JPH082636A - Carrying device for printed board sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To restrain generation of faulty products by parallelly and juxtaposedly arranging two endless running supports means having a plurality of sheet material support members in almost vertical direction, and carrying the opposed edges of sheets in such a manner that the sheets are held between grooves formed at the center of each sheet material support member. CONSTITUTION:A sheet material carrying device 1 is provided with a pair of endless running support means 3 juxtaposedly arranged along both sides of carrying line while positioned downstream of roller means 2 carrying sheet material 7 on which resist liquid or the like is applied. Each endless running support means 3 is provide in which between a pair of upper and lower members 4 running in a horizontal face a plurality of vertically arranged sheet material support members 5 are arranged. In a groove 10 formed by shaping the center of cylindrical form to have a recess having an accute angle, rotating members 11 of such as steel balls are provided in a circumferential manner. The sheet material 7 can be carried such that the opposed edges thereof are held between the grooves 10 of both support members 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transporting a sheet material for a printed circuit board, which is coated with a liquid material on one side or both sides.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In manufacturing a printed circuit board, a photoresist is generally formed on one or both sides of a sheet-shaped material such as a film or a stainless plate material as a material for the printed circuit board. And the like, and a step of applying a liquid material such as In the conventional method, this step is constituted by providing roller means for applying the liquid material, and attaching a gripping member to the endless running chain or belt at a predetermined interval downstream of the roller means. Using an apparatus in which two endless traveling gripping means are arranged in parallel on both sides of the sheet material conveying path, a liquid material such as photoresist is applied to one or both sides of the sheet-shaped material by the roller means, and then the roller means. The sheet material discharged in a horizontal state from the sheet is held by the holding members, and the sheet material is conveyed by the operation of the endless running chain or belt to be sent to the drier, where the applied liquid material The method of drying was adopted.

However, in such a conventional method,
To grip the edge of the sheet material by the gripping member,
When the liquid material is applied to the sheet material, it is necessary to leave unpainted portions of about 7 to 8 mm as gripping margins at both ends of the sheet material, which causes material loss. When this unpainted part is reduced to minimize material loss, the liquid material applied on the surface of the sheet material adheres to the gripping member and moves to the dryer as it is, so it adheres to the gripping member. The resulting liquid material solidifies in the dryer. The liquid material that has adhered and solidified on the gripping member is difficult to remove, so that when the gripping member grips the side end portion of the sheet material again in the next cycle, the liquid material falls off, The scattering and adhesion on the coating material on the surface has been a cause of defects in printed circuit board products.

Further, in recent years, the demand for cost reduction of printed circuit boards has become more severe, and the size of the unpainted portion due to the grip of the gripping means is required to be 3 mm or less on one side. This is due to timing deviation when the end portion of the conveyed sheet material is grasped by the grasping member of the endless traveling grasping means, slight meandering of the endless traveling grasping means, processing tolerance of the conveyed sheet material, etc. Considering this, it was virtually impossible, especially at present when the sheet material for printed circuit boards is extremely thin.

[0005]

As a result of earnest studies to solve the above problems, the present inventor has found that as a means for conveying a sheet material coated with a liquid material into a dryer.
Instead of providing endless traveling gripping means along both sides of the sheet material conveying path, by mounting a large number of sheet material supporting members in a substantially vertical direction between endless traveling tracks that endlessly travel on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. Two endless running supporting means thus constructed are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction, and in each of the sheet material supporting members, a horizontal groove is provided in the center thereof, and a rotating member is provided in the groove.
The outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member is accommodated so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge portion of the portion of the sheet material supporting member in which the groove is formed, whereby both side edges of the sheet material are accommodated. The sheet material is movably supported forward and backward at its both side end portions in a state of being inserted into a groove formed in the central portion of the supporting member so as to abut the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member and conveyed. By doing so, it is possible to solve the problem of gripping margin, which has been a problem in the transport mechanism using the conventional gripping member, and find that the problem of material loss at both ends of the sheet material can be minimized. The present invention has been completed.

That is, the present invention is an apparatus for conveying a sheet material for a printed circuit board, one side or both sides of which is coated with a liquid material, which are arranged in parallel along both sides of a sheet material conveying path. It is composed of a pair of left and right endless running sheet material supporting means, and each endless running sheet material supporting means is mounted on a mounting shaft extending in a substantially vertical direction between endless running tracks that endlessly travel on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. It is configured by arranging a large number of attached sheet material supporting members, and each of the sheet material supporting members is provided with a horizontal groove in the center thereof, and a rotating member is provided inside the groove. The outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member is housed so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge portion of the portion of the sheet material supporting member where the groove is formed, whereby the sheet material supporting member is accommodated. The sheet material is inserted into the groove formed in the central portion of each sheet material supporting member so as to abut the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member, and The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying device, which is movably supported in the front and rear direction and conveyed.

The sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention. A sheet material conveying device 1 according to the present invention is a sheet material conveying path which is arranged on a downstream side of a roller means 2 for applying a liquid material such as a resist liquid to a sheet material and conveying the sheet material. It is composed of a pair of endless traveling support means 3 arranged in parallel along both left and right sides. Each of the endless traveling support means is configured by disposing a large number of sheet material supporting members 5 attached in a substantially vertical direction between endless traveling tracks 4 that endlessly travel on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. Examples of the endless running track that can be used in the present invention include an endless running chain or an endless running belt. In a preferred embodiment,
Each of the endless traveling support means has two endless traveling chains which are endlessly traveling in a horizontal plane arranged vertically, the shaft member 6 is attached to the connecting pin portion of each chain, and the upper and lower chains are connected by the shaft members. And each of the shaft members has a sheet material support member 5
It is configured by attaching (see FIG. 2).

The sheet material supporting member that can be used in the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention may have any shape as long as it can support the sheet material at both ends without grasping. You can FIG. 3 illustrates various possible sheet material support member configurations.
And shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the shape of the sheet material supporting member 5 of various aspects according to the present invention, and FIG.
[Fig. 4] is a cross-sectional view of the sheet material support member 5 of each aspect. (A) is a shape in which the central part of a cylindrical shape is recessed at an acute angle, (b) is a shape in which the central part of a cylindrical shape is gently depressed, and (c) is two abacus beads. It has a superposed shape. In each of these sheet material supporting members, the end portion of the sheet material is supported in the central depressed portion. The size of the sheet material support member, the relative size of the depressions and bulges, and the like can be empirically determined in consideration of various factors such as the thickness of the sheet material to be conveyed and the easiness of bending.

In the sheet material supporting member 5 according to the present invention, a groove 10 is formed in the horizontal direction at the center thereof, and the rotating member 11 and the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member are inside the groove. The sheet material supporting member is accommodated so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge portion of the portion where the groove is formed (see FIGS. 3 and 4). 3 and 4, the sheet material supporting member 5 according to the present invention has an annular groove 10 formed in the center thereof, and an annular rotating member is provided in the groove. The outer peripheral edge of the member is housed so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge of the portion of the sheet material supporting member where the groove is formed. Examples of the rotating member that can be used in the present invention include a so-called ball bearing device made of steel balls. Further, as a method of accommodating the rotating member in the groove formed in the sheet material supporting member, when a groove having a uniform thickness as shown in FIG. An example is a method of forming an annular steel ball row by a holding member (not shown) that holds the groove in an annular shape and accommodating it in the groove. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the groove 10 is formed. After that, a method may be considered in which a steel ball accommodating portion is provided by forming a groove 10a having a larger width inside thereof, and a rotating member is configured by accommodating a plurality of steel balls therein.

The endless traveling support means thus constructed is arranged on the left and right sides of the sheet material conveying path. By configuring the sheet material conveying device according to the present invention in this way, the sheet material 7 discharged from the roller means is formed at the central portion of the supporting member of the endless traveling supporting means arranged on both left and right sides of the conveying path. In the groove
In a state where both side ends of the sheet material are inserted in contact with the rotating member housed in the groove, the both side ends of the sheet material are movably held in the front-rear direction and horizontally held. While being driven, the inside of the dryer 8 is driven by the forward driving force of the roller means and the forward driving force of the endless traveling supporting means along the conveyance path formed by the pair of left and right endless traveling supporting means. Being transported,
The applied liquid material is dried. FIG. 6 shows the positional relationship between the sheet material and the supporting member when the sheet material is being conveyed. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the central portion of the sheet material support member according to the present invention. In the sheet material conveying device according to the present invention, the sheet material has a side end portion on the peripheral edge portion of the rotating member 11 which is deeper than the peripheral edge portion 12 of the portion where the groove of the sheet material supporting member 5 is formed. The sheet material supporting member is inserted into the groove of the sheet material supporting member while being in contact with the sheet material supporting member, and is supported movably in the front-rear direction by the groove and is fed forward.

Here, for reference, the concept of the conventional conveying device using the grasping means is shown in FIG. 7. The conventional conveying device using the grasping means is used instead of the endless traveling supporting means in the conveying device according to the present invention. The endless traveling sheet material grasping means constituted by attaching a large number of sheet material grasping members 9 to the outside of the endless traveling track is arranged on both left and right sides of the sheet material conveying path. In such a conventional conveying device, since the gripping margin (a) by the gripping means is required, various problems as described above have occurred.

