JPS6315997B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an electroforming tank in which a body to be electroformed is inserted, and a plurality of electrodes for electroforming are arranged around the electroforming tank so as to face the body to be electroformed. The present invention relates to an electroforming device configured to control each of the following.

Generally, in electroforming, the highest importance is placed on the transfer accuracy of the electroformed object, and various inventions and ideas have been made regarding the arrangement and control of electrodes for this purpose.
Control of the thickness of the electroformed shell has not yet been sufficiently controlled. However, if the electroformed shell has thin parts, its strength and service life will be reduced, and if it has too thick parts, materials, electricity, working time, etc. will be wasted. Furthermore, if there is a thin portion, the thin portion may result in a defective product when machining the electroformed shell. Controlling the thickness of the electroformed shell in this way is as important as transfer accuracy, and the applicant has disclosed a method for controlling the thickness of the electroformed shell in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 145191/1983. Disclosed. However, in the device disclosed herein, a plurality of electrodes are appropriately distributed and contact detectors are distributed between these electrodes, and these distributed contact detectors have their tips and electroformed The distance between the electroformed shell and the electroformed shell is fixed in advance so as to have the desired thickness.

When the electroformed shell produced by electroforming comes into contact with the tip of the fixed contact detector, the contact detection circuit is activated and reduces the amount of current flowing to the electrode near the contact detector. The power is cut off. This conventional device is simple;
Moreover, although it is inexpensive, since both the contact detector and the electrode are fixed, it has the disadvantage that it cannot be detected and controlled at all during the production process of the electroformed shell, and as a result, the contact detector Even if the generated electroformed shell is detected and the electricity supplied to the electrodes in its vicinity is cut off, the thickness of the electroformed shell will not only gradually increase due to the influence of other energized electrodes, but also The drawback was that it left traces of the fixed contact detector.

In the present invention, when an electroformed object is installed in an electroforming tank into which an electroforming solution is injected, a rod control section is operated to move a rod toward the electroformed object, at least at the leading end of which is an electrode or has an electrode. When the leading end of the moving rod comes into contact with the electroformed object and the rod stops, the position of the rod at that time is measured with a measuring instrument, and the measured value is taken as the origin. Then, the position of the electrode is set by appropriate retraction based on the measured value which is the origin.
Furthermore, after applying a specified amount of current to the electroformed body and the electrode,
The difference between the measured value of the measuring instrument when the rod is moved toward the electroformed shell formed on the electroformed object, and the leading end of this rod comes into contact with the electroformed shell and stops, and the value measured at the origin. This method measures the thickness of the electroformed shell. However, the purpose is to obtain an electroformed shell having a desired thickness by controlling the position of the electrode or the amount of current applied based on this measured value.

Next, the present invention will be explained based on illustrative figures.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are a side sectional view and a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention. At least the leading end of the rod 4 is an electrode or has an electrode in a radial direction 4A, 4B, 4C,...4
F, 4H, and three-dimensional 4A, 4A', 4A'',...
... 4E, 4E', 4E'', and the electroformed body 2 is inserted into said portion by a spindle 2A attached to the tip of an arm extending from a fixed portion (not shown). Each rod control device 5A, 5
B, 5C, ...5F, 5A', 5A'', ..., 5E',
5E'', ..., 5F, 5G, and 5H, it moves toward and away from the electroformed object 2, but the details will be explained in Part 3.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

