JPH1016206A - Printing method of plate-shaped recording medium and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply apply the printing of a headline to the surface of a plate- shaped recording medium such as CD-R. SOLUTION: A printed device 1 has an ink jet printer 2, a medium tray 4 feeding a medium printed by the printer 2, a medium supply mechanism 5, a medium recovery mechanism 6 and the fixing device 9 arranged so as to be adjacent to the ink jet printer 2. At first, the medium placed on the medium tray 4 is fed to the printing position of the ink jet printer 2 by a tray feed mechanism to apply printing to the surface of the medium by ultraviolet curable ink. Next, the medium is fed to the position of the fixing device 9 and the printed surface is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be fixed to the surface of the medium. Thereafter, the medium is discharged toward a medium tray discharge part 24 by the medium tray 4. By using the ultraviolet curable ink, printing excellent in water resistance, durability and release resistance can be formed on the medium 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a surface of a compact disk itself, a case surface thereof, a case surface of a floppy disk or the like (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to simply as a "plate-shaped recording medium"). The present invention relates to a printing method and apparatus for printing a plate-shaped recording medium suitable for printing information, images, and the like on headings, recorded contents, and the like.

[0002]

A plate-shaped recording medium, such as a CD-R, is a medium that can be freely recorded by a user, and the surface of the medium changes according to data recording such as company name and product name. Unnecessary characters, designs, etc. are already printed by another method, but can be added,
In view of the large storage capacity, it is convenient to print the title or the like directly on the surface of the case or the surface of the CD-R for the content recorded therein.

[0003] In the case of such new prints, computer software, and the like, which are recorded and known in a large amount and have been recorded in advance, such printing may be performed by the manufacturer in advance.
However, a method of printing desired contents, images, and the like on the user side by a simple operation, and a device embodying the method have not been proposed.

[0004] In view of this point, the applicant of the present invention can easily print a heading or the like on the surface of a plate-shaped recording medium such as a CD-R or the case surface thereof using an ink jet printer. And a printing method and apparatus for a flat plate recording medium.

An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method and printing apparatus for such a plate-shaped recording medium which can form a printing surface excellent in physical and mechanical properties such as durability and abrasion resistance. Is to do.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the printing method for a plate-like recording medium of the present invention, light of a specific wavelength is applied to the surface of a plate-like recording medium such as a compact disk. Printing is performed by an inkjet printer using a photosensitive ink that is cured by irradiation. Generally, an ultraviolet curable ink may be used as the photosensitive ink. In the method of the present invention,
The surface of the plate-shaped recording medium after printing with the photosensitive ink may be irradiated with light to fix the print layer on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium.

As described above, in the printing method of the present invention, since the printing is performed using the photosensitive ink, the water resistance and the abrasion resistance are reduced as compared with the conventional printing using the aqueous ink. A printed surface excellent in properties and peel resistance can be formed.

A printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium for carrying out the printing method of the present invention comprises a medium tray for conveying a plate-shaped recording medium such as a compact disc, and a medium tray for moving the medium tray along a predetermined conveyance path. A tray transport mechanism for transporting, an inkjet printer for performing printing using photosensitive ink on a surface of the plate-shaped recording medium transported in a state of being placed on the medium tray, and a surface of the plate-shaped recording medium after printing And an ink fixing means for irradiating light to the surface to fix the print layer on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium.

Here, the medium tray is reciprocated along the transport path, the recording medium is placed on the medium tray on one side, and the printed recording medium is taken out of the medium tray on the other side and becomes empty. If the medium tray is returned, the printing operation of a large number of recording media can be efficiently performed.

Next, a printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium according to the present invention comprises a medium tray for conveying a plate-shaped recording medium such as a compact disk, and a conveyance mechanism for conveying the medium tray along a predetermined conveyance path. And an inkjet printer that prints on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium conveyed while being placed on the medium tray, and irradiating light of a specific wavelength onto the printing surface of the printed plate-shaped recording medium. And a light irradiating means for irradiating the protective film formed on the plate-shaped recording medium with light to cure the protective film. As the photosensitive resin, an ultraviolet curable resin can be used.

In the printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium according to the present invention, the printing surface formed on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium is covered with a protective film. Therefore, the durability of the printing surface formed by the aqueous ink can be improved.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0013] Overall Configuration FIG 1 shows an overall configuration of the printing apparatus of the CD-R according to the present invention. A printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an inkjet printer 2 installed at a center on an apparatus base 1a.
And a reciprocating medium tray 4 that conveys a CD-R (hereinafter simply referred to as a medium) 3 printed by the inkjet printer 2 and a side of the inkjet printer 2 to which a medium before printing is supplied. It has a medium supply mechanism 5 and a medium recovery mechanism 6 disposed on the side of the ink jet printer 2 where the printed medium is discharged. Further, the fixing device 9 includes a fixing unit 9 for irradiating the medium 3 after printing by the inkjet printer 2 with light to fix the ink layer formed by the inkjet printer 2.

