KR20040016517A - Method of producing a car steering wheel rim using liquid pressure transfer and car steering wheel produced thereby - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A hydraulic pressure transfer method of a steering wheel rim for a vehicle and a steering wheel for the vehicle made thereby are provided to simplify the manufacturing process, reduce the cost and time for production, and prevent a joint from being seen in installing the steering wheel. CONSTITUTION: A hydraulic pressure transfer method of a steering wheel rim for a vehicle includes steps of activating a transfer film on the water of a water tank and executing hydraulic pressure transfer, to form a joint(21) on the rear of the steering wheel by turning the front side of the steering wheel rim toward the water of the water tank and putting the steering wheel rim into the water at a predetermined angle. Before the steering wheel rim is put into the water, a gap, formed between a part of the steering wheel rim where hydraulic pressure transfer is executed and a part where hydraulic pressure transfer is not executed, is filled up with a gap-filling member. The hydraulic pressure transfer method further includes a step of painting to complement the color deviation around the joint formed on the rear of the steering wheel rim.

Description

Hydrostatic transfer method of a steering wheel rim for an automobile and an automobile steering wheel manufactured thereby TECHNICAL TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a surface treatment technology of an advanced steering wheel rim for automobiles using hydraulic transfer, and more particularly, to a method of printing a pattern such as wood or metal on the surface of the steering wheel rim using a hydraulic transfer printing method. will be. In addition, the present invention relates to a steering wheel for a vehicle manufactured by such a hydraulic transfer method.

In general, most automotive steering wheel products use polyurethane foam as it is or cover the foam with leather.However, in the case of the high-grade specification, a part of the steering wheel rim is treated with a wood grain surface to make it Differentiation is being attempted, and in particular, patterns such as wood, metal, carbon, marble and hair lines are printed by a hydraulic transfer printing method.

In this regard, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2000-19074 discloses a method of printing a hydrostatic transfer of a steering wheel rim, which method covers a portion of the surface of a transfer object with a masking member and the masking member is not covered. A transfer surface is formed to form a transfer surface, and a second masking member is covered on the transfer surface, and then the second unmasked portion of the second masking member is transferred to the surface. Matched joints are formed in two places. However, in the above method, since the transfer object, such as a round-shaped steering wheel rim, must be masked several times, the manufacturing process is complicated, requires a lot of cost, personnel, and time, and two or more seams are caused by two or more maskings. It doesn't look good.

The present invention is a further improvement of the prior art, the manufacturing process is simple, takes a low cost and time, and the hydraulic transfer method of the steering wheel rim for automobiles so that the joint is not visible when the steering wheel is installed and the automobiles manufactured thereby Its purpose is to provide a steering wheel.

1 is a view showing a steering wheel for a car that is the subject of the present invention,

2 is a view schematically showing a hydraulic pressure transfer device;

3 is a perspective view of a state of hydraulically transferring the steering wheel rim for a vehicle,

4 is a partial view of a hydraulically transferred automotive steering wheel rim,

5 is a partial view showing a gap formed between the injection molded portion and the foamed urethane portion in the steering wheel rim for a vehicle before hydraulic transfer;

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the tension of the ring type used as a gap filling member,

7 is a partial view of a steering wheel rim for a vehicle with a tensile steel of the ring type before it is hydrostatically transferred;

(Explanation of drawing)

1: steering wheel feed device 2: transfer tank

3: guide chain 4: blower

5: pump 6: circulation tube

7: film conveying conveyor 8: film roll

9: heater roll 10: roll coater

11: withdrawal roll 21: seam

31: gap

S: Steering wheel F: Film

A: Injection molded part B: Foamed urethane part

D: Jig frame K: Activator

T: Ring Type Tension Steel

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the process of activating the transfer film on the water of the tank, the front of the steering wheel rim toward the water of the tank to enter the water of the tank at a predetermined angle so that the seam is formed on the back Provided is a method for hydraulically transferring a steering wheel rim for an automobile including a process of performing hydraulic pressure transfer.

In addition, according to the present invention, prior to the incidence of the steering wheel rim into the water of the tank, further comprising the step of filling the gap formed between the portion to be hydraulically transferred and the portion of the non-hydraulic transfer of the steering wheel rim with a gap filling member It provides a hydraulic transfer method of the steering wheel rim for a vehicle.

According to the present invention, there is also provided a hydraulic transfer method of a steering wheel rim for an automobile, which further includes a step of painting a color circumference around the joint formed on the back surface of the steering wheel rim on which the hydraulic transfer is performed.

Finally, according to the present invention, there is provided a steering wheel rim for a vehicle manufactured by such a method.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings and examples.

First, Figure 1 shows the shape of the steering wheel (S) to be hydraulically transferred, the steering wheel rim is usually composed of an injection molded portion (A) and a foamed urethane portion (B). Here, the injection molded part A is coated with a primer and hydrostatically transferred onto it to form a pattern, and the foamed urethane part B is covered with leather. Of course, by using a foam-free urethane instead of the foamed urethane, it is also possible to solve the problem that a large number of foaming pores occur in the foamed urethane portion. For convenience of description, hereinafter, B will be described only in the case where the part is made of a foamed urethane.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of a hydraulic transfer apparatus embodying the method of the present invention. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 is a steering wheel feeder, 2 is a transfer tank, 7 to 11 is a transfer film supply device, and a transfer tank 2 is a water tank containing water (W) therein. The water surface flows slowly from the left side to the right side of FIG. 2 by the blower 4, and water W continues to be circulated through the circulation pipe 6 by the pump 5.

