JP4402793B2 - Drawing / cutting plotter - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a plotting / cutting plotter used for drawing on a recording medium such as paper or perforating with a cutter to create a pattern for making clothes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art A two-point support feed type plotter that holds both sides of a sheet with a pressure roller and a driving roller and feeds the sheet in the X-axis direction is conventionally known.
Further, a three-point support feed type plotter that holds both sides and an intermediate portion of a sheet with a pressure roller and a driving roller and feeds the sheet in the X-axis direction is conventionally known.
Further, there has been conventionally known a plotter that supports both the sides of a sheet by a pressure roller and a driving roller, and supports a middle portion of the sheet, that is, a drawing range, by a spur roller called a knurled roller or a star roller. ing.
Japanese Patent No. 2717152 discloses an automatic drafting machine in which, after the completion of ink drawing, the automatic drafting machine is set in a standby state for the ink drying time read from the storage device of the controller and the roll paper is not taken up during that time. It is disclosed.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The two-point support feed type plotter has a problem in that the paper is not sufficiently supported during cutting, and the paper is displaced due to the pressing force of the blade.
The three-point support feed type plotter has a problem in that ink is attached to a pressure roller that supports the drawing range of the paper during drawing, and the ink is transferred to the paper through the pressure roller.
In addition, the above-described plotter of the above-mentioned serrated roller support type cannot increase the pressurizing force because the pressurizing force applied to the paper of the serrated roller will damage the paper. Therefore, there is a problem that the supporting force for the paper is insufficient, and the paper cannot be fed with high accuracy due to insufficient pressurizing force at the time of cutting.
The present invention aims to solve the above problems.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sandwiches a recording medium between a driving roller and a pressure roller, feeds the recording medium in the X-axis direction by rotation of the driving roller controlled by a controller, and draws the recording medium on the recording medium by a drawing head. In addition to drawing, in the plotting / cutting plotter that can cut the recording medium with a cutter held by the drawing head, the pressure roller is positioned between both sides of the recording medium. The upper and lower pressure rollers and the intermediate pressure roller are lowered during cutting so as to be movable up and down with respect to the drive roller. And sandwiching both sides and the middle part of the recording medium, and at the time of drawing, the intermediate pressure roller is raised to move the recording medium to the pressure roller on both sides and the corresponding drive roller In so as to nip, when automatically shifts to the cutting operation from the drawing operation, in which so as to wait a ink drying time set in advance.
In the present invention, the ink drying time is set according to the type of ink and / or the type of drawing medium.
Further, according to the present invention, the controller determines whether or not there is ink drawing in the intermediate pressure roller running area on the recording medium by analyzing the drawing data, and when there is no ink drawing in the intermediate pressure roller running area. Thus, the drawing operation is automatically shifted to the cutting operation without setting the standby time.
[0005]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In FIG. 8, reference numeral 2 denotes a drawing / cutting plotter body used for making a pattern or the like, and is supported by a leg 4. A frame (not shown) is fixed to the machine body 2, and a Y rail 8 extending in the Y-axis direction is mounted on the frame via a column, and the drawing head 10 can be moved to the Y rail 8 via a roller. Is attached. The drawing head 10 is provided with a writing tool holding means 14 connected to a Z-axis actuator 12 (see FIG. 9) such as a moving coil and a solenoid built in the drawing head 10, and is attached to the Y rail 8 by a Y-axis motor 16 (see FIG. 9). It is comprised so that movement control may be performed along.
[0006]
A rotary stocker 21 (see FIG. 2) driven by a motor 20 is stored in a stocker storage portion 18 provided in the machine body 2 at one end of the Y rail 8, and the rotary stocker 21 is A writing instrument 20 such as a drawing pen or a cutter pen is detachably held for each of the plurality of writing instrument storage units. The drawing head 10 returns the writing tool 20 held by the writing tool holding means 14 to the stocker 21 in a known writing tool exchange mode, or a desired writing tool from the drawing pen and cutter pen held by the stocker 21. Can be selected and held in the writing implement holding means 14.
