JPH11277723A - Printed article manufacturing method and printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and a printing apparatus for producing a printed article which has high weather resistance even for a medium having no ink absorption and which does not peel off even if the medium is scratched. SOLUTION: In the printing apparatus, a surface of the transparent medium W opposite to the viewing side surface W0, that is, a back surface W of the medium W is provided.
In step 1, ink droplets are ejected from a recording head to print a mirror image inverted image of an image to be formed (printing target image). Therefore, when viewed from the viewing side surface, an intended image can be seen. Further, a coating film C3 having an ultraviolet attenuating property is formed on the surface of the color print C1 of the medium W, and the ultraviolet light directed to the color print C1 is cut by the coating film C3 and the medium W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a printed article and a printing apparatus used in the method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for improving the weather resistance of ink after printing an image on a medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a printing method for an ink-absorbing medium such as recording paper, printing by an ink jet method is frequently used. On the other hand, as a printing method for a medium having no ink absorption such as a glass or plastic plate or sheet, a conventional general printing method such as screen printing is frequently used.

[0003] However, the conventional printing method such as screen printing is suitable for mass production because it is necessary to form a plate of a pattern to be printed, but is inconvenient for printing many kinds in small quantities. . Therefore, if printing by the ink jet method can be applied to a medium having no ink absorbency, it is convenient for printing various kinds of small quantities.

[0004]

However, when printing is performed on such a non-ink-absorbing medium by an ink-jet method, the adhesion with the medium is poor with ordinary ink. Peel off. In view of this, studies are being made on ink compositions for improving adhesion to a medium. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to improve the adhesiveness to a medium having no ink absorption, only to restrict the ink composition, and to require that the image quality does not deteriorate even when exposed to ultraviolet rays. It is concluded that improvement of the ink composition cannot satisfy such requirements at all, and cannot be met by the ink jet method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method and a printing apparatus for producing a printed article which has high weather resistance even for a medium having no ink absorption and which does not peel off even if the medium is scratched. It is in.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in a method of manufacturing a printed article according to the present invention, an ink jet system is provided on a back surface of a transparent medium which is opposite to a viewing surface. Ink droplets are ejected from the recording head, and a mirror image inverted image of the image to be printed as viewed from the viewing side surface is printed on the back surface.

In the present invention, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head on the surface of the transparent medium opposite to the surface on the viewing side, that is, on the back surface of the medium, and a mirror image inverted image of the image to be formed (image to be printed) is formed. Print. For example, a horizontally inverted image or a vertically inverted image is printed. Therefore, when viewed from the viewing side surface, an intended image can be seen. Further, since the image printed by the ink-jet method is formed only on the back surface of the medium, the ink does not come off even if the surface of the medium is scratched. In addition, if the back side of the medium is not touched by humans, the ink will not peel off. Furthermore, since a glass plate or the like, which is a typical transparent medium, itself has ultraviolet absorbing properties, the ultraviolet light applied to the viewing side surface of the medium is cut by the medium itself and does not reach the ink on the back surface. Accordingly, since the ink on the back surface does not deteriorate, a high-quality printing state can be maintained forever.

In the present invention, it is preferable that after the mirror image reversal image is recorded on the back surface, a coating film having ultraviolet attenuating property is formed on the surface of the mirror image reversal image.
With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the ink even when ultraviolet rays are irradiated from the back side of the medium. In addition, since the coating film protects the printed surface with ink, even if the ink does not absorb the medium and the adhesion between the medium and the ink is low, the ink can not be peeled off only by scratching lightly. Absent.

In the present invention, the medium has an ultraviolet attenuating layer formed on at least one of the viewing side surface and the back surface, and the ultraviolet light applied to the viewing side surface of the medium is applied to the ink on the back surface. It is preferable to configure so as not to reach.

[0010] The production of such a printed article is, for example, as follows.
An input device for inputting a print-scheduled image viewed from the viewing side surface of both surfaces of the transparent medium, an image processing device for generating a mirror image inverted image of the print-scheduled image input from the input device, and the image processing device The printing can be performed using a printing apparatus having an ink jet type recording head for recording the generated mirror image inverted image on the back surface of the transparent medium opposite to the viewing side surface.

In the present invention, the printing apparatus further comprises:
It is preferable to have a coating head for applying a liquid coating agent for forming a coating film having an ultraviolet attenuating property to the back surface of the medium on which the mirror image reversal image is formed. With this configuration, printing with the ink and formation of the coating film can be continuously performed by one apparatus.

In the present invention, the coating head is, for example, a spray head for spraying the liquid coating agent. If such a spray head is used, a coating film having ultraviolet attenuating properties can be easily formed on the entire surface of the medium. Can be formed.

Further, as the coating head,
When an inkjet head is used, the coating agent can be applied over the entire surface of the medium in a solid manner, and unlike the case where a spray nozzle is used, the application region of the coating agent can be set to a desired range. There is an advantage.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for manufacturing a printed article to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a printing apparatus 1 is a plate-shaped or sheet-shaped medium W to be printed, and generally includes a data input system 10 for inputting print contents and a printing apparatus for printing on the medium W. And a main body 20.

The medium W is a non-ink-absorbing member such as a glass or plastic plate or sheet. Further, since such a transparent medium W itself has an ultraviolet absorbing property, it has a property that ultraviolet rays attenuate while passing through the medium W (ultraviolet attenuating property).

The data input system 10 includes an image pickup device 111 and a disk drive device 11 as input devices 11 for inputting data such as color designs and characters desired by the user.
2, a scanner 113, a keyboard 14, a mouse 15, and the like. From these input devices 11, color design image data is output to the host computer 12.

The host computer 12 includes an input device 11
Is displayed on the monitor 13 based on the color pattern image data input from the user, and the user viewing the image screen instructs editing via the keyboard 14 and the mouse 15 such as enlarging, reducing, cutting and pasting the image screen. I do. Further, the host computer 12 performs gradation processing, contrast processing, color correction, and the like on the edited color pattern image data as necessary, and prints the article W to improve print quality. It functions as an image processing device that performs an image correction process along the surface irregularities and then outputs the output image data to the control unit 60 of the printing device main body 20.

However, in the present embodiment, for example, when manufacturing a road sign with a speed limit of “40” kilometers as indicated by image data DataA, an image to be printed on the medium W (printing viewed from the viewing side surface of the medium W). At the stage when the scheduled image is input from the input device 11, the image is displayed on the monitor 13 as the image data DataA. However, what is output from the host computer 12 to the control means 60 of the printing apparatus main body 20 is a mirror image inverted image of the print-scheduled image viewed from the viewing-side surface of the medium W, as shown as output image data DataB. The character "40" representing the speed limit is data that is upside down. Therefore, in the printing apparatus main body 20, the mirror image inverted image is printed on the medium W. Such processing is performed in the host computer 12 by R
It is realized by a CPU or the like that operates based on an operation program stored in advance in the OM or the like.

In the printing apparatus main body 20, first, the recording head 21 can reciprocate on the guide shaft 23 via the carriage 22 in the axial direction (main scanning direction / X-axis direction). The recording head 21 is set so that the ink ejection direction is downward.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the recording head 21.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the recording head 21,
A nozzle opening 111 is formed in the nozzle plate 110,
In the flow path forming plate 112, a through hole that partitions the pressure generating chamber 113, a through hole or a groove that partitions two ink supply ports 114 communicating on both sides with the pressure generating chamber 113, and these ink supply ports 114 are respectively provided. A through-hole that defines two common ink chambers 115 that communicate with each other is formed. Diaphragm 1
Reference numeral 16 is made of an elastically deformable thin plate, abuts against the tip of a piezoelectric vibrator PZT (pressure generating element) such as a piezo element, and is fixed to the nozzle plate 110 in a liquid-tight manner with the flow path forming plate 112 interposed therebetween. , The flow path unit 118.

The base 119 is formed with an accommodation chamber 120 for accommodating the piezoelectric vibrator PZT so as to be able to vibrate and an opening 121 for supporting the flow path unit 118, and exposing the tip of the piezoelectric vibrator PZT from the opening 121. The piezoelectric vibrator PZ
T is fixed by a fixed substrate 122. In addition, base 119
With the island portion 116a of the vibration plate 116 in contact with the piezoelectric vibrator PZT, the recording head 16 is assembled by fixing the channel unit 118 to the opening 121.

With such a configuration, the piezoelectric vibrator PZT
When the pressure generation chamber 113 expands due to contraction, the ink in the common ink chamber 115 flows into the pressure generation chamber 113 via the ink supply port 114. When the piezoelectric vibrator PZT expands and the pressure generating chamber 113 contracts after a lapse of a predetermined time,
The ink in the pressure generating chamber 113 is compressed and the nozzle opening 11
An ink droplet is ejected from 1.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in the printing apparatus main body 20, the coating head 25 for discharging the liquid coating agent reciprocates on the guide shaft 27 via the carriage 26 in the axial direction (main scanning direction / X-axis direction). It is possible. The coating head 25 is also set so that the coating agent discharge direction is downward. Here, as a liquid coating agent, whether transparent or opaque,
What can form the coating film which has an ultraviolet attenuating property is used. For example, light-shielding ink is used. Here, the coating head 25 discharges a liquid coating agent onto the back surface W1 of the medium W on which printing has been performed with ink droplets discharged from the recording head 21, as described later.

As the coating head 25,
For example, a spray head that sprays a liquid coating agent in the form of a mist can be used.
The liquid coating agent can be easily applied to the entire printing surface of the medium W.

On the other hand, as the coating head 25, a head having the same structure as the recording head 21 (see FIG. 2) may be used. In this case, in the recording head 21 shown in FIG. 2, a liquid coating agent may be supplied and ejected in place of the ink, and the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Here, both ends of the guide shafts 23 and 27 on which the carriages 22 and 26 are supported are supported by a frame 30, and the frame 30 can move in the Y-axis direction (sub-scanning direction). In this manner, the frame 30 moves in the Y-axis direction, and the respective carriages 22 and 26 move in the X direction on the guide shafts 23 and 27, so that the relative movement between the recording head 21 and the medium W can be improved. A moving mechanism for relatively moving the coating head 25 and the medium W is configured.

Below the recording head 21 and the coating head 25, a medium transport device 35 for transporting the medium W in the Y-axis direction is configured. In the medium transport device 35, a holder (not shown) for receiving the medium W fed from an article storage section (not shown) is configured, and the holder transfers the medium W to its printing surface. Is held upward.

Here, the printing surface of the medium W is a surface opposite to the surface (viewing surface) on which the printed contents are actually viewed, that is, the back surface W1, of both surfaces of the medium W. Therefore, in the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the medium W is conveyed by the medium conveying device 35 with the back surface W1 of the medium W facing upward with the surface to be printed.

(Control System of Printing Apparatus Main Body) With reference to FIG. 3, the configuration of a control system of the printing apparatus main body 20 will be described. In FIG. 3, a control unit 60 included in the printing apparatus main body 20 first receives a print command signal and print data from the host computer 12 to perform predetermined printing on the medium W, Printhead drive circuit 3 including generation circuit 31 and head selection circuit 32
0, and also controls the carriage drive circuit 33 and the like to execute the printing operation. That is, in the head drive circuit 30, the drive voltage generation circuit 31 is configured to generate a trapezoidal wave having a voltage value required to eject ink droplets from the nozzle openings 111. Further, the head selection circuit 32 selectively applies the drive voltage of the drive voltage generation circuit 31 to the piezoelectric vibrator PZT corresponding to the print data by controlling the transistor T.

When a head having the same structure as the recording head 21 described with reference to FIG. 2 is used as the coating head 25 shown in FIG.
It also controls a coating head drive circuit 30 'including a coating drive voltage generation circuit 31' and a head selection circuit 32 '. In the coating head drive circuit 30, the drive voltage generation circuit 31 'is configured to generate a trapezoidal wave having a voltage value necessary for discharging the coating agent from the nozzle opening of the coating head 25. Further, the head selection circuit 32 'selectively applies a drive voltage to the piezoelectric vibrator PZT' corresponding to the designated coating region by controlling the transistor T '. Therefore, unlike the case where a spray nozzle is used, there is an advantage that the coating agent can be applied to the entire back surface W1 of the medium W in a solid manner, and the application region of the coating agent can be limited to a desired range.

The control means 60 controls the motor M1 for driving the medium conveying device 35 via the medium conveying device driving circuit 35 in the medium conveying device 35 shown in FIG. Control the transport of Further, the control means 60 controls a motor M2 for driving the frame 30 in the Y-axis direction via the Y-axis drive circuit 36, and controls the Y direction between the medium W and the carriages 22 and 26 (the recording head 21 and the coating head 25). Control the positional relationship in the axial direction. Further, the control means 60 controls the motor M3 for driving the carriages 22 and 26 on the guide shafts 23 and 27 via the X-axis drive circuit 37, and
26 (recording head 21 and coating head 2
5) is controlled in the X-axis direction. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the carriages 22 and 26 are simultaneously moved on the guide shafts 23 and 27, and the ejection of the ink droplets and the ejection of the coating agent are simultaneously performed on the different media W. Will be. In addition, the guide shaft 23,
Of course, the carriages 22 and 26 on 27 may be driven separately. Such an operation is also realized in the printing apparatus main body 20 by a CPU or the like that operates based on an operation program stored in advance in a ROM or the like.

