JPS5996968A - Ink jet recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the adjustment and to achieve a higher quality of printing with an easier fine adjustment after assembly by adjusting both the ink flying distance and the inclination of a recording head with the rotary operation of an adjusting screw. CONSTITUTION:With the rotation of an adjusting screw 29, an ink injection assembly is slid on a carriage 12 toward a platen with an aid of a projection piece 27. At this point, a projection piece 26 of the ink injection assembly moves over a slide shaft 28 while the adjusting screw 29 is screwed down into a bearing 24 compressing a spring 30 and a step with a large diameter section of the screw 29 presses a projection piece 27. As the adjusting screw 32 is moved upward or downward against the carriage 12 by rotary operation, the action of a compression screw 33 helps a projection piece 31 of the ink injection assembly to move vertically responding to the screw 32. With such an arrangement, a recording head 11 is allowed to be simply adjusted in two directions, the longitudinal way for distance from the platen 13 and the inclination of the head, by the operation of adjusting screws 29 and 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention Technical Field The present invention relates to an inkjet recording device that performs printing by directing ink droplets ejected from a nozzle onto recording paper.
This invention relates to an adjustment mechanism that allows easy adjustment of both the distance between the recording head having this nozzle and the recording paper and the inclination of the recording head.

<Background technology> In inkjet recording devices, the ink flight distance from the platen (recording medium position) to the nozzle has a subtle effect on print quality, and this effect is especially noticeable in on-demand recording devices. It appears in

Therefore, a configuration that allows fine adjustment of these distances after assembly is desired.

Additionally, in a color inkjet recording device with a multi-nozzle configuration, for example, a color inkjet recording device that has nozzle groups corresponding to multiple colors of ink, multiple colors of ink are overlaid and printed, so even if the recording head is slightly tilted, For example, FIG. 1 shows the recording head of the color recording apparatus, where head 2 is a nozzle, ~4 is yellow, nozzle ~8 Red, nozzles 9 to 14 are assigned blue, and nozzles 13 to 16 are assigned black to form a nozzle group of 4 columns and 4 rows, and each nozzle group holds the ink of the corresponding color in the ink tank 3A (yellow). ,
It has 3B (red), 3C (blue), and 3D (black).

In this color recording, eight colors are printed by mixing the four colors or three colors other than black, but in this case, each color is overprinted, and printing with the eight colors is performed in this overlapping condition. .

For example, when printing red by overlapping yellow and red, it is ideal to print red dots from nozzles 5 to 3 overlapping yellow dots from nozzles 1 to 4 as shown in FIG. 2.

In this way, even if a slight tilting force occurs when installing the recording head 2, the overlap will shift from the state shown in FIG. 2 to the state shown in FIG. The colors turn yellow and red, making it impossible to print in the desired beautiful colors. Therefore, it is desirable to make fine adjustments to the inclination of the recording head after assembly.

<Prior Art> By the way, in conventional inkjet recording apparatuses, in order to adjust the distance between the platen and the nozzles, a slider that guides the movement of a carriage carrying a recording head is usually moved forward and backward in the direction of the platen using a cam mechanism. This adjustment mechanism was a big loss, and the adjustment operation was also troublesome. In addition, no special consideration was given to the inclination of the recording head, and as a result, it was difficult to assemble the recording head. The desire for precision caused difficulties in production.

<Purpose> In view of the above points, the present invention provides an inkjet recording device that is devised so that fine adjustment of the recording head after assembly can be easily performed both in the front-rear direction, which is the distance between the recording head and the platen, and in the inclination of the recording head. It provides equipment.

<Embodiment> FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the recording head of the recording apparatus of the present invention, and the apparatus shows an on-demand color inkjet printer.

In the figure, a print head 11 is attached to a position of a carriage 12 facing a platen 13. Slide pars 14a and 14b are provided at the bottom of the carriage 12 in parallel with the axial direction of the platen 13, and the carriage 12 slides on these slide pars 14a and 14b in conjunction with a moving mechanism (not shown) such as a motor. It has a moving structure. The upper part of the carriage 12 has magenta, yellow, and cyan.

An ink tank 16 is formed in which four 71 ink cartridges 15a, 15b, 15c, and 15d containing ink of each color of black are loaded.

FIG. 5 is a cross section taken along the line AA' in FIG.
, a nozzle slit portion 11c communicating with this ink introduction path 11bK, a pressure chamber lid communicating with this nozzle slit portion 11c, and a piezoelectric element lie which is a vibrating element formed on the back surface of this pressure chamber lid. There is. The ink supply pipe 17 is connected to an opening 18 opened at the bottom of the ink tank 16, and the opening 18 is opened and closed by an on-off valve 19.

An air hole 20 and an ink supply hole 21 are provided on the top surface of the ink tank 16. The air hole 20 is provided to open the atmosphere to the ink supply system so that ink can be smoothly supplied from the ink tank to the nozzle (capillary phenomenon). Further, the ink supply hole 22 communicates the ink cartridge 15 with the ink tank 16 and guides the ink in the cartridge into the tank. It is for the purpose of

Referring again to FIG. 4, a bearing 23 is provided at the front part near the platen 13 along one side edge of the carriage 12, and a pair of bearings 23 are provided at an appropriate distance from each other at the rear part far from the platen 13 at the same position as the bearing 23. Bearings 24, 25 are provided.

