JP7763393B2 - Name marking method for wooden products - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to improvements in wood product processing technology, and more specifically to a method and structure for marking wooden products, which allows for the production of clear, beautifully finished letters with good adhesion and no bleeding of coloring agents, even in the narrow, shallow grooves that create letters when marking the surfaces of wooden products such as furniture.

In recent years, a process has become common in which a portion of the surface of wooden products such as furniture is carved or engraved directly onto the product. This can add significant value to a product or service, as it creates a sense of ownership and improves the design, particularly in gifts and beloved items.

Conventional methods for this type of marking process involve irradiating the surface of a pre-made wooden substrate with a laser beam, evaporating or carbonizing the wood components of the wooden substrate, and forming the desired letters, figures, etc. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

However, unlike shapes and patterns, characters such as names usually have the characteristic that the "handwriting" is formed in stripes of roughly uniform width, so in order for the characters to appear on the surface of the wooden substrate, it is necessary to form thin grooves.

When coloring such narrow grooves, the viscosity and surface tension of the coloring agent can prevent it from penetrating the grooves properly when trying to adhere it to the inner surface of the grooves, and air bubbles can become trapped at the bottom of the grooves and become difficult to remove.

Furthermore, due to the porous nature of wood, the surface of the wooden substrate is easily impregnated with liquid, which poses the problem of colorants and other substances unintentionally seeping into the sides of the grooves and bleeding out.

In particular, the grooves taper at the "jump" and "sweep" parts, which are characteristic geometric elements of the characters, resulting in shallow, narrow parts at the edges, which can easily cause the colorant to spill out or bleed during the coloring process.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-230470

The present invention was made in light of the problems with conventional wood product processing techniques, as described above. Its purpose is to provide a method and structure for marking wooden products that allows for the production of clear, beautifully finished letters with good adhesion and no bleeding of coloring agents, even in the narrow, shallow grooves that create letters when marking the surface of wooden products such as furniture.

The means adopted by the inventor to solve the above technical problems is as follows, with reference to the attached drawings.

That is, in the present invention, a masking tape 5 is applied to the surface of a wooden substrate 1 having a protective coating 11, and the gap between the wooden substrate 1 and the masking tape 5 is deaerated to bring them into close contact with each other.
A laser beam L is irradiated onto the surface of the masking tape 5 to form grooves 12 in the shape of handwriting of characters having a predetermined width.
A large amount of primer 20 made of vinyl resin is used in the internal space of the groove portion 12, and the primer 20 is filled up to the surface of the masking tape 5 or above to impregnate the wooden substrate 1 , and the primer 20 is dried and hardened to form a first base layer 21.
A primer 20 is further applied to the surface of the first base layer 21, and the primer 20 is dried and cured to form a second base layer 22.
A coloring agent 4 is applied to the surface of the second base layer 22 and dried.
A coating agent 30 made of a vinyl resin is applied to the surface of the coloring agent 4, and the coating agent 30 is dried and hardened to form a top coat layer 3.
Peel off the masking tape 5,
By adopting a technical measure of removing burrs 31 including at least the first base layer 21 formed on the edge of the groove portion 12 as the top coat layer 3 hardens, a method for marking wooden products has been completed.

In this invention, masking tape is applied to the surface of a wooden substrate having a protective coating, and the gap between the wooden substrate and the masking tape is evacuated to achieve close contact. A laser beam is then irradiated onto the surface of the masking tape to form grooves of a predetermined width in the shape of handwriting. The interior spaces of the grooves are filled with a vinyl resin primer, which is then dried and cured to form a first base layer. A primer is then applied to the surface of the first base layer, which is then dried and cured to form a second base layer. A colorant is then applied to the surface of the second base layer and dried. A vinyl resin coating agent is then applied to the surface of the colorant, which is then dried and cured to form a topcoat layer. The masking tape is then peeled off, and burrs formed on the edges of the grooves due to the hardening of the topcoat layer are removed. This ensures good adhesion and no bleeding of the colorant, even in the shallow, narrow grooves where the letters overlap, resulting in crisp, beautifully finished characters. This method has considerable industrial value.

1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing a name marking method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a photograph showing the appearance of a name marking structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 1 to 11. First, the method for marking wooden products according to the present invention will be described.

First, masking tape 5 is applied to the surface of wooden substrate 1 having protective coating 11, and the space between wooden substrate 1 and masking tape 5 is degassed to allow for close contact (see Figures 1 and 2). The wooden substrate 1 can be made of mahogany, walnut, teak, ash, alder, rubberwood, cedar, pine, cypress, zelkova, beech, oak, maple, boxwood, ebony, rosewood, or other wood, and can be in the form of solid wood, laminated wood, plywood, or other materials.

The protective coating 11 can be made of urethane resin paint (water-based or oil-based urethane varnish), lacquer paint (nitrocellulose as the main component, with alkyd resin, acrylic resin, plasticizer, etc. added), or natural oil paint whose main components are linolenic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, etc.

