JPH08118890A - Recording medium mount table of recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To precisely move up and down a table loaded with a recording medium, by a method wherein pinions attached at both ends of a spindle are meshed with racks provided on a recorder main body, and sliders that rotatably support the spindle at both ends are moved along guide members. CONSTITUTION: A lifting mechanism of a mount table 2 is suitably applied to a recorder such as a plotter. When the mount table 2 is moved up or down corresponding to the thickness of a recording medium, a ball screw shaft 91 is turned for 360 deg. with a handle 95. Thereby, a force in the Z direction is exerted to the table 2 via nut 92 screwed on the ball screw shaft 91 and simultaneously to a pair of left and right shafts 7a. Therefore, the shafts 7a are moved up or down by sliders 6 that support both ends of the shafts 7a, a guide mechanism 8 and pinions and racks as they are held horizontally. The shafts 7a are synchronously moved up or down as they are synchronously rotated by a belt 73, etc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an elevating mechanism for a mounting table for a recording medium, which is suitable for use in a recording apparatus such as a flat bed type plotter, a cutting plotter, and a laser cutting plotter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a recording medium such as recording paper, a cutting film, a cloth material for sewing or an acrylic plate is placed and fixed on a flat recording medium placing table of this kind, and the recording medium is fixed. In a so-called flat bed type recording apparatus for performing desired recording or cutting on the recording medium, a recording pen, a cutting pen or a laser head as a recording member is provided in a first direction, that is, an X direction with respect to a recording medium mounting table. A Y bar that is movable is attached to a carriage that is slidable in the second direction, that is, the Y direction. By controlling the movement of the Y bar and the carriage, recording or cutting is performed on the recording medium. It is configured.

FIG. 5 shows a plotter having a laser cutting function for cutting a plate-shaped material by a laser beam, 1 is a plotter body, 2 is a mounting table on which a material to be cut or a recording medium is mounted, 3 Is a Y bar, 4 is a pen carriage, and 5 is a laser mechanism. Slider 3 of Y bar 3
1 is provided so as to slide on a rail material 11 provided on the plotter body 1, whereby the Y bar 3 moves on the mounting table 2 in the X direction in the figure. The slider 42 of the pen carriage 4 is provided so as to slide in the Y direction with respect to the Y bar 3. Therefore, by driving and controlling the Y bar 3 and the pen carriage 4 by a control device and a drive mechanism (not shown), the recording pen or the cutting pen 41 or the laser head 53 is moved in a desired locus, and the material on the mounting table 2 is moved. It is configured to record or cut the material. Further, the pen carriage 4 is provided so that the held recording pen or cutting pen 41 is pressed against and separated from the material on the mounting table 2 by an actuator, a moving coil, etc., that is, movable in the Z direction in the figure. , The material can be recorded or cut as desired.

In this type of recording apparatus, when a recording pen or a cutting pen is used as a recording member for recording or cutting on a thick material such as a corrugated board or an acrylic plate, the recording held by the carriage 4 is performed. By moving the pen or the cutting pen 41 up and down with respect to the mounting table 2, pressure contact with the recording medium,
Recording pen or cutting pen 41
By appropriately controlling the pen down position (that is, the descending height of the recording pen 41), it is possible to cope with the change in the thickness of the material.
However, the laser mechanism 5 that collects the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 51 by the laser head 53 and irradiates the material with the laser beam, thereby cutting (or recording).
When using, the focal length of the laser head 53 with respect to the material has a constant value. Therefore, the distance between the laser head 53 and the material surface is set to a specified value, that is, the focal length of the laser head 53, according to the thickness of the material to be cut. Must match exactly. As a means for changing the focal length of the laser head 53 according to the thickness of the material, a method of changing the height of the condenser lens of the laser head 53 in the Z direction in the figure can be considered. In this case, the laser mechanism 5 is used. Since the center of the condenser lens must be accurately aligned with the optical axis of, and its accuracy is required, the structure becomes complicated, the weight of the entire recording head becomes large, and high-speed recording cannot be performed. If the condensing lens is configured to be movable in the Z direction by the screw structure in order to obtain the positional accuracy of the condensing lens, the movable distance becomes short and it becomes impossible to cope with materials of various thicknesses. Various problems arise.

