JP2011167999A - Printing apparatus and printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Printing by changing the type of transparent ink for coating an image.
(A) a transport unit that transports a medium in a transport direction; and (B) and (b1) a plurality of nozzles arranged in the transport direction to discharge drawing ink for forming an image on the medium. A nozzle array; and (b2) a first irradiation section having irradiation means for irradiating light for pre-curing the drawing ink ejected onto the medium, and moving in a direction crossing the transport direction. (1) a head unit, (C) (c1) a second nozzle row that is different in flexibility after curing and discharges either one of a transparent first clear ink and a second clear ink, and (c2) on the medium And a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for pre-curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink discharged to the first downstream side of the first head unit in the transport direction. Placed on the side , Printing apparatus and a second head unit that moves in the cross direction.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method.

An ink jet printer that ejects ink to form an image on a medium is used. Among such ink jet printers, there are printers that eject transparent ink onto an image formed with drawing ink in order to protect the image.

JP 2006-88529 A JP 2009-262560 A

Various media are used as printing objects. For example, it may be a plate-like material that is used as it is, or a medium that is attached to a curved surface. In the case of a plate-shaped medium, since the medium is difficult to deform, it is desirable to use a hard transparent ink for coating an image. On the other hand, in the case of a curved film or the like, since it is deformed when it is attached to a curved surface, a crack occurs on the surface unless a soft transparent ink is used. Therefore, it is desirable to be able to print by changing the type of transparent ink according to the medium to be printed.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to print by changing the type of transparent ink for coating an image.

The main invention for achieving the above object is:
(A) a transport unit that transports the medium in the transport direction;
(B) (b1) a first nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in the transport direction and ejects drawing ink for forming an image on the medium;
(B2) a first irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the drawing ink discharged on the medium;
A first head unit that moves in a direction crossing the transport direction;
(C) (c1) the second nozzle row for discharging either one of the transparent first clear ink and the second clear ink, the flexibility after curing is different;
(C2) a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink ejected on the medium;
A second head unit that is disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport direction and moves in the intersecting direction;
Is a printing apparatus.

  Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic side view of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 1 is a schematic top view of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 1 is a block diagram of a printer 1 in the present embodiment. 4A is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the first head 41A, and FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the second head 41B. It is a figure explaining the structure of a head. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of a drive signal COM generated by a drive signal generation circuit 70. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an LED substrate in the temporary curing unit 80. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for describing print processing according to the present exemplary embodiment. It is a schematic side view of the printer 1 in other embodiment. It is a schematic top view of the printer 1 in another embodiment.

  At least the following matters will become clear from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

(A) a transport unit that transports the medium in the transport direction;
(B) (b1) a first nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in the transport direction and ejects drawing ink for forming an image on the medium;
(B2) a first irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the drawing ink discharged on the medium;
A first head unit that moves in a direction crossing the transport direction;
(C) (c1) the second nozzle row for discharging either one of the transparent first clear ink and the second clear ink, the flexibility after curing is different;
(C2) a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink ejected on the medium;
A second head unit that is disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport direction and moves in the intersecting direction;
A printing apparatus comprising:
In this way, it is possible to print by changing the type of transparent ink that coats the image.

In this printing apparatus, the first ink that draws the drawing ink of the first nozzle row from the nozzle surface
A suction device; and a second suction device that sucks one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink of the second nozzle row from the nozzle surface, the first suction device and the second suction device. It is desirable that each of them can suck the corresponding nozzle independently. In addition, it is preferable that the first nozzle row and the second nozzle row are provided apart from each other in the transport direction. Further, it is preferable that the drawing ink, the first clear ink, and the second clear ink are ultraviolet curable ink, and the irradiation unit irradiates ultraviolet rays. In addition, a third irradiation unit for main-curing one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink and the drawing ink is provided on the downstream side of the second head unit in the transport direction. Is desirable.
The first head unit and the second head unit are preferably configured integrally. Further, the first head unit and the second head unit may move independently in the intersecting direction.
In this way, it is possible to print by changing the type of transparent ink that coats the image.