In the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention, by adopting the above-mentioned configuration in contrast to the conventional method using the gripping means, a liquid material such as photoresist is applied to one side or both sides. The formed sheet material is conveyed while being sandwiched by the support members on both sides so as to be movable in the front-rear direction of the conveyance path while being supported by the grooves of the support members on both sides. Unlike the case where the end portions are gripped by the gripping means, it is not necessary to provide gripping margins by the gripping means at both ends of the sheet material, and therefore, a large loss of material due to the gripping margins and a gripping member This solves the problem of product defects due to the scattering of the adhered and solidified liquid material. That is,
In the sheet material conveying device according to the present invention, regarding a problem such as material loss at both end portions of the sheet material, only a portion of a slight width supported by the groove provided in the sheet material supporting member may be considered. Since the liquid material can be easily removed by means such as brushing even if the liquid material adheres and solidifies in the groove provided in the support member, the solidified material is scattered and adhered in the next cycle. The problem of product defects does not occur.

As the sheet material that can be conveyed by using the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention, those usually used as a sheet material for printed circuit boards can be used. Generally, a metal plate such as stainless steel, a sheet-shaped material such as a glass epoxy resin, a phenol resin, a polyimide resin, or a heat-resistant resin obtained by reacting bismaleimide with a triazine resin, and a copper foil attached to the sheet material are used. . The thickness of the sheet material is usually 0.1.
mm-0.8 mm, preferably 0.3 mm-0.6 m
m, width is usually 910 mm to 250 mm, width is about 61
Most commonly used is 0 mm or about 330 mm with a thickness of 0.2-0.4 mm.

The width of the groove formed in the central portion of the sheet material supporting member according to the present invention is set so that the normally used sheet material as described above can be inserted with a slight gap. . Normally, 0.1 mm to 0.
For sheet material with a thickness of 8 mm, this is about 0.
A groove having a large width of about 2 mm and a maximum width of about 1 mm is formed. Further, the distance from the peripheral edge of the portion of the sheet material where the groove is formed to the peripheral edge of the rotating member housed in the groove is usually about 1 to 2 mm.

The sheet material supporting member can be manufactured by using any material known in the art in consideration of hardness, easiness of processing, cost and the like, and particularly, the pencil hardness is 3H to 7H. It is preferable to use a heat resistant resin such as hard rubber, Teflon, or nylon resin as a material.

In another aspect of the present invention, each endless running sheet material supporting means has a groove as described above, and a shaft of the sheet material supporting member having a rotating member accommodated in the groove. , By tilting outwardly downward, the axis of the sheet material supporting member is inclined with respect to the vertical direction, whereby the sheet material supporting member facing along the conveying path of the sheet material has a central portion thereof. A sheet which is arranged so that the formed groove faces upward toward the central portion of the sheet material conveying path and which is conveyed in the width of the sheet material conveying path formed by a pair of left and right sheet material supporting means. The width of the material is smaller than that of the material so that the sheet material is conveyed with the center portion curved upward. That is, a second aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for conveying a sheet material for a printed circuit board, on one side or both sides of which a liquid material is applied, in parallel along both sides of a sheet material conveying path. It is composed of a pair of left and right endless running sheet material supporting means arranged, and each endless running sheet material supporting means arranges a large number of sheet material supporting members between endless running tracks endlessly running on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. Each of the sheet material supporting members has a horizontal groove formed in the center thereof, and the rotating member is inside the groove, and the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member is the sheet material. The support member is housed so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge portion of the portion where the groove is formed, and in each of the endless traveling sheet material supporting means, the shaft of the sheet material supporting member is By tilting outwardly toward the vertical direction so that the groove formed in the central portion of the sheet material supporting member that opposes along the sheet material conveying path has a groove formed at the center thereof. The width of the sheet material conveying path formed so as to face upward toward the central portion of the path and formed by a pair of opposing sheet material supporting means is smaller than the width of the sheet material to be conveyed. In the groove formed in the central portion of each sheet material supporting member so as to abut the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member, The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying device, which supports the sheet material at both ends thereof so as to be movable back and forth, and conveys the sheet material in a state where a central portion thereof is curved upward.

The concept of the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the second aspect is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. In these figures,
The same reference numerals as those used in FIGS. 1 and 2 are used for the elements corresponding to the respective elements of the sheet material conveying device according to the first aspect of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this aspect, in each of the sheet material supporting means arranged on both sides of the sheet material conveying path, the axis x of the sheet material supporting member 5 mounted between the pair of upper and lower endless traveling tracks is outwardly extended downward. (See FIG. 9). The width of the sheet material conveying path formed by the rows of the sheet material supporting members facing each other is arranged to be slightly smaller than the width of the sheet material to be conveyed. With this configuration, the sheet material is in contact with the rotating member housed in the groove of the sheet material supporting member at both ends between the sheet material supporting members 5 facing each other along the sheet material conveying path. Thus, it is conveyed into the drier 8 in a state where it is inserted in the groove and is movably clamped back and forth with its central portion bent upward (see FIGS. 8 and 9).

