, in this embodiment, the ink jet head IJH has an opening 5023.
Member 502 for covering the ejection surface forming member 400 of
2. The cap member 502 connected to the cap member 502 during the recovery operation
The cleaning blade 5017 is provided with a suction means 5015 for absorbing ink from the inkjet head IJH via the cleaning head 50, a cleaning blade 5017 used before and after a recovery operation, and a supporting member 5016 for supporting the cap member 5022. Is moved in the direction of the arrow through to wipe the ejection surface of the head.

Reference numeral 5021 is a lever for driving the suction means 5015 via the gear 5010 and the cam 5020. During the suction operation, the driving force of the carriage drive motor 5013 is driven by the clutch switching means (not shown) and the transmission means described above. Is transmitted. Also, 5007 and 5
Reference numeral 008 denotes a photocoupler for detecting the home position of the carriage HC. The home position is detected by shutting off the optical path of the ejection lever 5006 provided on the carriage HC, and the carriage drive motor 5013 is turned off in the forward and reverse rotation directions. Done.

In the present embodiment, the capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are performed by the lead screw 50 when the carriage HC reaches the home position side area.
Although it is configured such that desired processing can be performed at the corresponding positions by the action of 05, any configuration can be used as long as it is configured to perform a desired operation at a known timing. Good. However, the present embodiment shows a configuration example preferable for the present invention.

[0081]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

When a laser beam is used on a resin top plate or the like of a liquid jet recording head to perform groove processing or hole processing such as a liquid flow path or an orifice, troubles caused by a by-product of laser processing can be easily avoided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the by-product can be easily removed by simply wiping the surface of the workpiece.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the by-product can be removed without mechanically stimulating the workpiece.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, not only the by-product can be easily removed, but also the strength of the work piece can be improved.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the by-product from being exposed on the surface of the work piece and, in addition, to improve the strength of the work piece.

If the resin top plate of the liquid jet recording head is grooved or punched using such a laser beam machining method, it is greatly useful for improving the performance of the liquid jet recording head and reducing the manufacturing cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a laser processing method according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows a main part of a liquid jet recording head,
(A) is a perspective view showing the resin top plate turned upside down,
(B) is a perspective view showing a substrate.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a by-product removal method according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a laser processing method according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a modification of the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing the cartridge of the liquid jet recording head in a disassembled state.

9 is a perspective view showing the device of FIG. 8 in an assembled state.

10 is a perspective view showing an ink tank of the apparatus shown in FIG.

11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the apparatus of FIG. 8 is mounted on a liquid jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the entire liquid jet recording apparatus.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating groove processing according to a conventional example.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a boring process according to a conventional example.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a liquid jet recording head in an assembled state.

[Explanation of symbols]

B ₁ , B ₂ , B ₃ , B _{4 By} -product 1 Substrate ₂ , 32, 42 Resin top plate 2a Orifice 2b Liquid flow path 10, 50, 60 Base 11, 51, 61 Groove 12 Liquid protective film 22 Foam coating Membrane 33 Water Tank 34 Ultra Low Temperature Tank 35 Water Wash Tank 36 N ₂ Blow 40 Wire Netting Basket 52,62 Coating Film 53,63 Through Hole

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical indication location B23K 26/18 B41J 2/135 (72) Inventor Hiroshi Sugitani 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Jun Kawai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Torakata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Incorporated (72) Inventor Yohei Sato 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Masahiko Hikuma 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. ( 72) Inventor Yoichi Tanetani 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Tadayoshi Inamoto 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon within Co., Ltd.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A step of forming a liquid or mousse-like coating film on the surface of a workpiece and then irradiating the workpiece with a laser beam to perform processing, and a step of forming a liquid or mousse from the processed workpiece. A laser processing method comprising a step of removing a mousse-like coating film. 2. A laser processing method comprising: a step of irradiating a workpiece with laser light to perform processing; and a step of applying a thermal shock to the processed workpiece to separate by-products of the processing. 3. The laser processing method according to claim 2, wherein the step of applying thermal shock is repeated a predetermined number of times. 4. The laser processing method according to claim 2, wherein the workpiece is immersed in liquid water or normal temperature or heated water and then subjected to thermal shock. 5. The laser processing method according to claim 4, wherein a surfactant is added to water. 6. A step of providing a hard film made of metal or ceramics on the surface of a workpiece and then irradiating the workpiece with a laser beam for processing, and a hard film of the processed workpiece. Laser processing method including a step of cleaning the surface of the substrate. 7. A step of irradiating a workpiece with laser light to perform processing, and a step of providing a hard film made of metal or ceramic on the surface of the processed workpiece to cover a by-product of the processing. A laser processing method having. 8. A laser processing method according to claim 1, wherein a blank of a resin top plate is integrally molded, and a liquid flow path and an orifice are formed in the blank. Liquid jet recording head manufacturing method.