JPH1086396A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a cap member driving apparatus by making it possible to make the stroke of the cap member for closing a printing head small. SOLUTION: A head part 16 is equipped with an ink jet printing head 18 and attached to a carriage 8 so as to be adjustable in the movement in a before and behind direction with respect to a platen roller 36 and rearwardly energized by spring force so as to be separated from the platen roller 36. A maintenance unit is connected to a drive apparatus so as to allow the cap member for closing the ink emitting orifice of the printing head 18 to protrude and retreat. An inclined piece 34 is provided to the head part 16 and a guide member 48 is arranged on the machine body side of an ink jet printer and, when the opposed distance of the head part 16 and the maintenance unit exceeds a predetermined value, the inclined piece 34 is engaged with the guide member 48.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an ink jet printer which discharges ink from a print head to perform recording on paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink-jet printer, when a head unit having a print head moves to a standby position separated from a platen roller, an ink discharge port of the print head is closed by a cap member provided in a maintenance unit, and ink is dried. There is known a configuration for preventing such a situation.

[0003]

The distance that the print head faces the cap member of the maintenance unit is not constant. When printing on thick paper, the position of the print head on the carriage is adjusted to be behind the standard position, and the distance between the print head and the paper surface is kept constant. On the other hand, when recording on thin paper, the position of the print head on the carriage is adjusted forward of the standard position. If the front and rear drive mechanism of the cap member of the maintenance unit is set to a large stroke so as to correspond to all the adjustment positions of the print head, it is necessary to increase the power of the drive source such as a geared motor, which increases costs. The problem arises. An object of the present invention is to solve this problem.

[0004]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a platen roller for guiding a sheet of paper 52 in a single axial direction, and movable along guide rails 4 and 6 parallel to the platen roller. A carriage 8 and an ink jet type print head 18. The carriage 8 is attached to the carriage 8 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the platen roller 36, and is attached to the rear side separated from the platen roller 36 by the force of a spring 28. A head member 16 that is urged and a cap member 40 that is disposed to face a standby position of the head portion 16 that is disengaged from the platen roller 36 and that closes an ink discharge port of the print head 18 are driven to be able to protrude and retreat. An ink jet printer comprising a maintenance unit 38 provided in connection with the apparatus, A tilting piece 34 is provided on the recording head 16, and a guide member 48 is disposed at the standby position of the head 16 on the machine side of the ink jet printer so as to face the tilting piece 34. When the opposing distance between the unit 38 and the guide rails 4 and 6 in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction exceeds a predetermined value, the inclined piece 34 engages with the guide member 48 and the head is moved by the guide member 48. The unit 16 is driven on the carriage 8 in a direction approaching the maintenance unit 38 so that the distance between the head unit 16 and the maintenance unit 38 is set to a predetermined value.

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a rail holder fixed to the body of the ink jet printer. Guide rails 4 and 6 extending in the direction perpendicular to the paper of FIG. 1 are fixed to the rail holder. A carriage 8 is provided on the guide rails 4 and 6 with a slider 10 and a roller 12.
It is movably mounted via the. The carriage 8 is connected to a Y drive device of an ink jet printer via a connection belt, and is configured to be movable along guide rails 4 and 6 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1 along the guide rails 4 and 6. .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, a substantially intermediate portion of a shaft 14 is fixed to the carriage 8 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the guide rails 4, 6. 16
Is a head section having an ink jet type print head 18, on which a substrate 16a is fixed.
The shaft body 14 is slidably fitted into bearings 20 and 22 fixedly mounted on the shaft. Reference numeral 24 denotes a support fixedly mounted on the carriage 8, and a front and rear adjustment screw 26 is provided in a shaft hole of the support.
Of the screw 26 is screwed into a screw hole of the support 24.

The substrate 16a is urged leftward or backward in FIG. 6 by a spring 28 which is compressed and inserted into the shaft 14, and the urging force causes the back surface of the substrate 16a to be moved back and forth. The tip of the screw 26 is elastically contacted.
It is locked to. The head unit 16 includes the head unit 1.
Tension spring 30 suspended between the carriage 6 and the carriage 8
4 around the shaft 14 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 4, and the lower surface of the head 16 opposite to the shaft 14 is held by the head 16 by the biasing force. It is in elastic contact with the upper surface of the carriage 8 via a line 32.

The head section 16 includes guide rails 4 and 6
Is configured to be slidable in a direction that is horizontal and at a right angle with respect to and while maintaining a predetermined angle. Numeral 34 denotes an inclined piece having an inclined surface 34a and an adjusting guide surface 34b parallel to the guide rails 4 and 6, and is fixed at a predetermined position on the substrate 16. 36 is a platen roller of the ink jet printer,
And is arranged in parallel with and facing the movement path.

A maintenance unit 38 is disposed on a coaxial extension of the platen roller 36 at a position facing the head unit standby position. The maintenance unit 38 includes a cap member 40 for capping the ink ejection port of the print head 18, and the cap member 40 is supported to be movable in the front-rear direction within a predetermined stroke range. The cap member 40 includes:
A spring plate 42 is fixed, and the spring plate 42 is in contact with a cap driving cam 44 rotatably arranged on the maintenance unit 38.

