JPS62104779A - Rail shaft - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a rail shaft having high straightness, low in processing cost and having high abrasion resistance and corrosion resistance, by depositing ceramics on the surface of the main body of the rail shaft. CONSTITUTION:A rail shaft is formed by a method wherein a material having good machinability is formed into a predetermined shape by cutting processing and ceramics based on silicon, titanium or an element belonging to the Group III of the Periodic Table is subsequently deposited on the processed material. In forming a ceramics film by a plasma CVD method, a motor 21 is driven to rotationally drive a rail shaft main body 15 which is, in turn, heated to predetermined temp. by a heater. The stock gas used in the formation of the film is introduced into a chamber 14 through an introducing pipe 22 and, when a current is supplied to an electrode 16 while said gas is exhausted, plasma is generated in the chamber 14 to coat the rail shaft main body with predetermined ceramics.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a rail shaft used in, for example, dot printers, facsimile machines, copying machines, etc., on which a conveying body on which a head and the like are mounted slides.

[Technical Background of the Invention] In a dot printer, a head, an ink ribbon cassette, etc. are mounted on a carriage (transport body), and this carriage reciprocates while sliding on a rail shaft. As described above, the rail shaft has the function of supporting the carriage and guiding the carriage in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and is required to have high wear resistance and corrosion resistance. For this reason, conventionally, materials with high wear resistance and corrosion resistance are used for this rail shaft, or materials with high machinability are processed into a predetermined shape and then heat treated to improve its wear resistance. and improved corrosion resistance.

[Problems with Background Art] However, materials with high wear resistance and corrosion resistance generally have the drawback of low machinability, difficulty in processing, and high processing cost. On the other hand, when trying to improve wear resistance and corrosion resistance through heat treatment, it is necessary to heat the material to a high temperature of 800°C, which causes the material to be easily deformed by heat during this heat treatment. There is a problem that the straightness is low.

[Object of the invention] This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a rail shaft that has high straightness, low processing cost, and high wear resistance and corrosion resistance. .

[Summary of the Invention] A rail shaft according to the present invention is a rail shaft that serves as a guide for driving a conveyor, and includes a rail shaft body and a coating layer formed by depositing ceramics on the surface of this body. Features.

In this invention, since ceramics are coated on the surface of the rail shaft body, a rail shaft with high wear resistance and corrosion resistance can be obtained. On the other hand, since the rail shaft body itself does not require wear resistance or corrosion resistance, it can be manufactured from a material with high machinability. Therefore, the rail shaft of the present invention is easy to process and has low processing cost, and since no heat treatment is required, the rail shaft has high straightness.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of a 1-rail shaft of a dot printer. A pair of frames 4 are installed in the main body of the printer, and rail shafts 1.5 are parallel to each other and a rack is passed between the frames 4. The rail shaft 1 is the copy cam 2,
The copy lever 3 is fixed to the frame 4 with a screw (not shown), and the rail shaft 5 is fixed to the frame 4 with a screw (not shown). The substantially plate-shaped carriage 6 is provided with bushings 10 and CRG bushings 11 at the ends of the shaft rails 1 and 5, respectively. It's embedded. Rail shaft 1.
The carriage 6 can reciprocate in its longitudinal direction while being supported by the rail shaft 1.5 as the bushing 10 and the CRG bushing 11 fitted on the rail shaft 1.5 rotate around the rail shaft 1.5. A head 7 is fixed on the carriage 6, and an ink ribbon cassette 8 can be mounted on the carriage 6. A card guide 9 is fixed to the end of the carriage 6 on the bush 10 side.

A reel is installed on each frame 4, and a belt 12 is wound around this reel.

A motor 13 is connected to one of the drive reels, and the rotation of the motor 13 rotates the drive reel, thereby causing the belt 12 to move between the rail shafts 1 and 5.
driven in the longitudinal direction. The carriage 6 has a belt 12
Therefore, by the forward and reverse rotation of the motor 13, the carriage 6 reciprocates in the longitudinal direction along the rail shaft 1.5.

In the dot printer configured in this way, the rail shaft 1.5 has the function of guiding and supporting the carriage when it travels, and for this reason, the rail shaft 1.5 is required to have high straightness. At the same time, the rail shaft portion on which the bushing of the carriage slides is required to have high wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and both end portions for attachment to the frame are required to have high corrosion resistance.

The rail shaft according to the embodiment of the present invention is free-cutting 1 (
After cutting a material with good machinability such as SUM24: J Is) into a predetermined shape, substantially the entire surface of the rail shaft body is coated with a method such as plasma CVD, sputtering, ion blasting, or thermal CVD. Manufactured by coating ceramics.

In this invention, the coating layer on the surface of the rail shaft is formed by coating the rail shaft body with ceramics. The ceramics include the following materials.

(1) Silicon-based ceramics containing at least one element selected from nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), and carbon (C).

Such ceramics include SiC, SiN, S
Examples include iO, SiCN, and 5iON.

