JPH06210593A - Method and device for cutting elastic sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To provide an elastic sheet cutting method and a cutting device capable of forming a chamfer by accurately cutting one corner portion of the tip of the elastic sheet. The cutting device 1 includes a support base 2 having a flat upper surface on which a cleaning blade A integrally provided with a blade support plate B is placed, and a positioning jig 5 for a tip surface of the blade A.
A pressing device 7 for pressing and fixing the blade A, a cylinder device 11 for urging the blade support plate B of the blade A toward the positioning jig 5, and a cutter device 13 for cutting the blade A. There is. The pressing device 7 is arranged above the support base 2 and has a structure in which a pressing plate 9 having a plate-like elastic member 8 in contact with the upper surface of the blade A on the lower surface moves up and down via a cylinder device 10. There is.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cutting method and apparatus for obliquely cutting an end portion of an elastic sheet having a constant thickness made of an elastic material such as natural rubber or urethane rubber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a cleaning blade for scraping off untransferred toner remaining on the surface of a photoconductor drum or photoconductor belt used in an electronic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, etc. is made of an elastic material such as urethane rubber. Is formed by. Then, one ridgeline (edge portion) of the tip portion of the cleaning blade is pressed against the surface of the photosensitive drum or the like to scrape off the residual toner from the surface.

That is, FIG. 3 shows a situation in which residual toner is scraped off by using a cleaning blade for a photosensitive drum of a copying machine. As shown in FIG. 3, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 50 is removed. 56 is scraped off by the ridgeline on the lower end side of the cleaning blade 52. The scraped residual toner 56 gradually accumulates in front of the front end surface of the cleaning blade 52 on the photosensitive drum 50, and then passes over the upper surface of the cleaning blade 52 and is discharged.
As described above, the scraped residual toner 56 once stays in front of the front end surface of the cleaning blade 52 on the photosensitive drum 50. When the amount of the staying toner 56 increases, the cleaning blade 52 is replaced. When doing so, a large amount of residual toner 56 drops from the photoconductor drum 50, which may stain the inside of the copying machine or the paper, or cause the cleaning blade 52 to scrape off the residual toner 56.

Therefore, recently, the cleaning blade 5
A chamfer is provided at an edge portion opposite to the ridgeline at the tip of No. 2 so that the residual toner 56 scraped from the surface of the photoconductor drum 50 is smoothly released outward along the chamfered portion of the cleaning blade 52. A cleaning blade that reduces the amount of residual toner 56 that remains in front of the front end surface of the cleaning blade 52 has been put into practical use.

By the way, the cleaning blade 52 provided with the chamfered portion as described above has hitherto been as shown in FIG.
After the wide elastic sheet 60 formed by the centrifugal molding method or the like is cut into strips, the corner portion on the upper surface side of the elastic sheet 60 is polished to form the chamfered portion 60b, or FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the split mold 62 (62a
・ Casting urethane rubber into the cavity of 62b) 64
After forming the blade 68 having a chamfered portion, the blade 68 is generally manufactured by cutting the tip portion thereof.

[0006]

However, in the former method of forming the chamfered portion (that is, the chamfered portion is formed by polishing), the polishing powder adheres to the ridge line for scraping the toner when it is polished. Therefore, cleaning is required after polishing, which is troublesome. By polishing
It is difficult to make the height of the tip end surface of the elastic sheet constant along the length thereof, and it requires skill to perform the work. When the polishing surface of the chamfered portion of the cleaning blade becomes rough, the flow of the residual toner that overflows is obstructed, and the amount of residual toner that accumulates in front of the cleaning blade increases. There are problems such as.

The latter (which forms the chamfered portion by casting) is expensive in terms of equipment. It is necessary to raise the inner surface of the die on the ridge line side for scraping toner to a level of 1 mμ or less based on the surface precision required for the ridge line, which makes management of the die maintenance difficult. There are problems such as.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to provide a cutting method and a cutting device for an elastic sheet, which can form a chamfered portion by accurately cutting one corner portion of the tip of the elastic sheet.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the cutting method of the present invention comprises: a) positioning an elastic sheet on a flat surface and then pressing the elastic sheet from above with a plate-like elastic member The elastic sheet is fixed, and b) the tip of the elastic sheet is cut into the plate-like elastic member by a cutter that is inclined at a predetermined angle to the corner portion on the pressing side by the plate-like elastic member. To cut.

Further, in order to carry out the above method, the cutting apparatus of the present invention comprises: A) a support base having a flat surface on which an elastic sheet can be mounted; and B) the elastic sheet mounted on the support base. A positioning jig that contacts the tip surface and positions the elastic sheet; and C) an elastic sheet that is positioned on the support base.
Pressing means for pressing and fixing via a plate-like elastic member, D)
A cutter means is provided which is movable along the positioning jig while maintaining a predetermined inclination angle, and which cuts a corner portion of the tip end portion of the elastic sheet on the pressing side by the plate-like elastic member.