(Printing Method / Manufacturing Method of Printed Article) The operation of the printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the printing apparatus 1. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the printing surface (back surface W1) of the medium W.
FIG. 4 is a process cross-sectional view showing a process of performing printing on a.

In FIG. 4, a standby state (step ST)
In 1), when a color pattern is input from the scanner 113 (step ST2), the host computer 12
The editing process is performed at step ST3. At the time of this editing, an image screen based on the color pattern image data is displayed on the monitor 13 as an image to be printed, so that the user who has viewed this image screen can edit the image screen such as enlarging, reducing, cutting and pasting. Keyboard 14
Or via the mouse 15. Then, after the editing is completed, the user performs a key operation and instructs whether to perform printing as it is or to cancel (step ST4). Here, when the user performs a key operation to stop, the process returns to the standby state (step ST1).

On the other hand, when the user performs a key operation for executing printing, a command signal for starting a printing operation and image data are output from the host computer 12 to the printing apparatus main body 20. (Step ST5).
The output here is the image data Data shown in FIG.
Image data Dat corresponding to a print-scheduled image among A and B
It is not the image data aA but the image data DataB that has been subjected to the mirror image inversion processing.

The printing apparatus main body 20 receiving the command from the host computer 12 temporarily stores the output image data (image data DataB that has been subjected to mirror image inversion processing) in a memory, while storing the medium fed out of the article storage unit. The medium transport device 35 transports W to a position directly below the carriage 22 (recording head 21) (step ST6).

Next, the recording head 21 of the printing apparatus body 20
While the carriage 22 moves on the guide shaft 23, based on the image data, as shown in FIG.
The color printing C1 is performed on the back surface W1 (the surface to be printed) of the medium W. When the printing of one line is completed, the frame 3
0 is moved by one step, and the above printing operation is repeated again, whereby color printing is performed on the entire back surface W1 of the medium W (step ST7).

When printing is completed in this manner, the medium transport device 35 transports the medium W to a position immediately below the carriage 26 (coating head 25) (step ST).
8). At this time, when printing the medium W continuously,
A new medium W is conveyed to a position directly below the carriage 22 (recording head 21).

Next, the host computer 12 instructs the printing apparatus main body 20 to apply the coating agent at least in a range covering the printing area. As a result, in the printing apparatus main body 20, the coating head 25 moves while the carriage 26 moves on the guide shaft 27 as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), a liquid coating agent C2 is applied to the back surface W1 of the medium W. When the coating for one row is completed, the frame 30 moves by one step, and the above operation is repeated again, whereby the medium W
A liquid coating agent is applied to the entire back surface W1 (step ST9).

When the application of the liquid coating agent is completed in this way, the medium transport device 35 discharges the medium W (step ST10), and the printing device 1 returns to the standby state (step ST1). Then, when the liquid coating agent applied to the entire back surface W1 of the medium W solidifies, FIG.
The coating film C3 shown in FIG. The coating film C3 has an ultraviolet attenuating property for cutting ultraviolet light to be transmitted.

If the liquid coating agent C2 has ultraviolet curability, an ultraviolet irradiation device is arranged downstream of the carriage 26 (coating head 25) in the transport direction of the medium transport device 35. The coating agent C2 may be solidified to the coating film C3 in the printing apparatus 1 by irradiating the coating agent C2 with ultraviolet rays during the process from step ST9 to step ST10.

As described above, in the present embodiment, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 21 to the surface of the transparent medium W opposite to the surface W0 on the viewing side, that is, the back surface W1 of the medium W, so that A mirror image inverted image of the image to be printed viewed from the front surface W0 is printed in color. Therefore, when viewed from the viewing side surface W0, an intended image can be seen. Further, the image (color printing C1) printed by the ink-jet method is merely the back surface W of the medium W.
1, the color printing C1 does not peel off even if the visual side surface W0 of the medium W is scratched. In addition, if the back surface W1 of the medium W is used, the color printing C1 does not come off because there is little contact with a person. Further, a typical glass plate as the transparent medium W is:
Since the medium W itself has an ultraviolet absorbing property, the ultraviolet light applied to the viewing side surface W0 of the medium W is cut by the medium W itself and does not reach the color printing C1 on the back surface W1. Accordingly, since the color printing C1 on the back surface W1 does not deteriorate, a high-quality printing state can be maintained forever. Therefore, the printed medium W has sufficient weather resistance that can be used outdoors as a road sign or the like. In addition, since printing by the ink jet method does not require a plate, it can cope with the production of one article such as a road guide or a signboard at low cost.

