TWI682843B - Key cap surface processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method for processing the surface of a key cap, which uses a dye and a liquid to form a dye liquid, and the dye liquid is heated to a reaction temperature, and then the key cap is immersed in the dye liquid, and the primary color of the key cap and the immersed dye liquid are used in the key The surface of the cap is mixed into a color layer. After the color layer is formed, the key cap is removed and cleaned, and then the color layer is burned with laser engraving to mix the primary color of the key cap to form a relief layer to enhance the tactile feel and visual beauty of the key cap. Wipe the key cap with alcohol to remove unnecessary impurities on the surface.

Description

Key cap surface processing method

The invention relates to a method for heating a dye liquid to a reaction temperature and then immersing the key cap in the dye liquid to adjust the surface color of the key cap.

The computer is a necessary device for modern people. The computer also derives many peripheral input devices, such as a mouse and a keyboard. The keyboard is a device that can give information to the computer by typing text or symbols, so it is a device that has received considerable attention.

The earliest keyboard may have appeared in the early 17th century. At that time, Europe had a typewriter with a less mature format. The typewriter used the early keyboard. After that, the typewriter was patented. In the next few years, people designed more practical keyboards. The modern typewriter configuration has standardized the basic layout of the keyboard for the first time, that is, today's "QWERTY" keyboard is the most widely used computer keyboard configuration.

In order to make the use of the computer more comfortable, the focus is often on designing the components of the keyboard. The keycap is an important structure that contacts the hand. Therefore, the keycap is often surface-treated to improve the feel and smoothness of the keys. Common surface treatment methods are as follows.

The more common surface treatment methods for keyboard keycaps: 1. Foamed material plus laser engraving: Foamed material plus laser engraving is to join the foamed material before the keycap is injection molded, and then perform laser engraving after injection molding Because the foam material needs to be filled before injection, the last output of the process must be mass production, and the keycap after injection is laser engraved, the color of the foam layer cannot be controlled, and the hair on the keycap The bulge of the bubble layer is less obvious. 2. Sublimation thermal transfer: The sublimation thermal transfer system prints the sublimation ink on the special paper first, and then fixes the special paper on the key cap. The special paper and the sublimation ink are heated at a high temperature using a hot stamping equipment, so that the sublimation ink penetrates Key caps are used to make color key caps, but the cost of ink is high in the manufacturing process, and the ink is easy to cause printing equipment failure, and the special paper and key cap are easily displaced when hot stamping, resulting in poor quality 1. The finished product produces fuzzy and defective products. The technology of thermal transfer printing is still not familiar in the production of key caps, and the manufacturing cost is high. Moreover, the finished series infiltrates the key cap with ink, so it cannot be made into a color layer, and can only be produced. Flat color printing. 3. Water transfer: Water transfer is to print water transfer ink on the paper first, use a release agent to make the printed content of the paper float away from the paper, and then put the items to be printed into the water. The pattern formed by the water transfer ink floating on the water is covered on the object. At present, the industry has applied this technology to the processing of the surface of the key cap. After the processing, it is necessary to spray a protective paint to protect the processing layer. However, because the pigment pattern floats on the water and then transfers to the object, the transfer process often causes the drawing surface to be skewed, and the finished product is skewed. After the transfer, a protective paint is required. The water transfer cannot only make a color layer. The protective paint will affect the touch of the finger, and it will easily fall off after long-term use. The use of water transfer needs to consider the problems of sink construction, personnel operation, waste recycling, environmental pollution, etc. The production cost on the keycap is high, and because of the pulling The characteristics are made with the same pattern, and each finished product will be different, and it is difficult to maintain consistent quality. 4. Two-color molding: two-color plastics are used to form directly during injection. This method produces stable quality, but because colored plastics must be filled in during the injection process, non-surface processing methods are the same as traditional injection molding. It requires a large amount of production and the cost of adding a film opening tool, and the purpose of controlling the color of the object and the font color of the keycap only through two-color plastics. It is impossible to make a colored color layer (pattern, pattern, etc.). Restrictions cannot meet the needs of rapid market changes.

