JPH0761677B2 - Molding equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a molding apparatus for vacuum forming, pressure forming or vacuum forming a synthetic resin sheet, film or the like (hereinafter, simply referred to as film). The present invention relates to a molding device suitable for use in a device capable of simultaneously painting and molding on the surface of a three-dimensional molded article.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a manufacturing device for a molded product with a painting, the same as the molded product, such as vacuum molding, pressure molding, vacuum pressure molding, etc., using a mold of an injection molding machine on a painting film such as a prepainted thermoplastic synthetic resin. An injection molding simultaneous painting apparatus is known in which a shape is given and then a resin is injected into the mold to perform painting and molding at the same time [for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 57-142398.
No. (JP-A-59-31130)]. In the device disclosed in this patent application, a part of the painting film is drawn out from a roll of strip-shaped painting film on which a large number of patterns are printed at regular intervals to a female mold for vacuum forming and injection molding, and The heating plate and the frame member which were in the position are moved in the longitudinal direction with respect to the painting film to position them at a predetermined position for the pattern, and then the pattern portion is sandwiched between the heating plate and the frame member and heated in this state. The plate and the frame member are moved in the longitudinal direction of the film in the direction opposite to the previous direction (the film is pulled out from the roll at this time), the pattern portion is made to be desired on the cavity surface of the female mold, and then heated by the heating plate. The softened film is attached to the molding surface of the female mold by vacuum forming, then the sandwiching between the heating plate and the frame member is released, and the heating plate and the frame member are repainted for sandwiching the next pattern part. The film is moved in the longitudinal direction to position the next pattern part. On the other hand, the male mold is engaged with the female mold with the film attached to the molding surface to inject the molten resin to separate the resin and the paint film. It is configured to be integrally molded. Therefore, in the above-mentioned device, by repeating the reciprocating motion of the heating plate and the frame member in the longitudinal direction of the decorative film, each pattern portion of the roll-shaped decorative film can be intermittently supplied to the female cavity surface. Is.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in such a conventional device, when a film having a relatively low resistance to heat, which is a thin film (about 40 to 100 μm) is used as a painting film to be used, there arises a problem that the positioning accuracy of the pattern is deteriorated. There was found. That is, in the above-mentioned conventional device, the heating plate and the frame member are moved along the painting film for positioning at a predetermined position with respect to the painting film. At that time, the painting plate before being sandwiched by the heating plate and the frame member is used. It was revealed that the film was heated by the heating plate and expanded and contracted unevenly, which hindered accurate alignment, wrinkles, and distortion of the pattern.

Therefore, the present applicants, as a solution to this problem, instead of transporting the painting film by a heating plate,
The film-feeding device having a take-up roll or a drive roll conveys the picture-bearing film across the position facing the cavity of the female mold, and after positioning a predetermined picture part at the position facing the cavity, the film running path is until then. Move the heating plate standing by at a position laterally away from the working position to face the painting film, press the heating plate against the painting film to heat it, vacuum-form or pressure-form, and then re-heat the heating plate. We have developed a device that is configured to perform injection molding of resin by retracting to the standby position and combining the female mold with the male mold for injection. Here, as the picture-bearing film to be used, there are a case where a transfer film which transfers only a picture to a molded product is used and a case where an overlay film which forms the surface of the molded product is used.

By the way, in this apparatus, it is necessary to retract the heating plate to a standby position laterally separated from the film traveling path. Therefore, as a mechanism, a structure in which the heating plate reciprocates in a direction parallel to the heating surface by an air cylinder is used. The most common. However, in that structure, in addition to the space for linearly moving the heating plate in the lateral direction, the space for the driving air cylinder is required, which causes a problem that a long space is required in the lateral direction of the molding machine. .

The present invention is intended to solve this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a forming apparatus capable of allowing a heating plate to stand by without requiring a large space beside the film traveling path.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, includes a female mold having a cavity for vacuum forming, pressure forming, or vacuum pressure forming, and a film for conveying a film to be formed through a position facing the cavity. The heating device has a feeding device, a heating plate for heating the film in contact with the cavity, and a holding device for the heating plate.
A swinger that holds the heating plate so as to be movable parallel to its heating surface, the swinger being able to swivel around an axis that is lateral to the traveling path of the film and is substantially parallel to the traveling direction of the film, A first driving device that reciprocates the heating plate with respect to the swinger; and a second driving device that reciprocally swings the swinger, and an operating position where the heating plate faces the cavity, and a traveling path of the film. A gist of a molding apparatus is characterized in that the molding apparatus can be moved to a standby position that is separated laterally and turned.

