JPH0429758B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a plating processing apparatus for plating a plate-like work such as a printed circuit board.

(Prior art) Conventionally, this type of processing equipment attaches multiple workpieces to a frame-shaped jig and performs plating processing. Specifically, the workpieces are placed together with the jig in a processing tank (for example, plating The jig and workpiece are then lowered and immersed in the processing tank, and after a predetermined period of time, the jig and workpiece are pulled up and transported horizontally to the top of the next processing tank. There is. In this way, with conventional equipment, in addition to transporting jigs and workpieces horizontally, it is also necessary to raise and lower them, which takes time to raise and lower.
There is a problem of low production capacity. There is also the problem that the equipment cost increases because a lifting device is required. Moreover, in order to perform the lifting and lowering operations, the jig needs to be constructed in a frame shape as described above, which increases the cost of the jig.

(Object of the Invention) In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention aims to provide an apparatus that does not require lifting and lowering operations, that is, an apparatus that can perform a series of processing only by horizontal conveying operations. be.

(Structure of the Invention) In the present invention, a plurality of processing tanks for plating processing are arranged in series along the workpiece transport direction, and a workpiece transport mechanism is arranged above the processing tank group, and the workpiece transport mechanism A rail-like member extending along the entire length of the processing tank group, and a work-holding clamp that suspends and holds a piece-like plate-like workpiece in a vertical position and moves horizontally along the rail-like member,
A partition wall between adjacent processing tanks is provided with an inlet/outlet through which the workpiece passes, and the inlet/outlet is provided with a pair of sealing rollers rotatable around a vertical axis and pressed against each other to prevent processing liquid from flowing out. It is a feature.

(Example) In FIG. 1, which is a schematic plan view, a plurality of processing tanks 1, plating tanks 2, and post-processing tanks 3 are arranged in series, forming a processing tank group 4 as a whole. The pre-treatment tank 1 and the post-treatment tank 3 are specifically composed of a washing tank, a neutralization tank, a recovery tank, etc., and the plating tank 2 is specifically a nickel plating tank, a gold strike tank, and a gold plating tank. It is configured. A transport mechanism 5 is provided above the processing tank group 4 over its entire length.
As will be described later, the transport mechanism 5 transports the work in the direction of arrow F along the longitudinal direction of the processing tank group 4, and loads the workpieces at the upstream and downstream ends of the processing tank group 4, respectively, when viewed in the transport direction F. station 6
(workpiece mounting part) and unloading station 7
(workpiece attachment part) is provided. In the illustrated embodiment, an endless chain is used in the transport mechanism 5, and the processing tanks 1, 2, and 3 are arranged in a line, so that the workpieces pass through the processing tanks 1, 2, and 3 only when being transported in the direction of arrow F. However, processing tanks 1, 2, and 3 should be arranged in two rows so that workpieces pass through processing tanks 1, 2, and 3 during the reciprocating stroke (in the direction of arrow F and reverse arrow F). You can also do it.

In FIG. 2, which is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, the plating tank 2 is installed on a frame 8. A pair of side walls 9 (walls extending along the conveyance direction F in FIG. 1) of the plating tank 2 are provided with a wall surface 10 projecting outward and upward at the top thereof.
An overflow plating tank pocket 2a is formed. The pocket 2a is connected to a frame pipe 11 below the plating tank 2 via a passage (not shown). The lower part of the pipe 11 enters the receiving tank 12, and the circulation pump 1 is connected to the receiving tank 12.
3 entrances are connected. The circulation pump 13 is provided near the plating tank 2, and its outlet is connected to a pair of pipes 14 via a passage 13a. The pipe 14 extends horizontally along the bottom of the plating tank 2 along the side wall 9, and the lower ends of vertical pipes 15 are connected to a plurality of locations of the pipe 14. The pipes 15 are arranged in two rows along the longitudinal direction of the side wall 9. As will be described later, the workpiece W is conveyed in a vertical position between two rows of pipes 15, and each pipe 15 is provided with a plurality of nozzles for ejecting plating liquid toward the workpiece W. .