Further, an ink tank 16 (mounted on the carriage 12) and integrally provided with the recording head 11 shown in FIG.
These bearings 23 to 25 of the ink jet assembly (referred to as an ink jet assembly)
A protruding piece 2 having a shaft hole provided on the side wall facing the bearing 23 is slightly shifted from the bearing 23 in the horizontal direction.
6 Also, the bearing 25 is interposed between the bearings 24 and 25.
A protrusion piece 27 having a shaft hole provided adjacent to the protrusion piece 27 is formed.

A slide shaft 28 is horizontally attached to the bearing 23 at the front of the carriage 12, and a protruding piece 26 of the ink jet assembly is fitted into the shaft 28 through the shaft hole. Therefore, this protruding piece 26 is capable of sliding along the slide shaft 28, and also serves as a rotational fulcrum when adjusting the inclination of the ink ejecting assembly (described later).

Further, adjusting screws 29, which are specifically shown in FIG. 6, are attached to the rear bearings 24 and 25 of the carriage 12.

The adjustment screw 29 has a threaded portion 29a at the tip, a support portion 29b into which the projection piece 27 is fitted into the medial portion, a large diameter portion 29c which has a larger diameter than the support portion 29b and fits into the bearing 25; It is composed of a head portion 29d.

On the other hand, the bearing 24 of the carriage 12 has a screw hole into which the threaded portion 29a of the screw 29 is screwed, and the bearing 25 has a shaft hole into which the large diameter portion 29c of the screw 29 can be inserted. . Furthermore, the projection piece 27 of the ink jetting assembly is configured to have a shaft hole having a smaller diameter than the shaft hole of the bearing 25 into which the support portion 29b of the screw 29 can be inserted.

The above adjustment screw 29 is attached to the bearing 25. Projection piece 27, bearing 2
A compression spring 30 is interposed between the bearing 24 and the projection piece 27.

Therefore, when the head portion 29+i of the adjustment screw 29 is rotated in one direction, the protruding piece 27 can be used to slide the ink jet assembly on the carriage 12 toward the platen 13. At this time, the protrusion piece 26 of the ink jet assembly moves on the slide shaft 28, and the adjustment screw 29 compresses the spring 3o and is screwed into the bearing 24, so that the stepped portion formed by the large diameter portion 29c of the screw 29 protrudes. A pressing effect is applied to the piece 27.

Further, the projection piece 27 is rotatable relative to the adjustment screw 29, and also functions as a rotational fulcrum when adjusting the inclination.

In addition to adjusting the ink ejection assembly as described above with respect to the platen 13, a tilt adjustment mechanism for this assembly is provided, and the position opposite to the position where the adjustment mechanism for moving the assembly and the carriage 12 forward and backward is provided. The position is equipped with the following configuration:

FIG. 7 shows a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4, and in FIG. 7, a side wall of the ink tank 16 is provided with a protrusion 31 that protrudes laterally, and a screw insertion hole is provided in the protrusion 31. ing.

An adjustment screw 32 is inserted into the insertion hole of the projection piece 31 and screwed into the carriage 12.

Further, a compression spring 33 is interposed around the screw 32 between the protrusion 31 and the carry run 12, so that the protrusion 31 is always urged upward.

Therefore, when the adjusting screw 32 is rotated to move up and down relative to the carriage 12, the protrusion 31 of the ink jetting assembly moves up and down in response to the screw 32 with the aid of the action of the compression spring 33. At this time, the support portions of the projection pieces 26 and 27 on the opposite side serve as fulcrums for vertical movement of the assembly.

For this reason, the recording head 11 can be easily adjusted both in the front-rear direction, which is the distance from the platen 13, and in the tilt of the head, by rotating the adjustment screws 29 and 32.

<Effects> According to the present invention, the recording head mounted on the carriage of the inkjet recording apparatus can be easily adjusted in both directions of the ink flight distance and the nozzle inclination by simply rotating the adjustment screw, and fine adjustment after assembly is avoided. It has the characteristics of being easy to adjust and providing a recording device with good print quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a recording head of a conventional color recording device.
2 and 3 are diagrams showing an example of the printing state of the recording head in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the carriage of the apparatus of the present invention and the vicinity of the recording head, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an adjustment screw, and FIG. 7 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 4. 11: Recording head, 12: Carriage, 13 Nibraten, 15a to 15d: Ink cartridge nozzle. 16: Ink tank, 23-25: Bearing, 26 and 27
: Projection piece, 28 Ni slide shaft, 29 and 32: Adjustment screw, 30 and 33: Compression spring, 31: Projection piece. Agent Patent attorney Aihiko Fukushi (and 2 others) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) a carriage that is reciprocally driven along a platen; an ink ejection assembly that is mounted on the carriage and includes a print head that ejects ink and an ink supply mechanism to the print head; and the ink On one side of the injection assembly, there is provided a pivot mechanism that supports the assembly on the carriage so that the assembly can be moved back and forth in the platen direction and rotatably upward; a first adjustment screw that engages with the assembly and is moved forward and backward by a rotational operation on a bearing in order to adjust the movement in the forward and backward directions; and the carriage that attaches the assembly to the carriage on the opposite side from the pivot mechanism. a second adjustment screw screwed in a direction perpendicular to the carriage, and a spring means interposed between the carriage and the assembly to constantly bias the assembly upward; An inkjet recording device configured to adjust both the ink flight distance and inclination of a recording head by rotating an adjustment screw.