In summary, the present invention is to immerse the key cap in the dye liquid heated to the reaction temperature, so that the dye liquid and the key cap form a color layer, and the primary color of the key cap itself is mixed with the color of the dye liquid to form a color layer to enhance the key The tactile feel and visual beauty of the cap, and the improvement of the conventional surface processing of the two-color keycap mold is costly and requires large-scale production. It is unfavorable to quickly respond to market demand and customization, and it is not easy to customize and the pattern protrusions on the conventional surface processing Unobvious problems to promote the development of this industry.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing the surface of a key cap, which utilizes the key cap to be immersed in a dye solution heated to a reaction temperature, the key cap is immersed to form a color layer with the dye solution, and the dye liquid is mixed with the primary color of the key cap Color, to achieve the effect of reconciling the color of the color layer.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing the surface of a key cap, which uses the key cap to be immersed in a dye solution heated to the reaction temperature, the key cap is immersed to form a color layer with the dye liquid, and then the color layer is burnt by laser engraving to make The color layer mixes the primary colors of the keycap to form a relief layer to enhance the touch of the keycap.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned purposes and effects, the present invention discloses a method for processing the surface of a keycap, which includes the steps of: mixing a dye and a liquid into a dye liquid, heating the dye liquid to a reaction temperature, and then A key cap is immersed in the dye liquid, mixing a primary color of the key cap with the dye liquid to form a color layer on the key cap, removing the key cap, cleaning the key cap, and burning the color layer using laser engraving , The primary color of the keycap is mixed with the color layer to form a relief layer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, before the step of blending a dye and a liquid into a dye liquid, the step further includes: wiping the key cap with an alcohol.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the primary color of the keycap is dyed with azo, anthraquinone, heterocyclic disperse dyes and phthalocyanine dyes.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the dye is azo, anthraquinone and heterocyclic disperse dyes.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the liquid system is water.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the reaction temperature is greater than 95°C.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one time that the keycap is immersed in the dye liquid is 5 to 600 seconds.

In an embodiment of the invention, the pattern includes text or graphics.

In order to make your review committee have a better understanding and understanding of the features and effects of the present invention, we will use the examples and supporting descriptions as follows:

The invention provides a method for processing the surface of a key cap. The key cap is immersed in a dye liquid heated to a reaction temperature to mix the dye liquid with the key cap to form a color layer. The color of the key cap itself is mixed with the color of the dye liquid to form Color layer, and improve the conventional two-color keycap for surface processing. Due to the high cost of the mold, it needs to be manufactured in a large number of shortcomings that are difficult to customize. Then the laser engraving burns the color layer to form a pattern to enhance the tactile feel and visual beauty of the keycap The invention further takes out and cleans the keycap after the color layer is formed to remove surface impurities.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic flowchart of the steps of the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a method of surface processing of a keycap in this embodiment includes at least the following steps:

Step S02: use dye and liquid to blend into dye liquid;

Step S04: heating the dye solution to the reaction temperature;

Step S06: immerse the keycap in the dye solution again to mix the primary color of the keycap with the dye solution to form a color layer on the keycap.

Step S08: Remove the keycap and clean the keycap; and

Step S10: Using laser engraving to burn the color layer, mix the primary color of the keycap with the color layer to form a relief layer.

As shown in the above steps, refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A together, which is a schematic diagram of the dye liquid mixing in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a dye 100 is added to a liquid 200, and the dye 100 It is blended with the liquid 200 to form a dye liquid 300. In this embodiment, the dye 100 series uses azo-based, anthraquinone-based and heterocyclic type disperse dyes, and the liquid 200 series uses water.