(A) a transport unit that transports the medium in the transport direction;
(B) (b1) a first nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in the transport direction and ejects drawing ink for forming an image on the medium;
(B2) a first irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the drawing ink discharged on the medium;
A first head unit that moves in a direction crossing the transport direction;
(C) (c1) the second nozzle row for discharging either one of the transparent first clear ink and the second clear ink, the flexibility after curing is different;
(C2) a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink ejected on the medium;
A second head unit that is disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport direction and moves in the intersecting direction;
With
Discharging the drawing ink from the first nozzle row;
Preliminarily curing the drawing ink;
Discharging one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink onto the drawing ink;
Temporarily curing either one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink;
Including printing method.
In this way, it is possible to print by changing the type of transparent ink that coats the image.

=== Embodiment ===
The printer 1 in this embodiment can eject four color inks (drawing inks), and can eject one of two types of transparent ink. These inks used in this embodiment are UV inks (ultraviolet curable inks). As the transparent ink, flexible clear ink (first clear ink) and rigid clear ink (second clear ink) are used. After being cured with ultraviolet light, the flexible clear ink has a higher elongation than the rigid clear ink. Here, the term “elongation rate” means, for example, that when the elongation rate is 80%, the ink does not crack even if the solid printed medium is stretched 1.8 times. In the present embodiment, a flexible clear ink having an elongation rate of 80% or more is used. Further, rigid clear ink having an elongation of less than 40%, preferably 30% or less is used.

In the present embodiment, the four color inks that form an image are flexible inks having substantially the same elongation rate as the flexible clear ink.

The flexible clear ink has a phenoxyethyl acrylate of 20% or more, preferably 30% or more as a monofunctional monomer, and a difunctional glycol diacrylate glycol diacrylate of 20% or less as a main component. Flexible (
Flexibility).

In addition, the rigid clear ink mainly contains less than 20% phenoxyethyl acrylate as a monofunctional monomer, 20% or more of isobornyl acrylate as a monofunctional monomer component, and 30% or more of dipropylene glycol diacrylate as a bifunctional monomer. By setting it as a component, the rigid property (hardness) with an elongation of less than 40% can be controlled.

Further, as other components of these inks, a desired ink can be prepared by using a pigment, a pigment dispersant, a polyfunctional monomer, an oligomer, a photopolymerization initiator, a sensitizer, a thermal polymerization inhibitor, and a leveling agent. Can do.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a printer 1 according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of the printer 1 in the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the printer 1 in the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the configuration of the printer 1 will be described with reference to these drawings.

FIG. 3 shows the printer 1 and the computer 110. The printer 1 includes a paper transport unit 10, a head moving unit 20, a flushing unit 30, and a head unit 4.
0, a detector group 50, a controller 60, a drive signal generation circuit 70, a temporary curing unit 80, and a main curing unit 90 are provided.

The paper transport unit 10 includes a transport roller 11A, a first pressure roller 11B, a paper discharge roller 12A, and a second pressure roller 12B. The transport roller 11A and the paper discharge roller 12A are connected to a motor (not shown), and the rotation of the motor is controlled by the controller 60.
Controlled by. Then, the medium is conveyed in the conveyance direction by being sandwiched between the conveyance roller 11A and the first pressing roller 11B. Further, the medium is transported in the transport direction and discharged by being sandwiched between the paper discharge roller 12A and the second pressing roller 12B.

In the present embodiment, the medium M is a transparent film or a board-like plate member. When the film is used as a medium, the film is supplied from a paper supply roll (not shown) on the upstream side and wound by a winding roller (not shown) on the downstream side. When the plate member is used as a medium, the paper feed roll and the take-up roller are removed, and the plate member is supplied from the upstream side of the printer.

The head moving unit 20 includes a first head 41A (described later, which includes a first LED substrate 81A and a second LED substrate 81B described later in a nozzle array that discharges YMCK ink), and a second head unit. It has a function of moving the head 41B (a third LED substrate 81C and a fourth LED substrate 81D, which will be described later in a nozzle row that discharges clear ink, constitute a second head unit) in the moving direction of the head. The moving direction of the head is a direction that intersects the transport direction of the medium M. Then, after the medium M is conveyed by a predetermined amount, an image is formed on the entire surface of the medium M by repeating the operation of ejecting ink while moving the first head 41A and the second head 41B in the moving direction of the head. Can be done.

