The present invention relates to a paste supply apparatus, a screen printer, a paste supply method and a screen printing method, in which paste is supplied to a mask brought into contact with a board in the screen printer.
As a background-art paste supply apparatus for supplying paste to a mask which contacts a board in a screen printer, there has been known an apparatus in which paste extruded from a syringe storing the paste is supplied to the mask (for example, Patent Document 1). The paste to be stored in a syringe is delivered in the state where the paste has been enclosed in a so-called paste pot which is an airtight container including a bottomed cylindrical member and an inner lid inserted into the cylindrical member. There has been also known a paste supply apparatus which does not transfer the paste from the paste pot to the syringe but uses the paste pot itself as the syringe (for example, Patent Document 2).
In the latter of the above-described paste supply apparatus, for advance preparation, the inner lid is removed from the cylindrical member of the paste pot and a circular packing with a nozzle is inserted into the cylindrical member. The paste pot is then attached to a pot holding portion and held in a posture in which an end portion of the nozzle faces downward, and the packing is fixed to the pot holding portion. In this state, the cylindrical member is pushed downward (that is, the cylindrical member is moved relative to the packing) to extrude the paste from the nozzle. In this manner, it is not necessary to perform an operation for transferring the paste from the paste pot to a syringe, and working efficiency in screen printing can be improved.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2011-140176
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2010-172928
According to the above-described apparatus, however, the manufacturing cost for the packing with a nozzle as an additional part added to a paste pot to be delivered is required. In addition, it is necessary to perform working for reuse of the additional part, such as removing the packing with a nozzle from a used paste pot, cleaning the packing, and attaching the packing to a new paste pot. Thus, there has been a problem that the working efficiency is not good.
An object of the invention to provide a paste supply apparatus, a screen printer, a paste supply method and a screen printing method, in which the cost can be reduced and working can be simplified.
A paste supply apparatus of the invention includes: a paste pot including a bottomed cylindrical member which stores paste, and an inner lid which is movably inserted into the cylindrical member and in which a through hole is formed in a center portion of the inner lid; a pot holding portion which holds the paste pot in a posture in which the through hole faces downward; and a paste extruding portion which moves the cylindrical member relative to the inner lid of the paste pot held by the pot holding portion and extrudes the paste from the through hole.
A screen printer of the invention includes: a mask which is brought into contact with a board; a paste supply apparatus according to claim 1, which extrudes and supplies the paste to the mask contacting the board; and a squeegee which slides on the mask to which the paste has been supplied by the paste supply apparatus.
A paste supply method of the invention includes: a pot holding step of holding a paste pot including a bottomed cylindrical portion storing paste and an inner lid movably inserted into the cylindrical member and having a through hole formed in a center portion of the inner lid in a posture in which the through hole faces downward; and a paste extruding step of moving the cylindrical member relative to the inner lid of the paste pot held in the posture in which the through hole faces downward, and extruding the paste from the through hole.
A screen printing method of the invention includes: a contact step of bringing a board and a mask into contact with each other; a paste supply step of extruding and supplying paste from a paste supply apparatus according to claim 1 to the mask contacting the board; and a squeegee slide step of sliding a squeegee on the mask to which the paste has been supplied.
In the invention, the paste pot is held in a posture in which the through hole of the inner lid faces downward, and the cylindrical member is then moved relative to the inner lid to extrude the paste from the through hole and supply the paste. Accordingly, it is not necessary to prepare any additional part such as a packing with a nozzle as in the background-art, and it is possible to reduce the cost. In addition, it is not necessary to reuse such an additional part, and it is possible to simplify working.
a), 5(b), 5(c) and 5(d) are perspective views of a paste pot for use in the paste supply apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
a) and 6(b) are perspective views of the paste supply apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
a) and 7(b) are perspective views of the paste supply apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
a) and 8(b) are perspective views of the paste supply apparatus according to the embodiment of the invention.
a) and 9(b) are partially enlarged views of the screen printer according to the embodiment of the invention.