The ink jet printer 2 includes an ink jet print head 21 and a tray transport mechanism (not shown) for reciprocating the medium tray 4 along a preset transport path via a print position of the print head 21. have. The ink jet printer 2 employs a commonly used ink jet printer as it is, and has a tray guide that defines a printing position so that printing is performed on the surface of a medium conveyed on the medium tray 4. What is necessary is just to adjust the distance between the member and the print head.

However, in this embodiment, the ink used for the ink jet printer 2 is not a commonly used aqueous ink, but an ultraviolet curable photosensitive ink.

The other components of the ink jet printer 2 are the same as those of a general ink jet printer.
In this specification, a detailed description of the configuration of the inkjet printer itself will be omitted.

The fixing device 9 is for fixing ultraviolet curable photosensitive ink. Therefore, an ultraviolet irradiation lamp 9a is provided. In this example, the medium tray 4 reaches the ultraviolet irradiation position in the fixing device 9 after passing through the printing position of the inkjet printer 2, passes through the position, and is conveyed to the medium collection mechanism 6 side. ing.

Next, on the medium supply side of the ink jet printer 2, a tray installation section 23 for installing the reciprocating medium tray 4 on which the medium 3 before printing is placed is formed. When the reciprocating medium tray 4 is set in the tray setting section 23 and a tray transport mechanism (not shown) is driven, the reciprocating medium tray 4 is fed in a horizontal direction toward the print head 21, and Predetermined printing is performed on the surface of the medium 3 placed thereon. A discharge section 24 of the medium tray 4 is formed on the medium discharge side of the fixing device 9 disposed adjacent to the inkjet printer 2. The medium tray 4 on which the medium 3 printed by the print head 21 is placed passes through the fixing device 9 and moves to the discharge unit 24.

The tray transport mechanism of this embodiment is configured to reciprocate the reciprocating medium tray 4. The reciprocating mechanism can be constructed using a known driving mechanism. Therefore, the medium tray 4 is
After passing through the printing position of the print head 21 and the light irradiation position of the fixing device 9 from 3, it reaches the discharge section 24 on the opposite side, and thereafter returns to the tray installation section 23 on the near side again.

Next, the configuration of the medium supply mechanism 5 will be described.
The medium supply mechanism 5 includes a medium storage unit 51 that stores the media 3 before printing in a vertically stacked state, and a drive 52 that writes preset information on the medium 3 stored therein. And a medium transfer device 7 for transferring the medium along a predetermined path. The medium storage unit 51 and the driver 52 are arranged on both sides of the tray installation unit 23 of the inkjet printer 2.

The medium 3 is conveyed by the medium transfer tool 7 in the following path. First, the uppermost medium 3 loaded in the medium storage unit 51 is first moved by the medium
And is delivered to the drive 52. The medium 3 on which the information has been recorded in the drive 52 is again transported by the medium transport device 7 to the tray installation section 23 of the printer 2.
Tray mounting part 42 of the reciprocating medium tray 4 installed in the
(See FIG. 2). Thereafter, the medium transporting tool 7 moves to the medium storage section again, and stands by in a state where the medium 3 processed by the drive can be transported.

On the other hand, the side of the medium collection mechanism 6 is a medium collection unit 61 for collecting non-defective media 3 out of the printed media 3.
And a defective product collection unit 62 for collecting defective products, and a medium transporting tool 8 for transporting the printed medium 3 along a predetermined route. Medium collection unit 61 and defective product collection unit 62
Is disposed on one side of the tray discharge section 24 of the inkjet printer 2. These recovery units 61 and 62 are
The tray discharge unit 24 of the inkjet printer 2 may be disposed on both sides of the tray.

As described above, in the printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the heading or the like is printed on the surface of the medium 3 by the ink jet printer 2 using the ultraviolet curable ink, and then the printing surface is cured by the fixing device 9. And fix it on the medium surface. Therefore, the water resistance is improved as compared with the case where a generally used aqueous ink for an ink jet printer is used. Further, the disadvantage that the mechanical strength is low, such as a printing layer made of water-based ink, and thus the surface is easily scratched can be eliminated. Furthermore, since the peel strength of the formed printing layer is higher than that of the case of the aqueous ink, the peeling of the printing layer can be prevented.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a printed surface having high physical and mechanical strength can be formed on the surface of the medium 3.

