Manufacture of three dimensional letters for automotive use has letters sprayed and foil covered with adhesive foil for mounting

The invention relates to a three-dimensional lettering or three-dimensional lettering, in which the entire surface, which has an upper and lower side and side surfaces connecting them, is provided with at least one cover layer, the surface of the upper side and the surface of the side surfaces being designed or configured differently. are made.

Three-dimensional characters or lettering are used, for example, in the automotive industry. These characters are glued with their underside on a motor vehicle or the like in order to identify different models of a car manufacturer in this way. In order to meet the high demands of their customers, it is a wish of the automobile manufacturers to design or modify the surface of these logos differently. to procure, so that, for example, the top is made shiny metallic, while the side surfaces that connect the top to the bottom are covered with a layer of paint to highlight the top of the lettering, which should be clearly legible.

So far, this object has been achieved by completely covering the surface of the three-dimensional characters or lettering with a cover layer that determines the final appearance of the upper side of the lettering, before the character processed in this way lies on its underside from the top by means of a spray device is covered with a layer of paint on the upper side and on the side surfaces. The applied color layer is then removed from the upper side, for example wiped away, and an adhesive layer, by means of which the characters or lettering can be attached to the vehicle, is applied to the lower side, which essentially corresponds to the upper side in terms of its design or texture .

A major disadvantage of this known prior art is the costly manufacturing process, since the removal of the paint layer from the top requires great accuracy. Automation of this process is hardly possible due to the different shape of the characters or lettering. Furthermore, it has been found to be disadvantageous for the selection of the adhesive with which the characters or Lettering is glued to the motor vehicle, it turned out that the underside of the characters or the lettering is not covered with a continuous layer, but the circumference of the underside is formed by a thin layer of paint, while the main adhesive surface of the underside of the core of the character or the the final appearance of the top surface determining the top layer is formed.

It is the object of the invention to provide a generic character which can be produced simply and inexpensively while avoiding the disadvantages described above.

In the case of a three-dimensional character or lettering according to the invention, the surface of the underside is therefore the same as the surface of the side faces, so that the underside only has a continuous surface texture, namely the same as the side faces. In contrast to this, the lower surface of the previously known three-dimensional characters has two different surface textures, since most of the underside either corresponds to the core of the character or the applied cover layer, which determines the final appearance of the upper side, while the peripheral edge of the underside corresponds to the Surface quality of the side faces corresponds. This means that in the invention the adhesive to be applied to the underside, in contrast to the prior art, only has to correspond to one surface quality.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the side surfaces and the underside are provided with a layer of paint, which is preferably applied by means of a spray device, whereby the surface of the character, apart from the top, is evenly covered by a continuous layer of paint. This can avoid that

AT 413 808 Β removes the color layer applied to the side surfaces from the underside of the character from the core or a cover layer applied to the core.

A special optical effect is obtained if the top is galvanized, preferably chrome-plated, whereby it is important for the applied layers to adhere well to the characters or characters. The lettering has proven to be beneficial if the entire surface of the three-dimensional lettering is covered with a first, preferably metallic, cover layer and the side surfaces and the underside have a second cover layer, preferably a thin layer of paint, applied to this first cover layer. According to another

As an embodiment of the invention, the adhesive layer arranged on the underside over the color layer can be designed in the form of a double-sided adhesive film, which is known to be particularly easy to handle.

Furthermore, a method for producing three-dimensional objects, in particular

Characters or lettering, with an upper and a lower side and side surfaces connecting these are indicated, in which at least the side surfaces are covered with a layer of paint and the paint layer is applied by means of a spray device.

In the previously known method, the character or the lettering is on his

The underside is spray-painted from the top and then the spray paint applied is removed again from the top, for example wiped off. In order to avoid this costly working process, the method according to the invention now proposes that a cover, preferably a cover film, be applied, preferably glued, to at least the top side before the application of the color layer. This means that the upper side, which already has its final surface texture before the application of the color layer, is covered by a cover film during the application of the color layer, so that after the application of the color layer only the cover film has to be removed from the upper side in order to achieve the final appearance of the To restore top. In contrast to the known prior art, there is no need to remove the paint layer from the top.

The cover can be removed from the upper side in a particularly simple manner if it is larger than the upper side to be covered, that is to say protrudes laterally beyond the upper side.

In this case, it has been found to be particularly advantageous if, after the cover has been applied to the top, the object is completely provided with a layer of paint, preferably spray-coated, from the side of the cover facing the top. This means that, in contrast to the prior art, the lettering is not spray-painted lying on its underside from the top, but on its upper side, which is provided with a cover, lying from the underside.