An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A screen printer 1 shown in
In
The XYθ moving mechanism 11 includes a stack of a Y-axis table 11a, an X-axis table 11b and a θ table 11c. The Y-axis table 11a extends in a Y-axis direction (which is a front/rear direction observed from an operator OP shown in
A pair of conveyor support members 15 are provided to extend upward from the first lifting table 13 and penetrate the second lifting table 14. A pair of carrying conveyors 16 disposed to extend in the X-axis direction and to be opposed to each other in the Y-axis direction are supported by the paired conveyor support members 15. The paired carrying conveyors 16 support opposite end portions of the board 2 from below and convey the board 2 in the X-axis direction. A lower receiving member 17 is provided on the top surface of the second lifting table 14.
Above the paired carrying conveyors 16, a pair of clamp members (clampers 18) are provided to extend in the Y-axis direction and disposed to be opposed to each other in the X-axis direction. The paired clampers 18 are opened/closed in the Y-axis direction by operation of a damper opening/closing cylinder 18s so that the opposite end portions of the board 2 on the carrying conveyors 16 can be held (clamped) between the paired clampers 18.
In
In
In
In
In
The base pot 51 has a configuration in which an inner lid 62 is movably inserted into a bottomed cylindrical member 61 storing the paste Pst, and a through hole 63 is formed in a center portion of the inner lid 62. Before the paste pot 51 is used, a cap CP attached to an opening-side end portion of the paste pot 51 is removed (
In
A larger distance than the outer diameter of the cylindrical member 61 of the paste pot 51 is provided between the left and right intermediate support portions 72 and between the left and right lower support portions 74, so that the paste pot 51 with the through hole 63 facing downward can be supported movably (slidably) in the up/down direction by the left and right intermediate support portions 72 and the left and right lower support portions 74 (
A procedure (paste supply method) for supplying the paste Pst from the paste supply apparatus 8 will be described. An operator OP first sets the paste pot 51 so that the through hole 63 of the inner lid 62 can face downward, as described above. Next the operator OP attaches the paste pot 51 to the pot holding portion 52 so that the paste pot 51 can be moved up/down desirably by the left and right intermediate portions 72 and the left and right lower support portions 74 of the pot holding portion 52. The operator OP then pushes down the paste pot 51 with his/her finger so as to bring the inner lid 62 into contact with the inner lid supply portion 76 from above. Next the operator OP protrudes the piston rod 53a of the pot pressing cylinder 53 downward to press the pad member 53b against a bottom portion 61a of the cylindrical member 61 of the paste pot 51 and hold the paste pot 51 in the pot holding portion 52 (pot holding step). In this manner, according to the embodiment, the pot holding portion 52 holds the paste pot 51 in the posture in which the through hole 63 faces downward.
When the paste pot 51 is held in the pot holding portion 52 as described above, the paste Pst can be extruded from the paste supply apparatus 8. To extrude the paste Pst from the paste supply apparatus 8, the piston rod 53a is protruded downward (in the arrow A shown in
The paste supply apparatus 8 is rotated around the Y axis relative to the block member 42 by the operation of the posture changing motor 45. Thus, the posture of the paste supply apparatus 8 can be changed between a paste supply posture (
In the screen printer 1, a control unit 80 provided in the screen printer 1 controls an operation in which the board 2 is conveyed in the X-axis direction by the carrying conveyors 16 provided in the board holding/moving unit 4, an operation in which the second lifting table 14 is moved up/down by the second lifting table motor 14m (an operation in which the bottom surface of the board 2 is supported, as will be described later), an operation in which the board 2 is clamped by the clampers 18 opened/closed by the clamper opening/closing cylinder 18s, an operation in which the board 2 is moved within a horizontal plane by the XYθ moving mechanism 11, and an operation in which the first lifting table 13 is moved up/down by the first lifting table lifting motor 13m (an operation in which the clamped board 2 is moved up/down, as will be described later) (
The control unit 80 controls an operation in which the camera unit 7 is moved within a horizontal plane by the camera unit moving mechanism 33, an operation in which an image is picked up by the upper imaging camera 31 provided in the camera unit 7 and an operation in which an image is picked up by the lower imaging camera 32 (
Next, a procedure (screen printing method) for executing a screen printing operation in the screen printer 1 will be described. First, the operator OP performs a predetermined screen printing operation start operation through an input portion 81 (
When the board 2 is clamped, the control unit 80 moves the camera unit 7 into an area under the mask 5 and makes the lower imaging camera 32 pick up an image of the board-side marks 2m provided in the board 2 from above the board 2 so as to acquire image data of the board-side marks 2m. Next the control unit 80 makes the upper imaging camera 31 pick up an image of the mask-side marks 5m provided in the mask 5 from below the mask 5 so as to acquire image data of the mask-side marks 5m. Then the position of the board 2 is calculated by image recognition based on the acquired image data of the board-side marks 2m, and the position of the mask 5 is calculated by image recognition based on the image data of the mask-side marks 5m.
