JP2980965B2 - Slash molding equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a process for slush molding hollow products such as dolls and toys from a plastisol such as a vinyl chloride resin. The present invention relates to a slush molding device that automates a molding process.

(Prior art) Conventionally, when molding products such as dolls, toys, dashboards of automobiles, armrests, etc., a liquid containing a polyvinyl chloride paste resin, a plasticizer, a stabilizer, a pigment, etc. in a hollow shell-shaped mold. The mixture (plastisol) is filled and heated externally by an oil bath to gel the sol film on the inner wall of the mold. When a certain thickness is obtained, the sol film is removed from the oil bath for heating and is not gelled in the mold. There is known a slush molding method in which a part is poured out and then heated again to completely perform melt gelation and form.

Such a molding method is relatively small, such as a doll or a toy, and when the model needs to be changed rapidly due to a change in popularity, the processing process is almost entirely dependent on manual work. For example, a copper-plated electroforming mold is used so that the shape of the mold can be easily changed. In other words, in such an industry, automation has not been performed because manual operations can easily cope with severe model changes.

Further, the following points are factors that hinder automation. That is, the procedure for injecting the plastisol into the mold, the oil bath heat treatment time, the heating temperature, the determination of the cooling time, and the like are determined by past experience or intuition in consideration of the mold shape, so-called artistic skill. Need, finally the pliers from the mold,
Even when the molded body is taken out with a plier or the like, a special technique has been required to extract the molded body without damaging it. That is, if the temperature is high after cooling, deformation is likely to occur, and if the temperature is too low, it will not come off.

For the reasons described above, most of the conventional methods rely on manual work. Naturally, however, the productivity is low and the labor cost is high.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, such slush molding involves a step of injecting a plastisol into a mold, a step of treating air bubbles and the like contained in the plastisol in the mold, and a step of preheating the mold to an inner wall surface of the mold. Forming a semi-gelled sol film, discharging the ungelled sol inside, completely gelling and melting the semi-gelled sol film on the inner wall of the mold, cooling, removing the product from the mold And a very large number of processing steps must be performed sequentially. In a system in which these processing apparatuses are simply arranged in a row, a very large and large apparatus has to be constructed. Further, for automation, it is necessary to solve the processing method of the processing part which relied on the skill as described above.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve such problems, the present invention constitutes a slush molding apparatus for automatically performing processing steps from injection of plastisol to molding and extraction of a product, and includes a plastisol injection section and a molding process. A mold transfer unit that transfers molds between the unit and the mold processing unit, and a mold supply unit that is movable between the mold transfer unit and the product removal unit are provided. A rotatable rotating unit is provided that is vertically movable and rotatable. An oil tank for heating the mold, a water tank for cooling, and a discharge sol tank for discharging the ungelled sol were provided along the circumference of the rotary unit.

The apparatus was configured as a vertical type, and a plastisol injection section was provided above the molding processing section, and the mold transfer unit was movable up and down.

Further, the mold transfer unit, the mold supply unit, and the rotation unit are provided with a plurality of mold holding portions capable of holding a plurality of molds, respectively.

The injection conditions for injecting the plastisol into the mold, the respective processing conditions in the molding processing unit, and the product extraction conditions are controlled based on the actual data stored according to the type of the mold, or are visually checked. It was decided to control by copying.

Further, the mold is provided with a removal tray which can be freely mounted, and the removal tray is provided with an insertion portion which can be inserted into the entrance of the mold, and a part of the molded body is taken into account when the molded product is removed from the insertion portion. Protrusions for fitting were provided.