[Action]

According to the apparatus having the above structure, the film feeding device positions a predetermined portion of the film at a predetermined position with respect to the female mold cavity in a state where the heating plate is at a standby position laterally separated from the film traveling path. At this time, since the film is separated from the heating plate, it is not heated, and the expansion and contraction due to heating hardly occurs, so that the film is not wrinkled or the pattern is not distorted. Next, the heating plate is moved to an operating position facing the cavity, contacts the film portion and is heated, and thereafter, vacuum forming, pressure forming or vacuum pressure forming is performed by the cavity. After forming, the heating plate returns to the original standby position and is ready for the next forming. Here, in order to return the heating plate in the operating position to the standby position, first, the first driving device moves in a direction parallel to the film surface and closer to the swinging center of the swinger, and then swung by the swinging of the swinger. Since it moves laterally of the female die, the required space in the lateral direction can be reduced compared to the case where the heating plate is simply moved linearly in the lateral direction of the film running path to stand by, and the swinger swings. Sometimes the space required for turning can be reduced by bringing the heating plate closer to the turning center.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view schematically showing the whole of one embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an injection molding simultaneous painting apparatus using a transfer painting film. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a female mold for injection molding capable of vacuum molding or pressure molding, and is provided with a cavity 1A and a vacuum suction port (not shown) for communicating the cavity 1A with a vacuum suction device. 2 is a male mold provided corresponding to the female mold 1, 3 is a movable plate that holds the female mold 1 and can move toward the male mold 2, 4 is a fixed plate that holds the male mold 2, 5 is a molten resin Injection holes, which form part of the injection molding machine.

6 is a painting film composed of a transfer film arranged so as to run between the female die 1 and the male die 2, and 7 is a painting film 6
Is a roll for feeding the film, 8 is a roll for winding the paint film 6, and 9 is a guide roller. A drive device (not shown) is connected to the take-up roll 8, and by rotating the take-up roll 8 with the drive device, the picture film is taken up from the roll 7 and fed into the cavity 1A of the female die 1. It is designed to run in the facing position. Further, the winding roll 8 is movable in the lateral direction with respect to the film traveling direction, and the film traveling position can be adjusted in the lateral direction. This picture-bearing film 6 is formed by printing a pattern to be painted on a molded product on a base film so that it can be transferred at a predetermined pitch. Further, as shown in FIG. 10 and lateral positioning marks
11 is printed. Markers 12, 13 are mark detectors for detecting the positioning marks 10, 11, respectively.
The output of 3 is used for controlling the drive device of the winding roll 8 and the device for moving the winding roll 8 in the lateral direction. That is, the painting film 6 is the winding roll 8
Is moved to a position facing the cavity 1A,
The mark detectors 12 and 13 are positioned and stopped at the positions where the positioning marks 10 and 11 are detected. At this time, the pattern portion of the decorative film 6 is positioned at a predetermined position facing the cavity 1A. Therefore, the take-up roll 8, the guide roller 9, the mark detectors 12, 13 and the like convey the painted film through a position facing the cavity 1A of the female mold, and a predetermined pattern is positioned at a position facing the cavity. A film feeding device for positioning is constructed. In addition, painting film 6
In order to apply the conveying force to the roller 1, not only the case where only the winding roll 8 is driven, but the guide roller 9 downstream of the female die 1 may be driven. In FIG. 4, 14 is a pair of guides that are arranged so as to bend and contact the painting film 6, and when the film portion after being formed and formed with irregularities is conveyed, it is not used in the upstream. It is provided to prevent it from affecting the film part of.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 16 is a heating plate having a size that covers the cavity 1A of the female mold 1, and is held by a holding device (not shown in FIG. 4) described later, and the holding device is used to interpose a paint film. It is possible to move to an operating position that covers the cavity and a standby position that deviates laterally from the running path of the painting film. The heating plate 16 has a breathable portion having a large number of ventilation holes 18 on the side facing the painting film 6, and the ventilation holes 18 are connected to a vacuum source and a vacuum source via a switching valve (not shown). It is connected to a compressed air source. Therefore, by vacuum-sucking these many vent holes 18, the painting film 6 can be adsorbed and held on the heating plate 16, and by supplying compressed air, the painting film 6 is peeled off from the heating plate 16 and the cavity is removed.
It can be pressed on the inner surface of 1A. In order to make the portion of the heating plate 16 facing the film 6 breathable, it is not limited to the case where a large number of vent holes 18 are provided as shown in the drawing, and a porous material such as a sintered metal may be arranged. Good.