[0007]
Under the platen 6, shaft bodies 24 and 26 connected to the X-axis motor 22 (see FIG. 9) are rotatably supported as shown in FIG. 3, and a drawing roller 28 is fixed to the shaft body 24. Yes. A plurality of short drive rollers 30 are fixed to the shaft body 26. The upper peripheral surfaces of the rollers 28 and 30 are arranged in a gap provided in the platen 6, and are configured to rotate synchronously in the same direction at substantially the same peripheral speed. As shown in FIG. 7, a mounting plate 32 (the other is not shown) is slidably mounted near both ends of the Y rail 8.
[0008]
The mounting plate 32 is formed with an L-shaped protrusion 32a and an engaging protrusion 32b. The protrusion 32a is engaged with the L-shaped groove of the Y rail 8, and the protrusion 32b is engaged with the T groove of the Y rail 8. is doing. In each of the mounting plates 32, an intermediate portion of the pressure arm 34 is supported by a shaft 36 so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the Y axis. A pressure roller 38 is rotatably supported on one of the pressure arms 34, and each pressure roller 38, 38 faces the corresponding drive roller 30. One of the coil springs 40 is locked to the other of the pressure arms 34, and the other of the springs 40 is locked to the mounting plate 32 via a switching block 42.
[0009]
The pressure arm 34 is urged counterclockwise in FIG. 7 about the shaft 36 by the tensile force of the spring 40. Reference numeral 44 denotes a shaft body rotatably supported on the machine body 2 so as to be parallel to the Y rail 8, and cams 46 are respectively fixed to three cylindrical bodies 45 fixed to the shaft body. The cam 4 is in contact with the other upper surface of the corresponding pressure arm 34. When a lever (not shown) provided at one end of the shaft body 44 is manually operated to rotate the shaft body 44 in a predetermined direction, the other end of the pressurizing arm 34 is caused by a cam 46 as shown in phantom lines in FIG. The pressure rollers 38 that are pushed down against the tensile force of the spring 40 and are located on both sides of the paper 48 are separated from the corresponding drive rollers 30 by a predetermined distance.
[0010]
When the lever is returned to the original position, the pressing force of the cam 46 against the pressing arm 34 is released, and the pressing arm 34 swings counterclockwise about the shaft 36 in FIG. The pressure roller 38 is configured to elastically contact the corresponding drive roller 30. As shown in FIG. 3, a mounting plate 50 is disposed in the middle portion of the Y rail 8, and a protrusion 50 a of the mounting plate 50 is formed in an L-shaped groove and a T-shaped groove formed along the longitudinal direction of the Y rail 8. The protrusion 50b is slidably fitted.
[0011]
With this fitting structure, the mounting plate 50 can be slid along the Y rail 8 within a predetermined range and stopped at a desired position.
An intermediate portion of the pressure arm 52 is supported on the mounting plate 50 so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the Y axis. An intermediate pressure roller 53 is rotatably supported on one side of the pressure arm 52, and the pressure roller 53 faces the corresponding drive roller 30. A release arm 56 is fixed to the other side of the pressure arm 53. One side of the coil spring 58 is locked to the other side of the pressure arm 53, and the other side of the spring 58 is locked to the switching block 60 attached to the mounting plate 50.
[0012]
The pressure arm 53 is urged counterclockwise in FIG. 3 about the shaft 54 by the tensile force of the spring 58. A cylindrical body 62 is fixed to the shaft body 44, and a cam (not shown) is fixed to the shaft body 44, and the cam faces the upper surface of the pressure arm 52 in the same manner as the cam 46 shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numerals 64 and 66 denote holding bodies fixed to the intermediate portion of the Y rail 8, and a shaft body 68 is rotatably supported by the holding body so as to be parallel to the Y rail 8. A release plate 70 having an L-shaped cross section is fixed to the shaft body 68, and a pressure receiving portion 56 a on the upper side of the release arm 56 is opposed to the release plate 70.
[0013]
Reference numeral 72 denotes a motor fixed to the Y rail 8. A small gear 74 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 72, and the small gear 74 meshes with a gear 76 fixed to the shaft body 68. When the motor 72 is driven and the release plate 70 is rotated in a predetermined direction, the release arm 70 is pushed down against the tensile elasticity of the spring 58 by the release plate 70, and the pressure arm 52 is centered on the shaft 54 as shown in FIG. The intermediate pressure roller 53 rotates in the clockwise direction and is separated from the corresponding drive roller 30 by a predetermined distance. When the motor 72 is driven in the reverse direction and the release plate 70 is returned to the original angular position, the pressure applied to the release arm 56 is released, and the intermediate pressure roller 53 is driven by the elasticity of the spring 58. It is configured to be elastic.