Continuing the above, refer to FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C, which are schematic diagrams of the heating of the dye solution in the first embodiment of the present invention and the schematic diagram of the key cap soaking in the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the mixed dye The liquid 300 is heated to a reaction temperature by a heat source 500. In this embodiment, the reaction temperature is above 95°C to maintain a temperature at which the dyeing quality of the dye liquid 300 is better. Then, a key cap 400 is immersed and heated to the reaction temperature In the dye solution 300, the primary color of the dye solution 300 and the key cap 400 are mixed to form a color layer 420 on the key cap 400. In this embodiment, the material of the key cap 400 uses PBT, PA, PC, POM, PPS, and PPO. Moreover, the colored bond caps are dyed with azo-based, anthraquinone-based, heterocyclic-based disperse dyes and phthalocyanine-based dyes. This is only one of the examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Referring again to FIGS. 2D and 2E, which is a schematic diagram of forming a color layer according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the dye liquid 300 contacts the surface of the keycap 400 and is mixed to form a color layer 420, in which the dye liquid 300 After the color is mixed with the color of the keycap 400 itself, the color of the color layer 420 can be the same as the color of the keycap 400 itself, or can be mixed into a new color different from the color of the keycap 400 itself (for example, white dye liquid mixed with blue A light blue color layer is formed on the key cap), the color layer 420 can enhance the aesthetic of the keyboard when the key cap 400 is installed on the keyboard, and the color-changing effect can also improve the user's comfort during use. The time that the keycap 400 is immersed in the dye liquid 300 is 5 to 600 seconds. The time that the keycap 400 is immersed in the dye liquid 300 corresponds to the color depth of the color layer 420. The longer the immersion time, the deeper the color of the color layer 420. The shorter the time, the lighter the color of the color layer 420 is.

Referring again to FIG. 2F, which is a schematic diagram of laser processing according to the second embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the figure, after the key cap 400 is immersed in the dye solution 300, the key cap 400 is removed, and the key cap 400 is cleaned to remove excess dye Liquid, and then use the laser engraving machine 700 to burn the color layer 420, so that the color layer 420 reacts with the primary color of the keycap 400, forming a relief layer 440 on the color layer 420, and the appearance of the relief layer 440 on the color layer 420 is a pattern, In this embodiment, the color of the relief layer 440 may be the same as or different from the primary colors of the color layer 420 and the keycap 400. The laser engraving machine 700 uses an optical fiber laser engraving machine, and the appearance of the relief layer 440 may be patterns and text. , Geometric totems, etc., this is only one of the embodiments, the present invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, a method for processing the surface of a key cap is to immerse the key cap in a dye solution heated to a reaction temperature to mix the dye liquid with the key cap to form a color layer. In this embodiment, the primary color of the key cap itself is used, and then The color layer formed by the color mixing enables the embodiment to control the color of the surface of the keycap, and improves the mold cost of the conventional two-color keycap for surface processing. It requires a large amount of manufacturing to reduce the cost, making the conventional surface processing difficult to customize The shortcomings improve the aesthetics of this embodiment, and then use laser engraving to burn the color layer to form a relief layer. The relief layer is a pattern that allows fingers to touch the button cap to improve the feel and smoothness.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic flowchart of the steps of the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a method of surface processing of a keycap in this embodiment includes at least the following steps:

Step S12: wipe the keycap with alcohol;

Step S14: using dye and liquid to blend into a dye solution;

Step S16: heating the dye solution to the reaction temperature;

Step S18: immerse a key cap in the dye liquid again, so that a primary color of the key cap is mixed with the dye liquid to form a color layer on the key cap;

Step S20: Remove the keycap and clean the keycap; and

Step S22: Using laser engraving to burn the color layer, mix the primary color of the keycap with the color layer to form a relief layer.

As shown in the above steps, refer to FIG. 4 together, which is a schematic view of the keycap cleaning according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, steps S14~S22 are the same as those in FIG. Steps S02~S06 are the same steps, so they are not repeated here. In this embodiment, step S12 is added before step S14. An alcohol 600 is used to wipe the key cap 400 to remove surface impurities and foreign substances, so that the key cap 400 is immersed in the dye solution 300 to reduce impurities In this embodiment, the laser engraving machine 700 uses an optical fiber laser engraving machine. The relief layer 440 can be patterns, characters, geometric totems, and graphics. This is only one of this embodiment, and the present invention is not This limitation.

