Patent ID: 7712432

Claim:
A printing apparatus for a bonding material, in which a board is to be supported from a component mounting-side surface on which a plurality of components are mounted, and a bonding material of components is printed on a working-side surface of the board, the working side-surface and the component mounting-side surface being opposite surfaces of the board, comprising: a board transporting unit for supporting, in a releasable manner, at least an edge portion on the component mounting-side surface of the board and transporting the board in a state of being supported to a printing processing region; a board retaining device capable of holding the board by suction in a region including at least the edge portion on the component mounting-side surface of the board upon being released from the board transporting unit so as to retain a supported posture of the board; a plurality of support transfer members for supporting the component mounting-side surface of the board, the support transfer members being arranged to support the board released from the board transporting unit, wherein the board is to be transferred from the support transfer members to the board retaining device; and a bonding material printing unit for printing the bonding material on the working-side surface of the board in a state in which the supported posture is retained by the board retaining device, wherein the bonding material printing unit comprises a screen which is adopted to be placed on the working-side surface of the board and which has a plate surface portion congruent with a printing position of the bonding material on the working-side surface, a printing unit for printing the bonding material on the working-side surface through the plate surface portion by feeding the bonding material while moving along the screen placed on the working-side surface, and a screen retaining device placed adjacent to the board retaining device and being arranged to bring the plate surface portion into close contact with the working-side surface by sucking and holding a vicinity of a periphery of the plate surface portion on a board-side surface of the screen placed on the working-side surface of the board, wherein the bonding material printing unit is arranged to print the bonding material in a state in which the plate surface portion of the screen is in close contact with the working-side surface of the board by the screen retaining device.