Further, as described in claim 3, it is more preferable that E) is provided with a biasing means which is in contact with the base end side of the elastic sheet and biases the elastic sheet toward the positioning jig.

[0012]

According to the elastic sheet cutting method of the present invention having the above-described structure, the elastic sheet is positioned on the plane and fixed in the fixed position, and the plate-like elastic member is pressed at the tip of the elastic sheet. The corner portion on the side is cut by a cutter at a predetermined inclination angle. At the time of this cutting, the elastic sheet is pressed and fixed, so that the elastic sheet is unlikely to be deformed or bent, and the elastic sheet is cut accurately and stably. Also, although a part of the cutter is cut into the elastic member on the pressing side, wear and damage of the cutter can be minimized by using a material of the elastic member that is equal to or close to the elastic sheet. . Further, the clearance of the cutter at the time of cutting is absorbed by the deformation of the elastic member, and no cutting powder or chips are generated, so that cleaning after cutting is omitted.

According to the above cutting apparatus of the present invention,
Since the cutting method of the present invention described above can be reliably performed, the cutting (insertion) position of the cutter with respect to the front end surface of the elastic sheet can be changed by adjusting the position of the positioning jig that contacts the front end surface of the elastic sheet. The height of the tip surface of the elastic sheet can be adjusted.

Further, according to the cutting device of claim 3,
By biasing the elastic sheet toward the positioning jig by the biasing means, the positioning of the elastic sheet becomes more reliable.

[0015]

Embodiments of the elastic sheet cutting apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, and the cutting method of the present invention will also be described.

FIG. 1A is a side sectional view showing an outline of a cutting device for a cleaning blade for a photosensitive drum.
1B is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cutting apparatus 1 includes a support base 2 having a flat upper surface on which a cleaning blade A integrally provided with a blade support plate B is placed, and a positioning jig for a tip surface of the blade A. 5, a pressing device 7 that presses and fixes the blade A, a cylinder device 11 that urges the blade support plate B of the blade A toward the positioning jig 5, and a cutter device 13 that cuts the blade A. ing.

The positioning jig 5 is composed of a long plate-shaped member extending in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the blade A, and is provided with the cutter device 1.
An inclined surface 5a parallel to the third cutter 13a and a recess 5b corresponding to the shape of the holder 13b thereof are formed. The positioning jig 5 is arranged so as to be movable back and forth through the cylinder device 6 in a direction perpendicular to the tip end surface of the blade A placed on the support base 2. A cylinder device 11 is arranged on the support base 2 on the side opposite to the positioning jig 5, and an abutment tool 12 for contacting the blade support plate B is attached to the tip of the piston rod 11a. The blade A on the support base 2 is moved by the blade support plate B being biased toward the positioning jig 5 side by the extension of the piston rod 11a of the cylinder device 11, and the tip surface of the blade A is the tip of the positioning jig 5. Positioning is achieved by abutting on the part.

The pressing device 7 is arranged above the support base 2 and has a structure in which a pressing plate 9 having a plate-like elastic member 8 which contacts the upper surface of the blade A on the lower surface moves up and down via a cylinder device 10. Has become. In this embodiment, urethane rubber (HS 70 ° -80 °) is used as the elastic member 8, which is the same material as the blade A. The elastic member 8 has an action of relaxing the deformation of the blade A by its elasticity when the pressing plate 9 presses the blade A. Further, when the cutter 13a of the cutter device cuts the blade A, its tip portion is cut into the elastic member 8. At this time, the cutter 13a is prevented from being worn or damaged, and further, when it is cut by the cutter 13a. , Cutter 1
There is an effect of absorbing the deformation of the blade A (the clearance of the cutter 13a) caused by the cutting of 3a.

The cutter device 13 is provided with a cutter 13a as a cutting blade and this holder 13b. In this embodiment, the cutter 13a is moved from one side surface of the blade A (front side of the plane of FIG. 1) to the blade A. And the elastic member 8 is cut, and the cutter device 13 is moved along the longitudinal direction of the blade A by a feeding device (not shown). A cutter having a blade width equal to or longer than the length of the blade A can be cut forward by advancing diagonally upward from the tip surface of the blade A.

In this embodiment, the positional relationship between the cutter device 13 and the positioning jig 5 is that the position of the cutter device 13 is held at a fixed position, and the positioning jig 5 with respect to the cutter device 13 is shown in FIG. It is designed to move back and forth horizontally. Therefore, for example, when the positioning jig 5 is moved slightly forward from the position shown in FIG. 1 and the blade A is slightly moved to the right side in FIG. 1, the position of the cutter 13a does not change, and therefore the height of the tip surface of the blade A increases. h (FIG. 1 (b)) becomes high.