[0014]
The operation of selecting whether the intermediate pressure roller 53 is brought into elastic contact with one of the two drive rollers 30 on the shaft body 26 shown in FIG. This can be done by sliding. The up / down operation of the intermediate pressure roller 53 can also be performed by rotating the shaft body 44 by lever operation. In this case, the pressure rollers 38 on both sides are also moved up and down.
[0015]
A Y-axis motor 16 for driving the drawing head 10 along the Y-rail 8 in the Y-axis direction, an X-axis motor 22 for synchronously rotating the shaft bodies 24 and 26 in the forward and reverse directions, and a solenoid for driving the writing tool holding means 14 up and down The Z-axis actuator 12 composed of a moving coil and the like, the motor 20 for rotationally driving the stocker, and the motor 72 are connected to a CPU 80 of a controller 78 built in the machine body 2 through a driver. In the machine body 2, a paper supply shaft 96 is rotatably arranged in conjunction with a motor, and a roll portion 48 a of roll paper 48 is detachably supported on the paper supply shaft 96. A feeding portion of the roll paper 48 that is drawn out from the roll portion 48 a is supplied onto the platen 6.
[0016]
The drawing head 10 is provided with a sensor 84 (see FIG. 9) that reads the type of the writing tool 20 held by the writing tool holding means 14 of the drawing head 10 from a mark provided on the writing tool 20. The writing instrument 20 used for drawing includes an ink pen, a ceramic pen, an oil-based ballpoint pen, an aqueous ballpoint pen, a fiber pen, a pencil, and the like. The drying time of the ink drawn on the roll paper 48 is determined by the type of ink and the type of roll paper. Examples of roll paper used for drawing include polyester film, tracing paper, mylar paper, plain paper, Japanese paper and others. In the controller 78 on the machine body 2 side, an ink drying time table 86 corresponding to the type of writing instrument and the type of roll paper is set as shown in FIG.
[0017]
The ink drying time table 86 includes a writing instrument type signal as an identification code and a writing instrument number as an identification code. The number of the writing instrument is the number of the pen holder at a specific position of the writing instrument stocker 21. 1 with reference to this, the No. 2, no. 3 is numbered and No. First, the writing instrument of No. 1 is held by a pen holder. From which pen holder of the writing tool stocker 21 the drawing tool is taken out when the drawing head 10 draws is determined based on a command of drawing transfer data from the host computer 82, and the controller 78 holds the drawing head 10 from this command. The number of writing instruments can be recognized.
[0018]
In the table 86 shown in FIG. 10, the optimum ink drying time is indicated by a numerical value in units of seconds in the combination of the type or number of the writing instrument and the type of the roll paper.
The memory of the controller 78 stores drawing / cutting drive software 81 and intermediate pressure roller lifting / lowering control program software 83. By this intermediate pressure roller control program software, setting of the waiting time from the end of drawing to the start of cutting is set. In addition, the intermediate pressure roller 53 is configured to be up / down controlled with respect to the corresponding drive roller 30 at the time of cutting and drawing of a recording medium such as the paper 48.
Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0019]
When the paper 48 is set on the platen 6, first, the lever is swung in a predetermined direction to rotate the shaft body 44 and raise the pressure roller 38 and the intermediate pressure roller 53 from the corresponding drive rollers 30. . In this state, the paper 48 is inserted between the pressure rollers 38 and 54 and the driving roller 30, and the paper 48 is disposed on the platen 6. Next, the lever is swung to the original position, the pressure rollers 38 and 53 are brought into elastic contact with the corresponding drive rollers 30 from above the paper 48, and the paper 48 is pressed against the pressure rollers 38, 38 and 53 and the drive roller 30. And pinch with.
[0020]
The power of the plotter is turned on, and the operator inputs the type of drawing medium from the operation panel 88. Next, when driving of the plotter is started, the controller determines whether or not the drying time standby mode is set (step 1), and when the determination is negative, the controller shifts to drawing in the manual mode (step 2). In this manual mode, an operator manually inputs a command necessary for plotting the plotter, such as an intermediate pressure roller up / down command, manually from the operation panel 88. If the determination in step 1 is affirmative, the controller next determines whether or not the drawing mode is selected (step 3). If the determination is affirmative, the controller drives the motor 72 by the intermediate pressure roller lifting / lowering program software 83, and the intermediate The pressure roller 53 is lifted from the corresponding drive roller 30 (step 4), the printing area portion of the paper 48 is set in a free state, and only the both sides which are non-printing areas of the paper 48 are pressed with the pressure rollers 38, 38. It is sandwiched between the drive roller 30.
