Fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in disk injection molding dies

Abstract: In a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates (19,20) aligning and guiding apparatus for disk injection molding metal dies capable of minimizing the damage of information transferred from a stamper plate, the wear of dies and the like when the dies are opened, there are disposed a plurality of pairs of parallel grooves (21,22) which are formed to the same cross sectional shape and the parallel grooves (21,22) have groove surfaces which coincide with the common outside diameter surface of a fixed side disk cavity plate (19) and a movable side disk cavity plate (20) in parallel with the center line of the dies when they form a cavity space. Each of guide blocks (23) is secured to one of the each pair of the parallel grooves (21,22) and precisely engaged with the other of the parallel grooves. The disk cavity plate (20) of the movable side metal die is mounted to a movable side mounting plate (25) through a self-aligning means for holding the disk cavity plate (20) on a plane in intimate contact therewith under pressure as well as slidably supporting the same, the plane being perpendicular to the axis of the disk cavity plate of the movable side die.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in injection molding dies used to the injection molding of optical disks. 2. Description of the Related Art An injection molding die mounted on an injection molding machine for molding optical disc base boards is known from US-A-5 388 982. In a conventional optical disk injection molding dies, bits transferred onto the surface of a molded optical disk substrate may be dislocated or deformed by the dislocation of the axial centers of fixed side and movable side disk cavity metal dies which is caused when the dies are opened after the completion of injection molding. There are several proposals for arrangements by which the dislocation of the axial centers of the disc cavity metal dies can be prevented. However, some of the proposals have a problem that the metal dies are worn or in an extreme case, the dies are broken by the vertical deflection error of a movable side platen guide rod of an injection molding machine when the dies are opened and closed. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are views explaining the above problem of a conventional metal die apparatus and FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the conventional optical disk substrate injection molding metal dies. The conventional metal die apparatus employs a system using a pair of guide rings which are composed of cylindrical members and disposed in contact with the outside diameters of the metal dies coaxially therewith as an aligning and guiding means for disk cavity plates disposed at the center of the fixed side and movable side metal dies, the cylindrical members having male and female engaging surfaces defined to the peripheral surfaces at the respective extreme ends thereof. A fixed side disk cavity plate 2 is secured to a fixed side mounting plate 1 and a spool bush 3 for injecting a molten resin material is disposed at the center thereof. The fixed side mounting plate 1 has a fixed side cylindrical guide ring 4 secured thereto and a female taper surface 5 having an inclining angle of 3° - 5° is formed to the inner periphery at the end surface thereof. A stamper plate 6 is secured to the surface of the disk cavity plate 2 by a stamper plate mounting member 7. A fixed side metal die assembly A is arranged as described above. A movable side mounting plate 8 has a movable side disk cavity plate 9 fixed thereto and a movable side cylindrical guide ring 12 fixed to the outer periphery of the movable side disk cavity plate 9. The movable side guide ring 12 has a male taper surface 13 formed to the outer periphery at the extreme end thereof, the male taper surface 13 being precisely engaged with the above female taper surface 5. A punch 10 is disposed at the center thereof to punch the center hole of a molded optical disk substrate 11. A movable side metal die assembly B is arranged as described above. The aforesaid respective metal dies are mounted to a fixed side platen 14 and a movable side platen 15 of an injection molding machine. A spring 16 is a spring for returning the punch 10. A molten resin material is filled from the spool bush 3 into a cavity formed by the respective disk cavity plates 2 and 9 under high pressure in the state that the dies are closed as shown in FIG. 5. Fine signal patterns of the stamper plate 6 are transferred onto a surface of the molded optical disk substrate 11. After the optical disk substrate 11 is molded, the dies are opened by continuously retracting the movable side platen 15 and the molded optical disk substrate 11 is taken out from the metal dies. Although the conventional optical disk substrate injection molding metal dies widely employ the taper surface guide system shown in FIG. 5 as a means for aligning the axial centers of the fixed side metal die A and the movable side metal die B, the above system has the following defects. (1) As shown in FIG. 4, in the optical disk substrate injection molding machine of such a type as to execute molding by horizontally moving the movable side platen 15, the movable side platen 15 is driven by a not shown toggle mechanism, a hydraulic piston or the like while being held by four guide rods 17. In this case, the guide rods 17 are deflected downward by 6 by the intervals between the bearing 18 of the movable side platen 15 