Furthermore, the masking tape 5 can be made of paper or resin film tape that is difficult to impregnate with liquid, with an acrylic adhesive or rubber adhesive applied to the surface.

A specific method for reliably degassing and adhering the wooden substrate 1 and masking tape 5 is, for example, to rub a protruding object (such as the tip of a ballpoint pen) over the masking tape 5, thereby adhering the wooden substrate 1 and masking tape 5 without damaging them. By adhering them in this way, it is possible to reliably prevent the primer 20, coating agent 30, and colorant 4, described below, from seeping in between them.

Next, a laser beam L is irradiated onto the surface of the masking tape 5 to form handwritten slots 12 of a predetermined width (see Figure 3). The position, time, and output intensity of the laser beam L can be pre-programmed into the irradiation device, and the light source is moved and flashed as appropriate. During this process, the masking tape 5 and wooden substrate 1 irradiated with the laser beam L are instantly vaporized by the high energy, so it is preferable to control the laser beam L to prevent overheating and minimize carbonization of the wooden substrate 1. Furthermore, the shape of the slots 12 is preferably 2 mm or less in width and 2 mm or less in depth.

As shown in Figure 4, the internal space of the grooves 12 is filled with a primer 20 made of a vinyl resin, which is then dried and cured to form the first base layer 21 (see Figure 5). The primer 20 can be a lacquer-based paint made of a vinyl resin, nitrocellulose, and an organic solvent. By using a larger amount of primer 20 in this way, the wood substrate 1 can be reliably impregnated (see the arrow in Figure 5), resulting in the formation of a strong first base layer 21.

Next, a primer 20 is applied to the surface of the first base layer 21, and the primer 20 is dried and cured to form a second base layer 22 (see Figure 6). The first primer 20 can be the same lacquer-based paint as above, and can be applied by spraying. The drying process can be natural drying or hot air drying.

Then, colorant 4 is applied to the surface of this second base layer 22 and allowed to dry (see Figure 7). The colorant 4 can be an acrylic paint mixed with pigment, and can be black, gray, gold, or other colors. Furthermore, a coating agent 30 made of vinyl resin is applied to the surface of this colorant 4, and the coating agent 30 is dried and hardened to form a topcoat layer 3 (see Figure 8).

Then, as shown in Figure 9, the masking tape 5 is peeled off. This causes the top coat layer 3 to harden, inevitably forming burrs 31 around the edges of the slots 12 (see Figure 10). The burrs 31 can then be removed by wiping or cutting to smooth the surface and complete the processing step (see Figure 11).

The above-described name marking method reliably forms handwritten grooves 12 of a predetermined width on the surface of a wooden substrate 1 having a protective coating 11 by irradiation with a laser beam L. The inner surfaces of the grooves 12 are formed with a first base layer 21 impregnated with a primer 20 made of a vinyl resin and cured. A second base layer 22, formed from the cured primer 20, is further formed on the surface of the first base layer 21, and a colorant 4 is applied to the surface of the second base layer 22, thereby reliably forming a name marking structure on the wooden product.

In this embodiment, at least one of the grooves 12 can be tapered at one end, becoming shallower and thinner as it approaches the end, creating a handwritten character. Hiragana, katakana, Roman letters, kanji, and other characters have "bounces" and "sweeps" that are characteristic of their characters, and the depth of grooves 12 of this shape can be easily created by adjusting the amount and duration of irradiation of the laser beam L. To apply the colorant 4 to this area, it is preferable to use a writing brush or paintbrush with a small tip. By ensuring that the colorant 4 reaches the end, the colorant adheres well without bleeding, resulting in clear, beautifully finished characters.

While the present invention is generally configured as described above, it is in no way limited to the illustrated embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. For example, the base layer is not limited to the first base layer 21 and the second base layer 22, and an additional layer can be applied on top of the second base layer 22, and this remains within the technical scope of the present invention.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 wooden substrate 11 protective coating 12 slots 20 primer 21 first base layer
22 Second base layer
30 Coating agent 3 Top coat layer 31 Burr 4 Coloring agent 5 Masking tape L Laser beam

Claims (1)

A masking tape is applied to the surface of the wooden substrate having the protective coating, and the gap between the wooden substrate and the masking tape is degassed to allow them to adhere tightly to each other.
A laser beam is irradiated onto the surface of the masking tape to form grooves in the shape of handwriting of a predetermined width;
A large amount of a primer made of a vinyl resin is used in the internal space of the groove portion, and the primer is filled up to the surface of the masking tape and impregnated into the wooden substrate , and the primer is dried and hardened to form a first base layer.
A primer is further applied to the surface of the first base layer, and the primer is dried and cured to form a second base layer, and then
A coloring agent is applied to the surface of the second base layer and dried.
A coating agent made of a vinyl resin is applied to the surface of the coloring agent, and the coating agent is dried and hardened to form a top coat layer, and then
Peel off the masking tape,
A method for marking a wooden product, characterized in that a burr including at least the first base layer formed on the edge of the slot portion due to hardening of the top coat layer is removed.