Technical Note 5 - Flip Station
The flip station performs two independent functions:
1.It lifts the card in process clear of the carriage, flips it upside down, then returns it to the carriage so that its other side may be printed; 2. It lifts the fully printed card clear of the carriage, raising it to the point where it lines up with the laminator’s infeed path. An ejector arm then propels the card into the laminator infeed rollers.
Note that the flip action alternates in consecutive cycles between clockwise and counterclockwise.
How the flip station works
As the motor driven carrier rises, taking with it the flip arms and card, the cam is forced to rotate by the projection on the right side of the flip stop. The actuators do nothing at this time.
The cam is driven over center by the flip stop, at which point the flip spring takes over, fully inverting the card. Shown here at
its upper limit of travel, the carrier is about to descend.
As the carrier descends, the cam deflects Actuator A, which in turn drives the flip stop to the right. Now, when the next flip is called for, the cam strikes the left projection of the flip stop, flipping the card in the opposite direction. Actuator B, moving in parallel with A, is then set to return the flip stop to the left when the carrier heads downward on completion of the flip action.
One end of the flip spring locates in a cavity in the rear flipper arm, the other in a hole in the rear surface of the carrier molding.
Spring | Collar | Cam | Azimuth | |
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| adjust | ||
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| Slide |
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| bearing | Spring | |
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Carrier |
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| locating | |
Front | Rack | Rear hole | ||
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50 | P640i Card Printer User Guide |