[0001] This invention relates to a cutting arrangement, a printing device, and a method of cutting a substrate.

BACKGROUND

[0002] After an image is applied to a substrate by a printer, the substrate may subsequently be cut by a cutting machine. The substrate may be manually transferred between the printer and the cutting machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0003] Examples further described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a printing and cutting arrangement according to an example.

Figure 2a shows a perspective view of a cutting head according to an example. Figure

2b showsa section of the cutting head of Figure 2a. Figure 2c shows the cutting head of Figure 2a viewed along the z-direction.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates successive sets of overlapping perforations.

Figure 4 shows an example of a control section according to an example.

Figure 5 shows an arrangement according to an example.

Figure 6 shows an arrangement of cutting and printing heads according to an example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0004] An example of a printing and cutting arrangement is shown in Figure 1 . The arrangement includes a print section 1 10 and a cutting section 120. A substrate support 140 is to support a substrate 130, such that the substrate can be moved relative to the print section

1 10 and the cutting section 120. The substrate support 140 may be a platen, for example. In the example of Figure 1 ,the substrate support 140 is to move a substrate along a feeding direction.

Herein the feeding direction will be referred to as the y-direction, the y-axis being parallel to the feeding direction. An x-direction may be defined as perpendicular to the y-axis and parallel to a surface of the substrate. A z-direction is defined as perpendicular to the x and y-directions (i.e. perpendicular to the plane of Figure 1 ).

[0005] The print section 1 10 is to apply an image to the substrate 120, e.g. by ink jet printing. The cutting section 120 is to produce one or more cuts in the substrate. According to the example of Figure 1 , the cutting section 120 and print section 1 10 are arranged in parallel with respect to the substrate feed direction.

[0006] The print section 1 10 and the cutting section 120 are arranged substantially along the y-direction relative to each other and each is spaced from the substrate support 140 (and the substrate, when in use) along the z-direction. The movement of the substrate along the feeding direction by the substrate support 140 is such that different parts of the substrate along the y- direction may be acted upon (printed or cut, respectively) by the print section 1 10 and the cutting section 120.

[0007] According to the arrangement of Figure 1 , the printing and cutting of a substrate 130 may be performed at substantially the same time, e.g. such that the time period in which the substrate 130 is printed at least partially overlaps with the time period in which the substrate 130 is cut. This reduces the time needed to process the substrate 130.

[0008] In some examples the print section 1 10 and cutting section 120 are synchronized. This simplifies use of the same substrate feed rate (which may be fixed) for cutting and printing. This improves process flow.

[0009] In some examples the substrate feed direction does not change (e.g. does not reverse) during the printing and cutting operation.

[0010] In some examples printing and cutting may be performed at the normal printing rate, such that cutting does not reduce throughput.

[0011] In the example of Figure 1 , the print section 1 10 includes a print carriage 1 15. The print section 1 10 is to move the print carriage 1 15 across the surface of the substrate 130 in the x- direction such that the print section 1 10 may act on different parts of the substrate 130 along the x-direction.

[0012] Figure 1 shows the cutting section 120 having a cutting carriage 125 and a first movement section 123a.The first movement section 123a is to move the cutting carriage 125 across the surface of the substrate 130 in the x-direction.

[0013] The cutting carriage 125 of Figure 1 includes a cutting head 127 and a second movement section 123b. The second movement section 123b is to move the cutting head 127 in the x and y-directions. The second movement section 123bmay include two (possibly independent) actuators, such as motors or servos, to cause the movement of the cutting head 127.

[0014] The first 123a and second 123b movement sections, in combination, are referred to herein as the movement section 123. In some examples no second movement section 123b is provided, and movement of the cutting head 127 in the x and y-directions is achieved by the first movement section 123a. In some examples the movement section 120 may move the cutting head 127 along only one of the x-axis or y-axis. The movement section 123 may cause linear or curvelinear movement of the cutting head 127 and/or the cutting unit 125. The movement section 123 may cause the cutting head 127 and/or cutting unit 125 to move translationally (i.e. undergo translational motion, be translated or be displaced). The movement of the cutting head 127 and/or cutting unit 125 may be relative to the substrate support 140. The translational motion may be linear or curvilinear. Additional motion, such as rotation, is also possible.