(2) Titanium-based ceramics containing at least one element selected from N, O, and C.

Such ceramics include TiC1TiN, T
ie, T1CN or TioN etc.

(3) Ceramics based on elements belonging to Group Ⅰ of the periodic table (for example, boron and aluminum).

An example of such ceramics is BN.

Examples include A I203 , GaAS, GaP, and GaAsP.

Next, a method of manufacturing a rail shaft for a printer according to the present invention will be explained. First, on the rail shaft body,
A case will be described in which a coating layer is formed using a gas or a liquid with a relatively high vapor pressure as a raw material. Figures 2 to 4 are
It is a drawing showing the manufacturing equipment, and FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view,
FIG. 3 is a front sectional view, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view. A chamber 14 is installed, and inside this chamber 14,
An electrode 16 and a plurality of rail shaft bodies 15 on which a film is to be formed are provided. A pair of insulating bridge supports 17 made of Teflon or ceramics are installed at both ends of the chamber 14 in the width direction, and the electrodes 16 are connected to the chamber 14.
It has a plate shape extending in the width direction of the chamber 14, and is supported by a support 17 at the center of the chamber 14. The rail shaft main body 15 is made of a material with good machinability, such as free-cutting steel, and is formed into a predetermined shape of the rail shaft.A table 18 is provided on both sides of the electrode 16 at a predetermined distance from the electrode.
erected above. Near the rail shaft body 15,
A heater (not shown) is installed, and the main body 1 is heated during film formation.
It is designed to heat 5. Each table 18 has
Gears 19 are fixed, and each gear 19 meshes with each other. A motor 21 is disposed outside the chamber 14, a rotating shaft of the motor 21 is inserted into the chamber 14, and a gear 20 that meshes with a gear 19 is fixed.

As a result, the rotation of the motor 21 causes the gear 19.20 to
The support body 15 is configured to rotate on its own axis. The chamber 14 includes an introduction vibe 2 connected to a suitable gas source.
2 are connected to each other, and raw material gas is introduced into the chamber 14 through this introduction vibe 22.

On the other hand, an exhaust vibrator 23 of the chamber 14 is connected, and this exhaust vibrator 23 is connected to a mouth-tally bomb and a mechanical booster pump (not shown), and these exhaust means cause the inside of the chamber 14 to be It is designed to be exhausted through the A power supply 24 is connected to the electrode 16 via a matching box 25, and plasma generation power is supplied from the power supply i7!24.

When forming a film on the rail shaft body 15 using such an apparatus, first, the inside of the chamber 14 is evacuated via the exhaust vibrator 23 by an exhaust means, and the main body 15 is rotationally driven by driving the motor 21. , the rail shaft body 15 is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater. Then, the source gas used for film formation is introduced into the chamber 14 via the introduction vibe 22, and while being evacuated by the exhaust means, the pressure inside the chamber 14 is adjusted to a pressure of 0.1 to 10 torr. Next, when power is supplied to the electrode 16 from the power supply 24, a discharge occurs between the electrode 16 and the installed wall surface of the chamber 14, and plasma is generated within the chamber 14. As a result, the rail shaft body is coated with a predetermined ceramic. In this case, since the rail shaft body 15 is rotationally driven, a ceramic layer with uniform thickness and quality is formed. Further, since the heating temperature of the rail shaft body may be low, the rail shaft body will not be deformed during this film forming process.

Next, test results will be described in which a ceramic film was formed using a film forming apparatus using a gas or a high vapor pressure liquid as a raw material.

Test Example 1 As a raw material gas, a gas containing Si atoms, for example,
SiH+, 5i21-1s, SiF+, 5iC14
, 5iHC13, 5iH2CI2, and a gas containing N atoms, such as N2, Nhh, etc., was used. In this case, the rail shaft body is coated with amorphous silicon nitride SiN. Note that this SIN contains hydrogen H or a halogen atom (fluorine, etc.).

Test Example 2 A mixed gas of a gas containing 3i atoms and a hydrocarbon gas such as CH4, C2H6, C2H2, etc. was used as the raw material gas. In this case, amorphous silicon carbide SiC is coated.

Test Example 3 A mixed gas of a gas containing 3i atoms and a gas containing oxygen atoms, such as 02, N20, GO2, etc., was used as the raw material gas. In this case, a film of amorphous silicon oxide (SiO) is formed, but C or N may be mixed into this layer depending on the source gas.

□ 1 The raw material gas is not limited to these gases, for example, Cl-14 gas and N2 gas may be mixed with SiH+ gas, N2 gas and N20 gas or O2 gas may be mixed with SiH+ gas. It's okay.

Next, we will discuss the film formation method when using a solid as a raw material.
Please refer to Figure 5 which shows the equipment used for its implementation1.
and explain. Inside the grounded chamber 31 is a rail shaft body 30 with its longitudinal direction horizontal.
is installed. The rail shaft main body 30 is fixed within a chamber 31 and rotatably supported by a pair of support members 32 facing each other in the horizontal direction.