Next, the holding device holding the heating plate 16 will be described. 1A
FIG. 1, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 1C are cross-sectional views showing the holding device 20 and its vicinity cut at a right angle to a painted film.
Shows different operating states of. FIG. 2 is a front view of the holding device 20 in the state shown in FIG. 1B as seen from the front of the film with painting 6, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof. As shown in FIG. 2, the holding device 20 has a swinger 21 having a substantially U shape when viewed from the front. The swinger 21 is rotatably held by a pin 23 held by a bracket 22 held by the movable platen 3. The pin 23 is attached so that its axis is on the side of the running path of the painted film 6 and parallel to the running direction of the film. Therefore, the swinger 21 can swivel about an axis parallel to the running direction of the film. Is. The swinger 21 holds a housing 26 movably in a straight line via a guide gar 25 extending in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the pin 23, and reciprocally passes the housing 26 relative to the swinger 21. It holds a drive or air cylinder 27. The heating plate 16 is movably held by the housing 26 via guide pins 29. Here, the heating plate 16 is attached such that its heating surface is parallel to the moving direction of the housing 26, and the guide pin 29 is attached at a right angle to the heating surface. Further, the housing 26 holds an air cylinder 30 that allows the heating plate 16 to reciprocate.

The bracket 22 that holds the swinger 21 holds a second drive unit, that is, an air cylinder 32, and the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder 32 is connected to the pin 33 held by the swinger 21. Thus, the air cylinder
32 allows the swinger 21 to reciprocate around the pin 23 between the position shown in FIG. 1A and the position shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C. The swinging center of the swinger 21 has the housing 26 located at the first position A in order to minimize the space required for turning.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, when it is retracted, the housing 26 and the guide bar 25 are positioned so as to be located substantially at the center between the front end of the housing 26 and the rear end of the guide bar 25.

Next, the molding operation by the device having the above-mentioned configuration will be described.
FIG. 1A shows the standby position of the heating plate 16, in which the air cylinders 32 and 27 are both retracted,
Is laterally separated from the running path of the painted film 16 and is substantially perpendicular to the film surface. With the heating plate 16 in this standby position, the drawing film 8 is conveyed by the take-up roll 8 of FIG. 4, and the mark detector 12 detects the positioning mark 10 in the feeding direction of the drawing film 6,
The painting film 6 is stopped. At this time, the mark detector 13 monitors the positioning mark 11, and the lateral position of the picture-bearing film 6 is constantly adjusted by the lateral movement of the winding roll 8. Thus, one pattern of the painting film 6 is precisely positioned at a predetermined position facing the cavity 1A of the female die 1. At this time, the film 6 is heated by the heating plate 16
Since it is not heated in, it does not expand and contract, and wrinkles and distortion are prevented from occurring.

Next, the air cylinder 32 is activated to move the swinger 21 to the 1B
Turn to the position shown. As a result, the heating surface of the heating plate 16 becomes substantially parallel to the painting film 6. At this time, since the housing 26 is retracted to a position close to the swinger turning axis, the space required for turning the swinger 21 and the housing 26 may be small. Next, the housing that holds the heating plate 16 by operating the air cylinder 27
26 is moved in parallel with the painting film 6, and the heating plate 16 is positioned at a position facing the cavity 1A of the female mold 1, that is, an operating position, as shown in FIG. 1A. Thereafter, the air cylinder 30 is activated to press the heating plate 16 against the female die 1 as shown in FIG. 5, and the painting film 6 is sandwiched between the female die 1 and the heating plate 16. At this time, many ventilation holes 18 of the heating plate 16 are vacuum-sucked, and the decorative film 6 is adsorbed and held on the heating plate.

The painting film 6 adsorbed and held on the heating plate 16 is
Heats and softens. In parallel with the heating by the heating plate 16, the inside of the cavity 1A is evacuated and the compressed air in the ventilation holes 18 of the heating plate 16 is supplied when the painting film 6 is sufficiently heated and softened. As a result, the paint film 6 is instantaneously deformed and pressed against the inner surface of the cavity, as shown in FIG. 6, and shaped into a shape that fits the inner surface of the cavity.

It should be noted that, without exhausting the inside of the cavity 1A, compressed air may be supplied to the ventilation holes 18 of the heating plate 16 and the picture-bearing film 6 may be pressed against the inner surface of the cavity only by the compressed air to be molded. However, in that case, in order to discharge the residual air in the cavity, it is necessary to provide a large number of exhaust holes on the inner surface of the cavity, and there is a risk that many exhaust holes will remain on the surface of the molded product. From this point, it is preferable to evacuate the inside of the cavity in advance as described above. In addition, it is possible to heat the painting film 6 without vacuum-adsorbing it on the heating plate 16. However, if the method is adopted in which the heating plate 16 is vacuum-adsorbed, and the vacuum is cut off and the compressed air is applied at the same time to press the decorative film 6 against the inner surface of the cavity instantaneously, the pattern of the decorative film 6 becomes unstable. A good design can be obtained without distortion.