As is clear from the above description, spouting the plating liquid toward the workpiece W from the nozzle of the pipe 15 can speed up the plating process. Also, the plating liquid overflowing from the side wall 9 flows into the plating tank pocket 2a and flows from the pocket 2a to the pipe 1.
1. It returns to the circulation pump 13 via the receiving tank 12, and is injected from the circulation pump 13 towards the workpiece W via the passage 13a, the pipe 14, and the pipe 15. A lid 2b for closing the opening at the upper end of the plating tank 2 is provided at the upper end of the wall surface 10. Also, one wall surface 1
An exhaust duct 2c that communicates with the inside of the plating tank 2 and extends upward is attached to the plating tank 0.

The conveyance mechanism 5 is attached to a frame 16 extending above the plating tank 2, and is specifically constructed as follows. Figure 3 is an enlarged partial view of Figure 2.
In the figure, a bracket 17 is attached to the upper and lower surface of the frame 16, and a chain case 18 is supported by the bracket 17. The chain case 18 is a rail-shaped member having a generally rectangular cross section, and extends along the entire length of the processing tank group 4 (FIG. 1).
is designed to run while being guided by rollers 19a. The upper end of a chain plate 20 bent in a generally U-shape is attached to the upper surface of the chain 19. The upper end of an arm 21 extending vertically is fixed to the lower end of the chain plate 20, and a clamp 22 for holding a workpiece W, which will be described later, is attached to the lower end of the arm 21.

The upper ends of a power supply member 23 on the positive power supply side and power supply members 24 and 25 on the negative power supply side are attached to the frame 16. The power supply member 23 extends to near the top of the plating tank 2 on both sides of the arm 21 . An electrode plate 26 is provided in the plating tank 2 between the side walls 9 and the pipe 15, and the lower end of the power supply member 23 is connected to the electrode plate 26. The lower ends of the power supply members 24 and 25 are located on both sides of the upper part of the arm 21 and are adapted to come into contact with a carbon brush 27 attached to the arm 21. The lid 2b is provided with a strip through which the power supply member 23 and the arm 21 pass. Note that either one of the power supply members 24 and 25 may be eliminated.

As shown in FIG. 4, which is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 3, the clamp 22 includes two vertical arms 30, 31. Pins 32 made of stainless steel or the like are driven concentrically into the lower ends of the arms 30 and 31.
A pressure contact portion 33 is formed by the head portion of 2. The pressure contact part 33 is a part for holding the upper edge of the workpiece W from both sides, and the workpiece W held by the pressure contact part 33
is vertical and its surface is parallel to the conveying direction F (FIG. 1). A plate-shaped stopper 34 is fixed to the arm 30 near the upper side of the pin 32. The stopper 34 is a member for determining the upper limit position of the workpiece W, and protrudes to the vicinity of the arm 31 to prevent the workpiece W from moving above the stopper 34. A horizontal pin 35 is fitted and fixed in a hole in the arm 30 above the stopper 34. The pin 35 extends perpendicularly to the workpiece W and slidably passes through the hole in the arm 31. A pin 36 that is horizontal and parallel to the surface of the work W is attached to the tip of the pin 35, and a cam 37 is rotatably connected to the pin 35 via the pin 36. A rod-shaped handle 38 is attached to the cam 37.
is installed.

As shown in the figure, when the handle 38 is horizontal and tilted away from the arm 31, the cam 37 is not pushing the arm 31, and a relatively wide gap is formed between the pressure contact parts 33. When the handle 38 is turned upward from this state to the vertical position shown by the two-dot chain line 38a, the cam 37 pushes the arm 31 toward the arm 30, and the workpiece W can be sandwiched between the pressure contact parts 33. In order to enable movement of the arm 31, the upper end of the arm 31 is bolted to a member 41 via a leaf spring-like member 40. The member 41 is fixed to the lower end of the arm 21, and the member 40 and the arm 3 are attached to both sides of the member 41.
0 is fixed with a bolt 42.