. , :, ) two 2. Tsu, 7,. 30 (Ifff!1.:
A heater 34 is provided, and power is supplied to the heater 34 from a power source 35.

A gas introduction port 36 and an exhaust port 37 are installed in the chamber 31. Ar gas and a reaction gas are introduced into the chamber 31 from the gas introduction port 36 as needed, and the exhaust port 37
The inside of the chamber 31 is evacuated by an appropriate exhaust means (such as an oil diffusion pump) through the evacuator. chamber 3
1, a target 38 made of ceramics or the like containing 3i is installed. This target 38 is located in the chamber 31
The matching box 41 and the high frequency power source 42 are connected to a matching box 41 and a high frequency power source 42 via a support rod 40 of the table 39.

According to the apparatus configured in this manner, the inside of the chamber 31 is evacuated and maintained at a high vacuum, and the rail shaft body 30 is heated to 150 to 500° C. by the heater 34. While exhausting the inside of the chamber 31 through the exhaust port 37, Ar gas or the like is injected into the chamber 31 through the gas inlet 36.
10-5 to 10-3 inside the chamber 31.
Adjust the pressure to 1 liter. Then, high frequency power is applied to the target 38 from the power source 42. Then, the target 38 is sputtered, and the sputtered atoms are deposited on the rail shaft body 30. This coats the race shaft body with the constituent atoms of the target. As J3 and power source 42, it is also possible to use a DC power source. In this case, a matching box is not necessary.

Next, the results of a test in which a ceramic film was formed on a rail shaft using such a solid as a raw material will be explained.

Test Example 4 SiO2 was used as a target, Ar gas was introduced into the chamber, and discharge was performed only with Ar. In this case, the rail shaft body was coated with iJl of 5iOx (1≦X≦2).

Test Example 5 SiC was used as a target, and only Ar gas was introduced for discharge. In this case, SiC is used in the rail shaft body.
was deposited.

Test Example 6 A film was formed using 5iaN+ as a target and introducing only Ar gas. In this case, S is attached to the rail shaft body.
iN was coated.

Test Example 7 Single crystal or polycrystalline 3i was used as a target, and in addition to Ar gas, a hydrocarbon gas such as CH4 or C2H2 was introduced into the chamber to coat SiC. In addition,
If N2 or NH3 gas is used instead of hydrocarbon gas, SiN will be deposited, and if 02 or N20 gas is used, SiO will be coated.

The method of coating the coating layer is not limited to the above-mentioned plasma CVD and sputtering methods, but may also be an ion blating method in which a reactive gas is introduced while applying direct current or high frequency power to the rail shaft body.
The film can also be formed by method D. plasma CVD
In the case of sputtering, the film can be formed at a low temperature, so thermal deformation of the base material can be prevented. Further, in the case of a method belonging to CvD such as plasma CVD, the adhesion of the coating layer is better than a method belonging to PVD. However, in the case of ion blating, the PV
Although it belongs to D, the adhesiveness is good because plasma is used. Moreover, since heat treatment is not performed in each method other than plasma CVD and sputtering, there is little thermal deformation of the base material.

The present invention is of course applicable not only to rail shafts for dot printers but also to rail shafts for other office automation equipment such as facsimile machines and copying machines.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, in addition to being able to obtain a rail shaft that exhibits sufficient corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance, the rail shaft body is not required to have corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance. Since the rail shaft can be made of a material with high machinability, processing costs can be reduced, and since heat treatment is not required, a rail shaft with good straightness can be obtained.

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printer equipped with a rail shaft according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figs. 2 to 4 show its film forming apparatus. 3 is a front sectional view thereof, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view thereof, and FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another film forming apparatus. 1.5: Rail shaft, 6: Carriage, 10.11
: Push, 14, 31: Chamber, 15.30: Rail shirt 1 to main body, 16; Electrode, 24.42: Power supply, 3
8; Target applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2 i 142 □ Fu- Figure 5

Claims (8)

[Claims] (1) A rail shaft that serves as a guide for sliding a conveyor, and is characterized by having a rail shaft body and a coating layer formed by depositing ceramics on the surface of this body. (2) The rail according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer is formed of silicon-based ceramics containing at least one element selected from nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon. shaft. (3) The silicon-based ceramics are SiC, SiN
, SiO, SiCN, or SiON, the rail shaft according to claim 2. (4) The rail according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer is formed of titanium-based ceramics containing at least one element selected from nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon. shaft. (5) The titanium-based ceramics include TiC, TiN
, TiO, TiCN, or TiON, the rail shaft according to claim 4. (6) The rail shaft according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer is formed of a ceramic based on an element belonging to Group III of the periodic table. (7) Ceramics based on elements belonging to Group III of the periodic table include BN, Al_2O_3, GaAs, G
The rail shaft according to claim 6, characterized in that it is made of aP or GaAsP. (8) The rail shaft according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer is formed by a plasma CVD method.