Therefore, in the conventional apparatus, the position of the condenser lens of the laser head 53 is fixed, and an elevating mechanism for appropriately adjusting the height of the mounting table 2 according to the thickness of the material is provided, and the surface of the material is And the distance between the laser head 53 and the laser head 53 are matched with the focal length which is a specified value. FIG. 6 is a view showing an elevating mechanism of a recording medium placing table in a conventional apparatus. Reference numerals 11 and 12 respectively denote a rail member and a main body frame extending in the X direction of the plotter, 13 an adjusting bolt,
Reference numeral 14 is an adjusting nut, 21 is a mounting table base, 22 is a support member extending in the X direction of the plotter, and 23 is a honeycomb board. The adjustment bolt 13 is attached to the main body frame 12 fixed to the recording apparatus main body, and the support member 22 that supports the base 21 is adjusted by adjusting the screwing position of the adjustment nut 14 that engages with the adjustment bolt 13. It is provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction (Z direction). This adjustment bolt 13
An elevating mechanism for the mounting table including the adjusting nuts 14 and 14 is provided at least at the four corners of the mounting table base 21, and the mounting table 2 is operated by operating each adjusting nut 14 according to the thickness of the material to be cut or recorded. The whole is moved up and down so that the distance between the surface of the material placed on the placing table 2 and the laser head 53 matches the focal length which is a specified value.

[0006]

In the conventional apparatus, the elevating mechanism of the mounting table is provided at a plurality of positions, and the position of each elevating mechanism is adjusted during the elevating operation. In particular, in the case of a recording apparatus that records or cuts on a large-sized material, the adjustment work is very troublesome. Also, unless each lifting mechanism is accurately adjusted and moved, the distance between the surface and the laser head will not match the focal length depending on the position of the material, and good cutting and recording will not be possible. The adjustment work had to be difficult because it had to be moved accurately in the plane direction.

The present invention has been made in order to solve these problems, and a recording target of a recording apparatus capable of moving a table on which a recording medium is placed easily and accurately with a simple structure can be moved up and down. An object is to provide a medium placement table.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the recording medium placing table of the recording apparatus of the present invention supports a table on which a recording or cutting medium is placed, or the placing table. A pair of shaft members that are rotatably provided to face each other and that are configured to transmit rotation to each other by a rotation transmitting member; A slider that is vertically movably guided and held by a guide member that is provided, a rack that is provided on the recording apparatus main body so as to mesh with pinions provided at both ends of the shaft member, and a mounting table or a supporting table. And a table elevating means that acts on the member to move it up and down. Also,
The table elevating means was constituted by a ball screw. Also,
A means for driving the table elevating means and a means for detecting the position of the slider are provided, and the table elevating means is drive-controlled based on the output of the detecting means to position the mounting table at a desired position.

[0009]

When vertical force is applied to the mounting table by the table elevating means, the mounting table and a pair of shaft members rotatably held by the member supporting the mounting table are also moved in the vertical direction. Power acts. At this time, since the pinions provided at both ends of the shaft member and the rack provided in the recording apparatus main body always maintain the meshing relationship, the shaft member is maintained in the horizontal state, and further the rotation transmitting member causes the pair of shaft members to rotate. Since the rotations of the shaft members are transmitted to each other, the shaft members rotate in synchronization with each other, and the pinions provided at both ends of each shaft member move in synchronization with each other on the racks that mesh with each other, and the sliders move. Since the mounting table moves along the guide member, the mounting table can be accurately moved up and down in the plane direction without tilting.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A recording medium mounting table of a recording apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are respectively a front (BB) sectional view and a side (AA) sectional view showing a flat bed type plotter having a recording medium mounting table of the present invention, wherein 1 is a plotter. The main body, 2 is a mounting table, 6 is a slider, 7 is a shaft as a shaft member, 8 is a guide mechanism, and 9 is a table lifting means. Also in the plotter of this embodiment, the Y bar 3 movable in the X direction as shown in FIG.
The pen carriage 4 holding a recording pen 41 movably provided in a direction and a laser beam emitted from a laser oscillator 51 are guided to a laser head 53 held by the pen carriage 4 via reflecting mirrors 52a to 52c. The laser mechanisms 5 for condensing the laser beam by the laser head 53 and irradiating the material are provided above the mounting table 2 (Z direction in the drawing), but these have the same configuration as the conventional device. Illustration is omitted.