Next, a process of manufacturing a cleaning blade by using the cleaning blade cutting device of the embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described focusing on the cutting operation.

2 (a) to 2 (d) are side sectional views showing in sequence the manufacturing process of the cleaning blade using the cutting method of the present invention.

In FIG. 2A, a blade A ′ is formed by cutting a wide urethane rubber sheet obtained by a centrifugal molding method into strips to form a urethane rubber blade having a predetermined width and a predetermined length. . Then, an L-shaped blade support plate B is adhered to the upper surface of one end of the blade A'by a hot melt adhesive or a double-sided tape to be integrated.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the blade A ′ is placed on the support base 2, and the positioning jig 5 is advanced and held at a predetermined position on the tip end surface side thereof, and then the piston of the cylinder device 11 is held. The rod 11a is extended and the blade support plate B of the blade A ′ is pushed toward the positioning jig 5 by the abutment tool 12 to bring the tip end surface of the blade A ′ into contact with the positioning jig 5 for positioning. Then, the pressing plate 9 is lowered by the cylinder device 10 and the blade A ′ is inserted through the elastic member 8.
Is pressed and fixed on the support base 2.

As shown in FIG. 2C, a cutter 13 a inclined from one side surface of the blade A ′ at a predetermined angle is cut into the blade A ′ and the elastic member 8, and the cutter device is arranged along the longitudinal direction of the blade A. 13 is moved by a feeding device (not shown), and the upper corner portion of the blade A ′ is cut.

As shown in FIG. 2 (d), the blade A ′ taken out from the support base 2 has a ridge line for scraping toner on the lower side at the tip thereof, and the corner portion on the upper side is chamfered. There is.

Needless to say, the cutting method and apparatus of the present invention can be applied to other than cutting the corner portion of the cleaning blade as long as it is an elastic sheet.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description,
The elastic sheet cutting method and apparatus of the present invention have the following excellent effects.

According to the cutting method of the present invention (claim 1), (1) the elastic sheet is cut by a cutter while being pressed by a plate-like elastic member on a plane, so that the elastic sheet is deformed during cutting. Moreover, since the bending is unlikely to occur and the tip portion of the cutter is cut into the elastic member for cutting, highly accurate cutting can be performed without the cutter deforming. (2) Since cutting powder and chips are not generated during cutting, cleaning after cutting is unnecessary. (3) The height of the front end surface of the elastic sheet can be easily changed by appropriately adjusting the position of the elastic sheet on the plane.

According to the cutting device of the present invention (claim 2),
In addition to the above effects, (4) The positional relationship of the cutter that cuts into the tip surface of the elastic sheet is determined by the elastic sheet positioning jig, so the height of the tip surface of the elastic sheet can be easily and reliably changed. The large number of elastic sheets can be cut efficiently, enabling mass production.

According to the cutting device of the third aspect, in addition to the above effects, (5) the elastic sheet is more reliably positioned by urging the elastic sheet toward the positioning jig by the urging means. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side sectional view showing an outline of a cutting device for a cleaning blade for a photosensitive drum, and FIG. 1B is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 1A.

2A to 2D are cross-sectional side views sequentially showing a manufacturing process of a cleaning blade using the cutting method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which residual toner is scraped off by using a cleaning blade for a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a method of forming a chamfered portion of a conventional elastic sheet.

5 (a) is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional method for forming a chamfered portion of an elastic sheet using a mold, and FIG. 5 (b) is shown in FIG.
It is sectional drawing which shows the elastic blade finished by the method of (a).

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cutting device 2 Support stand 5 Positioning jig 7 Pressing device 8 Elastic member 11 Cylinder device (biasing means) 13 Cutter device 13a Cutter A / A 'Cleaning blade

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An elastic sheet is positioned on a flat surface, and then the elastic sheet is fixed by pressing the elastic sheet from above the elastic sheet, and the tip side of the elastic sheet is pressed by the elastic plate member. A method for cutting an elastic sheet, characterized in that the tip of the corner portion of the sheet is cut into the plate-like elastic member by a cutter inclined at a predetermined angle. 2. A support base having a flat surface on which an elastic sheet can be placed, and a positioning jig which contacts the tip end surface of the elastic sheet placed on the support base and positions the elastic sheet. A pressing unit that presses and fixes an elastic sheet positioned on the support base via a plate-shaped elastic member, and is movable along the positioning jig while maintaining a predetermined inclination angle. And a cutter means for cutting a corner portion on the pressing side of the plate-shaped elastic member. 3. The elastic sheet cutting device according to claim 2, further comprising a biasing unit that is in contact with the base end side of the elastic sheet and biases the elastic sheet toward the positioning jig.