Reciprocating Medium Tray FIGS. 2A and 2B show a reciprocating medium tray 4. As shown in this figure, the reciprocating medium tray 4 has a tray main body 41 formed of a thin rectangular plate, a shallow circular groove 42 formed at an appropriate position on the surface thereof, and a circular shape formed at the center of the circular groove 42. The projection 43 is provided. The circular groove 42 is a mounting portion of the medium 3, and the inner diameter thereof is set slightly larger than the diameter of the medium 3. In addition, the convex portion 43 at the center is set to a size that fits into the center hole of the medium 3 just. As the material of the tray body 41, plastic, cardboard, or the like can be used, but basically any material may be used. Also, the shape of the medium mounting portion 42 is not limited to a circular groove as long as the structure allows the medium 3 to be mounted without shifting back and forth and right and left.

Although the tray 4 of this embodiment has a two-layer structure, it is needless to say that the tray 4 may be integrally formed of a synthetic resin or the like.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiment, printing is performed on the surface of the medium 3 by the ink jet printer 2 using an ultraviolet curable ink, and the fixing is performed by the fixing device 9.

Instead of this, the ink of the ink jet printer 2 is a commonly used aqueous ink, and after printing, the entire printing surface of the medium 3 is coated with an ultraviolet curable resin. May be protected.

In this case, the ink jet printer 2
A protective film applicator is arranged between the fixing device 9 and the fixing device 9. After printing is performed on the medium 3 conveyed by the medium tray 4 by the ink jet printer 2, an ultraviolet curable resin is applied to a predetermined thickness over the entire printing surface of the medium 2 in the protective film applicator. Thereafter, the applied protective film is cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays in a fixing device 9 and fixed.

As the protective film applicator, a configuration in which a protective film is applied to the printing surface of the medium 3 using a coater roller can be adopted. In this case, the protective film may be applied to the surface of the medium by passing the medium 3 between the coater roller and the driven roller facing the coater roller. In the case of a disk-shaped medium, the protective film may be applied by rolling the coater roller in the circumferential direction along the medium surface.

Alternatively, a resin coating may be formed on the medium surface using a brush, a spray gun, or the like.

It should be noted that the range of application of the protective film may be basically limited to a portion printed by an ink jet printer. However, it is preferable to form a protective film on the entire surface of the medium because the surface of the medium is also protected.

[0033]

As described above, according to the method and apparatus for printing a plate-like recording medium of the present invention, desired printing is performed on the surface of a plate-like recording medium such as a CD-R using photosensitive ink. Is applied. Therefore, it is possible to form a printing surface which is superior in terms of water resistance, durability, peeling resistance, and the like, as compared with printing formed with an aqueous ink or the like.

According to the method and apparatus for printing a plate-shaped recording medium of the present invention, after printing is performed on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium by an ink jet printer, a protective film made of a photosensitive resin that covers the printing surface is formed. It is formed. Therefore, also in this case, the durability and the like of the printing surface formed on the recording medium can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are explanatory views showing examples of a reciprocating medium tray used in the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 printing apparatus 2 inkjet printer 3 plate-shaped recording medium 31 index 4 medium tray 42 medium mounting section 5 medium supply mechanism 51 medium storage section 52 driver 6 medium collection mechanism 7, 8 medium transfer tool 9 fixing device 9a

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 21, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All figures

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG.

FIG. 2

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A plate-shaped recording medium, wherein a surface of a plate-shaped recording medium such as a compact disk is printed by an ink jet printer using a photosensitive ink which is cured by irradiating light of a specific wavelength. Printing method for recording media. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive ink is an ultraviolet curable ink. 3. The plate according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium after printing with the photosensitive ink is irradiated with light to fix the print layer on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium. A printing method for a plate-shaped recording medium, comprising: 4. A printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium for performing the method according to claim 3, wherein a medium tray for conveying a plate-shaped recording medium such as a compact disc, and the medium tray are fixed. Tray transport mechanism that transports along the transport path of, and an inkjet printer that performs printing using photosensitive ink on the surface of a plate-shaped recording medium that is transported on the medium tray,
An apparatus for printing a plate-shaped recording medium, comprising: an ink fixing unit for irradiating light to the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium after printing to fix a print layer on the surface of the plate-shaped recording medium. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the tray transport mechanism reciprocates the medium tray along a transport path. 6. A medium tray for transporting a plate-shaped recording medium such as a compact disk, a tray transport mechanism for transporting the medium tray along a predetermined transport path, and a transport mechanism mounted on the medium tray. An inkjet printer that prints on the surface of a plate-shaped recording medium, and a protective film made of a photosensitive resin that cures when irradiated with light of a specific wavelength on the printed surface of the printed plate-shaped recording medium A printing apparatus for a plate-shaped recording medium, comprising: a protective film applying unit that performs irradiation, and a light irradiation unit that irradiates light to cure the protective film formed on the plate-shaped recording medium. 7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said photosensitive resin is a UV-curable resin.