In order to perform the hydraulic transfer, a process of activating the transfer film F must first be performed. The transfer film (F) is printed on one side of the water-soluble film fabric with a fixing ink, and the activator (K) is applied to the ink surface of the transfer film (F) to impart adhesion to the dry ink and transfer the transfer film. It becomes possible state. The transfer film F is a form rolled up by the film roll 8, and the film is taken out from the film roll 8 by the take-out roll 11. As shown in FIG. The transfer film (F) withdrawn from the film roll (8) passes through the heater roll (9) for heating the transfer film (F), the activator (K) for making the ink of the transfer film (F) printable After passing through the roll coater 10 for applying, and passing through the take-out roll 11 again, it is moved to the water surface in the transfer tank 2 by the film conveying conveyor (7).

The transfer film F transferred onto the water surface of the transfer tank 2 gradually starts to squeeze by the water W inside the transfer tank 2, and is then installed in the transfer tank 2 to be mounted on the left side of FIG. It moves from the left side to the right side of FIG. 2 by the guide chain 3 and the blower 4 which move to the right side. The transfer film (F) continues to squeeze during movement, and both ends of the film adhere to the guide chain (3) and move at the same speed as the guide chain (3). It is in the state just before the pattern is destroyed.

Meanwhile, the steering wheel S is fixed to the steering wheel feeder 1. At this time, the steering wheel S will be defined as the front side (in the present specification, the surface facing the driver when the steering wheel S is installed in the vehicle, and the reverse side is the rear surface. In other words, the front surface is fixed to the steering wheel feeder 1 so as to face the water in the tank.

When the transfer film F is in a sufficiently advanced state, the steering wheel S transferred by the steering wheel feeder 1 moves downward by a predetermined angle from the upper side and is transferred by the force of the steering wheel feeder 1. The film (F) is pressed into the water (W), and at this time, the ink is printed on the surface of the injection molding portion (A) of the steering wheel (S) by the stress generated in the water.

Hydraulic transfer is performed according to the inherent characteristics of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) fabric and the hydraulic transfer ink printed thereon. In the case of hydraulic transfer of a steering wheel S having an arbitrary curvature as in the present invention, Initially, the transfer film F ink pattern around the part which is in contact with the steering wheel rim surrounds the steering wheel rim as the steering wheel S continues downward into the water at a predetermined angle. Thus, after the hydrostatic transfer is completed, a seam is formed on the opposite side of the portion of the first steering wheel rim which is in contact with the transfer film F, that is, on the rear surface of the steering wheel S (see FIG. 4). At this time, the formation position or shape of the joint can be changed by adjusting the acquisition angle.

In the above description, only hydraulic pressure transfer using a machine is described, but it is obvious that the same effect can be obtained by manual operation in the same manner.

Meanwhile, since the steering wheel rim is composed of the injection molding part A and the foamed urethane part B as described above, a constant gap 31 is formed as shown in FIG. 5. However, there is a problem that the ink pattern does not adhere to the injection molded part around the gap 31 because water rises along the gap 31 when the steering wheel rim is hydrostatically transferred. In order to solve this problem, there is a necessity to fill four gaps 31 formed in the steering wheel rim S before the hydrostatic transfer process. FIG. 7 illustrates a ring type tension steel T as one example of such a gap filling member. The ring-type tension steel T has a shape substantially extending from the center portion of the circle to the same plane, facing each other and extending in a direction perpendicular to the center portion of the circle, so that the center portion of the circle is formed in the gap 31. It is combined to fill the gap (31). Even if it is not the ring-type tension steel (T), if the gap 31 can be filled, it is also possible to use a tape, rubber masking or masking tape or the like as the gap filling member.

Fig. 7 shows a partial view in which a gap filling member made of ring-type tension steel is mounted. The gap filling member prevents water from filling along the gap 31 and causes the ink pattern not to stick around the gap 31 without causing a problem to be printed as intended, thereby significantly lowering a poor print rate. The gap filling member is removed after the end of the hydraulic transfer.

On the other hand, when the transfer film (F) printing pattern completely surrounds the steering wheel rim, color variation occurs because the printing pattern is stretched and printed around the joint 21 formed on the rear surface of the steering wheel rim. Of course, such a back surface is not seen from the driver's point of view, but in order to solve the aesthetic problem, it is necessary to paint the part where the color deviation occurs. This painting is done using a brush or spray, etc., when the painting in this way has the effect that the appearance of the steering wheel rim (S) becomes more beautiful.

Although the foregoing has been described with reference to specific embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims below. Therefore, the specification and drawings of the present invention should be understood to be illustrative rather than limiting, and the scope of protection of the present invention extends to the matters described in the claims and their equivalents.

According to the present invention, the conventionally complicated and various manufacturing processes are greatly simplified and shortened, so that mass production is possible by inputting a small cost, personnel and equipment, and price competitiveness can be secured, and at the same time, the seam of the steering wheel is installed. A hydraulic press is performed so that it may not be seen.

Claims (4)

In the method of hydraulically transferring the steering wheel rim for an automobile, Activating the transfer film on the water of the tank, A hydraulic transfer method of a steering wheel rim for an automobile, comprising the steps of: hydraulically transferring the front surface of the steering wheel rim toward the water of the tank and entering the water of the tank at a predetermined angle to form a seam on the back. The method of claim 1, Before the incidence of the steering wheel rim into the water of the tank, the vehicle further comprises a step of filling the gap formed between the portion to be hydraulically transferred and the non-hydraulic portion of the steering wheel rim with a gap filling member Hydrostatic transfer of the steering wheel rim. The method of claim 1, A hydraulic transfer method of a steering wheel rim for an automobile, characterized by further comprising a step of painting to compensate for color deviations appearing around a seam formed on the back of the steering wheel rim on which the hydraulic transfer is performed. A steering wheel for an automobile, which is manufactured by the method of any one of claims 1 to 3.