JP2003340864A - In-mold transfer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an in-mold transfer apparatus capable of easily adjusting the distance and parallelism of an injection mold and a transfer film with high accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: The in-mold transfer apparatus 1 is equipped with a pair of molds 4 and 5 having cavities 10 and 11 formed therebetween and provided so as to be capable of approaching and separating mutually, a supply part 12 for supplying a molten resin in the cavities 10 and 12 and a supply mechanism 7 for supplying a transfer film 6 provided with a transferable printing layer to the gap between a pair of the molds 4 and 5 spaced apart from each other. The transfer film 6 supplied from the supply mechanism 7 is guided to the gap between a pair of the molds 4 and 5 and an adjusting mechanism 9 for freely adjusting the distance of the transfer film 6 and parallelism with respect to the molds 4 and 5 is provided to the mold 4. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-mold transfer device that transfers and prints a pattern or the like on the surface of a molten resin simultaneously with injection molding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of applying a pattern to the surface of an injection molded product, a transfer film provided with a transferable pattern printing layer is sent into a cavity so that the pattern is transferred to the surface of the molded product simultaneously with injection molding. The so-called in-mold transfer is conventionally known.

A device shown in FIG. 2 is generally known as a device for performing such in-mold transfer. The in-mold transfer apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 includes a movable plate 101 supported so as to be able to move up and down, a fixed plate 102 provided so as to face the movable plate 101, a movable plate 101 and a fixed plate 102.
Molds 103, 104 provided on the surface of the
1. A supply mechanism 106 provided on one side surface of the movable plate 101 for supplying a transfer film 105 provided with a print layer capable of transfer between the molds 103 and 104, and a surface of the molded product provided on the other side surface of the movable plate 101. Transfer film 105 after being transferred
A take-up mechanism 107 for taking up the film and an adjusting roller 108 for adjusting the distance and parallelism between the surfaces of the molds 103 and 104 and the transfer film 105 are provided. The supply mechanism 106, the winding mechanism 107, and the adjusting roller 108 are provided in
It is attached to the bracket portion 109 provided on one side surface,
The adjusting roller 108 movably supports the transfer film 105 supplied from the supply mechanism 106, and
4 is positioned so as to guide the transfer film 105 to the vicinity of the surface and to put the transfer film 105 in a tension state.

Further, on the surfaces of the molds 103 and 104, cavities 110 and 11 opened in opposite directions, respectively.
1, the mold 104 and the stationary platen 102 are provided with a supply unit 112 that communicates with the cavity 110 and supplies molten resin into the cavities 110 and 111.
Further, inside the mold 103 and the movable plate 101, a vacuum flow path 113 is provided which is in communication with the cavity 111 and which sucks and holds the transfer film 105 supplied between the molds 103 and 104 on the bottom surface of the cavity 111. ing.

Generally, when the pattern is transferred to the surface of the injection-molded article, if the distance between the molds 103 and 104 and the transfer film 105 and the accuracy of the parallelism are insufficient, the transfer position shifts. In some cases, manufacturing problems such as wrinkling of the transfer film may occur. For this reason,
It is necessary to maintain the above distance and parallelism with high accuracy, and the accuracy adjustment at this time is performed by the adjustment roller 108 attached to the bracket portion 109 provided on the side surface of the movable plate 101.

[0006]

By the way, according to the above-mentioned conventional in-mold transfer apparatus, the mold 103, which is a reference for adjustment, is provided on the surface of the movable plate 101, and the adjusting roller 108, which is an adjustment site, is the movable plate 101. It is attached to a bracket portion 109 provided on the side surface. Therefore, when performing the above adjustment, it may be necessary to adjust not only the adjustment roller 108 but also the bracket portion 109. If the bracket portion 109 is adjusted, the transfer film 105 may be twisted, and the above precision adjustment requires man-hours. There was a problem. Also, during injection molding, the bracket portion 1
When the backlash of 09 occurs, there is a problem in that the positional deviation of the adjusting roller 108 also occurs and it is difficult to maintain the above accuracy.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides an in-mold transfer device capable of easily adjusting the distance and parallelism between the injection mold and the transfer film with high accuracy. The purpose is to

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems and achieve such an object, the present invention proposes the following means. According to a first aspect of the present invention, at least a pair of molds having a cavity formed between the molds and capable of approaching and separating, a supply unit for supplying a molten resin into the cavity, and the pair of molds separated from each other. An in-mold transfer device having a supply mechanism for supplying a transfer film provided with a print layer capable of being transferred between, and guiding the transfer film supplied from the supply mechanism between the pair of molds. An adjusting mechanism capable of adjusting the distance and parallelism between the transfer film and the mold is provided in at least one of the pair of molds.