As shown in FIG. 5, which is a view taken from the - arrow in FIG. 4, the member 41 extends along the upper line of the workpiece W, and its intermediate portion is bolted to the arm 21. A pair of the arms 30 and the member 40 are fixed to both ends of the member 41. The carbon brush 27 is fixed to both ends of a member 43 parallel to the member 41, and the intermediate portion of this member 43 is also bolted to the arm 21. The arms 21, 31 and member 41 are made of copper, the member 40 is made of phosphor bronze, and the arm 31 is made of stainless steel, and all of them are coated.

As shown in FIG. 1, a partition wall 50 is provided at the upstream and downstream ends of the plating tank 2, and a guide 51 and a seal mechanism 52 are provided at the upstream and downstream sides of the partition wall 50, respectively. As shown in FIG. 6, which is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 1, the partition wall 50 is provided with an inlet 53 (or outlet) in the form of a vertically long slit at the middle portion in the width direction. The guide 51 has a plate shape, is fixed to the upstream side surface of the partition wall 50 and the peripheral edge of the inlet 53 when viewed in the transport direction F, and is provided with an inclined protrusion 55 for guiding the workpiece, which opens toward the upstream side. . The sealing mechanism 52 includes a pair of vertical pinch rollers 5 located on both sides of the workpiece W.
6 and a case 57 that supports the roller 56. The case 57 has a wall surface 58 fixed to the partition wall 50 and a wall surface 59 surrounding the roller 56 from the side wall 9 side.
and a wall surface 60 surrounding the roller 56 from the side opposite to the wall surface 58. The outer peripheral surface of the roller 56 is in slidable contact with the inner surfaces of the wall surface 58 and the wall surface 60, and a generally sealed state is maintained at these contact portions.

As shown in FIG. 7, which is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6, the roller 56 has a hollow metal body 61 whose outer surface (outer peripheral surface and both upper and lower end surfaces) is covered with an outer skin 62 made of a flexible elastic body with a rubber hardness of 50 or less. It is configured. The outer skin 62 is made of natural rubber to prevent corrosion due to processing liquid. Both upper and lower end surfaces of the roller 56 (outer skin 62) also slidably contact the upper wall 63 and bottom wall 64 of the case 57 in a sealed state. The roller 56 is provided with vertical shafts 66, 67 that project downwardly and upwardly. The lower shaft 66 is the case 57
The shaft 66 is supported by a bearing 68 fixed to the frame and protrudes downward from the bearing 68.
Gears 69 that mesh with each other are fixed to the lower ends of the . The upper shaft 67 is supported by a bearing 70 fixed to the case 57. The shaft 67 on the right side in FIG. 7 protrudes above the bearing 70, and a drive mechanism 71, which will be described later, is connected to its upper end. As is clear from the above description, the pair of rollers 56 and the case 57 are configured as one unit, and by fixing this unit to the partition wall 50 in FIG. 6, the sealing mechanism 52 can be easily installed. can do.

When one roller 56 is rotated via the shaft 67 by the drive mechanism 71, the shaft 66
The other roller 56 rotates in the opposite direction via the gear 69 and the pair of rollers 56 can grip and convey the workpiece W. and roller 56
The workpiece W is moved at the same speed as the workpiece conveyance speed by the conveyance mechanism 5 (FIG. 2), and for this purpose, a DC motor is used as the drive mechanism 71 in FIG. Moreover, instead of this DC motor, the following mechanism can also be adopted.
That is, in FIG. 3, the sprocket 72 that meshes with the chain 19 is placed on the side of the chain 19,
The vertical shaft 73 of the sprocket 72 may be connected to the shaft 67 of FIG. 7, for example, via a universal joint or a reduction mechanism (both not shown).