In the second aspect of the present invention, by adopting the above-mentioned structure, the sheet material is conveyed in a state where the central portion is curved upward, so that the sheet material is weighted by the weight of the sheet material itself. It is possible to prevent a situation in which the sheet material is bent downward during transportation, the sheet material is dislocated from the sheet material supporting means, and the thickness of the coating film becomes uneven due to flowing of the applied liquid material during transportation. it can.

In the second aspect, the optimum value of the inclination angle of the axis of the sheet material supporting member with respect to the vertical direction can be determined in consideration of various factors such as the thickness and strength of the sheet material. . Generally, it is preferable to incline at an angle of θ = 2 to 5 ° with respect to the vertical direction (see FIG. 9). 8 and 9, in order to make the configuration of the sheet material supporting member according to the second aspect of the present invention clearer, the inclination angle of the sheet material supporting member is set larger than the value actually used. Please note that I draw it. Also, regarding the ratio of the width of the sheet material conveying path formed by the pair of right and left sheet material supporting means and the width of the conveyed sheet material, the optimum value is determined in consideration of the thickness of the sheet material and the like. be able to.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the sheet material supporting member that can be used has a hollowed central portion as shown in FIGS. 3 (a), 3 (b) and 3 (c). However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the depressions must be such that they support curved sheet material.

[0022]

As described above, in the sheet material conveying apparatus according to the present invention, when applying the liquid material to the sheet material, it is not necessary to consider the gripping margin of the gripping member, so The problems caused by this grip in the carrying device by the gripping member are solved, and it is possible to improve the cost and suppress the occurrence of product defects.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the concept of a sheet material conveying device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing various shapes of the sheet material supporting member according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing various shapes of the sheet material supporting member according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view of a sheet material supporting member according to the present invention,
It is a partially expanded view which shows the structure of a groove | channel and a rotating member.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a concept of a state where a sheet material is supported by a sheet material supporting member according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a concept of a sheet material conveying device using a gripping member according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the concept of a sheet material conveying device according to another aspect of the present invention.

9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A device for conveying a sheet material for a printed circuit board, the liquid material of which is coated on one side or both sides, comprising a pair of left and right arranged in parallel along both sides of a sheet material conveying path. Each of the endless traveling sheet material supporting means is constituted by endless traveling sheet material supporting means, and each endless traveling sheet material supporting means is attached to a mounting shaft extending in a substantially vertical direction between endless traveling tracks that endlessly travel on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. It is configured by arranging a number of material support members, each of the sheet material support member,
A horizontal groove is provided at the center thereof, and inside the groove, the rotating member is such that the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member is greater than the outer peripheral edge portion of the portion where the groove of the sheet material supporting member is formed. Are also housed so that both end portions of the sheet material are brought into contact with the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member in the grooves formed in the central portions of the respective sheet material supporting members. A sheet material conveying device, which conveys the sheet material so that the sheet material is movably supported in the front and rear directions at both side ends in the state of being inserted as described above. 2. An apparatus for conveying a sheet material for a printed circuit board, the liquid material of which is coated on one side or both sides, comprising a pair of left and right arranged in parallel along both sides of a sheet material conveying path. Each of the endless traveling sheet material supporting means is constituted by arranging a large number of sheet material supporting members between endless traveling tracks which endlessly travel on a pair of upper and lower horizontal planes. The sheet material supporting member has a horizontal groove formed in the center thereof, and the rotating member is formed inside the groove, and the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member is formed with the groove of the sheet material supporting member. It is accommodated so as to be deeper than the outer peripheral edge portion of each of the endless running sheet material supporting means, and in each of the endless traveling sheet material supporting means, the shaft of the sheet material supporting member is extended downward. By tilting the sheet material to the vertical direction, the groove formed in the central portion of the sheet material supporting member that opposes along the sheet material conveying path is the central portion of the sheet material conveying path. Is arranged so as to face upward, and is arranged such that the width of the sheet material conveying path formed by a pair of opposing sheet material supporting means is smaller than the width of the conveyed sheet material, As a result, the sheet material is inserted into the groove formed in the central portion of each sheet material supporting member so as to abut the outer peripheral edge portion of the rotating member. A sheet material conveying apparatus, which is movably supported at its both end portions in the front-rear direction and is conveyed with its central portion curved upward.