(Operation) When the mold transfer unit that has received the mold from the mold supply unit in the mold transfer unit moves to the plastisol injection unit, the plastisol is injected into the mold. The mold is then delivered to a rotating unit and swung by the rotating unit to treat bubbles in the mold. Next, the mold is indexed to the position of the oil tank by the rotating unit, and the mold is heated for a predetermined time in the oil tank set to a predetermined temperature to perform a weighting (filling) process. That is, a semi-gelled sol film is formed on the inner wall surface of the mold. The mold is then indexed by the rotating unit to the position of the discharge sol tank,
After the sol is turned upside down and the ungelled sol inside is discharged into the discharge sol tank, it is again indexed to the position of the oil tank, and the complete gelling treatment is performed in the oil tank.

Subsequently, the mold is indexed to the position of the water tank by the rotating unit, and is cooled and transferred to the mold supply unit by the mold transfer unit in the water tank. After being transferred to the product extracting section by the mold supply unit, the product is extracted from the mold.

In addition, since the automatic processing apparatus as described above is configured as a vertical type, and a single rotating unit provided in the molding processing unit is used to index a mold into an oil tank, a water tank, and a discharged sol tank, the apparatus body is extremely small. It is compact.

In addition, if a plurality of molds are held and processed at the same time, productivity can be improved.

By controlling each processing condition based on past data, it is possible to perform processing under the optimum conditions of past performance data, and even without a special technology relying on so-called craftsmanship, a uniform finish that is not inferior to this You can get the product. In addition, it is also possible to perform the scanning control while visually confirming the optimum state.

In addition, by using the extraction tray, a large amount of products can be simultaneously extracted, and the operation can be performed extremely quickly.

(Example) An example of a slush molding device of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3 show a slush molding device of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a side view.

The slush molding device of the present invention is configured as a device for molding a toy doll made of, for example, vinyl chloride, and is capable of almost automatically performing the molding process conventionally performed manually.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus main body 1 includes a molding processing section 3 below the center of the frame 2, and a plastisol injection section 4 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) above the molding processing section 3. ) Is provided, and a product extraction unit 5 is provided on the side of the molding processing unit 3 (on the right side in FIG. 1). An intermediate position between the molding processing section 3 and the product extracting section 5 is configured as a mold transfer section 6.

The mold 8 is, for example, a type provided with a large number of hollow shell-shaped molds 9a in a doll shape as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, a large-sized hollow molding die 9b formed at a deep bottom for molding a large-sized product, or the like, is formed by injecting plastisol into the inside of these molding dies 9a and 9b. The mold 8 is provided with a hook 43 for holding the mold, and the structure of the detail will be described later.

The plastisol injection section 4 is provided with a pair of ejection bodies 10, 10 as shown in FIGS. The discharge body 10 is fixed to the upper part of the frame 2 and receives a supply of liquid plastisol from a plastisol supply tank 45 (shown only in FIG. 2) shown in FIG.
Fills the mold 8 held by the clamp with plastisol.

The transfer unit 11 includes a pair of clamp arms 12 as shown in FIG. 3, and the upper ends of the mold 8 can be crapped by the clamp arms 12. The clamp arm 12 is attached to a lift 13 and is movable up and down by a lift cylinder unit 14. The lift 13 is moved by a horizontal drive cylinder unit 15 shown in FIG. It is horizontally reciprocable along the guide portion 16. Therefore, the clamp arm 12 of the transfer unit 11 can be moved along the locus shown by the chain line in FIG. 4 by the lifting cylinder unit 14 and the horizontal drive cylinder unit 15. That is, (a) in the figure is the plastisol injection part 4, (b) is the molding processing part 3,
(C) is the mold transfer section 6.