As shown in Fig. 1, the partition walls 5 of the pre-treatment tank 1 and the post-treatment tank 3
0 is also provided with a slit-shaped entrance/exit for the workpiece W to pass through, so that the workpiece W only needs to be transported in the horizontal direction F in the pretreatment tank 1 and the posttreatment tank 3 as well. Further, although the sealing mechanism 52 is provided only in the plating tank 2, the guide 51 is also provided in the pre-treatment tank 1 and the post-treatment tank 3. In the pre-treatment tank and the post-treatment tank 3, there is a vertical pipe 7 having shower nozzles on both sides of the part through which the workpiece W passes.
5 is arranged so that water or processing liquid is sprayed from a pipe 75 toward both sides of the workpiece W.

(Operation) A series of processing is performed by horizontally transporting the work W by the transport mechanism 5 and passing it through the pre-processing tank 1, the plating tank 2, and the post-processing tank 3. In this conveyance work, the upper edge of the workpiece W is clamped using the clamp 22 shown in FIG.
This is done by holding the arm 21 between the arms and moving the arm 21 with the chain 19 in this state. In addition, in the plating tank 2, the power supply plate 26 is connected from the power supply member 23 to the power supply plate 26.
At the same time, power is supplied to the arm 21 from the power supply members 24 and 25 via the brush 27, and from the arm 21 to the member 41 in FIG. 4, the arms 30 and 31,
Power is supplied to the workpiece W via the pin 32. In this power supply operation, power is supplied to the workpiece W.
The pressure welding is performed from the pressure welding part 33 which is in pressure contact with the plating liquid, and since the pressure welding part 33 is located above or approximately at the same position as the level L of the plating liquid, the workpiece W that the pressure welding part 33 comes into pressure contact with is
No plating layer is formed on the parts. The plating liquid in the plating tank 2 tries to flow out from the inlet 53 shown in FIG. Therefore, leakage of plating solution is almost completely prevented. Although the roller 56 is in pressure contact with the workpiece W, the outer skin 62 of the roller 56 is made of rubber, and the roller 56 is rotated by the device 5 in synchronization with the conveyance operation of the workpiece W. It will not damage the workpiece W.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, lifting and lowering of the workpiece W is unnecessary in a series of plating processing operations, and the workpiece W only needs to be transported in the horizontal direction. Reduce transportation time,
Production efficiency can be increased. Furthermore, since no lifting equipment is required, equipment costs can also be reduced. Furthermore, since the workpiece W is transported only in the horizontal direction, it is only necessary to hang the workpiece W by holding its upper end with the clamp 22, and the conventional frame-shaped jig can be abolished, and in this respect as well, costs can be reduced, and Loading and loading operations can be simplified.

(Modified example) As the sealing mechanism 52, a lip-shaped elastic body can be used instead of the roller 56, or a structure in which the width of the inlet 53 is simply narrowed to a value extremely close to the thickness of the workpiece W can be adopted. You can also do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 3, and FIG. is the fourth
6 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 6. 1, 2, 3...processing tank, 5...workpiece conveyance mechanism, 5
0...Partition wall, 52...Seal mechanism, 53...Inlet, F...
Conveyance direction, W...Workpiece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A plurality of processing tanks for plating processing are arranged in series along the workpiece transport direction, a workpiece transport mechanism is arranged above the processing tank group, and the workpiece transport mechanism is arranged along the entire length of the processing tank group. It is equipped with an extending rail-like member and a work-holding clamp that hangs and holds a piece-like plate-like workpiece in a vertical position and moves horizontally along the rail-like member, and the workpiece is attached to a partition wall between adjacent processing tanks. A plating process for a plate-like workpiece, characterized in that an entrance and exit is provided through which the fluid passes, and the entrance and exit is provided with a pair of sealing rollers that are rotatable about a vertical axis and are in pressure contact with each other to prevent processing liquid from flowing out. Device.