[0021]
Next, the controller 78 moves the drawing head 10 to the stocker storage unit 18 based on the drawing data from the host computer 82, and goes to the stocker 21 to get the writing tool 20.
[0022]
Next, the controller 78 rotates the X-axis motor 22 forward and backward based on the drawing data to drive the paper 48 on the platen 6 in the left-right direction, that is, the X-axis direction in FIG. The drawing head 10 is reciprocally driven along the Y rail 8 in the Y-axis direction by rotating in the reverse direction. On the other hand, the Z-axis actuator 12 is driven, and the writing tool 20 is controlled to move up and down on the drawing roller 28 to draw on the paper 48 (step 5).
Next, the controller recognizes the type or number of the writing tool 20 held by the drawing head 10 from the drawing data command, and stores it in the memory (step 6). Next, the controller determines whether or not the cutting mode is selected. If the determination is affirmative, the type of writing instrument or writing instrument No. stored in the memory is determined. 10 is read from the type of roll paper input from the operation panel 88, and the read data is set as the standby time (step 8).
[0023]
When a plurality of types of writing instruments are used in the drawing operation, the maximum value is selected and set as the standby time. Next, the controller puts the plotter in a standby state for the set time, and executes other processing operations during this period (step 9). When the set ink drying time has elapsed, the controller drives the motor 72 to lower the intermediate pressure roller 53 and elastically contact the corresponding drive roller 30 so that the paper 48 is pressed on both pressure rollers 38, 38. The intermediate pressure roller 53 and the driving roller 30 corresponding to these are supported at three points (step 10). Next, the controller 7 moves the drawing head 10 to the stocker storage unit 18 to return the drawing pen held by the drawing head 10 to the stocker 21, and then drives the motor 20 to rotate the stocker 21 to rotate the stocker 21. The cutter pen that is held by is opposed to the drawing head.
[0024]
Next, the drawing head 10 is moved again to the stocker storage unit 18 to cause the writing tool holding means 14 of the drawing head 10 to acquire the cutter pen held by the stocker 21, and the cutting operation is started (step 11). In FIG. 2, reference numeral 90 denotes a paper drawing portion, and 92 denotes a cutting portion.
[0025]
In this way, when drawing 90 and cutting 92 are performed on a recording medium such as paper to create a pattern or the like, in the drawing mode, both sides of the paper are supported by two pressure rollers and a drive roller at two points. The intermediate portion is in a free state, and in the cutting mode, in order to strengthen the holding of the paper, the paper is supported at three points on both sides and the intermediate portion by the both-side pressure roller, the intermediate pressure roller, and the corresponding driving roller. .
[0026]
When the cutting operation is completed, the controller next determines whether or not the data has been completed (step 12). If the determination is negative, the controller next determines whether or not the drawing mode is selected (step 13). Returning to step 4, if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to the next process (step 14).
In the above embodiment, the drawing is performed on the roll paper 48 by the plotter, and then the cutting drawing is performed. However, even when the cutting drawing is not performed, the drawn paper is finally 1 The frame (one sheet) is automatically cut with a cutter pen and dropped to the lower side of the plotter.
[0027]
Therefore, also in this case, some waiting time is set for drying the product.
Further, since the present invention focuses on the ink transfer in the intermediate pressure roller region, the position of the intermediate pressure roller 53 is detected in advance using the drawing roller 10 and is shown in FIG. Thus, an embodiment in which the intermediate pressure roller traveling area 94 on the drawing medium 48 is set and recorded in the memory can be considered. The operator can control the movement of the drawing head 10 from the operation panel 88, and can move the drawing head 10 to the position of the intermediate pressure roller 53, thereby inputting the position of the intermediate pressure roller to the controller. .