A method for processing the surface of a key cap in this embodiment uses dye and liquid to form a dye solution, warm the dye solution to the reaction temperature, and then immerse the key cap in the dye solution to mix the dye solution with the key cap to form a color layer. Use the primary color of the key cap, and then mix with the immersed dye liquid on the surface of the key cap to form a color layer of different or the same color. In this embodiment, the key cap is wiped with alcohol before mixing the dye liquid to reduce surface contamination and affect the dyeing quality After the color layer is formed, remove and clean the key cap, and then use laser engraving to burn the color layer to form a relief layer. This relief layer pattern can improve the feel and smoothness when fingers touch the key cap.

In summary, the present invention is a method for processing the surface of a key cap, which uses disperse dyes and liquid to form a dye solution, warm the dye solution to the reaction temperature, and then immerse the key cap in the dye solution to mix the dye solution The cap forms a color layer with mixed colors. The primary color of the key cap and the color of the dye liquid are mixed on the surface of the key cap to reconcile the color of the color layer. The conventional surface processing mold is costly and requires large-scale production. It is unfavorable to quickly respond to market demand. And the shortcomings of customization, the present invention further wipes the key cap with alcohol before mixing the dye solution to remove excess impurities on the key cap, and then removes and cleans the key cap after the color layer is formed, and burns the color layer by laser engraving Embossed layer, the pattern of the embossed layer has a more protruding effect than the traditional pattern, allowing fingers to touch the button cap, which improves the touch and smoothness, and is more comfortable for users with hand sweats and hand oil It also increases overall aesthetics.

Therefore, the present invention is truly novel, progressive and available for industrial use. It should meet the patent application requirements of my country's Patent Law. Undoubtedly, I file an invention patent application in accordance with the law and pray that the Office will grant the patent as soon as possible.

However, the above is only an embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, all changes and modifications based on the shape, structure, features and spirit described in the patent application scope of the present invention are cited. All should be included in the patent application scope of the present invention.

Liquid dye 100 200 300 420 color dye solution 400 key cap layer 440 heat relief layer 500 700 600 Alcoholic laser engraving machine Step S02 S04 S06 step S02 step S04 step S08 S10 S06 S08 S10 S12 Step Step Step S12 S14 S14 S16 S16 S18 step Step S18 S20 Step S20 S22 Step S22

Figure 1: This is a schematic flowchart of the steps of the first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2A: It is a schematic diagram of the dye solution mixing of the first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2B: It is the first embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of the heating of the dye solution; Figure 2C: It is a schematic diagram of the keycap soaking in the first embodiment of the invention; Figures 2D to 2E: It is a schematic diagram of the color layer formation in the first embodiment of the invention; 2F Figure: It is a schematic diagram of laser processing of the first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3: It is a schematic flowchart of the steps of the second embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 4: It is a second embodiment of the present invention Schematic diagram of key cap cleaning.

S02 Step S02 S04 Step S04 S06 Step S06 S08 Step S08 S10 Step S10

Claims (6)

A method for processing the surface of a key cap, comprising the steps of: mixing one of the disperse dyes with a water to form a dye liquid; heating the dye liquid to a reaction temperature greater than 95°C; and immersing the one key cap in the dye liquid , Mixing a primary color of the keycap with the dye solution to form a color layer on the surface of the keycap; removing the keycap and cleaning the keycap to remove excess dye solution; and using laser engraving to burn the color layer, The primary color of the keycap is mixed with the color layer to form a relief layer on the color layer. The method for processing the surface of a keycap as described in claim 1, wherein before the step of using a dye and a liquid to form a dye liquid, the step further includes: wiping the keycap with an alcohol. The method for processing the surface of the key cap according to claim 1, wherein the primary color of the key cap is dyed with azo, anthraquinone, heterocyclic disperse dyes and phthalocyanine dyes. The method for processing the surface of the key cap according to claim 1, wherein the dye is a disperse dye of azo, anthraquinone and heterocyclic type. The method for processing the surface of the key cap according to claim 1, wherein the time for the key cap to be immersed in the dye liquid is 5 to 600 seconds. The method for processing the surface of the keycap as described in claim 1, wherein the appearance of the relief layer includes text or graphics.

Images