JP4386428B2 - Method and apparatus for aligning plates in screen printing - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for aligning plates in screen printing, and more particularly to an alignment method and apparatus for attaching a screen plate to a printing press.

  Not only screen printing, but also in printing work, it is necessary to match the printing pattern of the plate and the printing position of the printing subject on the stage, and if the size of the printing subject is about 300 to 400 mm, the work A person can look into the plate from above and align it visually. However, in the case of screen printing, especially when the size of the printing area on the printing subject becomes 1000 to 2000 mm square, as in the plate for PDP printing, the size of the plate also increases to 2000 to 3000 mm square. Alignment by is impossible.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a screen plate alignment method. In the alignment method described in Patent Document 1, workpiece positioning marks (54, 55) are provided on a substrate, plate positioning marks (64, 65) are provided on a screen, and the mark on the substrate can be irradiated from above the screen plate. A laser emitter (74, 75) is provided. The plate alignment is set so that a laser beam (94, 95) is irradiated vertically from the laser emitter, and the laser beam irradiates directly above the workpiece positioning mark of the substrate. Next, the plate is moved and aligned so that the laser beam coincides with the plate positioning mark provided on the screen. When the laser beam matches the plate positioning mark on the screen and the workpiece positioning mark on the substrate, the alignment between the screen and the substrate is complete. At this position, the screen frame is fixed to the plate holder. .

  The alignment method described in Patent Document 1 can be expected to achieve high-precision alignment by using a laser beam. However, in an ordinary screen printing machine, the upper part of the printing apparatus is covered with a slide structure of a squeegee and a scraper. In many cases, there is a small space for providing a laser beam irradiation mechanism above the screen plate, and there is a problem that usable models are limited.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-264294

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a plate alignment method and apparatus for screen printing that can easily perform rough alignment at the initial stage of setup in the alignment operation of a printing subject and a screen printing pattern.

The first of the solving means is to set a subject alignment reference position on the print subject, provide a mark to be a plate alignment reference position on the screen, and provide a small diameter light source between the print subject and the screen so as to be able to appear and disappear. The fine diameter light source is installed at the subject alignment reference position, irradiated with a small diameter light beam upward, and the fine diameter light beam and the plate alignment reference position of the screen are made to coincide with each other at the initial stage of alignment. Is a method for aligning plates.
The second of the solving means is to set a subject alignment reference position for the print subject , and provide a mark to be a plate alignment reference position on the screen , and above and above the subject alignment reference position set for the print subject. towards and small-diameter beam is installed micro-diameter light source capable of irradiating, a pair of moving platform movable provided at both ends of the print base, which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the moving platform to the moving platform A movable cradle is provided, and the movable gantry and the movable cradle are screw-coupled to a ball screw shaft. The ball screw shaft is connected to a drive motor that is driven by numerical control, and is irradiated from the minute diameter light source. fine diameter beam and by matching the plate alignment reference position provided in the screen, the plate alignment, characterized in that allowed the alignment of screen plate for printing an object that It is the location.
A third solving means is that in the first or second solving means, the minute diameter light source is a laser pointer that irradiates a minute diameter light beam as a laser beam.

  The present invention provides a minute diameter light source that can freely move between a print subject and a screen, and places the minute diameter light source at a subject alignment reference position set as a print subject, and the minute diameter light beam upwards from the minute diameter light source. In addition to having the effect that the rough alignment at the initial stage of the setup can be easily performed by matching the minute diameter light beam and the mark of the plate alignment reference position provided on the screen, an alignment apparatus including a small diameter light source is provided. Since it is provided below the screen, it has the effect that the alignment device can be installed without hindering other mechanisms.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a screen plate alignment method, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the whole alignment apparatus, FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view showing the main part of the alignment apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal section of FIG. FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of FIG. 3.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a printing subject, 2 denotes a screen, and 3 denotes a minute diameter light source 3 which is installed between the printing subject 1 and the screen 2 so as to be freely protruded and projected. A print pattern 11 is formed on the print subject 1, and a print pattern 21 is formed on the screen 2. The corner of the print pattern 11 formed on the print subject 1 is set as a subject alignment reference position 12, while the screen alignment reference position 22 is located on the screen 2 at a position corresponding to the subject alignment reference position 12 of the print subject 1. A mark is provided. In FIG. 1, four reference positions 12 and 22 for alignment of the printing subject and the plate are provided, but it is sufficient that at least two alignment reference positions 12 and 22 are provided.

  The subject alignment reference position 12 set for the print subject 1 is a position specified by the distances a and b from the corner of the print subject 1 in FIG. It is not a mark written on the mounting table. The small-diameter light source 3 emits light rays upward, and is provided between the print subject 1 and the screen 2 so as to be able to appear and disappear by a numerically controllable driving mechanism. In the embodiment, the minute diameter light beam 30 irradiated by the minute diameter light source 3 is a red laser beam.

  A minute diameter light source 3 is installed directly above the subject alignment reference position 12 of the print subject 1, and a minute diameter light beam 30 is irradiated upward from the minute diameter light source 3. At this time, the screen 2 moves in the X and Y directions so that the minute diameter light beam 30 from the minute diameter light source 3 irradiated from below and the plate alignment reference position 22 coincide with each other. When the minute diameter light beam 30 coincides with the plate alignment reference position 22 of the screen 2, the initial alignment of the screen plate, that is, the so-called coarse alignment is completed. At this position, the screen frame body 20 of the screen 2 is fixed to a plate frame holder (not shown). Fine adjustment of alignment is performed using an alignment camera system or the like, and final alignment is performed.

