JP5210759B2 - Manufacturing method of electroforming mold - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electroforming mold.

  Conventionally, in producing a resin molded product, an electroforming mold may be used. An electroforming mold is a mold obtained by applying electroplating. Electrodeposition is performed by depositing metal with a predetermined thickness on the surface of a master mold (mandrel) using electrolysis of a metal solution. Then, the electrodeposition layer is obtained by peeling the electrodeposition layer from the master mold (negative mold) and has a surface shape completely opposite to the master mold. By molding using this electroforming mold, the surface shape of the master mold can be transferred to the resin molded product. Moreover, according to this electrocasting die, there is an advantage that a fine surface shape can be formed (transferred) with high accuracy by depositing a metal on the surface of the master die.

For this reason, an electroforming mold is often used when manufacturing a resin molded product having a fine surface shape such as an instrument panel of a vehicle, such as a skin squeeze (reed), but this squeezing is replicated. However, leather (genuine leather) has been used in some cases. Specifically, a model having an outer shape to be a foundation is first created, a silicon type (concave type) is produced based on the surface of the model with leather applied, and a mandrel as a master type using this concave type. The mandrel was used to obtain an electroforming mold. Furthermore, interior parts such as instrument panels for automobiles have complex shapes, and it is difficult to paste them without distortion or gaps on models with natural outer shapes, such as natural leather. An embossing roll produced by reversing the process is manufactured, and a soft and thin resin sheet (skin) that has been squeezed and pressed with the embossing roll is attached as an alternative to genuine leather to produce a silicon mold (concave mold) similar to genuine leather. Was used to mold a mandrel as a master mold, and an electroforming mold was obtained using this mandrel.
JP-A-9-38832 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-175893

  However, in the above conventional method, when an embossing roll is manufactured from leather (drawing master), a silicon mold is created from a model with a leather-attached skin when the embossing roll is used to squeeze and process the leather skin. At the same time, since there are many reversal processes, a fine surface shape such as a leather squeezing (wrinkle) deteriorates without being accurately transferred, and it is difficult to faithfully reproduce the surface shape of the leather. Since the aperture or the like has a fine surface shape, the data amount becomes enormous and calculation processing becomes difficult with normal CAD (Computer Assisted Drawing) data (surface model or polygon).

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an electroforming mold capable of faithfully reproducing the surface shape of the drawing master by directly processing the drawing on the mandrel. There is.

  The method for producing an electroforming mold according to the present invention includes a step of generating a surface image of the aperture master (S11), and a step of creating surface shape data representing the fine surface irregularities of the aperture master from the surface image (S12). And a step (S1) of producing a master die (4) having a fine surface irregularity shape by processing the surface (4a) of the material (4M) of the master die (4) based on the surface shape data; Forming an electrodeposition layer on the surface of the mold (4), and peeling the electrodeposition layer from the master mold (4) to produce an electroforming mold (5) as a negative mold (S2).

  According to the method for manufacturing an electroforming mold according to the present invention, the surface (4a) of the material (4M) of the master mold (4) is directly processed using the surface shape data created from the surface image of the aperture master. Thus, the master mold (4) is produced, so that the surface shape of the aperture master can be faithfully reproduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of master manufacturing system]
First, the configuration of a master type manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a master mold manufacturing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a surface shape data creating apparatus 20 that creates surface shape data of a master mold, and a master mold material based on the created surface shape data. And a master mold manufacturing apparatus 10 that obtains a master mold 4 by processing 4M.

  The surface shape data creation device 20 is configured as a computer including a calculation unit, a storage unit, an input / output unit, and the like, for example. In this case, the surface shape data creation device 20 performs arithmetic processing according to the installed predetermined program to obtain surface shape data input to the master type manufacturing device 10. A method for creating the surface shape data will be described later.

  The master type manufacturing apparatus 10 is configured as, for example, a numerical control device (NC, machining center, etc.) that three-dimensionally processes a material according to input data. In this case, the master mold manufacturing apparatus 10 performs cutting and grinding by driving a tool (for example, an end mill, a bite, a drill, etc.) 11 while moving it three-dimensionally based on the input surface shape data (three-dimensional data). , Polishing or the like is performed to obtain a master die 4 having irregularities according to the surface shape data.

In the master type manufacturing apparatus 10, the tool 11 used for processing is not limited to one or one type, and a plurality of tools 11 may be used simultaneously, or an automatic changer (ATC: Automatic Tool Changer). May be replaced automatically. Further, the processing may be performed by using a laser beam (CO ₂ , YAG, excimer laser, etc.), an electron beam, electron beam drawing, or the like without using the tool 11. A plurality of processing steps, such as processing that is not possible, may be combined.

[Method of manufacturing electroforming mold]
Next, with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the manufacturing method of the electrocasting die using the said master type | mold manufacturing system is demonstrated.