For example, in order to create a metallically shiny upper side, it has proven to be beneficial in terms of an optimized manufacturing process if the entire surface of the object is galvanized, preferably chrome-plated, before the cover is applied.

Furthermore, the manufacturing process can be accelerated if, according to a further embodiment of the invention, the paint layer applied to the underside and the side surfaces of the three-dimensional object as well as to the side of the cover applied to the object facing the object is burned in , whereby the drying time of the paint layer is considerable can be shortened.

After the applied color layer has hardened, an adhesive layer, preferably a double-sided adhesive tape, can be applied to the underside according to a further embodiment of the invention, so that the characters or the lettering can be glued to a body part, for example.

AT413 808B

Further advantages and details of the invention are explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiments shown in the drawing, without being restricted to these.

Show in it:

1 to 3 individual steps of the method according to the invention,

FIGS. 4a and 4b show three-dimensional lettering according to the invention and FIG. 5 shows three-dimensional lettering according to the prior art.

In the method according to the invention for producing a three-dimensional object shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the core 5 of the lettering consists of plastic, the core 5 having been produced by injection molding and, for example, being colored. Of course, the method according to the invention is also suitable for cores 5 made of a different material, for example metal. The core 5 usually consists of individual letters or numbers that are connected by means of a web 11. If the core 5 is lettering, the letters or digits forming the lettering can also be connected to one another on their side surfaces 4 instead of a web 11. The connecting web 11 molded onto the back of the individual letters or digits secures the position of the letters or digits relative to one another.

Before the upper side 2 of the lettering is provided with a cover 10 (FIGS. 2a, 2b), the final surface quality of the upper side 2 is already produced, for example by painting or electroplating, in a process step (not shown). According to a preferred exemplary embodiment of the method according to the invention, not only the top 2, but also the side surface 4 and the bottom 3 of the lettering 1 are completely painted or painted. galvanized. In addition to a simpler workflow, the result is that the core 5 is completely enclosed by the layer 8 which forms the final nature of the upper side 2, as a result of which this cover layer 8 adheres better to the core 5.

From Fig. 2a and 2b it can be seen that the applied cover 10, which is advantageously a one-sided adhesive cover film, is larger than the top 2 of the lettering 1 to be covered. Now that the cover 10 has been glued to the top 2 of the lettering 1 As shown in FIG. 3, the lettering 1 prepared in this way is entirely painted from the underside 3 by means of a spray device 7. By means of the spray device 7, the paint 6 'is uniformly applied to the side of the cover 10 facing the lettering, the side surfaces 4 and the underside 3 of the lettering 1 and on the connecting web 11, thus forming a continuous layer of paint 6.

In order to accelerate the drying process, the paint layer 6 applied to the underside 3, the side surfaces 4 and the cover 10 can be baked. Such a baking process can be carried out at about 80 ° C., whereby care must of course be taken that the cover film 10, which can be made, for example, of polyester, polycarbonate or PVC, is temperature-resistant in this area.

The cover film 10 is then peeled off and the connecting web 11 is separated from the individual letters or numbers. As is known per se, a double-sided adhesive tape can then be applied to the underside 3 of the lettering 1 in a lettering assembly machine, while an assembly film is stuck onto the upper side 2 in the same operation, which ensures the position of the digits as lettering. Of course, it is also possible to apply the mounting film to the upper side 2 of the lettering 1 before the connecting web 11 is removed from the lower side 3 of the lettering and only then to apply the adhesive film 9 to the lower side 3 of the lettering 1.

4a and 4b show a lettering 1 according to the invention, the appearance of which is from

AT413 808B a cover layer 8 applied to the top 2 of the lettering 1 and a color layer 6 applied to the side surfaces 4 and the underside 3 over the cover layer 8. The layer-like structure of the lettering 1 according to the invention can be clearly seen in particular from FIG. 4b. It can be seen that the core 5 is completely covered by a cover layer 8 which is covered by a layer of paint 6 in the area of ​​the side surfaces 4 and the underside 3 of the lettering 1. On the color layer 6 applied to the underside 3 of the lettering 1, there is also an adhesive layer 9 for mounting the lettering on, for example, a body part of a motor vehicle.

In contrast to this, lettering produced according to the prior art (FIG. 5) does not have a continuous color layer 6 on its underside 3. This has the disadvantage that the adhesive layer 9 must be suitable for both the cover layer 8 and the color layer 6. Apart from that, in the case of writing according to the prior art, there is the risk that the color layer 6 applied to the side surface 4 will detach from the cover layer 8 from the side of the adhesive layer 9. In the case of a lettering according to the invention, these disadvantages can be avoided due to the fact that the color layer 6 is applied over both the side surface 4 and the underside 3 essentially over the entire surface.