As shown in FIG. 6, after the picture film 6 is adhered to the inner surface of the cavity 1A and molded, the air cylinders 30, 27, 32 are sequentially operated, and the heating plate 16 is returned to the original standby position (shown in FIG. 1A). Position). This position is a position that does not hinder the union of the female mold 1 and the male mold 2. After that, as shown in FIG.
The male die 1 is moved forward by the movable platen 3 and merges with the male die 2,
Molten resin is injected from the injection hole 5 into the cavity 1A.
After the injected and molded molten resin is cooled and solidified, the female mold 1 is retracted and opened from the male mold 2, and the molded product inside is discharged. At this time, the molded product is peeled off from the painting film 6, but the design of the painting film is transferred to the surface thereof, and as shown in FIG. 8, resin molding having a design such as a painting 41 or a character 42 on the surface is formed. Item 40 is obtained.

With the above operation, one molding operation is completed, and thereafter, the same operation is repeated to continuously manufacture the decorated molded product.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the swinger 21 is swung, the heating plate 16 is positioned so as to face a part of the female die 1. Not limited to this, the heating plate 16 may be positioned so as to be completely removed from the female mold 1. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the picture and the positioning mark are printed on the painting film 6 at a constant pitch, and the picture is stopped at a predetermined position with respect to the cavity by using the positioning mark, but the positioning mark is not provided. It is also possible to intermittently move the paint film by a fixed amount. Further, it goes without saying that the pattern given to the painted film 6 is arbitrary, and the same pattern as an abstract image may be printed over the entire length of the film.

The base film constituting the decorative film 6 used in the above examples has a dimensional stability at the time of printing of which the elongation at the drying temperature at the time of printing is 0.1% or less, and has a vacuum formability at a temperature of about 100 ° C. It is preferable that the resin has good heat resistance and does not melt even if it comes into contact with a molten resin of 140 ° C. or higher injected from an injection molding machine. The thickness of the base film is not particularly limited,
Not affected by heat from the heating plate when positioning the film,
In addition, wrinkles can be prevented from occurring during transportation,
It is also possible to use thin ones that are easily affected by heat (for example, about 40 to 100 μm).

Further, although the transfer film is used as the painting film in the above-mentioned embodiment, the painting film is not limited to this, and it is an overlay film which is directly joined to the surface of the molded product when it is molded to form the surface of the product. May be. When such a film for overlay is used, after the resin is injection-molded, the portion integrated with the molded product from the painting film may be punched out with a blade provided in a male mold or a female mold.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the molded product is manufactured by injecting the molten resin into the male mold cavity, but the present invention is not limited to this structure, and the reactive liquid resin may be injected at a low pressure or a low temperature to mold the molded product. You may

The case where the present invention is applied to the resin-molding simultaneous painting apparatus for molding a painting film and then injecting or injecting a resin has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this case, and a female provided with a cavity is described. It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a molding apparatus that uses the mold 1 and the heating plate 16 to perform vacuum forming, pressure forming, or vacuum pressure forming only.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the forming apparatus of the present invention can feed the film to the cavity by waiting the heating plate at a position that does not affect the film, and therefore, a thin film that is easily affected by heat is used. Even when the film is fed, the film does not heat up and shrink unevenly, and a good product can be obtained, and the heating plate moves from the operating position facing the cavity to the standby position away from the film running path. In order to do this, the linear movement with respect to the swinger and the swiveling by the swinger are used, so that there is an effect that the required space can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A, 1B, and 1C are cross-sectional views showing the holding device 20 used in the device shown in FIG. 4 and its vicinity cut at a right angle to a paint film, showing different operating states of the holding device 20. Show. 2 is a front view of the holding device in the state shown in FIG. 1B as seen from the front of the painting film 6, FIG. 3 is its side view, and FIG.
The drawings are schematic sectional views showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5, and FIG.
7 and 8 are cross-sectional views of the main part for explaining the operation according to the embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a picture-formed molded product manufactured by the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 ... Female type, 1A ... Cavity, 2 ... Male type 3 ... Movable platen, 4 ... Fixed platen, 5 ... Resin injection hole 6 ... Painted film, 7 ... Unwinding roll 8 ... Rolling Take-up roll, 9 …… Guide roll 16 …… Heating plate, 18 …… Vent hole 20 …… Holding device, 21 …… Swinger 23 …… Pin, 26 …… Housing 27,30,32 …… Air cylinder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A female mold provided with a cavity for vacuum forming, pressure forming or vacuum pressure forming, a film feeding device for conveying a film to be formed through a position facing the cavity, and a film feeding device facing the cavity. A swinger that has a heating plate for contacting and heating the film at a position, and a holding device for the heating plate, the holding device holding the heating plate movably in parallel to its heating surface, A swinger which can be swiveled around an axis parallel to the running direction of the film and lateral to the running path of the film, a first drive device for reciprocating the heating plate with respect to the swinger, and a reciprocating motion of the swinger. A second drive device for rotating the heating plate is provided, and the heating plate can be moved to an operating position facing the cavity and a standby position in which the heating plate is laterally separated from the traveling path of the film and rotated. Forming apparatus characterized by the the.