The mounting table 2 is a flat plate-shaped mounting panel 21 having four sides parallel to the X and Y axes in the figure, a panel receiver 22 for supporting the mounting panel 21, and extending in the Y direction in the figure. Support plates 23 formed on both sides of the panel receiver 22 in the X direction, and shaft holding plates 2 provided on both sides of the support plate 23 in the Y direction.
It is composed of four. Further, fine adjustment screws 25 are provided at the four corners of the mounting panel 21, respectively. By rotating the fine adjustment screws 25, the panel receiver 22 is rotated.
The height of the mounting panel 21 relative to the mounting panel 21 is adjusted so that the plane accuracy of the mounting panel 21 is accurately obtained. Further, this adjustment work may be performed once at the time of shipment of the device, and does not need to be performed frequently. The pair of shafts 7a and 7b are provided so as to be parallel to the X axis in the drawing and to face each other in the Y direction in the drawing, and are rotatably held by the shaft holding plate 24 via bearings 71, respectively. ing. A pulley 72 is provided on each of the two shafts 7a and 7b, and a belt 73 as a rotation transmission member is bridged over each pulley 72, whereby the two shafts 7a and 7b are mutually connected. It is configured to transmit rotation and rotate synchronously.
The ends of the shafts 7a and 7b are rotatably held by the slider 6, respectively. This slider 6
As shown in FIG. 3, it comprises a slider base 61 and a slide bearing 62, and the shaft 7 is held by the slider base 61 via a bearing 63. Each slider 6
The slide bearings 62 are slidably guided and held by the guide shafts 82 of the guide mechanism 8, and the guide bases 81 provided with the guide shafts 82 are fixed to the plotter body 1. Further, the racks 83 provided on the guide base 81 mesh with the pinions 74 provided on the shaft 7, respectively. Therefore, the shaft 7 is held horizontally (that is, parallel to the X-axis) by the sliders 6 that hold both end portions thereof, and movably in the vertical (Z-axis) direction by the guide mechanism 8. Further, since the pinion 74 of the shaft 7 and the rack 83 provided on the guide mechanism 8 always maintain the meshed state, the shaft 7 does not tilt vertically, and the horizontal state is stably maintained in the vertical direction. Moving.

The table lifting mechanism 9 is constructed by using a ball screw and supports the support plate 23 of the mounting table 2.
To be fixed to the nut 92 and the nut 92,
A ball screw shaft 91 rotatably held by a mounting base 93 fixed to the plotter body 1 via a bearing 94, and a handle 9 for rotating the screw shaft 91.
It is composed of 5. By rotating the ball screw shaft 91, the nut 92 is provided so as to move on the ball screw shaft 91.