The cam 44 is mounted on the maintenance unit 3.
8 and is fixed to a rotating shaft 46 supported by the rotating shaft 46.
Is connected to a rotary drive device (not shown) such as a geared motor controlled by a controller of the inkjet printer. Reference numeral 48 denotes a guide member formed of a ball bearing, which is rotatably supported by a bracket 50 fixed to the rail holder 2. The guide member 48 is set at a position just opposite to the flat guide surface 34b of the inclined piece 34 when the head section 16 is at a standby position facing the maintenance unit 38.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. Prior to printing and drawing, the position of the print head 18 in the front-rear direction is adjusted according to the thickness of the paper 52. For this adjustment, the knob 26a of the front and rear adjustment screw 26 is rotated forward and reverse,
This can be performed by changing the amount of protrusion of the tip of the screw 26 from the wall surface of the support 24. When the screw 26 moves in the axial direction, a substrate 16a that resiliently contacts the tip of the screw 26 by the elastic force of the spring 28 follows the movement of the tip of the screw 26 and moves along the shaft 14 on the carriage 8 on the platen roller. 36, the distance between the print head 18 and the platen roller 36 changes.

The facing distance between the print head 18 and the sheet 52 facing the print head 18 is set to a constant value by rotating the front / rear adjustment screw 26. In this case, paper 5
2 is thicker than the standard value, the distance between the print head 18 and the platen roller 36 increases accordingly, and if the paper 52 is thinner than the standard value, the distance between the print head 18 and the platen roller 36 decreases accordingly. . The movement stroke of the cap member 40 of the maintenance unit 38 in the front-rear direction is set based on the adjustment position of the print head 18 when using a sheet of standard thickness.

When the print head 18 is adjusted to the standard position, the position of the adjustment guide 34b of the inclined piece 34 and the position of the side surface of the guide member 48 are on the same extension line parallel to the guide rails 4, 6. It is set to match. During printing and drawing, the carriage 8 reciprocates along the platen roller 36, and predetermined printing and drawing are performed on the paper 52 by ink discharged from the ink discharge port of the print head 18. When printing and drawing are completed, the carriage 8 moves along the guide rails 4 and 6 to a standby position where the carriage 8 comes off the platen roller 36. At this time,
When the position of the print head 18 is retracted from the standard position, the adjustment guide surface 34b of the inclined piece 34
8, the print head 18 moves on the carriage 8 to a standard position.

At the standby position of the head section 16, the print head 18 faces the cap member 40 of the maintenance unit 38. When the head unit 16 moves to the standby position, the controller drives the driving device to drive the shaft 46.
Is rotated to drive the cap member 40 rightward in FIG. 5, that is, in the forward direction. Thereby, the print head 18
Is covered by the cap member 40.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the opposing distance of the head unit to the maintenance unit can be adjusted to be constant by utilizing the moving force of the head unit in the scanning direction with respect to the sheet. It can be set small, the drive source of the cap member can be downsized, and the cost of the ink jet plotter can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a part of an ink jet printer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a part of the ink jet printer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a part of the ink jet printer.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the head unit.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line AA.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a guide member and an inclined top.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Rail Holder 4 Guide Rail 6 Guide Rail 8 Carriage 10 Slider 12 Roller 14 Shaft 16 Head 18 Print Head 20 Bearing 22 Bearing 24 Support 26 Front / Back Adjustment Screw 28 Spring 30 Tension Spring 32 Cam Member 34 Inclined Top 36 Platen Roller 38 Maintenance unit 40 Cap member 42 Spring plate 44 Cam 46 Rotating shaft 48 Guide member 50 Bracket 52 Paper

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A platen roller (36) for guiding a sheet (52) in one axial direction, and a carriage (8) movable along guide rails (4) and (6) parallel to the platen roller (36). An ink-jet type print head (18), which is attached to the carriage (8) so as to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the platen roller (36), and the platen roller (36) is moved by a spring (28) force. A head portion (16) urged rearward away from the head, and an ink discharge port of the print head (18) disposed opposite to a standby position of the head portion (16) separated from the platen roller (36). And a maintenance unit (38) provided with a cap member (40) for closing the head so as to protrude and retreat so as to protrude and retract. In the linter, a slanting piece (34) is provided in the head part (16), and a guide member (4) is provided at the standby position of the head part (16) on the body side of the inkjet printer so as to face the slanting piece (34).
8), and the distance between the head part (16) and the maintenance unit (38) in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the guide rails (4) and (6) exceeds a predetermined value. When the inclined piece (34) is moved by the guide member (4).
8), the head member (16) is driven by the guide member (48) on the carriage (8) in a direction approaching the maintenance unit (38), and the head unit (16) is moved relative to the maintenance unit (38). Head (1
6) An ink jet printer, wherein the facing distance is set to a predetermined value.