The forming unit 3 is provided with a rotating machine 18 as a rotating unit as shown in FIG. The rotating machine 18 is provided with holding arms 19, 19 for receiving and holding a pair of dies 8, 8 held by the clamp arm 12 of the transfer unit 11, and the holding arm 19 is, for example, the above-described metal mold. Type 8-2
For example, two parallel arms for supporting the latch portions 43 at two locations are provided with concave grooves for engaging the die latch portions 43 on a part of the upper surface, for example. The rotating machine 18 can be moved up and down by a built-in elevating drive unit, and can be rotated around a central vertical axis by a rotary drive unit. Then, at the position where the rotating machine 18 has risen, the die 8 of the clamp arm 12 of the transfer unit 11 lowered is received.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of water tanks 2 are formed along the circumference around the rotating machine 18 as shown in FIG.
0,20, heated oil tanks 21,21 and discharged sol tanks 22,22 are arranged on each diagonal line. Then, by the indexing rotation of the rotating machine 18, the mold 8 of the holding arm 19 faces directly above one of the tanks, and a heating treatment or a cooling treatment or a discharge treatment of the ungelled sol is performed. That is, in the processing in the oil tank 21 and the water tank 20, the rotating machine 18 descends, and the mold 8 held by the holding arm 19 is immersed in the oil tank 21 or the water tank 20. Further, in the processing in the discharge sol tank 22, the mold 8 is inverted by the clamp arm 12 of the transfer unit 11 on the discharge sol tank 22, and the ungelled sol in the mold 8 is discharged. Discharge into the groove 22. In order to reprocess the discharged sol and use it again, a return path 23 as shown in FIG. 2 is connected to the discharged sol tank 22 and returned to the return tank 25. In the figure, reference numeral 24 denotes a vacuum defoaming pump which removes air bubbles contained during the processing and returns the air to a return tank 25 in a good condition.

In the oil tank 21, a medium liquid containing components such as potassium nitrate is heated and stored at a temperature of about 200 ° C., and is opened and closed to shut off a trace amount of gas generated from the heat medium liquid. A cover 26 whose operation can be controlled is provided.

FIG. 6 shows the indexing position of the rotating machine 18 described above. (In FIG. 6, for the sake of explanation, the rotation trajectory that rotates horizontally is shown converted into the vertical direction.) D)
And place the mold 8 on the water tank 20 (e)
At the position of (f) and the surface of the oil tank 21 is indexed at the position (f). The position (B) is the position where the rotating machine 18 has risen, and the position (A) is the descending position.

Next, the mold supply unit 28 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mold supply unit 28
A pair of holders 29, 29 which can reciprocate horizontally along the axis, and a driving device 30 for reciprocating drive. The holder 29 can be tilted around the tilt shaft 31 in the product extracting section 5. .
In other words, as shown in FIG. 5, it faces the mold receiving / receiving section 6 at the position (g) in the forward state, and faces the product extracting section 5 at the position (h). And this holder 29
Is provided with two front and rear mold holding portions 32 and 33 for holding the mold 8 as shown in FIG.
A slide mechanism for slidingly moving the mold 8 is provided, and the mold 8 held by one holding portion 32 can be slid and transferred to the other holding portion 33.
A hot air heater 34 is provided below the product extracting section 5 so that the mold 8 held by the tilted holding body 29 can be heated with hot air from below.

Further, the product extracting section 5 is provided with a extracting mechanism for extracting the product from the mold 8.

The mold 8 is used by changing various molds 9a, 9b, etc. according to the product shape as described above. For example, the mold 9a of a doll toy as shown in FIG. 7 is plated with copper. It is easily formed as an electroforming mold. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, which is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 7, a plurality of mounting holes 37 are formed in the bottom surface of a flat plate-shaped mold mounting plate 36, and a cylindrical holder 38 attached to the mounting hole 37. The doll-shaped hollow shell-shaped mold 9a is attached to the doll. Then, the plastisol is injected into each mold 9a by discharging the plastisol into the mold attachment plate 36. In the case of the present invention, the plastisol is injected into the mold attachment plate 36.
A detachable tray 39 is provided which can be mounted on the tray.