The head moving unit 20 includes a moving roller 21, a pulley 22, a belt 23 and a shaft 24. The belt 23 is bridged between the moving roller 21 and the pulley 22. A motor (not shown) is attached to the moving roller 21 and is rotated by the control of the controller 60, whereby the belt 23 moves in the moving direction. The belt 23 is fixed to the first head 41A. The first head 41A is fixed integrally with the second head 41B. Since the shaft 24 is provided so as to penetrate the second head 41 </ b> B, the second head 41 </ b> B is movable so as to slide on the shaft 24. Thus, the first head 41
By moving A in the head moving direction, the second head 41B also moves in the head moving direction.

The flushing unit 30 includes a first flushing unit 31 and a second flushing unit 32. The first flushing unit 31 has such a shape that the head is fitted when the first head 41 </ b> A moves to the upper part of the first flushing unit 31.
The first flushing unit 31 is provided with a pump for sucking the solidified ink from the nozzles. When flushing the first head 41A, the first head 41A moves to the upper part of the first flushing unit 31 and is fitted therein. Then, a piezoelectric element described later is continuously driven to discharge ink. Further, ink is sucked from the nozzles by a pump. By doing so, ink solidified from the nozzles can be sucked to eliminate nozzle clogging.

Similar to the first flushing unit 31, the second flushing unit 32 is shaped so that the head fits when the second head 41 </ b> B moves to the upper part of the second flushing unit 32. The second flushing unit 32 is also provided with a pump. When performing flushing on the second head 41B, the second head 41B moves to the upper part of the second flushing unit 32 and is fitted therein. Then, the piezo elements are continuously driven to eject ink. Further, ink is sucked from the nozzles by a pump. By doing so, ink solidified from the nozzles can be sucked to eliminate nozzle clogging. Further, when the ink in the head is replaced, the ink in the head can be sucked.

The first flushing unit 31 and the second flushing unit 32 operate independently of each other, and the ink of the first head 41A and the second head 41 are at different timings.
The B ink can be sucked.

The head unit 40 includes two heads, a first head 41A and a second head 41B.
Each head includes a nozzle row for ejecting ink and a temporary curing unit for temporarily curing the ejected ink. The configuration of each head will be described later.

The detector group 50 represents various detectors that detect information of each part of the printer 1 and send it to the controller 60.

The controller 60 is a control unit for controlling the printer 1. The controller 60 includes a CPU 61, a memory 62, and an interface unit 63. CPU
Reference numeral 61 denotes an arithmetic processing unit for controlling the entire printer. Memory 62 is CPU 6
This is for securing an area for storing one program, a work area, etc., RAM, EE
It has a storage element such as PROM. The CPU 61 controls each unit according to a program stored in the memory 62. The interface unit 63 transmits and receives data between the computer 110 as an external device and the printer 1.

The drive signal generation circuit 70 generates a drive signal for applying ink to a drive element such as a piezo element included in a head, which will be described later, to eject ink droplets. The drive signal generation circuit 70 includes a DAC (not shown). Then, an analog voltage signal is generated based on the digital data regarding the waveform of the drive signal sent from the controller 60. The drive signal generation circuit 70 also includes an amplifier circuit (not shown), and performs power amplification on the generated voltage signal to generate a drive signal.

The temporary curing unit 80 tentatively cures the ink landed by irradiating the ultraviolet curable ink landed on the medium M with ultraviolet rays (hereinafter, “temporary curing” may be referred to as “pinning”). . That is, the viscosity of the ink surface landed on the medium M is increased, and the movement of the ink is suppressed. As described above, by increasing the viscosity of the surface of the landed ink, even when another ink is landed on the ink, it becomes difficult for the inks to move, and bleeding can be suppressed.

The temporary curing unit 80 includes four LED substrates 81A, 81B, 81C, 81D. L
The configuration of the ED substrate 81 will be described later.