[0015] In some examples the movement section 123 is to move the cutting head 127 faster than the movement of the print carriage 1 15 by the print section 1 10.

[0016] In some examples the cutting section 120 may be controlled by a controller (described later) to cut arbitrary shapes (e.g. curvilinear shapes) in or from the substrate 130. The controller may receive information describing the shape to be cut. In some examples, the information may be formatted as, or in a similar manner to, image data. For example, the information may be formatted similar to monochrome information suitable for defining an image to be printed by a print head, but defining locations at which the substrate should be cut, rather than defining locations at which the substrate should be printed. For example, the information may be in the form of a bitmap. The information may define a two-dimensional shape (or two- dimensional pattern) to be cut in the substrate (in the x-y plane) by the cutting section 120.

[0017] Figures 2a to 2c show an example of the cutting head 127. Figure 2a shows a perspective view of the cutting head 127. Figure 2b shows a view of the cutting head 127 from the x or y-direction, while Figure 2c shows the cutting head 127 when viewed along the z-axis.

[0018] The cutting head 127 includes a plurality of cutting elements 210 (for clarity not all of these are shown in Figure 2a). The cutting elements according to this example are needles or pointed shafts that are able to pierce or penetrate the substrate. In the present example the needles have circular cross section, but other shapes of cross section are possible. The cutting elements 210 mayhave sharpened vertical edges, be chisel-shaped, etc. The cutting elements could alternatively be rods or shafts that are not pointed. Needles, as shown in Figure 2, are simple and effective cutting elements. In some examples the cutting elements 210 may be heated (e.g. be heated needles)

[0019] The cutting elements 210 are actuatable by an actuating section220 (shown in Figure 2b). The actuating section 220 causes the cutting elements 210 to extend toward the substrate support 140 substantially along the z-direction, such that when a substrate 130 is provided on the substrate support 140, the extended cutting elements 210 cut and/or pierce the substrate 130.

[0020] The cutting elements 210 of Figures 2a to 2c are in a matrix arrangement, with a cutting element 210 at each intersection of a square or rectangular grid. [0021] The actuating section 220 may be to independently actuate the cutting elements. The example of Figure 2 includes an actuating element 225 for each cutting element 210 (only one actuating element is shown in Figure 2a). In one example, the actuating element 225 may include a solenoid.The actuating element 225 may be located at an end of the cutting element 210 distal from the substrate 130. The actuating element may also include a biasing element 227 (only one is shown in Figure 2a) to bias the cutting element 210 towards the non-extended, or retracted, state. Accordingly, the cutting elements will retract when the respective actuating element 225 is not activated. Use of a biasing element 227, such as a helical spring, provides an inexpensive and quick-acting return (retraction) mechanism for the cutting element 210.

[0022] Each cutting element 210 punches or cuts the substrate to produce a perforation.

[0023] The inventors have determined experimentally that a spacing of around 20 μηη or less between the cutting elements 210 results in good shape quality in the cutting for some printing applications (such as vinyl sticker generation).

[0024] In some examples, a controller (described below) moves the cutting head 127 to improve the spatial resolution of the cutting head 127. Perforations from successive actuations of the cutting elements 210 at different points on the substrate 230 may result in one or more continuous cuts in the substrate by overlap of the perforations. Figure 3 shows a schematic example of a first set of perforations 310 produced by the cutting head 127 as open circles. A second set of perforations 320 produced after the first set is shown as circles with diagonal shading.A third set of perforations 330 produced after the second set 320 is shown as circles with vertical shading. The first 310, second 320 and third 330 sets overlap to form a continuous cut. Such an arrangement allows a reduction in the density of cutting elements 210 (i.e. allows an increasein inter-cutting element 210 spacing)while still allowing a good cut shape quality.

[0025] In the example of Figure 3 the order in which the sets of perforations are produced may be altered.

[0026] In some examples, the cutting elements 210 may be actuated while the cutting head 127 is in a first position to produce a first set of holes or perforations. The holes of the first set of holes may have gaps (i.e. unperforated substrate) between them, the gaps corresponding to portions of the substrate 130 that cannot be cut by the cutting head 127 in the first position due to spacing between the cutting elements 210. The movement section 123 and/or the substrate feed may be to move the cutting head 127 to a second position relative to the substrate 130, such that actuation of the cutting elements 210 in the second position produces a set of holes or perforations in the gaps.