In Fig. 3, among the many rods 4 arranged in the same shape so as to face the electroformed object 2, those that penetrate the electroforming tank 1 do not allow the electroforming liquid 3 to leak from around the rods 4. The rod 4 is sealed with a seal 6 so that the rod 4 can move in its axial direction. A leading end 7 is screwed onto the tip of the rod 4, and an electrode 9 for electroforming is inserted into the cavity 8 provided in the screwed leading end 7 so as to be able to slide through an insulating layer 10. It has been done. A terminal 11 is embedded and fixed in the rod 4 at the end of the cavity 8, and a conductive spring 12 that can conduct electricity is stretched between the terminal 11 and the electrode 9. Due to the elasticity of the spring 12, the electrode 9 is constantly pushed out toward the tip of the leading portion 7. Since a window 13 is provided in the leading portion 7, the tip of the electrode 9 is exposed through the window 13 into the electroforming liquid 3. In order to insert the electrode 9 into the cavity 8 of the leading part 7, a hole (not shown) large enough to allow the electrode 9 to be inserted and taken out is provided on the side of the leading part 7. By inserting the electrode 9 into the cavity 8 of the front end 7 through the tube, attachment and detachment can be made extremely simple. A wiring hole 14 is provided in the rod 4, and a wiring 15 passing through the wiring hole 14 connects the terminal 11 and an electroforming power source 32. A pinion 17 meshes with a rack 16 provided on the rod 4, and this pinion 17 is rotated by a servo motor 18. The position of the rod 4, which is moved by the rotation of the servo motor 18, is measured by a measuring device 19 such as an encoder, potentiometer, magnetic scale, etc., which is linked to the rod 4. The rod 4 and the electroformed body 2 are connected to the terminals of a measuring power source 20 via this measuring device 19, and the rod 4 and the electroformed body 2 or the electroformed shell 2' formed thereon are connected to each other. At the point of contact, a weak current flows through it (third
Figure) If this weak current is used as a signal to stop the rotation of the servo motor 18 and the rod 4 is stopped, the measuring device 19 will measure the position of the rod 4 at that time based on the signal or a desired delay signal of the signal. ing. Here, if it is not preferable to flow a current between the electroformed body 2 and the rod 4, or if an insulating material is used for the leading part 7, or if the leading part 7 contacts the electroformed body 2, the pressure If it is desired to adjust the angle, it is recommended to use the structure shown in FIG. Its structure is 4 rods and 22 sleeves.
A rack 23 provided on the sleeve 22 of the
However, pinion 1 similar to that explained in FIG.
It meshes with 7. A spring 24 is provided between this sleeve 22 and the rod 4, and the elasticity of this spring 24 causes the sleeve 22 to be attached to the collar 25.
comes into contact with. However, since this collar 25 is fixed to the rod 4 by a pin 26, the movement of the sleeve 22 by the spring 24 means that the collar 25
It will stop at . A magnet 27 is embedded in the rod 4 in the sleeve, and a sensor 28 is provided in the sleeve 22 to detect and operate the magnet 27. The relationship between the leading end 7 screwed onto the rod 4 and the electrode 9 inserted therein is as follows.
Since it is the same as explained in the figure, the explanation thereof will be omitted, and the case where the position of the electrode 9 is determined and the thickness of the electroformed shell 2' is measured using this apparatus will be explained. First, when the servo motor 18 is rotated to rotate the pinion 17, the sleeve 22 that engages with the pinion 17 moves the rod 4 toward the electroformed object 2 via the spring 24. When the leading end 7 of the rod 4 comes into contact with the electroformed body 2 or the electroformed shell 2', the rod 4 stops, but the sleeve 22 continues to move by compressing the spring 24. When the sensor 28 provided on the sleeve 22 detects the magnet 27 provided on the rod 4, the rotation of the servo motor 18 is stopped, and when a detection signal from the sensor 28 or a signal delayed from the signal is obtained, the measuring device 19 measures the position of the stopped rod 4. At this time, the electroformed object 2 and the leading part 7
Since the contact pressure with the spring 24 is determined by the elasticity of the spring 24, if it is desired to adjust the contact pressure, it can be adjusted to some extent by replacing the spring 24 or shifting the position of the sensor 28. For example, if you want to increase the contact pressure, move the sensor 28 away from the magnet 27 to increase the contact pressure at the tip 7.
After the spring 24 comes into contact with the electroformed object 2
By increasing the amount of compression, the contact pressure can be strengthened. In FIG. 1, 29 is a numerical control device, 30 is a program device, and 31 is a key. In the three-dimensional shape of the electroformed object 2, the electric field strength on the surface of the electroformed object 2 can be determined by the following equation, and the electrode 9 is driven according to this equipotential surface. Numerically control the placement.

E = -∂V/∂n E = electric field E = gradV = δ/ε V; potential (XYZ) δ; surface charge density n; outward normal ▽ ² V=-δ/ε (Poisson's equation) In this case, the rod 4 and the electrode 9 are the electroformed body 2.
The drive is controlled so that it moves while keeping it perpendicular to the surface.

When performing electroforming in the present invention, an electroformed body 2 having a desired shape is set in an electroforming tank 1, and the electroforming tank 1 is filled with an electroforming liquid 3 having a predetermined prescription.
When the desired thickness of the electroformed shell, the prescription or type of the electroforming liquid 3, the voltage of the electroforming power source 32, etc. are entered into the key 31, the rod is controlled via the programming device 30 and the numerical control device 29 according to the input. Devices 5A, 5A',
5A'', 5B, 5C, ...5E, 5E', 5E'', ...
...A control signal is sent to 5F, 5G, and 5H. First, the position of each electrode 9 is set. In this operation, the servo motor 18 of each rod control device 5 rotates the pinion 17 in response to a command from the numerical control device 29 to move each rod 4 toward the electroformed object 2. As described above, each servo motor is stopped when the leading end 7 of each rod 4 comes into contact with the electroformed object 2, and the position of each rod 4 at that time is measured by the measuring device 19. When the leading end 7 first comes into direct contact with the electroformed object 2, electroforming has not been performed and there is no electroformed shell 2', so the measured value of the measuring device 19 at that time is This is stored in the numerical control device 29 as the origin position.
Next, the servo motor 18 is reversed to move the rod 4 away from the electroformed object 2, but the amount of movement at this time must be a predetermined amount. For example, in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the distance between the electroformed body 2 and the leading part 7 reaches l, or when the leading part 7
l plus the dimension a from the tip of the electrode to the end face of the electrode 9
+a is a predetermined amount, and the position of the end surface of the electrode 9 at that time is a position corresponding to a predetermined equipotential surface in the electric field of the electroformed body 2, which is a cathode.

When all the rods 4 have been arranged in this way, electroforming is performed by applying the voltage of the electroforming power source 32 to the electroformed object 2 through the wiring 15, and to the electrode 9 through the terminal 11 and spring 12. . After electroforming has been carried out for a certain period of time in this manner, the thickness of the electroformed shell 2' formed on the electroformed body 2 is measured. As in the measurement of the origin position of each rod 4 described above, when the servo motor 18 is actuated to move the rod 4 toward the electroformed object 2, the leading end 7 of the rod 4 moves toward the electroformed object 2. It comes into contact with the electroformed shell 2' that is generated.
The position of the rod 4 at this time is measured by the measuring device 19, and the difference between the measured value and the measured value as the origin position of the rod 4 already stored in the numerical control device 29 is determined by the generated electroformed shell 2'. It can be calculated as the thickness t. If the thickness t of the electroformed shell 2' produced in this way can be measured for each rod, the distance l+a between the electroformed body 2 and the electrode 9 can be measured for each rod 4.
The numerical controller 29 controls the electroformed shell 2' by changing what is necessary and by changing the amount of current applied so as to obtain the desired thickness of the electroformed shell 2'.

According to the present invention, the distance between the electroformed body 2 and the electrode 9 can be measured and set for each electrode 9, and the set position can be set in the electroformed shell 2' during the production process of the electroformed shell 2'. You can change the thickness of 2' while measuring it from time to time,
This has the effect that an electroformed shell having a desired thickness can be produced by changing the amount of current applied.

Note that in carrying out the present invention, the electroforming tank may have a closed structure, in which the electroforming tank is constantly filled with the electroforming liquid by supplying and discharging the tank. The rod at the top of the rod can be provided so as to face the electroformed object from above or obliquely upward in FIG.
may be a wear-resistant platinized titanium electrode with an exposed structure or a consumable electrode made of plated metal, and the present invention encompasses such modifications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the present invention viewed from the side and partially cut away; Fig. 2 is a plan view; Fig. 3;
Fig. 4 is a detailed view of the rod and its rod control device, which are the main parts of the present invention, and Fig. 5 is an A of Fig. 3 and Fig. 4.
It is an arrow view. 1... Electroforming tank, 2... Electroformed object, 3... Electroforming liquid, 4, 4A, 4B... Rod, 5, 5A, 5B
... Rod control device, 7 ... Leading section, 9 ... Electrode, 19 ... Measuring instrument, 29 ... Numerical control device, 3
2...Electroforming power supply.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An electroforming tank into which an electroforming solution is injected, and at least a leading portion of the electroforming tank toward a portion of the electroforming tank into which the electroformed object is inserted or installed, which is an electrode or has an electrode. Consisting of multiple rods arranged radially and three-dimensionally,
a moving device that moves each of the rods in the axial direction;
An electroforming apparatus comprising a rod control device having a measuring device for measuring the movement position of the rod by each of the moving devices. 2. The electroforming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rods are distributed and provided on a side peripheral wall of the electroforming tank. 3. The electroforming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rods are distributed and provided on the side peripheral wall and bottom surface of the electroforming tank. 4. Claim 1, wherein the position of the electrode is an equipotential surface of the electroformed body, which is a cathode.
Electroforming equipment as described in section. 5. The electroforming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring device measures based on a weak current that flows when the rod comes into contact with the electroformed body or the electroformed shell.