The main curing unit 90 is arranged on the most downstream side in the transport direction as shown in FIG.
Then, the medium M is irradiated with light including ultraviolet rays, and each ink landed on the medium M is fully cured.
The main curing unit 90 is configured by assembling a plurality of the aforementioned LED substrates 81.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the first head 41A. This figure is a top view of the first head 41A, but for ease of explanation of the nozzle arrangement and the LED arrangement, the nozzle holes and LEDs that are originally visible only from the bottom are transparently shown. The first head 41A includes a yellow ink nozzle row Y that discharges yellow ink, a magenta ink nozzle row M that discharges magenta ink, a cyan ink nozzle row C that discharges cyan ink, and a black ink nozzle row that discharges black ink. K is included. Each nozzle row has a nozzle pitch P of 360 dpi.
And 360 nozzles of nozzles # 1 to # 360 are included.

The first head 41A includes a first LED substrate 81A and a second LED substrate 81B.
Each LED substrate includes a plurality of LEDs. And it is possible to irradiate ultraviolet rays for temporary curing. With such a configuration, the first head 41A discharges the color ink onto the medium while moving in the moving direction of the medium M that is intermittently transported, and temporarily irradiates the landed color ink with ultraviolet rays. Can be made.

A color ink tank 42 that stores four color inks is attached to the upper portion of the first head 41A. Then, the ink corresponding to each nozzle row of the first head 41A is supplied from the color ink tank.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the second head 41B. This figure is a top view of the second head 41B, but for ease of explanation of the nozzle arrangement and the LED arrangement, the nozzle holes and LEDs that are originally visible only from the lower part are transparently shown. The second head 41B includes a clear ink nozzle array CL that discharges flexible transparent ink or rigid transparent ink. Each of these nozzle rows also has a nozzle pitch P of 360 dpi, and nozzles # 1 to # 36.
Contains 360 nozzles of zero.

The second head 41B also includes a third LED substrate 81C and a fourth LED substrate 81D.
Each LED substrate includes a plurality of LEDs and can irradiate ultraviolet rays for temporary curing. With such a configuration, the second head 41B can tentatively cure the landed clear ink by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays while discharging the clear ink onto the medium intermittently conveyed.

In addition, a mounting portion to which a clear ink tank can be mounted is provided on the second head 41B. Then, either the flexible clear ink tank 43A storing the flexible clear ink or the rigid clear ink tank 43B storing the rigid clear ink is attached to the mounting portion. By doing so, the flexible clear ink or the rigid clear ink is ejected from the nozzles of the clear ink nozzle row CL by mounting any one of the ink tanks.

Each of these ink tanks has an IC and an electrical contact including information indicating whether the flexible clear ink is stored or the rigid clear ink is stored. The mounting portion of the second head 41B has an electrical contact for reading such information, and the controller 60 can grasp whether the flexible clear ink tank 43A is mounted or the rigid clear ink 43B is mounted. It is like that.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the structure of the head. In the figure, nozzle Nz, piezo element PZT,
An ink supply path 402, a nozzle communication path 404, and an elastic plate 406 are shown.

Ink is supplied to the ink supply path 402 from an ink tank (not shown). These inks and the like are supplied to the nozzle communication path 404. A drive pulse of a drive signal described later is applied to the piezo element PZT. When the drive pulse is applied, the piezo element PZT expands and contracts according to the signal of the drive pulse and vibrates the elastic plate 406. An amount of ink droplets corresponding to the amplitude of the drive pulse is ejected from the nozzle Nz.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing an example of the drive signal COM generated by the drive signal generation circuit 70. As shown in the figure, the drive signal COM is repeatedly generated every repetition period T.

A period T which is a repetition period corresponds to a period during which the head moves by one pixel in the movement direction. For example, when the print resolution is 360 dpi, the period T is 1/3 of the head with respect to the medium.
This corresponds to a period for moving 60 inches. Then, by applying the driving pulses PS1 to PS4 in each section included in the period T to the piezo element PZT based on the pixel data included in the print data, ink droplets having different sizes are ejected in one pixel. It is possible to express multiple gradations.