The extraction tray 39 has a shape that can be fitted into the mold mounting dish 36, and further includes an insertion portion 40 that can be inserted into the entrance of each molding die 9a. And this insertion part 40
Is a cylindrical member slightly smaller in diameter than the cylindrical diameter of the holder portion 38,
A projection 41 is provided on a part of the outer periphery of the lower end, and the projecting end of the projection 41 contacts the inner wall of the holder portion 38. By providing two or three protrusions 41 along the circumferential direction, for example, a gel layer of plastisol filled up to near the upper surface of the holder portion 38 is not formed only on the protrusion 41 portion. Therefore, when the product solidifies and is extracted,
By pulling out the extraction tray 39, a number of molded bodies engaged with the projections 41 are simultaneously extracted as they are. Then, a portion of the molded body having a hole formed by the projection is cut off as an unnecessary portion. In addition, the insertion part 40 can be easily replaced with an insertion part suitable for the mold even when the type of the molding die 9a is changed by simply fixing the screw 42 to the extraction tray 39. .

Note that the insertion portion 40 may not be provided in the extraction tray 39, and only the opening having a smaller diameter than the opening of the holder portion 38 may be provided. That is, when the extraction tray is attached, the plastisol is filled up to a position higher than the bottom surface of the extraction tray 39, and a gel layer is formed on the bottom surface of the extraction tray 39. The products in the mold 9a are simultaneously pulled out. However, in this case, since there are many parts that are wasted after molding, the method of providing the above-mentioned insertion portion is more preferable.

The outline of the operation of the slash molding device having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 9 (A), the transfer unit 11 of the plastisol injection unit 4 holds a pair of dies 8 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and the plastisol is injected into the dies 8. If the injection amount is too large, it causes burrs and the like, and if it is too small, it causes a defect defect. Therefore, the CPU is controlled so that the mouth of the mold is filled in an appropriate amount.

When the pouring is completed, the rotating machine 18 rises, the holding arm 19 is indexed and rotated, and faces the position below each mold 8.

Next, as shown in FIG.
13 descends, transfers the held mold 8 to the holding arm 19 of the rotating machine 18, and rises again. At this time, the product extraction unit 5 has already extracted the processed product.

Thereafter, the mold is swung by the rotating machine 18 as shown in FIG. This rotation is for removing air bubbles in the plastisol filled in the mold by centrifugal force, and is particularly effective for a complicated mold shape.

When the air bubble removal processing is completed, as shown in FIG.
Is determined at the position of the oil tank 21 and is subjected to a weighting (meat) treatment in the oil tank heated to a temperature of about 200 ° C. In other words, a rotating machine
After 18 has fallen for a predetermined time, it rises again to lift the mold 8. This processing time is also controlled by the CPU. That is, this processing time, the above-mentioned injection amount of plastisol, and a series of processing such as heating and cooling processing to be described later are performed by the CPU based on the optimal data based on past results registered according to the type of the mold.
To control. In addition, it is also possible to control while visually confirming each processing state.

When the semi-gelled sol film is formed on the inner wall surface of the mold by the above-mentioned basis weight (thickening), the rotating machine 18 is indexed and rotated to expose the mold 8 to the position of the discharge sol tank 22, and then FIG. As shown in (1), the elevator 13 of the transfer unit 11 is lowered and the mold 8 is inverted by the clamp arm 12. That is, the ungelled sol in the mold 8 is discharged into the discharge sol tank 22.

When the reversal discharge is completed, the clamp arm 12 is raised, and the mold 8 is again indexed to the position of the oil tank 21 as shown in FIG. That is, the oil tank for a predetermined time
Heated in 21.

The oil tank 21 is automatically covered with a cover 26 when not in use.

After the heat treatment, the cooling treatment in the water tank 20 is performed. This is intended to promote solidification by cooling the gelled layer filled in the inner wall surface of the mold from the mold surface, and is performed for a predetermined time by the same operation as the oil bath.

When this process is completed, the clamp arm 12 of the transfer unit 11 descends again as shown in FIG. Here, as shown in FIG.
Descends, and the holder 29 of the mold supply unit 28 moves forward to the mold transfer unit 6.

