Xaar releases new 1002 printhead

Xaar has announced a new printhead, the 1002 GS6, designed to replace all versions of the 1001. This addresses newer markets, which now require better response and reliability. It’s a mechanically manufactured head, made at Xaar’s Huntingdon factory in the UK. It’s been developed over the last two years and has been shipping since February of this year. 

It’s designed for UV inks and is able to print heavily pigmented high opacity white inks and high viscosity varnishes, helped by Xaar’s patented ink recirculation technology, TF Technology. 

Marketing director Mark Alexander explained: “It’s a new product engineered from the ground up. The only components we have kept are the nozzle guards, the mountings and the plastic side guards.” It has a more even ink flow around the head, with Optimised Geometry nozzles for better image quality at higher speeds. Xaar has improved the drop placement accuracy and drop volume for smoother printing and it has a more consistent drop diameter, by up to 50 percent. Xaar also claims that it is twice as accurate in dropping the ink in the right place. Alexander adds: “Drop size, drop placement and drop volume are the key parameters in determining the printed result.”

It also has a new electronic interface that is easier for OEMs to integrate into devices. But it fits into the same mountings as the existing 1001 head so that users can upgrade easily with no change to waveforms, voltage settings or inks. It has a more robust connector and new seals. Pricing is said to be only slightly more expensive than the 1001. 

It’s aimed at industrial inkjet applications, and in particular label and packaging markets. Richard Barham, sales and marketing director said: “We see larger and larger arrays being used, with machines over 2m wide in laminates so we wanted to make it easier for our partners to build these wide arrays.”

He added: “Up until now, wide format manufacturers have been slow to adopt recirculating heads in a shuttling environment but we are now seeing some adoption of this and expect to be able to announce printers in the next couple of months.”

The original 1001 GS6 head was launched in 2007 and has been widely used in the ceramics market where Xaar claims and about 40 percent market share worldwide, including most of the UK market.

 


Posted

in

by

Syndicate content

You can license the articles from Printing and Manufacturing Journal to reproduce in other publications. I generally charge around £150 per article but I’m open to discussing this for each title, particularly for publishers that want to use multiple stories. I can provide high res versions of images for print publications.

I’m used to working with overseas publishers and am registered for VAT with the UK’s HMRC tax authority but obviously won’t charge VAT to companies outside the UK. You can find further details and a licensing form from this page, or just contact me directly here.

Support this site

If you find the stories here useful then please consider making a donation to help fund Printing and Manufacturing Journal, either as a one-off or a repeat payment. Journalism is only really useful if it’s truly independent and this is the only such news source serving the print/ manufacturing sectors.

However, there are costs involved in travelling to cover events, as well as maintaining this site, not to mention the time that it takes to carry out research, check facts and interview people. So if you value this work, then please help to maintain it and keep it free to read.

Subscribe

Never miss a story – subscribe to Printing and Manufacturing Journal to receive an email notification every time an article is published here. It’s completely free of charge and you can cancel the subscription at any point without any hassle. There’s no need to provide any information other than an email address and subscribers details are not for sale so there’s no risk of any further marketing spam.

Related stories

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *