Ricoh is using the Interpack show in Germany to announce a new printhead, the MH3820, which is designed for coding and marking applications, meaning primarily secondary and tertiary packaging but with the promise of more applications to come.
It delivers a print swathe of 108.2 mm. There are two rows of nozzles, with each row having 320 nozzles, or 640 nozzles in total. That means a native resolution of 150 dpi but Jason Remnant, Strategic Business Development manager for Ricoh Europe, says that most users would run it in both directions to deliver 300dpi, which should be more than adequate for secondary and tertiary packaging. It offers three grey levels, meaning zero plus two drop sizes, though this depends on the final print mode and desired speed.
Each row of nozzles can be run as a separate channel so the head can be configured for two colors, although the resolution halves then for each channel. Remnant says there is growing demand for two colors, such as black ink plus a spot color, perhaps to make a hazard warning stand out, or with a white to give better contrast.
Then again, this head has a very compact form factor with a long thin shape so it should be possible for most users to run two or more side by side for additional colors without compromising resolution.
The samples on the stand at Interpack were printed using Ricoh’s plant-based ink. But this head can also run UV-curable, solvent and oil-based inks, and possibly some aqueous inks depending on the ink and its conductivity and the degree it may affect some of the adhesives used within the head. Otherwise the MH3820 is built around Ricoh’s standard stainless steel construction complete with a stainless steel nozzle plate. In terms of viscosity, it will take fluids from 10 to 14 mPa.s.
Remnant says that often printheads are adapted for use in coding and marking but that this head has been designed specifically for that market, adding, “So we were able to optimize it for a higher throw distance.”
He points out that throw distance is more useful than higher resolution for coding and marking, “Lower resolution heads have less nozzles and bigger nozzles so there are benefits in not drying out the ink and less blocked nozzles.” Ricoh expects to see customers using bigger sizes over distances of around 10 mm or above.
In some ways the MH3820 can be seen as a wider version of the existing 64.9 mm wide MH2620. But there’s much more to it than that with Remnant saying, “It’s double the width but there are a couple of other improvements like support for higher temperatures.” Ricoh hasn’t yet tested the temperature limits but Remnant says the aim is for up to 100°C, noting, “That would open up phase change fluids and allow for higher viscosities.”
Perhaps more importantly, this head is one of the first to benefit from a new piezo stack which will be used across other printheads in Ricoh’s portfolio. For this head the new piezo stack delivers much more pumping power, which has lead to the greater throw distances and higher drop velocities.
However, this improved pumping power plus the higher temperature range could lead to some interesting applications in the future, with new variants targeting other markets such as additive manufacturing. Indeed, Remnant says this is the first model but there will be other variants in the future that will be aimed at different applications that will offer different drop sizes, fluid compatibility and temperature tolerance.
The new head is manufactured at Ricoh’s California plant, which usually produces those heads with larger drop size and lower resolution while printheads with small drop sizes and higher resolution are usually manufactured in Japan.
To support the MH380 head, Meteor Inkjet has developed a new electronic board, the HDC-2R6XL, which can drive two of these heads from each board. The board supports a number of Meteor’s own technologies including its Nozzle Health Technology, which should minimise any downtime from blocked nozzles. Interestingly, although Ricoh is pushing this head at the coding and marking market, Meteor makes it clear that it can also be used for additive manufacturing. However, Meteor is only offering engineering samples of its HDC-2R6XL drive electronics from Q3, with full deliveries starting in Q4 of this year.
Also at Interpack, Ricoh launched its Integrated Services offering, makes use of the inhouse engineering and development expertise that Ricoh has. The idea will be to help customers develop inkjet integrated solutions regardless of the level of resources or expertise they have themselves.
The MH3820 printhead is available now with some users already beta testing it. You can find further details from ricoh.com.
First published on 8 May 2026 in the Printing and Manufacturing Journal. Republished by permission.