and the guide rods 17 and the weight of the movable side platen 15 and the movable side metal die B. Therefore, when the dies are closed, the axial center of the movable side metal die B which was in coincidence with the axial center of the fixed side metal die A by the above taper guide mechanism is gradually deflected from the axial center of the fixed side metal die A in accordance with a die opening process and displaced downward by an amount of deflected displacement 6. In general, the amount of deflected displacement 6 may reach to 50 - 70 µm or more in an actually measured value. When an optical disk substrate is molded at high speed, the interior of the molded optical disk substrate 11 is in a partially melted state and the dies are opened in the state that the surface of the substrate is not yet solidified. Thus, the dislocation of the axial centers of the fixed side metal die A and the movable side metal die B must be kept to zero until a distance between the opened dies reaches at least 200 µm to prevent the occurrence of such disadvantages that fine signal bits transferred onto the molded optical disk substrate are deformed and the fine signal bits are transferred onto it twice. However, when the taper angle of the guide rings is set to 5°, the amount of dislocation of the axial centers of the fixed side metal die A and the movable side metal die B which is caused by the amount of deflected dislocation 6 reaches 17.5 µm in the state that the dies are opened 200 µm. Consequently, the molded optical disk substrate 11 is deformed by being subjected to a vertical stress corresponding to the amount of deflected dislocation of 17.5 µm. (2) Since the impact of the total weight of the movable side platen 15 and the movable side metal die B and the inertia force thereof are applied to the taper surfaces of the respective guide rings in each molding cycle in the process of closing the dies, an accident that the taper surfaces are abnormally worn or they are seized is liable to be caused. At the same time, there is a possibility that harmful worn metal powder also scatters. (3) The taper surfaces must be periodically repaired by being machined because they are abnormally worn and seized as described above. Since the taper surfaces must be machined with a pinpoint accuracy as well as the repair of the tapered surfaces is accompanied by the height adjustment machining of the disk cavity plates and other parts, a high maintenance cost and a long period for maintenance are needed. An object of the present invention is to provide a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in a disk injection molding metal dies capable of solving the aforesaid problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for disk injection molding metal dies of the present invention for achieving the above object, a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for disk injection molding metal dies in an injection molding metal die apparatus including a fixed side disk cavity plate and a fixed side disk cavity plate for forming a cavity space comprises a plurality of pairs of parallel grooves formed to the same cross sectional shape, the parallel grooves having groove surfaces which coincide with the common outside diameter surface of the fixed side disk cavity plate and the movable side disk cavity plate in parallel with the center line of the dies when they form the cavity space, guide blocks each fixed to one of the each pair of the parallel grooves and precisely engaged with the other of the parallel grooves, and self-aligning means for holding the disk cavity plate of the movable side metal die on a plane in intimate contact therewith under pressure as well as slidably supporting the disk cavity plate with respect to a movable side mounting plate, the plane being perpendicular to the axis of the disk cavity plate of the movable side die. The self-aligning means can be composed of spring means for causing the disk cavity plate of the movable side metal die to come into contact with the movable side mounting plate under pressure and guide means for guiding the disk cavity plate of the movable side metal die so that the axis of the disk cavity plate can move within a certain range. The surfaces of parallel grooves which are engaged with the surfaces of the guide blocks or the guide blocks can be arranged using a cemented carbide material. A coupling guide shape can be formed to the extreme end of each of the guide blocks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of an optical disk injection molding metal dies using an embodiment of a fixed side and movable side cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in an injection molding metal dies according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a view of the optical disk injection molding dies taken along the line A - A of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a view of the optical disk injection molding dies taken along the line B - B of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a schematic view explaining problems of conventional optical disk injection molding metal dies; and FIG. 5 is a detailed cross sectional view of the conventional optical disk injection molding metal dies shown in FIG. 4. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in an injection molding metal dies according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of an optical disk injection molding metal dies using an embodiment of a fixed side and movable side cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in an injection molding metal dies according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line A - A of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line B - B of FIG. 2. A fixed side disk cavity plate 19 is secured to a movable side mounting plate 34 and a spool bush 36 is disposed at the center thereof. A movable side disk cavity plate 20 is secured to a movable side mounting plate 25. The fixed side disk cavity plate 19 and the movable side disk cavity plate 20 are simultaneously machined to form key ways thereto before they are mounted. The fixed side disk cavity plate 19 is caused to confront the movable side disk cavity plate 20 in intimate contact therewith and they are machined to the same diameter, and fixed side parallel grooves 21 and movable side parallel grooves 22 each having a width W 1 are precisely ground at the same time at four positions perpendicular to each other on the respective outside diameter surfaces of the cavity plates 19, 20. A guide block 23 is secured to each of the parallel grooves 22 of the movable side disk cavity plate 20. The guide block 23 is a block made of a cemented carbide material having a hardness of H R A 83 - 89 and a transverse strength of 200 kgf/mm 2 . The guide block 23 has a width W 2 and a height H and is secured by a fixing bolt 24. However, the width W 2 of the guide block 23 is preferably determined as follows. W 2 = W 1 - 0.003 (mm) In the embodiment, W 1 = 40.000 mm, W 2 = 39.997 mm, H = 5 mm are used as a design criterion. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the extreme end of the guide block 23 is chamfered and formed to a coupling guide shape. The movable side disk cavity plate 20 of the above movable side metal die is supported by a self-aligning means and arranged such that when it is coupled with the fixed side disk cavity plate 19, the center of the movable side disk cavity plate 20 of the movable side metal die is caused to automatically coincide with the center of the fixed side disk cavity plate 19. The self-aligning means is composed of a plurality of sets of springs 30, ... 30 means for causing the movable side disk cavity plate 20 of the movable side metal die to come into intimate contact with the movable side mounting plate under pressure and a plurality of sets of guide means 28, 32 for guiding the disk cavity plate 20 of the movable side metal die so that its shaft can move within a certain range. The movable side metal die mounting plate is formed by being divided into a portion 25 and a portion 26. Screws holes 27 for bolts and guide bushes 28 are disposed at six positions to the mounting plate 25 to which the movable side disk cavity plate 20 is mounted, respectively. The mounting plate 26 has bolts 29 and counter sunk holes for compressed coil springs 30 as many as the screw holes 27 and guide rods 32 each having a diameter for enabling the rods 32 to be engaged with the holes of the above guide bushes 28 within an interval of 0.3 mm in diameter. The compressed coil springs 30 as many as the bolts 29 are inserted and the mounting plate 25 is attached to the mounting plate 26 by the bolts 29. With this arrangement, the movable side disk cavity plate 20 of the movable side metal die secured to the movable side metal die mounting plate 25 can slide on a surface within the range of a diameter of 0.3 mm in an intimate contact state achieved by the pressure of the compressed coil springs 30. Note, the mounting plate 26 is secured by being mounted to a movable side platen 33. A stamper plate 37 is secured to the fixed side disk cavity plate 19 by a stamper plate mounting bush 38. A punch 39 for punching the center hole of a molded optical disk substrate 40 is guided by the portion 25a of the movable side metal die mounting plate 25 so that it can advance and retract. A sufficient idle portion is defined between the portion 25a of the movable side metal die mounting plate 25 and the movable side metal die mounting plate 26. Then, the punch 39 is urged in a return direction by a return spring 41. The optical disk substrate injection molding metal dies of the present invention arranged as described above has the following advantages. (1) The axial center of the fixed side metal die is aligned with the axial center of the movable side metal die in such a manner that the parallel surfaces of a plurality of pairs of guide blocks 23 disposed to the outer periphery of the movable side disk cavity plate 20 are precisely engaged with the sides of the parallel grooves 21 disposed to the outer periphery of the fixed side disk cavity plate 19. Therefore, when the dies are opened after the completion of injection molding, the projecting parallel surfaces of the guide blocks 23 are removed from the surfaces of the parallel grooves 21 of the fixed side disk cavity plate 19 at the time when the movable side platen 33 retracts by 5 mm. Thus, a vertical deforming stress, which would be caused by the conventional taper guide surface alignment system, does not act on the molded optical disk substrate 40 at all during the above operation. (2) The mounting plate 25 on which the movable side disk cavity plate 20 is mounted as described in FIG. 1 is disposed so that it can move with respect to the movable side platen 33, different from the prior art structure shown in FIG. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 in which the movable side disk cavity plate is secured to the movable side platen as an integral part thereof. Consequently, when the dies are closed and opened, the weight and inertial force of the movable side platen 33 caused by the deflection of the guide rods of an injection molding machine are not applied between the parallel grooves 21 and the guide blocks 23 which form the alignment and guide surfaces of the respective fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates 19, 20. At the same time, the parallel surfaces of the projections of the guide blocks 23 of the movable side disk cavity plate 20 are aligned by themselves and engaged with the guide surfaces of the parallel grooves 21 of the fixed side cavity plate 19. Since applied to the respective guide surfaces 21, 23 in this case are only the light weight of 20 - 30 kgf from the movable side disk cavity plate 20, the mounting plate 25 and the like, the damage of the above parallel alignment and guide surfaces 21, 23 can be greatly reduced. (3) Since the simple parallel surfaces are used as the alignment and guide surfaces of the respective fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates different from the conventional taper guide surface alignment system, the guide surfaces can be simply repaired by replacing the guide blocks whose cost is lower than a cost for repairing the aforesaid prior art taper guide surfaces and machining the parallel guide grooves to increase the widths thereof. Note, the alignment and guide means of the fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates based on the present invention may be provided with the cylindrical ring which is engaged with the same axial center of the outside diameter surfaces of the fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates depending upon a structure of the metal dies. Although the surfaces of the aforesaid guide blocks 23 are made of the cemented carbide material as an example, the cemented carbide material may be used to the surfaces of the parallel grooves to be engaged with the above guide blocks 23. As described above in detail, the metal die apparatus using the fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus in the disk injection molding metal dies according to the present invention prevents the dislocation of the axial centers in a vertical direction of the fixed side metal die and the movable side metal die which is caused when the metal dies are opened after the completion of injection molding, so that the dislocation of fine signal bits transferred to a molded optical disk substrate and the quality deterioration of the molded substrate due to the signal bits transferred twice can be prevented. Since prevented is the application of excessive loads such as the weight, inertia force and the like of the movable side platen caused by the deflection error of the injection molding machine, the damage of the metal dies can be greatly reduced. Therefore, a maintenance cost and a maintenance period can be greatly reduced as compared with the optical disk substrate injection molding metal dies employing the taper guide surface system.

Claims: A fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for disk injection molding metal dies in an injection molding metal die apparatus including a fixed side disk cavity plate (19) and a movable side disk cavity plate (20) for forming a cavity space, comprising: a plurality of pairs of parallel grooves (21; 22) formed to the same cross sectional shape, said parallel grooves (21; 22) having groove surfaces which coincide with the common outside diameter surface of said fixed side disk cavity plate (19) and said movable side disk cavity plate (20) in parallel with the center line of the dies when they form the cavity space; guide blocks (23) each fixed to one (21; 22) of the each pair of said parallel grooves and precisely engaged with the other (22; 21) of said parallel grooves; and self-aligning means (30) for holding the disk cavity plate (20) of said movable side metal die on a plane in intimate contact therewith under pressure as well as slidably supporting said disk cavity plate (20) with respect to a movable side mounting plate (25, 26), said plane being perpendicular to the axis of the disk cavity plate (20) of said movable side die. A fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for disk injection molding metal dies according to claim 1, wherein said self-aligning means is composed of spring means (30) for causing the disk cavity plate (20) of said movable side metal die to come into contact with said movable side mounting plate (26) under pressure and guide means (28, 32) for guiding the disk cavity plate (20) of said movable side metal die so that the axis of said disk cavity plate (20) can move within a certain range. A fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for information disk injection molding metal dies according to claim 1, wherein the surfaces of parallel grooves (21; 22) which are engaged with the surfaces of said guide blocks (23) or said guide blocks (23) are arranged using a cemented carbide material. A fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for information disk injection molding metal dies according to claim 1, wherein said guide blocks (23) are fixed to said movable side disk cavity plate (20). A fixed side and movable side disk cavity plates aligning and guiding apparatus for information disk injection molding metal dies according to claim 1, wherein a coupling guide shape is formed to the extreme end of each of said guide blocks (23).

Inventors: TAKAHASHI MITSUO, YASUDA KATSUYUKI, TAKAHASHI, MITSUO, YASUDA, KATSUYUKI
Applicants: SEIKO GIKEN KK, SEIKOH GIKEN CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B29C45
IPC codes: B29C45, B29L17, G11B7