Screen printing apparatus

A screen printing apparatus which prints paste onto a board via pattern holes formed in a screen mask by a squeegeeing operation of sliding a squeegee on the screen mask on which the paste is supplied and which contacts the board, said screen printing apparatus comprising:

• a board positioning unit which holds and positions the board with respect to the screen mask;
• a screen printing mechanism which moves vertically and horizontally a squeegee head on which the squeegee is disposed to perform the squeegeeing operation;
• a barrier member which is disposed on the squeegee head to extend toward a travel direction of the squeegee during the squeegeeing operation, and which butts against an upper surface of the screen mask and the squeegee, such that the paste on the screen mask is prevented from escaping to an outside of a printing width of the board;
• and
• a pressing mechanism which urges the barrier member toward the screen mask,
• wherein the pressing mechanism comprises:
• a guide shaft which is placed in parallel to the squeegee, and which guides the barrier member along a movement direction during pressing by the pressing mechanism;
• and
• an urging mechanism which urges the barrier member in an axial direction of the guide shaft, and
• wherein the urging mechanism comprises:
• a first magnetic member comprising a first pole surface having a first magnetic pole and held by the squeegee head such that the first pole surface is directed toward the barrier member;
• and
• a second magnetic member comprising a second pole surface having a second magnetic pole opposite to the first magnetic pole and held by the barrier member such that the second pole surface is directed toward the first magnetic member, wherein the first pole surface of the first magnetic member abuts on the second pole surface of the second magnetic member.