• price：
• ≥1：2540 –US dollar
• ≥5：2520–US dollar
• ≥10：2520–US dollar

The Ricoh G5S printhead (officially designated MH5220, also known as the Gen5S) is an industrial-grade piezoelectric inkjet printhead released by Ricoh in May 2016. Designed for high-precision single-pass printing, it delivers refined ink ejection and dependable industrial stability, and is now widely adopted in the wide-format printing sector.

In terms of structure and specifications, the printhead integrates 1,280 nozzles arranged in four rows, with each row corresponding to 150 dpi, achieving an overall physical printing resolution of 600 dpi. It supports variable droplet ejection, with droplet volume adjustable between 2.5 and 9 picoliters; the smallest 2.5-picoliter dot produces smooth tonal transitions free of graininess. Using multi-drop merging technology, the fine droplets fuse together in mid-air before landing on the substrate, balancing both speed and precision. For grayscale reproduction, it can output up to four levels of gradation (actual performance varies with ink characteristics), resulting in richer image depth, more uniform color, and reduced ink consumption.

The housing is made of stainless steel, giving it a rugged structure and strong corrosion resistance, allowing it to work with a variety of inks while ensuring a long service life. A built-in heating module warms high-viscosity inks for ejection and maintains a stable, consistent printhead temperature. In terms of fluid design, the ink channels are isolated from the piezoelectric drive elements, so the ink never contacts the actuator, ensuring more stable and reliable operation; because the ink paths are independent, a single printhead can also jet two ink colors simultaneously. Ricoh applies an open waveform policy to this model, enabling users to customize multi-drop printing within the 2.5–9 picoliter range as needed.

A point worth clarifying concerns the naming. People often refer to the MH5220 as the “Gen6,” but this is actually a misnomer—under Ricoh’s official classification, it belongs to the Gen5 family and is formally named the G5S (Gen5S), not a sixth-generation product. The confusion stems from a few factors. First, the digit following “MH5” in Ricoh’s model numbers indicates the minimum droplet size rather than the generation: the MH5220 corresponds to 2.5 picoliters, the MH5320 (the true Gen6) to 5 picoliters, and the MH5420 to 7 picoliters—and since 5220 and 5320 differ by only one digit, they are easily mixed up. Second, the G5S has a minimum droplet of just 2.5 picoliters, even finer than the true Gen6 (5 picoliters), which leads people to assume it must be a more advanced, later generation. Third, some distributors simply label it as “Gen6,” and the name has gradually spread. The simple distinction is this: the MH5220 is the G5S, part of the Gen5 series with an ultra-fine 2.5-picoliter droplet; the true Gen6 is the MH5320, with a 5-picoliter droplet, a maximum jetting frequency of around 50 kHz, and roughly 30% higher speed than the Gen5.

In terms of applications, the MH5220 is compatible with UV inks, offers outstanding durability, and can be paired with wide-format UV flatbed printers and roll-to-roll equipment. It can print directly on materials such as ceramic tile, wood, glass, acrylic, metal sheets, PVC board, corrugated board, and various plastics, and is commonly used in sign graphics, textile printing, 3D printing, labels, and packaging decoration. Note that two versions of this model—old and new—exist on the market

Machines explicitly listed as using the MH5220 / G5S

• Sign Racer Flatbed 1610 (UV flatbed printer)
• Handtop series UV flatbed printers
• Flora series UV flatbed printers