On calculating the position of the board 2 and the position of the mask 5, the control unit 80 moves the camera unit 7 to a position out of the area under the mask 5. Then the control unit 80 controls the operation of the XYθ moving mechanism 11 to move the board 2 to thereby locate the board-side marks 2m just under the mask-side marks 5m. Thus, the board 2 can be aligned with the mask 5.
On aligning the board 2 with the mask 5, the control unit 80 moves up the first lifting table 13 of the board holding/moving unit 4 relative to the base table 12 (in the arrow B shown in
On bringing the board 2 into contact with the mask 5, the control unit 80 moves the squeegee base 21 in the Y-axis direction so that the paste supply apparatus 8 in the paste supply posture can be moved to a predetermined position (normally a position above a part abutting against the dampers 18 in front of the mask 5). Then the control unit 80 operates the paste supply apparatus moving motor 44 to move the paste supply apparatus 8 in the X-axis direction while operating the pot pressing cylinder 53 to push the paste Pst from the paste pot 51 to thereby supply the paste Pst to the mask 5 (paste supply step).
On supplying the paste Pst to the mask 5, the control unit 80 moves down one of the squeegees 22 relative to the squeegee base 21 such that the lower end portion of the moved squeegee 22 contacts the mask 5, and moves the squeegee base 21 in the Y-axis direction (in the arrow C shown in
During the above-described transfer of the paste Pst, the control unit 80 brings the squeegee 22 located in the front (on the left side of the sheet of
When the operation of transferring the paste Pst is terminated, the control unit 80 moves down the first lifting table 13 to leave the board 2 from the mask 5 to thereby perform plate releasing. Further, the control unit 80 releases the board 2 from being held (clamped) by the paired clampers 18, and then moves down the second lifting table 14 to land the board 2 on the carrying conveyors 16. Then the control unit 80 operates the carrying conveyors 16 to convey the board 2 to the outside of the screen printer 1. Thus, the screen printing operation for one board 2 is terminated.
As has been described above, in the screen printer 1 and the screen printing method using the screen printer 1 (the paste supply apparatus 8 and the paste supply method using the paste supply apparatus 8) according to the embodiment, the paste pot 51 is held in a posture in which the through hole 63 of the inner lid 62 faces downward, and the cylindrical member 61 is then moved relative to the inner lid 62 so that the paste Pst extruded from the through hole 63 can be supplied. It is therefore unnecessary to provide any additional part such as a packing with a nozzle in the background art, but it is possible to reduce the cost. In addition, it is not necessary to reuse such an additional part, but it is also possible to simplify working. Thus, it is also possible to build an automatic paste pot exchanging mechanism to thereby enhance the working efficiency.
Incidentally, according to a modification, a tubular portion that is connected to the through hole 63 provided in the inner lid 62 and protruded in a direction to extrude the paste Pst may be formed in the inner lid 62. This is preferable because the paste Pst can be extruded more smoothly from the through hole 63.
The present application is based on a Japanese patent application (Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-021892) filed on Feb. 7, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
A paste supply apparatus, a screen printer, a paste supply method and a screen printing method which can reduce the cost and simplify working, are provided.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-021892 | Feb 2013 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2014/000599 | 2/4/2014 | WO | 00 |