  When manufacturing an electroforming mold, first, a master mold material 4M is manufactured (step S1). In the process of step S1, a material 4M in a form that can be processed by the master mold manufacturing apparatus 10 is prepared. The material 4M may be configured to be somewhat larger than the master mold 4 and have a rough uneven shape. In this case, the material of the material 4M (master mold 4) can be, for example, a synthetic resin, a metal member, or the like. Especially, when an epoxy resin, lost wax, brass, phosphor bronze, or the like is used, the time required for cutting is short. This contributes to shortening the construction period.

  Next, the master mold 4 is manufactured by performing predetermined processing on the master mold material 4M using the master mold manufacturing apparatus 10 (step S2, FIG. 3A). In the process of step S2, in the master mold manufacturing apparatus 10, processing such as cutting, grinding, and polishing is performed on the material 4M by using the movable tool 11, and in particular, the surface 4a of the material 4M is finely processed. Unevenness is formed.

  Next, an electroforming mold (negative mold) 5 is manufactured using the master mold 4 formed by the process of step S2 (step S3). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3B, first, an energization process (for example, electroless silver mirror process, sputtering, electrostatic vapor deposition, etc.) is performed, and an electroplating process (for example, nickel thick plating, nickel + phosphorus, A metal (for example, nickel (thickening), nickel + phosphorous, copper + phosphorus, copper, etc.) with a predetermined thickness on the surface 4a of the master mold 4 by using electrolysis of a metal solution. ) Is deposited and electrodeposited, and then, as shown in FIG. 3C, the electrodeposition layer is peeled off from the master mold 4 to obtain the electroforming mold 5.

[Method of creating surface shape data]
Next, with reference to FIG. 4 thru | or FIG. 9, the preparation method of the surface shape data by the surface shape data preparation apparatus 20 is demonstrated.

  When creating surface shape data, first, coordinate information (X, Y) on the leather (aperture master) surface while moving the measurement area at a predetermined interval using an optical three-dimensional measuring device having a predetermined measurement area size. , Z) is measured (step S10). In general, there are few measuring devices capable of measuring coordinate information of a wide area with high resolution. Therefore, in the present embodiment, an optical three-dimensional measuring device manufactured by GFM is used as the optical three-dimensional measuring device, and the measurement area is 11.458 mm (equivalent to 1280 pixels when converted to a pixel value) × 8.8636 mm (pixel value) A rectangular shape with a size equivalent to 1024 pixels is set. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, adjacent measurement areas A1, A2, A3 (other areas are not shown) are regions O1 (measurement areas A1, A2). The coordinate information (X, Y, Z) is measured while moving the measurement area at intervals of 10 mm or less so that they overlap each other in the overlapping area) and O2 (the overlapping area of the measurement areas A1 and A3), and the final surface shape data As a result, a product having a size of 100 mm × 100 mm or more was obtained. According to such a measurement method, even if the measurement area is large, the measurement data per measurement area does not become enormous, so there is no difficulty in data processing, and the coordinate information on the leather surface can be obtained in a short time. Can be measured.

  Next, the measurement data obtained by the process of step S10 by replacing the X, Y (in-plane position) information with the pixel position and the Z (height) information with the color density information (256 gradations from 0 to 255). Is converted into an RGB gray image (step S11). By converting the measurement data into an RGB gray image, a color density distribution image that is accurate height information can be created. Next, for each of the plurality of RGB gray images, the plurality of RGB gray images are combined while correcting the image density in the region overlapping with the other RGB gray images (regions O1 and O2 shown in FIG. 5). Then, surface shape data representing the surface unevenness shape of the pattern master is created (step S12). Thereafter, the surface shape data created in consideration of the transfer rate to the master die 4 is corrected for enlargement or reduction, and then the master die 4 is produced using the surface shape data.

  Specifically, the image density correction process is executed as follows. That is, as an example, the measurement areas A1 and A3 that overlap in the region O2 in FIG. 5 will be described. The image density of the RGB gray image is the overlapped region (X coordinate = R1 to R2 as shown in FIG. 6). 7), when the RGB gray images are combined as they are, the overlapping region O2 as shown in FIG. 7 is obtained. At the center position (X coordinate = Rc, corresponding to the position of L2 in FIG. 5), the image density changes greatly (about 20 gradations), and the superposition of the surface shape data becomes conspicuous. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the image density in the region O2 is 50:50, as shown in FIG. 8, in the center line L2 of the region O2, the ratio between the image density of one surface image and the image density of the other surface image is 50:50. As shown in FIG. 9, the correction is performed so that the image density continuously changes in the region O2 and the image density is continuously connected to the image density of the surface image at the end of the region O2. The surface shape data is such that the image density does not change significantly at the center position (X coordinate = Rc) of the area being processed.

