Meteor releases kit to support Fujifilm Dimatix printheads

Meteor Inkjet has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of its HDC-SG600 head driver card (HDC), printhead evaluation kit and waveform development kit for Fujifilm’s new Dimatix SG600 printheads.

Meteor, an independent supplier of electronics and software to drive industrial inkjet printheads, said the recirculating SG600 head, which was launched by Fujifilm earlier this month, is suitable for textiles, corrugated packaging, ceramics and numerous other industrial print applications.

It joins the same printhead family as the existing SG1024 but takes the native resolution up to 600dpi, enabling printer OEMs to offer much higher ink deposition or finer detailed imaging at desired print speeds.

Each HDC-SG600 drives one SG600 printhead supported through a Meteor PCC-E GbitE print controller card (PCC), which can accommodate up to eight HDCs. Multiple PCCs can be linked seamlessly to drive up to 2,024 printheads.

Used in conjunction with the electronics, Meteor’s software supports a wide range of applications, which the company said gives print system builders the flexibility to design as much or as little of the digital front-end as they choose.

In addition to electronics and software for the SG600, Meteor also offers a printhead evaluation kit and a waveform development kit, which it said eases print system design and significantly speeds time to market.

Multi-head, multi-ink configurations can be evaluated and integrated using electronics and software that can then be transferred straight to manufacturing.

Meteor Inkjet managing director Clive Ayling said: “We have a long history of collaboration with Fujifilm Dimatix, having launched our first Meteor-branded drive electronics for Dimatix printheads in 2006.

“We are proud to be the first supplier to offer production-ready electronics, software and evaluation equipment for the new SG600 printhead and we look forward to providing customers an easy to integrate, scalable solution with the assurance of long-term, reliable supply for both development and production requirements.”

Meteor relocated to a new, larger office at the Harston Mill complex in Harston, near Cambridge, in May and held an official opening event last month.

The 35-staff company, which works closely with all of the major industrial inkjet printhead manufacturers, was acquired by print software developer Global Graphics in December 2016.

It has just announced its support for Xaar’s High Laydown (HL) technology for the company’s 2001+ and 1003 printheads while earlier this year it introduced the HDC-GMA99 head driver, for use with Fujifilm Dimatix Samba GMA 99 printheads.