The drive signal COM includes a drive pulse PS1 generated in the section T1 in the repetition period T, a drive pulse PS2 generated in the section T2, a drive pulse PS3 generated in the section T3, and a drive pulse generated in the section T4. PS4.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an LED substrate in the temporary curing unit 80. LED board 81 is
A plurality of LED assemblies 83 are included. In the present embodiment, two LED assemblies 83 are arranged in the width direction of the medium, and eight LED assemblies 83 are arranged in the transport direction (consisting of a total of 16 LED assemblies 83). One LED assembly 83 includes four LEDs 831. The LED 831 in this embodiment has a peak wavelength of 385 to 405 nm.

The amount of current supplied to these LEDs is adjusted, and the irradiation energy can be made variable. In this embodiment, pinning energy (temporary curing energy) is
The current is adjusted to be ² to 20 mJ / cm ² .

The main curing unit 90 is configured such that a plurality of LED substrates 81 are arranged in the head moving direction. The main curing unit 90 is attached to the downstream side of the second head 41B, and moves simultaneously when the second head 41B moves in the moving direction of the head. As described above, since the second head 41B is provided on the downstream side, the color ink discharged and temporarily cured by the first head 41A and the second head 41 are provided.
The clear ink discharged by B and temporarily cured can be fully cured.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining print processing according to the present embodiment. Printing using the printer 1 according to the present embodiment will be described using this flowchart. The printer in this embodiment has a flexible coating mode and an abrasion resistant coating mode.

The flexible coating mode is a printing mode in which an image is printed on a cubic curved film, and further, a flexible clear ink is ejected onto the image for coating. The printed matter printed in the flexible coating mode is a printed matter used for car wrapping, for example. In this way, the printed matter printed on the cubic curved film is later attached while the film is adapted to the automobile body. At this time, since the film may be greatly stretched, it is desirable that the clear ink coating the printed material has a large elongation rate.

On the other hand, the abrasion-resistant coating mode is a printing mode in which printing is performed on the medium M that is not stretched or bent after printing. The above-mentioned flexible clear ink has a high elongation rate but is inferior in abrasion resistance. That is, it is easily damaged by scratches. Therefore, when printing on a medium that is not stretched after printing and requires more abrasion resistance, the rigid clear ink with excellent abrasion resistance is applied to the image, although the elongation is lower than that of the flexible clear ink. It is discharged and coated.

Before printing is started, the flexible clear ink tank 43A or the rigid clear ink tank 43B is attached to the attachment portion of the second head 41B according to the medium to be printed by the user (S102).

Next, it is determined whether the ink tank attached to the second head 41B is the flexible clear ink tank 43A or the rigid clear ink tank 43B (S104).
). If the type of clear ink used in the current printing is different from the type of clear ink used during the previous printing, the second head 41B is flushed (S10).
6). In this way, different types of clear ink used last time can be used for the second head 4.
Aspirate from 1B.

At this time, the second flushing unit 31B operates, but the first flushing unit 31A does not operate, so that only the ink of the second head 41B is sucked. In this way, since the ink of the first head 41A is not sucked, it is possible to prevent the ink from being wasted.

Next, it is determined whether the ink tank attached to the second head 41B is the flexible clear ink tank 43A or the rigid clear ink tank 43B (S108).
). When the flexible clear ink tank 43A is attached, printing is performed in the flexible coating mode. On the other hand, rigid clear ink tank 43B
When is mounted, printing is performed in the abrasion-resistant coating mode. The flexible coating mode is mainly used for printing on the above-mentioned film, and the abrasion-resistant coating mode is often used for printing on a plate-like member.

If it is determined that the flexible coating mode is selected, color ink is ejected from the nozzles of the first head 41A to form an image. Then, the flexible clear ink is ejected from the clear ink nozzle row CL of the second head 41B, and the image is coated (S1).
10).

On the other hand, in step S104, when it is determined that the mode is not the flexible coating mode (that is, when it is determined that the mode is the abrasion-resistant coating mode), color ink is ejected from the nozzles of the first head 41A to form an image. Then, the rigid clear ink is ejected from the clear ink nozzle row CL of the second head 41B, and the image is coated (
S112).

In this way, the same color ink can be used when the printed material requires flexibility and when the rub resistance is required, but the type of clear ink to be coated can be switched and handled. it can.