[0027] The ability to move the cutting carriage 127 in the x-direction facilitates the overlap of perforations in the x-direction. The ability to move the cutting carriage in the y-direction simplifies producing an overlap of perforations in the y-direction by reducing the interdependence between the speed with which perforations are produced that the speed at which the substrate is fed.

[0028] In examples in which the cutting carriage 127 is moveable in the y direction, the cutting carriage 127 may move backwards and forwards in the substrate feed direction. In some examples this allows shape finishing without requiring changes in the speed at which the substrate 130 is fed. Thus, the cutting may be performed without delaying or interrupting the printing process, and in some examples the cutting may be performed at essentially the same time as the printing. Thus, cutting may be performed in addition to printing with little or no increase in the time required to process the substrate 130.

[0029] In some examples, the cutting section 120 does not cut through the whole depth of the substrate. For example, some arrangements may be used for cutting vinyl for sticker generation. In this case, the cutting section 120 doesn't cut (or penetrate)completely through the substrate, only the top area where the sticker is printed (or is to be printed) is cut. After the cutting and printing is completed, the user may remove the sticker by hand, for

example. Similarly, some arrangements may be used to score the substrate, to aid folding, for example. As used herein, cut, pierce, etc. are used to include both the case for completely penetrating the substrate and the case of only partially penetrating the substrate (substantially along the z-direction). Similarly, references herein to perforations could equally be applied to cuts or holes resulting from partial piercing of the substrate in the z-direction.

[0030] According to some examples the cutting section 120 and print section 1 10 are provided in a single printing device. This avoids the need to transfer the substrate from a printing device to a cutting device (e.g. manually), and improves throughput. Furthermore, a device having a print section 1 10 and a cutting section 120 is likely to be less expensive to produce and may have a smaller footprint than separate printing and cutting devices.This also simplifies synchronization of the printing and cutting, improving the flow of substrate through the system.

[0031] In one example, the cutting section 120 may be integral to a printing device including the print section 1 10. In some examples the cutting section is a removable module that may be combined with a printing device comprising the print section 1 10. A removable cutting section 120 improves flexibility and simplifies maintenance. An integral cutting system 120 is simple and is likely to be simple and relatively inexpensive to produce.

[0032] In some examples the time required for the cutting head 175 to process (e.g. traverse and perforate) the substrate in the x-direction may be predictably determined and fixed, regardless of the complexity of the shape(s) to be cut. This is beneficial when the cutting and printing are to be performed in parallel at the same substrate feed rate. [0033] In some examples a sensor section may be provided to improve the accuracy of the movement and/or positioning of the cutting section 120. In some examples two encoder sensor devices are used to provide feedback on the position of the substrate to the movement section 123. The sensor section may be particularly advantageous when movement of the cutting head 127 is used to improve the spatial resolution of the cutting head 127, as more accurate positioning of the cutting head 127 relative to the substrate 130 may be required to produce good quality shaping.

[0034] The encoder sensor may be a device that gives a number of electric pulses

proportional to movement, and may be part of the servo-systems to provide feedback of the physical movement, to implement a control algorithm.

[0035] Quadrature Incremental Encoders provide precise and cost efficient sensors for use in the sensor section. The sensor section mayalternatively or additionally includeother types of sensors, such as a potentiometer, alinear variable differential transformer (LVDT), a tachometer, etc.

[0036] Figure 4 shows an example of a control section 400 for controlling the cutting section 120. The control section 400 includes a processor 410, such as a printer embedded computer. The processor is to communicate with a controller 420, which may be a control circuit, such as a microcontroller-based control circuit. The controller 420 controls power drivers 430. The power drivers 430 are to individually drive the actuating elements 225 (illustrated as solenoids in Figure 4). The power drivers 430 are also to drive the movement section 123 (e.g. by controlling motors in the movement section 123). The power drivers 430 may receive feedback from the sensors (e.g. encoder sensor 440). In some examples feedback from the sensors 440 may be received by the processor 410 and/or the controller 420, instead of or in addition to being received by the power drivers 430. A power supply section 450 may provide power for some or all of the components in Figure 4.

