JP2961926B2 - Cleaning blade manufacturing method - Google Patents

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 cleaning blade for removing toner remaining on the outer peripheral surface of a photosensitive drum of an electrophotographic copying machine or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electrophotographic copying machine is provided with a photosensitive drum provided with a photoconductor surface layer, and the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum is uniformly charged. Forming an electrostatic latent image on the outer peripheral surface by exposing the toner, forming a toner image by attaching toner to the electrostatic latent image, and copying the image by transferring the toner image to copy paper or the like. is there. After the copying, as shown in FIG. 6, since the toner 2 remains on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 1, it is necessary to remove the residual charged toner 2. This removal is performed by the cleaning blade 3. I'm wearing The cleaning blade 3 is configured such that a thick plate-shaped soft urethane resin blade member 5 is attached to the tip of a metal plate-shaped holder 4 having a substantially L-shaped cross section. The cleaning blade 3 removes the toner 2 by using the elasticity of the blade member 5 so that the leading end of the cleaning blade 3 slides uniformly on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 1.

[0003]

However, since the cleaning blade 3 has to slide the blade member 5 so as not to hinder the rotation of the photosensitive drum 1, the cleaning blade 3 has a length so that the blade member 5 is easily bent. Need to be set longer. Further, since the blade member 5 buffers the impact force received from the photosensitive drum 1 and is always bent, there is a disadvantage that the material is easily fatigued at an early stage and the durability is poor. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the blade member 5 is attached along the edge of one end of the stainless steel support plate 6, and the other end of the support plate 6 is attached to the end of the plate-shaped holder 4. A cleaning blade 3a configured to buffer the impact force and the like applied to the support plate 6 by the support plate 6 has been developed and put into practical use. In the cleaning blade 3a, mounting holes 7 and 8 are formed in the plate-shaped holder 4 and the supporting plate 6, respectively. It is integrated. However, as shown in FIG. 8, the cleaning blade 3b in which the mounting holes 7 are formed only in the plate-shaped holder 4 and the mounting holes are not formed in the supporting plate 6, allows the supporting plate 6 to be accurately positioned on the plate-shaped holder 4. There is no guide to match. Therefore, there is a problem that the support plate 6 cannot be integrated with the plate-shaped holder 4 with high dimensional accuracy.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a cleaning blade capable of easily integrating a support plate with a plate-shaped holder with high dimensional accuracy.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to a method of manufacturing a cleaning blade of the present invention, a set of projections for positioning a mounting hole is formed in a row at one end of a mold surface. At the same time, a mold having a pair of convex portions for positioning hole positioning formed substantially in line with the pair of convex portions on the other end side is prepared. The cleaning blade support plate having the set of positioning holes on the side, a set of mounting holes on one end, and a set of positioning holes having a diameter larger than the positioning holes of the support plate on the other end. A plate holder for a cleaning blade is prepared, and the projection for positioning the mounting hole is located in the mounting hole on one end of the plate holder, and the projection for positioning the positioning hole is positioned in the positioning hole on the other end. Part is located above The holder is placed on the mold surface of the molding die, and in this state, the support plate is placed on the plate-shaped holder so that the projection for positioning the positioning hole is located in the positioning hole on the other end of the support plate. A configuration is adopted in which the overlapping portions are bonded with an adhesive member in this state.

[0006]

In order to integrate the plate-shaped holder and the support plate, the present inventors have to integrate the cleaning blade 3b as shown in FIG. Research was repeated. In the course of this research,
As shown in FIG. 9, when a pair of positioning holes 9 and 10 for positioning are formed in a row in the support plate 6 and the plate-shaped holder 4, the plate-shaped holder 4 and the support plate 6 are integrated with high accuracy. I found what I could do. This integration is performed, as shown in FIG. 10, in the positioning holes 10 of the plate-shaped holder 4 and the mounting holes 7.
The plate-shaped holder 4 is arranged on the mold surface of the molding die 12 so that a set of positioning hole positioning projections 13 and mounting hole positioning projections 14 erected on the molding surface of the molding die 12 are located therein. I do. Next, the mold 1 is inserted into the positioning holes 9 of the support plate 6.
The support plate 6 is superimposed on the plate-shaped holder 4 so that the positioning protrusions 13 for positioning holes 2 are located, and the overlapping portions of the two are adhered with an adhesive 16 and then formed by heating and integrated. . However, the positioning projections 13, 1
Since the positioning holes 10 and the mounting holes 7 of the plate-shaped holder 4 are fitted into the plate 4 without gaps, the holes 10 and 7 are contracted by the heat applied at the time of molding, and are brought into close contact with the positioning projections 13 and 14. It will be connected. For this reason, the plate-shaped holder 4 of the formed (integrated) cleaning blade 3b becomes difficult to remove from the molding die 12, and if the plate-shaped holder 4 is forcibly removed, the support plate 6 is deformed and the flatness is reduced. This causes the problem of being damaged. Therefore, as a result of further study, the positioning holes 10
As shown in FIG. 1, if the diameter is larger than the positioning hole 9 of the support plate 6, the positioning hole 10 does not adhere to the positioning protrusion 13 even if heat shrinkage occurs. The inventors have found that the blade 3b can be easily removed, and have reached the present invention.

That is, the manufacturing of the cleaning blade according to the present invention is performed, for example, as follows. First, a set of protrusions for positioning the mounting holes is formed in a row at one end of the mold surface, and a set of protrusions for positioning the positioning holes are formed in a row at the other end. Prepare a mold. On the other hand, a cleaning blade support plate having a blade member on one end side and a set of positioning holes on the other end side, and a set of mounting holes on one end side and a positioning hole for the support plate on the other end side. A cleaning blade plate holder having a set of positioning holes having a larger diameter than that of the cleaning blade is prepared. Next, the plate-shaped holder is arranged on the mold so that the respective protrusions are located in the mounting holes on one end side and the positioning holes on the other end side of the plate-shaped holder. Then, the support plate is placed on the plate-shaped holder so that the positioning hole positioning projection is located in the positioning hole on the other end side of the support plate, and in this state, the overlapping portion of the two is bonded to the bonding member. The cleaning blade is manufactured by integrating the plate-shaped holder and the support plate by bonding. Therefore, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, the plate-shaped holder and the support plate can be easily integrated with high dimensional accuracy. Further, even if the cleaning blade has a structure in which the mounting hole is not formed in the support plate, the support plate can be integrated with the plate-shaped holder with high dimensional accuracy, and the molded product can be easily removed from the mold. . Further, since the cleaning blade obtained as described above has excellent dimensional accuracy, the blade member can uniformly slide on the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum.

Next, the present invention will be described based on embodiments.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows a cleaning blade obtained by the present invention. This cleaning blade 15
A thick plate-shaped blade member 5 made of a soft urethane resin is adhered to one end of a rectangular support plate 6 made of stainless steel along the longitudinal direction with an adhesive 16 in the same longitudinal direction. Further, an end of the metal plate-shaped holder 4 having a substantially L-shaped cross section along the longitudinal direction is bonded to the other end of the support plate 6 with an adhesive 16.

At the left and right ends on the other end of the support plate 6,
As shown in FIG. 2, a positioning hole 9 is formed. Further, projecting portions 17 extending forward are formed at the left and right ends of the end portion of the plate-like holder 4, and mounting holes 7 are formed in the left and right projecting portions 17 respectively. A positioning hole 10 having a larger diameter than the positioning hole 9 of the support plate 6 is formed at a predetermined distance behind the mounting hole 7. The positioning hole 9 of the support plate 6 and the positioning hole 10 of the plate-shaped holder 4 are aligned, and the other end of the support plate 6 is integrated with the end of the upper surface of the plate-shaped holder 4.

The cleaning blade 15 can be manufactured, for example, as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 3, two sets of positioning hole positioning projections 13 are provided upright on one end side of the upper surface, and one set of mounting holes are provided on the other end side in parallel with the above-mentioned pair of projections 13. A molding die 12 having two protrusions 14 for hole positioning is prepared. On the other hand, a support plate 6 in which a blade member 5 is bonded to one end and a set of positioning holes 9 is formed in the other end, and a set of mounting holes 7 is formed in one end and the support A plate-shaped holder 4 having a set of positioning holes 10 larger in diameter than the positioning holes 9 of the plate 6 is provided in parallel with the mounting holes 7. Next, after an adhesive 16 is applied to one end of the upper surface of the plate-shaped holder 4, each of the projections 13, 14 is positioned in the positioning hole 10 of the plate-shaped holder 4.
The plate-shaped holder 4 is placed on the upper surface of the molding die 12 with the upper surface facing upward so as to be positioned inside the mounting hole 7, respectively. Then, the support plate 6 is placed on the plate-shaped holder 4 such that the projection 13 whose tip projects through the positioning hole 10 of the plate-shaped holder 4 is located within the positioning hole 9 of the support plate 6. Place on. As a result, the support plate 6 is assembled to the plate-shaped holder 4 with high dimensional accuracy. Then, by heating and molding in this state, the cleaning blade 15 shown in FIG. 2 is manufactured.