FIG. 9 is a schematic side view of the printer 1 according to another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a schematic top view of the printer 1 according to another embodiment. The figure shows a first head 41A and a second head 41.
A state in which Bs are separated from each other is shown. Thus, the separated first head 41A
And the second head 41B can be moved separately from each other, the first head 41A
A moving roller 21, a pulley 22, a belt 23, and a shaft 24 are provided, and a moving roller 25, a pulley 26, a belt 27, and a shaft 28 for the second head 41B are provided.

Further, since the first head 41A and the second head 41B are separated, the first flushing unit 31 and the second flushing unit 32 are provided more apart in the transport direction than in the above-described embodiment. .

As described above, the first head 41A and the second head 41B can be configured to be separated from each other in the transport direction. Therefore, after further promoting the temporary curing of the color ink discharged from the first head 41A, Further, clear ink can be ejected from the second head 41B.

In addition, since the color ink is leveled in the medium feeding period after the image is formed by the first head 41A until it is coated with the clear ink, a smoother surface can be formed and glossy printing can be performed. It can be performed. Moreover, since the image is coated with the clear ink thereafter, the surface can be further smoothed and a glossy printed matter can be provided.

In the above-described embodiment, the types of transparent ink that can be replaced have been described using the flexible clear ink and the rigid clear ink as an example, but are not limited thereto. For example, flame retardant clear ink, high weather resistance clear ink, or clear ink excellent in antifouling property may be used.

The above-described embodiments are for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention can be changed and improved without departing from the gist thereof, and it is needless to say that the present invention includes equivalents thereof.

1 printer,
10 Paper transport unit,
20 head moving unit,
30 Flushing unit,
40 head unit, 41A first head, 41B second head,
50 detector groups,
60 controller, 61 CPU, 62 memory, 63 interface unit,
70 drive signal generation circuit,
80 temporary curing unit, 81 LED substrate,
83 LED assembly, 831 LED,
90 curing units,
110 computers,
M medium

Claims (8)

(A) a transport unit that transports the medium in the transport direction;
(B) (b1) a first nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in the transport direction and ejects drawing ink for forming an image on the medium;
(B2) a first irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the drawing ink discharged on the medium;
A first head unit that moves in a direction crossing the transport direction;
(C) (c1) the second nozzle row for discharging either one of the transparent first clear ink and the second clear ink, the flexibility after curing is different;
(C2) a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink ejected on the medium;
A second head unit that is disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport direction and moves in the intersecting direction;
A printing apparatus comprising: A first suction device for sucking drawing ink of the first nozzle row from a nozzle surface;
A second suction device for sucking one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink of the second nozzle row from a nozzle surface;
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first suction device and the second suction device are capable of sucking the corresponding nozzles independently. The first nozzle row and the second nozzle row are provided apart from each other in the transport direction.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing ink, the first clear ink, and the second clear ink are ultraviolet curable inks, and the irradiation unit irradiates ultraviolet rays. The third irradiation unit for carrying out a main curing of either the first clear ink or the second clear ink and the drawing ink on the downstream side of the second head unit in the transport direction. The printing apparatus in any one of 1-4. The first head unit and the second head unit are integrally configured.
The printing apparatus in any one of. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first head unit and the second head unit move independently in the intersecting direction. (A) a transport unit that transports the medium in the transport direction;
(B) (b1) a first nozzle row in which a plurality of nozzles are arranged in the transport direction and ejects drawing ink for forming an image on the medium;
(B2) a first irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the drawing ink discharged on the medium;
A first head unit that moves in a direction crossing the transport direction;
(C) (c1) the second nozzle row for discharging either one of the transparent first clear ink and the second clear ink, the flexibility after curing is different;
(C2) a second irradiation unit having irradiation means for irradiating light for temporarily curing the first clear ink and the second clear ink ejected on the medium;
A second head unit that is disposed downstream of the first head unit in the transport direction and moves in the intersecting direction;
With
Discharging the drawing ink from the first nozzle row;
Preliminarily curing the drawing ink;
Discharging one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink onto the drawing ink;
Temporarily curing either one of the first clear ink and the second clear ink;
Including printing method.

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