Xaar 5501: a new printhead for water-based inks

Manufacturers of production inkjet systems will be able to use the new Xaar 5501 printhead to enable water-based inks for their systems.
The new lightweight and compact Xaar 5501 printhead with 5544 nozzles and an output resolution of 1,200 dpi is suitable for a wide variety of environmentally friendly water-based inks, but also for low viscosity UV or solvent inks. It is to be expected that the manufacturers will announce production inkjet systems with this new printhead. Read more about the Xaar 5501 in the press release below.

PRESS RELEASE
Xaar strengthens aqueous printhead portfolio with the Xaar 5501

Xaar, world leader in industrial inkjet technology, is delighted to announce the Xaar 5501, a new addition to its portfolio of aqueous printheads. Previewing on Xaar’s stand at Ceramics China and available later this year, the compact and lightweight Xaar 5501 complements the existing Xaar 1201 and Xaar 5601, and provides OEMs looking for an aqueous printhead from Xaar with a wider choice. This is the first product resulting from Xaar’s collaboration with Xerox and delivers high print quality combined with low printing costs whilst integration costs will also be kept to a minimum.

The new Xaar 5501, which uses proven bulk piezo technology in conjunction with Xaar Drive Electronics, delivers high print quality. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) can use this printhead to deliver cost-effective scanning digital printers with a high quality output.

This is a lightweight and high resolution 1200 dpi printhead which is ideal for a range of water-based digital printing applications, such as textiles (digital direct to garment, dye sublimation transfer and soft signage) and graphics (banners, posters, displays). It has 5544 nozzles, each producing 5 pL sub-drops giving an impressive 115 mm print width for high quality print at high productivity. Furthermore, the Xaar 5501’s robust construction makes it compatible with a range of fluids including aqueous inks, low viscosity UV or solvent-based inks.

The Xaar 5501 uses a simple micro alignment system to position and align printheads via software. This allows rapid and easy printer set up, therefore streamlining printhead commissioning and reducing downtime overall. In addition, it does not require an ink recirculation system; this ensures lower integration costs and makes it very suitable to use in scanning applications such as printing wide-format graphics and textiles. In addition, for high productivity applications, single-pass printing is possible.

“We are delighted to be bringing the Xaar 5501 to market,” comments Jason Remnant, Senior Product Manager at Xaar. “With this addition to our aqueous portfolio we now have a full range of solutions to meet the majority of applications which need low viscosity-compatible inkjet printheads. With its simple ink supply system, the Xaar 5501 is a very cost effective solution for scanning textile and wide-format graphics printers, and will be widely available to OEMs later this year. We will make further announcements i