In the cleaning blade 15 obtained as described above, the support plate 6 is attached to the plate-like holder 4 with high dimensional accuracy, and the generally defined length from the tip of the blade member 5 to the center of the attachment hole 7 is set. There is no deviation in the dimensions (indicated by A in FIG. 1). Therefore, the blade member 5 can be easily attached to an electrophotographic copying machine or the like so that the blade member 5 can uniformly contact the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum. Further, according to the above manufacturing method, even if the mounting hole cannot be used for positioning the plate-shaped holder 4 and the support plate 6, both can be mounted accurately and easily. Further, the positioning hole positioning projection 1 of the molding die 12 is formed.
Since the hole diameter of the positioning hole 10 is set to be large so that a gap is formed between the positioning hole 3 and the positioning hole 10 of the plate-shaped holder 4, the product can be easily removed from the mold 12 after the heat molding. The flatness of the support plate 6 is not impaired.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the cleaning blade obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention. The cleaning blade 18 has mounting holes 8 and 7 that can be used for positioning in the support plate 6 and the plate-like holder 4 and has positioning holes 9 and 1 in the same manner as in the above embodiment.
0 is drilled. This cleaning blade 18
As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning holes 13 and the mounting holes 7 and 8 of the plate holder 4 and the support plate 6 and the positioning holes 1
By positioning 0 and 9, the plate-shaped holder 4 and the support plate 6 are precisely integrated.

The cleaning blade is not only mounted on an electrophotographic copying machine, but can also be applied to a laser beam printer having a mechanism similar to that of the electrophotographic copying machine.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the projection for positioning the mounting hole is located in the mounting hole on one end side of the plate-like holder, and the projection for positioning the positioning hole is formed on the plate-like holder. The plate-like holder is arranged on the mold surface of the molding die so as to be located in the large-diameter positioning hole on the other end side, and the projection for positioning the positioning hole has the other end of the support plate having a blade member on one end side. The supporting plate is placed on the plate-shaped holder so as to be positioned in the positioning hole on the side, and in this state, the overlapping portion of the two is bonded with an adhesive member to manufacture a cleaning blade. Accordingly, the plate-shaped holder and the support plate can be integrated accurately and easily without requiring any skill or skill, so that there is no variation in products and productivity can be improved. In addition, since the plate-shaped holder and the support plate are integrated with high dimensional accuracy, a cleaning blade that comes into sliding contact with the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum uniformly can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a cleaning blade obtained by a manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cleaning blade.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the production of the cleaning blade.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another example of the cleaning blade obtained by the manufacturing method of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the production of the cleaning blade.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage state of a conventional cleaning blade.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a conventional cleaning blade.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another example of a conventional cleaning blade.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a cleaning blade on which the present invention is based.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the production of a cleaning blade which is the basis of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 4 plate holder 5 blade member 6 support plate 7, 8 mounting hole 9, 10 positioning hole 12 molding die 13 positioning hole positioning protrusion 14 mounting hole positioning protrusion 15, 18 cleaning blade

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A set of projections for positioning a mounting hole is formed on one end of a mold surface in a row, and a positioning hole for positioning a positioning hole is formed on the other end substantially along the set of projections. A mold having a set of projections formed in a row is prepared, a cleaning blade support plate having a blade member at one end and the set of positioning holes at the other end, and one end at one end. A cleaning blade plate holder having a set of mounting holes and a set of positioning holes larger in diameter than the support plate positioning holes on the other end side is prepared, and one end of the plate holder is mounted. The plate-shaped holder is arranged on the mold surface of the molding die such that the mounting hole positioning projection is located in the hole, and the positioning hole positioning projection is located in the positioning hole on the other end side. In that state, the positioning hole on the other end side of the support plate A method of manufacturing a cleaning blade, wherein the support plate is placed on the plate-shaped holder so that the projection for positioning the positioning hole is located therein, and the overlapping portion of the two is adhered with an adhesive member in that state.