  Next, an embodiment of a moving mechanism for moving the minute diameter light source 3 between the printing subject 1 and the screen 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. The printing subject 1 is placed on the printing base 40 of the screen printing machine, and the screen 2 (not shown) is provided directly above the printing subject 1. Reference numeral 41 denotes a pair of movable stands provided at both ends of the printing base 40, which has substantially the same width as the printing base 40 and is movable to guide rails 42 laid on the side end of the printing base 40. It is placed. A first ball screw shaft 43 is provided in a direction parallel to the guide rail 42, and the first ball screw shaft 43 is screwed to a female screw member 44 provided integrally with the movable frame 41. In addition, since the first ball screw shaft 43 is connected to a drive motor 45 that is driven by numerical control, the movable frame 41 moves on the guide rail 42 by the rotation of the first ball screw shaft 43. It is supposed to move.

  The moving gantry 41 is provided with a pair of movement receiving pedestals 51 that can move in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving gantry 41. The pair of movement receiving bases 51 are movable along the guide rail 52 and in the same axial direction, but each has a driving means. Reference numeral 53 denotes a second ball screw shaft provided in a direction parallel to the guide rail 52, and is screwed to a female screw member 54 provided integrally with the movement receiving base 51. The second ball screw shaft 53 is connected to a drive motor 55 that is driven by numerical control. Therefore, the movement cradle 51 moves along the guide rail 52 by the rotation of the second ball screw shaft 53.

  The moving pedestal 51 is equipped with a laser pointer that irradiates the minute diameter light source 3 described above, specifically, the minute diameter light beam 30 that is a red laser beam. As described above, the minute diameter light source 3 emits a minute diameter light beam in the upward direction.

  In addition, the moving cradle 51 is provided with a television camera 60 for executing the alignment camera system. Since the TV camera 60 has an imaging unit facing downward and takes an image of the upper surface of the print subject 1, the movement cradle 51 on which the movement cradle 51 is placed moves the movement cradle 51. A long hole 46 is formed at the bottom to enable photographing within a range, and the photographing port of the TV camera 60 faces the long hole 46. In the figure, reference numeral 47 denotes a transparent acrylic plate in which the upper opening of the movable frame 41 is closed.

  Next, the operation of the moving mechanism of the minute diameter light source 3 will be described. The subject alignment reference position 12 set for the print pattern 11 of the print subject 1 is set on the distance a and the dimension B from the corner of the print pattern 11. Then, control numerical values are input to the drive motors 45 and 55 connected to the first and second ball screw shafts 43 and 53 so that the minute diameter light source 3 moves from the original position by the distance a and the dimension b. When the first and second ball screw shafts 43 and 53 are rotated by driving the drive motors 45 and 55, the moving base 41 is moved by the size of “a” by the rotation of the first ball screw shaft 43, and at the same time, the second ball screw shaft is moved. Due to the rotation of the shaft 53, the movement cradle 51 moves by the “B” dimension, and the minute diameter light source 3 reaches the set subject alignment reference position 12.

  Since the minute diameter light source 3 irradiates the minute diameter light beam 30 as a laser beam upward, the mark serving as the plate alignment reference position 22 provided on the printing pattern 21 of the screen 2 and the minute diameter light beam irradiated from below. By matching 30, coarse alignment at the initial stage of setup is performed.

  In the embodiment, the alignment of the minute diameter light beam 30 from the minute diameter light source 3 and the plate alignment reference position 22 of the screen 2 can be brought close to about 0.1 mm by one operation. Further fine adjustments are made with the alignment camera system or the like using the television camera 60 with the print position obtained by the above operation as a reference.

The schematic diagram explaining the alignment method of a screen version. The top view which shows the whole position alignment apparatus. The enlarged plan view which shows the principal part of a position alignment apparatus. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal front view in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal side view in FIG. 3.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print subject 11 Print pattern 12 Subject alignment reference position 2 Screen 20 Screen frame 21 Print pattern 22 Plate alignment reference position 3 Small diameter light source 30 Small diameter light beam 40 Printing base 41 Moving stand 42 Guide rail 43 First ball screw Shaft 44 Female screw member 45 Drive motor 46 Long hole 47 Transparent acrylic plate 51 Movement receiving stand 52 Guide rail 53 Second ball screw shaft 54 Female screw member 55 Drive motor 60 TV camera

Claims (3)

  A subject alignment reference position (12) is set for the print subject (1), and a mark to be the plate alignment reference position (22) is provided on the screen (2), and a small diameter light source is provided between the print subject and the screen. (3) is provided so that it can be moved in and out, and the minute diameter light source is set at the reference position for subject alignment and irradiated with a minute diameter light beam (30) upward, and the plate alignment of the minute diameter light beam and the screen is performed. A method for aligning plates in screen printing, wherein the initial alignment is performed by matching reference positions. A subject alignment reference position (12) is set for the print subject (1), and a mark to be the plate alignment reference position (22) is provided on the screen (2), and the subject alignment reference position set for the print subject is set. A small-diameter light source (3) capable of emitting a small-diameter beam upward and upward is installed, and a pair of movable platforms (41) that can be moved at both ends of the printing base (40) are provided. the mobile cradle (51) movable perpendicular to the direction in which the moving direction of the moving platform is provided, the moving platform and the mobile cradle is screwed to the ball screw shaft (43, 53), said ball screw shaft numerical control is connected a driving motor (45, 55) is operated driven by, by matching the plate alignment reference position provided in the small diameter beam and the screen, which is irradiated from the minute diameter light, the print object Edition alignment apparatus in a screen printing, characterized in that allowed the alignment of screen plate that. The plate alignment method and apparatus for screen printing according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the minute diameter light source (3) is a laser pointer that emits a minute diameter light beam as a laser beam.

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