Next, the raising / lowering operation of the recording medium mounting table of the present invention will be described. When the mounting table 2 is moved up and down according to the thickness of the recording medium, the operator operates the handle 95.
The ball screw shaft 91 is rotated by rotating. Due to the rotation of the ball screw shaft 91, a force acts on the nut 92 in the axial direction of the ball screw shaft 91, whereby a force in the Z direction of the drawing acts on the mounting table 2. At this time, a force in the Z direction in the figure also acts on the shafts 7a and 7b, and the shafts 7a and 7b are held horizontally by the slider 6 and the guide mechanism 8 that hold both ends thereof, and the pinion 74 and the rack 83. It moves up and down, and a pair of shafts 7
Rotate synchronously with the belt 73, so that the shafts 7a and 7b move up and down synchronously without changing their relative positions in the Z direction in the drawing. Therefore, the mounting table 2 moves in the Z direction in the figure while maintaining the horizontal state by the pair of shafts 7, the slider 6 and the guide mechanism 8 which are rotatably held.
Further, since the table lifting mechanism 9 is configured by using the ball screw, the nut 92, the ball screw shaft 91 when the rotation of the handle 95 is stopped, that is, the position where the rotation of the ball screw shaft 91 is stopped.
That is, the position of the mounting table 2 can be maintained. Therefore, the operator can appropriately adjust the height of the mounting table 2 according to the thickness of the medium and the recording member.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, one of the four sliders 6 and the guide mechanism 8 provided at both ends of the pair of shafts 7 is provided with a predetermined slider base 61 of the slider 6. A slider 64 provided at a position and a linear potentiometer 65 corresponding to the slider 64 are provided on the guide base 81, and means for detecting the position of the slider 6, that is, the position of the mounting table 2 is provided.
Further, a drive motor 96 is provided in place of the handle 95 of the table lifting mechanism 9 in the embodiment shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the second embodiment, and the operation of the second embodiment will be described below with reference to this drawing. The operator first mounts the medium on the mounting table 2 and inputs the thickness of the medium detected in advance by the operation unit 16. When the thickness of the medium is input, the control unit 15 calculates the height (position) of the mounting table 2 to be positioned according to the input thickness of the medium, and the potentiometer 65.
The drive motor 96 is drive-controlled based on the output of. When it is detected from the output of the potentiometer 65 that the mounting table 2 is positioned at a desired position, the control unit 1
In step 5, the drive motor 96 is stopped and the recording device is set to the recording or cutting standby state. With this configuration, the mounting height can be automatically set only by inputting the thickness of the medium.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a ball screw is used as the table lifting mechanism. For example, a motor for lifting drive is fixed on the mounting table 2 and a screw shaft provided on the recording apparatus main body 1 is used. As a structure in which the worm gear is engaged, the mounting table 2 may be moved up and down by the rotation of the motor, or an elevating drive motor may be fixed to the recording apparatus main body 1, and the drive motor and the mounting table 2 may be connected to each other. You may comprise so that a belt may be spanned and raised and lowered.

Further, in the above-mentioned second embodiment, the position of the mounting table 2 is automatically set according to the thickness of the medium inputted from the operating section 16, but the output of the potentiometer 65 is set. The height (position) of 2 may be displayed on the display unit 17 at any time, and the operator may control the drive motor 96 from the operation unit 16 while observing the height (position) to position it at a desired position.

[0017]

As described above, the recording medium placing table of the recording apparatus according to the present invention is rotatably attached to the table on which the medium to be recorded or to be cut is placed or the member supporting the placing table. And a pair of shaft members that are provided so as to face each other and are configured to transmit rotation to each other by the rotation transmission member, and a guide member that rotatably holds both ends of the shaft member and that is provided in the recording apparatus main body. It acts on a slider that is vertically guided and held, a rack provided on the recording apparatus main body so as to mesh with pinions provided on both ends of the shaft member, and a mounting table or a member that supports the mounting table. Since it is composed of a table elevating means for moving the table up and down, it is possible to easily perform the elevating work of the medium mounting table and to record even a large-sized medium. In the planar direction it is advantageously possible to accurately lift. Further, since the recording medium mounting table can be configured with a simple structure, there is an effect that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a recording medium mounting table of a recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a mounting table of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a slider mechanism and a guide mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a conventional lifting mechanism for a mounting table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Device Main Body 2 Recording (Cutting) Medium (Material) Placement Table 3 Y Bar 4 Pen Carriage 5 Laser Mechanism 6 Slider 7 Shaft 8 Guide Mechanism 9 Table Lifting Mechanism

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A mounting table on which a medium to be recorded or a medium to be cut is mounted, a mounting table and a member supporting the mounting table are rotatably provided so as to face each other, and are mutually connected by a rotation transmitting member. A pair of shaft members configured to transmit rotation to the slider, and sliders that rotatably hold both ends of the shaft members and that are vertically held and guided by guide members provided on the recording apparatus main body.
A rack provided on the main body of the recording apparatus so as to mesh with pinions provided at both ends of the shaft member, and a table elevating table which acts on the mounting table or a member supporting the mounting table to move the table up and down. A recording medium mounting table of a recording device, comprising: 2. The table elevating means is rotatably supported with respect to a recording apparatus main body and a nut fixed to the mounting table or a member supporting the mounting table, and the nut is rotated by the rotation. 2. The recording medium mounting table of the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium mounting table comprises a ball screw configured to move the shaft in the axial direction. 3. A drive means for driving the table elevating means, and a detecting means for detecting the position of the slider, and the drive means is driven by the control means of the recording apparatus based on the output of the detecting means. 3. The recording medium mounting table of the recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording table is controlled to be positioned at a desired position.