At this time, the empty mold 8 is held in the holding portion 32 of the holding body 29. As shown in FIG. 8G, the mold 8 is transferred to the holding portion 33 by the slide mechanism, and Holder of
The 32 side is set to the standby state.

At the same time, the transfer unit 11 horizontally moves toward the die transfer unit 6 and transfers the die 8 that holds the clamp arm 12 by lowering it to the holding unit 32.

The holding body 29 receiving the new mold 8 retreats toward the product extracting section 5 as shown in FIG. 8H, and moves the empty mold 8 held by the holding section 33 to below the transfer unit 11. The clamp arm 12 descends, clamps it, and conveys it again to the plastisol injection unit 4 to return to the original state shown in FIG.

On the other hand, in the product extracting section 5, as described above, the product is once heated by the hot air heater 34 before being drawn out, softened to a state in which the product can be easily extracted, and then pulled out all at once by the extracting tray 39. As described above, the softening process is also performed by the copying control to achieve the optimal survival state.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the slush molding apparatus of the present invention automates the molding process conventionally performed manually, and furthermore, controls the CPU to perform the process under optimal processing conditions, thereby reducing labor costs. It is possible to greatly reduce the size and to obtain a uniform finish without relying on the delicate intuition and craftsmanship that has been done in the past.

Further, since the apparatus main body is configured to be vertical and the floor area is minimized, there is no restriction on the installation conditions.

And since such an automatic device was not particularly in the industry of manufacturing toy dolls such as PVC products, a great contribution in the industry is expected in the future as a device capable of guaranteeing high productivity according to demand. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 3 show a slush molding apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view, FIG. 2 is a plan view, FIG. 3 is a side view, FIG. 5 is an operation diagram of the mold supply unit, FIG. 6 is an operation diagram of the rotary unit, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the mold, FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a main part of the mold, and FIG. is there. In the figure, 1 is an apparatus main body, 3 is a molding processing section, 4 is a plastisol injection section, 5 is a product extraction section, 6 is a mold transfer section,
8 is a mold, 11 is a transfer unit, 18 is a rotating machine, 20 is a water tank,
21 is an oil tank, 22 is a discharge sol tank, 28 is a mold supply unit, 36
Denotes a mold mounting plate, 39 denotes a removal tray, 40 denotes an insertion portion, and 41 denotes a protrusion.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A slash in which a plastisol is injected into a mold, a sol film adhered to an inner wall of the mold is gelled, formed into a product shape, and then removed from the mold. In a molding apparatus, the apparatus includes: a mold transfer unit that transfers a mold between a plastisol injection unit, a molding processing unit, and a mold transfer unit; and a mold transfer unit that performs transfer between the mold transfer unit and the product removal unit. In addition to a movable mold supply unit, the molding processing unit is provided with a rotatable and rotatable rotating unit, and an oil tank for heating the mold and a cooling process are provided around the rotating unit. A slush molding apparatus comprising a water tank and a discharge sol tank for discharging ungelled sol, which are provided on a circumference. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus is of a vertical type, and a plastisol injection section is provided above a molding processing section, and said mold transfer unit is movable up and down.
A slush molding device according to item 1. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mold transfer unit, the mold supply unit, and the rotation unit each include a plurality of mold holding portions capable of holding a plurality of molds. Slash molding equipment. 4. A condition for injecting plastisol into the mold,
Each processing condition in the molding processing section and the condition for extracting the product are as follows:
2. The slush molding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the slush molding apparatus is controlled by actual data stored according to a type of a mold, or is controlled by visual inspection. 5. A mold is provided with an extraction tray which can be freely mounted. The extraction tray is provided with an insert portion which can be inserted into an entrance of the mold, and the insert portion has a molding portion which is formed when a molded product is extracted. The slush molding device according to claim 1, further comprising a protrusion for engaging a part of the body.