[0037] Figure 5 shows a method 500 according to an example. The method 500 starts at 510. At 520 a substrate 130 is fed past or over the substrate support 140 (e.g. including a platen) by the substrate support 140. While the substrate 130 is being fed, at 530 the substrate 130 is cut by a cutting unit 120 and an image is formed on the substrate 130 by a print section 1 10. The cutting includes moving the cutting unit 125 relative to the platen and cutting the substrate 130 by the cutting unit 125. According to this example, the feeding 520 is monodirectional during the printing and cutting. When the printing, cutting and feeding have been completed, the method terminates at 540. The method may be performed, at least in part, by a processor carrying out machine readable instructions. The machine readable instructions may be retained in a non-transient store, such as a hard drive, RAM, ROM, etc. The machine readable instructions may be embodied as software, firmware, etc. [0038] In some examples the feeding 520 is performed at a substantially constant speed during the forming of the image and cutting 530. In some examples the cutting unit 125 is moved such that the spatial resolution of the cutting is greater than a density of cutting elements 210 of the cutting unit 125. In some examples the cutting unit 125 is moved substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate 130.

[0039] In some examples the substrate 130 may be bent or folded during the printing and cutting process. For example, Figure 6 shows an arrangement in which the cutting 120 and printing 1 10 sections are arranged one above the other to reduce a footprint of the device. In such cases, the x, y and z directions are defined relative to the substrate 130 and change orientation with the substrate 130. Thus, when describing the cutting section 120, for example, the axes are defined by the portion of the substrate 130 relevant to the cutting section 120 (e.g. the portion of the substrate on which cutting is being performed). The same applies to references to the plane of the substrate 130 and similar terms.

[0040] In an alternative example the print section 1 10 does not include a print carriage 1 15 that is moveable in the x-direction. For example, the print section may include a page-wide- array, such that an image forming unit (such as an array of ink-jet nozzles) extends across the area that is to be printed (e.g.. the substrate width).

[0041] In an alternative example the cutting section 120 may be fixed in the x direction relative to the substrate support 140, and may move only in the y-direction. For example, the cutting section may include a cutting unit that is the width of the area to be cut (such as the width of the substrate) similar to a page-wide printing array.

[0042] References to the print 1 10 and cutting 120 sections being fixed or immoveable in one or more directions should be understood to mean that they are stationary during normal operation of printing and/or cutting a medium. Movement of these sections for maintenance or setup/configuration, etc. may be possible in some examples.

[0043] In the example of Figure 1 the cutting section 120 is arranged before the print section 130 along the substrate feed direction, such that each portion of the substrate encounters the cutting section, and any cutting of that portion is performed, before the portion reaches the print section, and any printing is performed on that portion. However, in other examples the print section 1 10 may be arranged before the cutting section 120 along the substrate feed direction. In some printing technologies the printing process may affect the dimensions of the substrate. In such technologies, performing cutting before printing may reduce or eliminate printing and/or cutting artifacts due to variation of substrate dimensions caused by the printing process (alternatively, or in addition, complexity may be reduced by reducing/avoiding the need to correct for such variation). For example, Latex inks may be cured immediately after printing, and the curing process may affect the mechanical dimensions of the substrate. [0044] The cutting elements 210 need not be arranged in a matrix pattern, and could instead be arranged in a single row, a plurality of offset rows, or an irregular pattern, for example.

[0045] In some arrangements an actuating element 225 other than a solenoid may be used. For example, the actuating element 225 could include a micromotor.

[0046] The term substrate has been used to include any medium suitable for printing and cutting. For example, the substrate may be paper, cardboard, vinyl, etc.

[0047] Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words "comprise" and "contain" and variations of themmean "including but not limited to", and they are not intended to (and do not) exclude other components, integers or steps. Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the singular encompasses the plural unless the context otherwise requires. In particular, where the indefinite article is used, the specification is to be understood as contemplating plurality as well as singularity, unless the context requires otherwise.

[0048] Features, integers, characteristicsor groups described in conjunction with a particular aspect or example are to be understood to be applicable to any other aspector example described herein unless incompatible therewith.AII of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. The invention is not restricted to the details of any foregoing examples. The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any

accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

[0049] The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference.