Xaar (Cambridge, UK) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its popular Xaar 128 Inkjet Printhead. Surprisingly, the 128 was initially conceived and targeted for use in desktop fax machines. But after its launch, it proved to be better suited to other sectors due to its combination of reliability, ease of integration, speed and high quality of print. As a result, it quickly became a favourite in the coding and marking and wide-format graphics markets. “Launched in 1999, the Xaar 128 was the driving force behind the first industrial inkjet revolution in wide-format graphics,” said the company. “Its compact footprint and light carriage weight of only 16 grams, combined with its simple electronic interface, enabled quick and easy integration into printers by OEMs.”
Whether printing outdoor or indoor graphics, barcodes, outer-case carton coders or poster printing, the Xaar 128 and its compatibility with many ink types positioned it as the leading 17 mm piezoelectric drop-on-demand printhead. This, Xaar added, has been carefully maintained over the past 20 years and recently developed into new applications. With its ability to handle printing of fluids with a range of viscosity, reactivity and conductivity, the Xaar 128 is also now proving ideal for certain uses in the latest Advanced Manufacturing and 3D market sectors.
With over 1.5 million Xaar 128 printheads curently in the market, the success of the Xaar 128 is being officially marked with the cutting of a ‘birthday’ cake at Xaar’s factory in Huntingdon, UK, where the Xaar 128 is manufactured. “The longevity of the Xaar 128 and its relevance in today’s market is testament to the cutting-edge technology it deployed 20 years ago,” said Graham Tweedale, Chief Operations Officer at Xaar. “The fact that we’re celebrating its ‘birthday’ and even seeing new applications, is a real source of pride for us – and demonstrates the impact of Xaar’s investment and lead in industrial inkjet technologies.”