Further, since the coating film C3 having ultraviolet attenuating property is formed on the surface of the color print C1 printed on the back surface W1 of the medium W, the ultraviolet light is irradiated from the back side of the medium W. However, deterioration of the color printing C1 can be prevented. In addition, since the coating film C3 protects the color print C1, even if the adhesion between the medium W and the color print C1 is low due to the lack of ink absorbency of the medium W, the color may be slightly scratched. The print C1 does not come off.

[Other Embodiments] In this embodiment, the color printing C1 on the back surface W1 is protected from the ultraviolet light applied to the viewing surface W0 of the medium W by utilizing the ultraviolet attenuating property of the medium W itself. FIG. 6 (A)
As shown in FIG. 5, an ultraviolet attenuating layer C4 is formed on the viewing side surface W0 of the medium W, and the medium W
The ultraviolet rays applied to the visual recognition side surface W0 may be prevented from reaching the color printing C1 on the back surface W1. Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, the viewing-side surface W0 of the medium W
An ultraviolet attenuating layer C4 is formed on the back surface W1 on the opposite side to the underlayer of the color printing C1.
At 4, the ultraviolet rays applied to the viewing-side surface W0 of the medium W may be prevented from reaching the color printing C1 on the back surface W1.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image to be formed (printing) is formed by ejecting ink droplets from the recording head to the surface of the transparent medium opposite to the viewing side surface, that is, the back surface of the medium. A mirror image of the predetermined image is printed. Therefore, when viewed from the viewing side surface, an intended image can be seen. Further, since the image printed by the ink-jet method is formed only on the back surface of the medium, the ink does not come off even if the surface of the medium is scratched. In addition, if the back side of the medium is not touched by humans, the ink will not peel off. Furthermore, since a glass plate or the like, which is a typical transparent medium, itself has ultraviolet absorbing properties, the ultraviolet light applied to the viewing side surface of the medium is cut by the medium itself and does not reach the ink on the back surface. Accordingly, since the ink on the back surface does not deteriorate, a high-quality printing state can be maintained forever.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a recording head used in the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system in a printing apparatus main body of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the printing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C are process cross-sectional views illustrating a printing method performed by the printing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views showing a modification of the printing method performed by the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing device 11 Input device 12 Host computer 20 Printer main body 21 Recording head 22, 26 Carriage 23, 27 Guide shaft 25 Coating head 35 Medium conveyance device W Medium W0 Recognition side surface of medium W1 Back side of medium (printing surface) C1 Color printing C2 Liquid coating agent C3 Overcoat film C4 UV attenuating layer

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A mirror image of an image to be printed as viewed from the viewing side by ejecting ink droplets from an ink jet recording head to a back side of the transparent medium opposite to the viewing side surface. A method for manufacturing a printed article, comprising printing a reverse image on the back surface. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the medium has an ultraviolet attenuating property. 3. The printed article according to claim 1, wherein after the mirror image reversal image is recorded on the back surface, a coating film having an ultraviolet attenuating property is formed on the surface of the mirror image reversal image. Production method. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A method for manufacturing a printed article, wherein the medium has an ultraviolet attenuating layer formed on at least one of the viewing side surface and the back surface. 5. An input device for inputting a print-scheduled image viewed from the viewing side surface of both surfaces of a transparent medium, an image processing device for generating a mirror image inverted image of the print-scheduled image input from the input device, A printing apparatus, comprising: a recording head of an ink jet system that records a mirror image inverted image generated by the image processing apparatus on a back surface of the transparent medium opposite to a viewing surface. 6. The coating head according to claim 5, further comprising a coating head for applying a liquid coating agent for forming a coating film having ultraviolet attenuating property to the back surface of the medium on which the mirror image reversal image is formed. A printing device characterized by the above-mentioned. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the coating head is a spray head that sprays the liquid coating agent. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the coating head is an inkjet head.