[0028]
In this embodiment, when step 5 in FIG. 1 is completed, the controller analyzes the drawing data and determines whether or not there is ink drawing in the intermediate pressure roller travel region 94. When the controller determines negative, the process proceeds to step 10 without setting the standby time, and the cutting operation is performed. In the above-described embodiment, the pen plotter that feeds the paper in the front-rear direction and draws the image is used. However, the present invention is also applied to an ink-jet plotter that feeds the paper in one direction and draws with the ink jet recording head. It is possible.
[0029]
In the embodiment using the ink jet plotter, a cutter pen holding mechanism is provided in the ink jet head, and during the cutting operation, the paper is driven and controlled in the front-rear direction while up / down controlling the cutter pen. Also in this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the ink drying time may be set by inputting from the operation panel or automatically determined by the plotter side. In the former case, an appropriate value is input between 0 seconds and 180 seconds. In the latter case, a drying time table according to the paper type is set, and the paper type is input in advance from the operation panel, so that the controller automatically accesses the ink drying time table and sets the drying time.
[0030]
In addition, the ink drying time table can set a drying time table based on two types of data, not only the paper type but also the ink used (water-based, oily, etc.) and the paper type. There are a case where used ink information is input from an operation panel, and a method in which an attribute of an inkjet head is read by a flag mark and the read information is automatically determined as ink type information.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
Since the present invention is configured as described above, when drawing and cutting on a sheet, the sheet can be firmly supported at the time of cutting to prevent the sheet from shifting, and at the time of drawing and cutting, the pressure roller can be used. There is an effect that it is possible to prevent the ink from being transferred to the paper and the paper from becoming dirty.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic external view of a plotter.
FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a plotter.
FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a plotter showing a state in which an intermediate pressure roller is raised.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory external view of an intermediate pressure roller mechanism.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of an intermediate pressure roller lifting mechanism.
FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of a plotter.
FIG. 8 is a schematic overall front view of a plotter.
FIG. 9 is a functional block explanatory diagram of a plotter.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a standby time setting table.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Machine body 4 Leg body 6 Platen 8 Y rail 10 Drawing head 12 Z-axis actuator 14 Writing tool holding means 16 Y-axis motor 18 Stocker storage part 20 Writing tool 21 Stocker 22 X-axis motor 24 Shaft body 26 Shaft body 28 Drawing roller 30 Driving roller 32 Mounting plate 34 Pressure arm 36 Shaft 38 Pressure roller 40 Spring 42 Switching block 44 Shaft body 45 Cylindrical body 46 Cam 48 Paper (recording medium)
48a Roll unit 50 Mounting plate 52 Pressure arm 53 Intermediate pressure roller 54 Shaft 56 Release arm 58 Coil spring 60 Switching block 62 Column body 64 Holding body 66 Holding body 68 Shaft body 70 Release plate 72 Motor 74 Small gear 76 Gear 78 Controller 80 CPU
81 Drawing and cutting drive software 82 Host computer 83 Intermediate pressure roller elevation control program software 84 Sensor 86 Ink drying time table 88 Operation panel 90 Drawing portion 92 Cutting portion 94 Intermediate pressure roller travel region 96 Supply shaft

Claims (3)

The recording medium is sandwiched between the driving roller and the pressure roller, the recording medium is sent in the X-axis direction by the rotation of the driving roller controlled by the controller, and the drawing head draws the drawing medium. In addition to the drawing, the drawing head In a plotting / cutting plotter that can cut a recording medium with a cutter held by the recording medium, the pressure roller is positioned between both sides and the middle of the recording medium, and can be moved up and down with respect to the driving roller. When cutting, the pressure roller on both sides and the intermediate pressure roller are lowered, and the both sides and the middle part of the recording medium are sandwiched between the pressure roller on both sides, the intermediate pressure roller, and the corresponding drive roller. When printing, the intermediate pressure roller is raised so that the recording medium is sandwiched between the pressure rollers on both sides and the corresponding drive rollers. When automatically shifts to potting operation, drawing cutting dual plotter, characterized in that so as to wait a ink drying time set in advance. The drawing / cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the ink drying time is set according to the type of ink and / or the type of drawing medium. The controller determines whether or not there is ink plotting in the intermediate pressure roller running area on the recording medium by analyzing the plotting data. If there is no ink plotting in the intermediate pressure roller running area, the controller sets a waiting time. The plotting / cutting plotter according to claim 1, wherein the plotting operation is automatically shifted to the cutting operation.

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