  The same applies to the measurement areas A1 and A2 that overlap in the region O1, and the image density in the region O1 is the image density of one surface image at the center line L1 of the region O1, as shown in FIG. The image density continuously changes in the region O1 so that the ratio of the image density of the other surface image is 50:50, and the image density is continuously the image density of the surface image at the end of the region O1. Correct so that it leads to

  In the present embodiment, final surface shape data having a size of 100 mm × 100 mm or more is obtained. By setting the size of the surface shape data to 100 mm × 100 mm or more, it is possible to prevent the repetition of the surface shape data from being recognized when the surface shape data is repeatedly processed into the master mold 4.

  In this embodiment, the overlap area width is about 25 pixels, but other values may be used. The ratio of the image density of one surface image to the image density of the other surface image is 50:50, but other values may be used.

  As is apparent from the above description, in the method for manufacturing an electroforming mold according to the embodiment of the present invention, the material (4M) of the master mold (4) is obtained using the surface shape data created from the surface image of the aperture master. Since the master mold (4) is produced by directly processing the surface (4a), the surface shape of the aperture master can be faithfully reproduced.

  As mentioned above, although the embodiment to which the invention made by the present inventor is applied has been described, the present invention is not limited by the description and the drawings that form part of the disclosure of the present invention according to this embodiment. For example, it can be applied to the simultaneous processing of the design surface, drawing process, and matte fine shape (micro mat) of various molds such as injection molding, injection compression, injection press, blow molding mold, vacuum molding mold and the like. In addition, since machining from rough cutting to fine squeezing and concavo-convex shape is possible with a machining center, ground sewing grooves for genuine leather sewing, thread shape for stitch sewing, marks, emblems, engraving shapes for character shapes, matte fine dimples ( It is possible to process directly on the mold surface including the (micro mat) shape. In either case, it contributes to shortening the mold production period and cost. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present invention can be handled by applying image data of a surface shape created by a PC (Personal Computer), and a design having a new fine shape aperture can be realized. As described above, it should be added that other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a schematic block diagram of the master type | mold manufacturing system used with the manufacturing method of the electrocasting metal mold | die used as embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the manufacturing method of the electrocasting metal mold | die used as embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows each process of the manufacturing method of the electrocasting metal mold | die used as embodiment of this invention in order of (a)-(c). It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the preparation method of the surface shape data used as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the measuring method of the coordinate information used as embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the image data of the RGB gray image obtained as a result of the measurement process shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing image data obtained when the image data shown in FIG. 6 are combined without correcting the image density. It is a figure for demonstrating the correction method of the image density which becomes embodiment of this invention. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing image data obtained when the image data shown in FIG. 6 is combined after the image density is corrected by the processing shown in FIG. 8.

Explanation of symbols

4: Master mold 4M: (Master mold) material 4a: Surface 5: Electroforming mold

Claims (5)

Generating a surface image of the aperture master (S11);
Creating surface shape data representing the fine surface irregularities of the aperture master from the surface image (S12);
A step (S1) of producing a master die (4) having a fine surface irregularity shape by processing the surface (4a) of the material (4M) of the master die (4) based on the surface shape data;
Forming an electrodeposition layer on the surface of the master mold (4), peeling the electrodeposition layer from the master mold (4) to produce an electrocasting mold (5) as a negative mold (S2); A method for producing an electroforming mold, comprising:   The method for producing an electroforming mold according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of surface images are generated in the step (S11) of generating a surface image of the drawing master, and a plurality of surfaces are generated in the step (S12) of generating surface shape data. A method for manufacturing an electroforming mold, wherein the surface shape data is created by combining images.   3. The method for manufacturing an electroforming mold according to claim 1, wherein the surface image is an RGB gray image in which a surface unevenness shape is represented by a color density. 3. The method of manufacturing an electroforming mold according to claim 2, wherein the step of creating surface shape data (S12) superimposes a plurality of adjacent surface images so that a part of each overlaps, and the overlap. The ratio of the image density of one surface image to the image density of the other surface image is set to a predetermined value at a substantially central position of the area being changed, and the image density continuously changes in the area; and A method for producing an electroforming mold, wherein surface shape data obtained by correcting an image density so as to be continuously connected to an image density of each surface image at an end of a region is created. The method of manufacturing an electroforming mold according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of surface images are generated in the step (S11) of generating a surface image of the aperture master, and a plurality of surface images are generated in the step (S12) of generating surface shape data. To create surface shape data,
The surface image is an RGB gray image representing surface irregularities by color density,
In the step of creating surface shape data (S12), a plurality of adjacent surface images are overlapped so that each part thereof overlaps, and an image of one surface image at the substantially center position of the overlapping region. The ratio between the density and the image density of the other surface image is set to a predetermined value, the image density continuously changes within the area, and the image density becomes the image density of each surface image at the end of the area. A method for producing an electroforming mold, wherein surface shape data corrected so as to be continuously connected is created.

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