Seiko RC1536A-L Printhead

The Seiko RC1536A-L is an industrial-grade piezoelectric inkjet printhead from the Seiko Instruments RC1536 recirculation series. Optimized for water-based inks, it is designed for high-discharge industrial printing and performs reliably across applications such as ceramics, glass, textiles, packaging, corrugated cardboard, and additive manufacturing.

At the core of this printhead is an ink circulation structure that keeps ink flowing continuously behind the nozzles. This allows the nozzles to recover quickly from blockages or shock, removing the need for routine cleaning and start-up priming. The benefit is less downtime, lower ink waste, and stable long-term operation, with full support for Stop-and-Go printing.

The RC1536A-L carries 1536 active nozzles in a four-row layout at a native resolution of 360 npi, with an effective print width of 108.3 mm per head. The wide print width allows a print bar to be built with fewer heads, helping reduce overall system cost. As the large-drop variant of the series, it delivers a drop volume range of 25 to 225 pL and a maximum discharge of approximately 2477 µL/s under a 10-drop condition, making it well suited to jobs that demand higher ink laydown. It supports up to 8 levels of greyscale, a jetting frequency of up to 37 kHz, and a jetting velocity of around 7 m/s (measured 3 mm from the nozzle).

The printhead runs at low voltage through a parallel interface, which keeps both driver electronics costs and power consumption down. It weighs under 700 g, measures 180.0 × 47.6 × 123.3 mm, and can be mounted in either horizontal or vertical orientation. Beyond its primary water-based capability, the series also handles oil-, UV-, and solvent-based inks across a wide usable viscosity range.