Kyocera has announced details of a new printhead, the KJ4A EX1200-RC, designed for UV-curable inks, which for Kyocera mainly covers the label printing market, plus some packaging and display graphics.
Kyocera splits its printheads into two family groups. The KJ4A series are designed for UV inks, while the KJ4B is meant for water-based inks. Naturally, Kyocera has concentrated in recent years on the KJ4B family because of the growth in textile and packaging printing, both of which mainly use water-based inks. So this latest printhead is really a variation of the existing KJ4B EX1200-RC, and brings some of the features that we have seen in recent Kyocera printhead launches to the UV ink market.
As such, it uses the same monolithic ceramic actuator as the rest of the EX-series, which I’ve explained in more detail with the previous head here and with more background information here. It also includes full recirculation down to the nozzle plate.
It’s capable of producing 1200 dpi resolution, with a jetting frequency of 64kHz, which equates to a maximum print speed of 81.3 meters per minute. However, it’s worth noting that the KJ4B aqueous ink variant has a drive frequency of 80kHz, which allows it to run at 101.6 meters per minute.
Kyocera’s EX series printheads use a very thin monolithic ceramic actuator Photo KyoceraAs with the other 1200 dpi EX-printheads, this new head lays down a print swathe of 108.27 mm. It’s a greyscale head, producing drop sizes between 2 and 4 picoLiters . As with other EX heads, it uses water-cooling to maintain a consistent temperature in the printhead and prevent the electronics board from overheating even if the ink is heated to lower its viscosity and improve its flow.
This new head is an improvement on Kyocera’s existing offering to the UV ink market, the KJ4A RH head, which is limited to 600 x 600 dpi resolution, and 30kHZ frequency, leading to a maximum speed of 76.2 mpm. Given that the label printing market is increasingly moving towards 1200 dpi-capable printers, the new head will help Kyocera maintain its share of that market.
The main competition, particularly in the label market, is likely to be the Fujifilm Dimatix Samba printhead. The Samba is capable of printing faster, at up to 120 mpm but has a reputation amongst OEMs for being a little bit more delicate to work with – or as one vendor put it to me, “The Samba can be a prima donna but can make a beautiful dance.” The Kyocera heads appear to be a little more forgiving for developers in terms of the fluids they work with but is slower at 81mpm.
As with other Kyocera heads, this latest printhead has been developed at its Kagoshima Kokubu in Japan. The new KJ4A EX1200-RC should be available from May 2025. You can find further details at www.global.kyocera.com.
First published on 24th February 2025 on www.nessancleary.co.uk. Republished with permission.