According to the in-mold transfer device of the present invention, since it is directly attached to the mold, which serves as a reference for adjustment by the adjusting mechanism, the distance and parallelism between the mold surface and the transfer film can be adjusted. At the time of adjustment, it suffices to adjust only the above-mentioned adjustment mechanism, and it is hard to be affected by backlash of other components. Therefore, the adjustment can be performed reliably and easily, the number of adjustment steps can be reduced, and the accuracy of the distance and parallelism can be maintained for a long period of time.

The invention according to claim 2 is the in-mold transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the adjusting mechanism supports the transfer film so that the transfer film can travel, and a bracket part that holds the roller part. And the bracket portion is provided in the one mold.

According to the in-mold transfer device of the present invention, since the roller portion is attached to the die through the bracket portion directly provided on the die,
When adjusting the distance and parallelism between the mold and the transfer film, it is sufficient to adjust the mounting position of the bracket portion. This makes it possible to easily and surely perform the above adjustment.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an in-mold transfer device shown as an embodiment of the present invention. The in-mold transfer apparatus 1 includes a movable platen 2 supported so as to be able to move up and down, a fixed platen 3 provided to face the movable platen 2, a movable plate 2 and a mold 4 provided on the surface of the fixed platen 3. 5 and molds 4 and 5 provided on one side surface of the movable platen 2.
A supply mechanism 7 that supplies a transfer film 6 having a printable transfer layer between them, and a winding mechanism that winds the transfer film 6 provided on the other side surface of the movable plate 2 after being transferred to the surface of the molded product. A mechanism 8 and an adjusting mechanism 9 for adjusting the distance and parallelism between the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 and the transfer film 6 and guiding the transfer film 6 to the vicinity of the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 are provided. Here, the supply mechanism 7 and the winding mechanism 8 are
It is attached to the movable platen 2 via a support body 15 provided on the side surface of the.

Further, cavities 10 and 11 opened in opposite directions are provided on the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5, respectively, and the mold 5 and the fixed platen 3 are communicated with the cavity 11 and are connected to the inside of the cavities 10 and 11. Supply unit 12 for supplying molten resin
Is provided. Further, inside the mold 4 and the movable platen 2, a vacuum flow path 16 is provided which is in communication with the cavity 10 and sucks and holds the transfer film 6 supplied between the molds 4 and 5 on the bottom surface of the cavity 10. ing. The above configuration is similar to the configuration shown in FIG. 2 described above.

Here, the adjusting mechanism 9 comprises a roller portion 14 for movably supporting the transfer film 6, a bracket portion 13 for holding the roller portion 14, and an adjusting means (not shown),
The bracket portion 13 is provided on the side surface of the mold 4 so as to project in the supply direction of the transfer film 6 that is unwound from the supply mechanism 7 to the winding mechanism 8. The axis of the roller portion 14 is the width direction of the transfer film 6. It is provided on the bracket portion 13 so as to be rotatable in parallel to and about the axis. Here, as described above, the bracket portion 13 is attached to the side surface of the mold 4, and the adjusting mechanism 9 has a configuration independent of the support portion 15 to which the supply mechanism 7 is attached.

The adjusting means adjusts the inclination and distance of the axis of the roller portion 14 with respect to the surface of the mold 4,
The parallelism and distance between the surface of the mold 4 and the surface of the transfer film 6 are adjustable. The adjusting means includes
For example, when the bracket portion 13 is attached to the die 4 with bolts, a long hole is provided on the attachment surface of the bracket portion 13 to the die 4, and a push bolt capable of pushing and pulling the bracket portion 13 is provided outside thereof. There is a means.

Here, the transfer film 6 unrolled obliquely upward from the supply mechanism 7 is pulled between the molds 4 and 5 through one roller portion 14 in parallel with the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5. It is supplied in a state and is wound around the winding mechanism 8 via the other roller portion 14. That is, the transfer film 6 is moved between the molds 4 and 5 by the roller portion 14,
5 is supplied in parallel to the surface and is maintained in a tension state.

A method of producing a so-called simultaneous molding transfer product, in which an injection-molded product is formed and a pattern or the like is transferred and printed on the surface of the formed molding product by the in-mold transfer device 1 configured as described above, will be described. . First, the transfer mechanism 6 supplies the transfer film 6 between the molds 4 and 5. At this time, the transfer film 6 is supplied such that the surface on which the transferable print layer is provided faces the mold 5. Then, vacuum air is supplied to the vacuum flow path 16 provided inside the movable plate 2 and the mold 4, and the transfer film 6 is adsorbed and held on the bottom surface of the cavity 10. In this state, the movable platen 2 is raised by a driving means (not shown) until the molds 4 and 5 come into contact with each other. This makes cavity 1
0 and 11 form a closed space, and the molten resin is injected and supplied from the supply unit 12 into the closed space to form an injection molded product. At this time, the surface of the injection-molded product and the print layer of the transfer film 6 are brought into pressure contact with each other, and transfer printing is performed on the surface of the injection-molded product to form a simultaneous molding transfer product.

Next, a method of adjusting the parallelism and the distance of the transfer film 6 supplied near the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 with respect to the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 will be described. First, the mold 4,
5 is used as a reference to adjust the inclination with respect to the reference, and the parallelism between the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 is set to a predetermined accuracy. After that, the inclination and distance of the axis of the roller portion 14 with respect to the surface of the mold 4 are adjusted by the adjusting means, and the distance and parallelism between the transfer film 6 and the mold 4 are set to a predetermined accuracy.

As described above, according to the in-mold transfer apparatus according to the present embodiment, the adjusting mechanism 9 for adjusting the distance and the parallelism between the surfaces of the molds 4 and 5 and the transfer film 6 is adjustable. It has a structure directly attached to.
That is, since the adjustment portion is directly provided on the reference portion, the adjustment mechanism 9 is used for the adjustment.
You only need to adjust it. Further, the bracket portion 13 constituting the adjusting mechanism 9 is attached to the side surface of the mold 4,
Since the structure is independent of the support portion 15 to which the supply mechanism 7 is attached, it is unlikely to be affected by the backlash of the support body 15 when the transfer film 6 is supplied. As described above, the adjustment can be performed easily and surely, the number of adjustment steps can be reduced, and the accuracy can be maintained for a long period of time.

The adjusting mechanism 9 is composed of the bracket portion 13, the roller portion 14 and the adjusting means, and the adjusting means adjusts the inclination and distance of the axis of the roller portion 14 with respect to the surface of the mold 4, Mold 4 surface and transfer film 6
Since the parallelism and the distance to and are adjustable, the above adjustment can be performed more easily and reliably.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the invention, the adjusting mechanism is directly attached to the mold, and therefore, when performing the above adjustment, Since it suffices to adjust only the adjusting mechanism and it is not affected by rattling of other components, the above adjustment can be performed reliably and easily, and the number of adjustment steps can be reduced. Become.

According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the same operation as the operation by the in-mold transfer device of claim 1, the distance and parallelism between the mold and the transfer film are adjusted. It becomes easier and more reliable.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an in-mold transfer device shown as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a conventional in-mold transfer device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 In-mold transfer device 2 movable plate 3 fixed board 4, 5 mold 6 Transfer film 7 supply mechanism 8 Winding mechanism 9 Adjustment mechanism 12 Supply department 13 Bracket part 14 Roller part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transfer between at least a pair of molds having a cavity formed between them so as to be able to approach and separate, a supply section for supplying a molten resin into the cavity, and a pair of the molds separated from each other. An in-mold transfer device having a supply mechanism for supplying a transfer film provided with a printable layer capable of guiding the transfer film supplied from the supply mechanism between the pair of molds, and transferring the transfer film. An in-mold transfer device, wherein an adjusting mechanism capable of adjusting a distance and parallelism between a film and the mold is provided in at least one of the pair of molds. 2. The in-mold transfer device according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment mechanism includes a roller portion that supports the transfer film so that the transfer film can travel, and a bracket portion that holds the roller portion. Is provided in one of the above-mentioned molds, the in-mold transfer device.