Short Answer: Which Printheads Can YOTTA Supply and Configure?  

A Printhead Is a Production Decision, Not a Marketing Badge  

Buyers often begin with a brand name: “I want Ricoh,” “I want Kyocera,” or “I want Epson.” That is understandable, but it is not enough to build the right UV printer.

The same customer may need fine photo detail on acrylic today, heavy white and varnish on decorative panels tomorrow, and irregular products with several millimeters of surface height difference the next day. Those jobs put different demands on droplet size, head clearance, ink delivery, curing and carriage speed.

YOTTA therefore keeps several printhead platforms available. We recommend the head around the job, then build the machine configuration around that head.

Seven Core Printheads: Practical Differences  

1. Ricoh Gen5: Built for Ink Laydown and Relief Work  

Ricoh Gen5 is an older industrial platform, but “older” does not mean obsolete. In UV flatbed production it is still useful because the larger droplet and robust industrial behavior suit jobs where ink volume matters.

If a customer wants raised white, repeated varnish layers or decorative texture, Gen5 is often easier to justify than chasing the smallest possible droplet. YOTTA currently treats 4-5 mm as a practical high-drop reference for this platform.

Who does not need it? A small shop printing mostly photo-style phone cases or fine acrylic gifts may get better value from Epson I3200.

2. Ricoh Gen6: The Most Balanced Choice for Many Industrial Flatbeds 

Gen6 is the head we most often compare when a buyer wants both quality and production. It gives finer image output than Gen5 while still scaling well in multi-head P10, P20, P30 and high-speed 2513 configurations.

For normal micro-high applications, YOTTA uses about 5-6 mm as a practical reference. A special high-drop process can reach up to about 20 mm, but that is not a normal high-speed mode. Carriage speed must be reduced, the fixture has to be stable, and image sharpness becomes more sensitive to the gap.

For most 2513-class buyers printing signage, acrylic, glass, wood, metal and mixed custom jobs, Gen6 is usually the first head we evaluate.

Why Ricoh Gen6 Keeps Appearing in UV Flatbed Projects 

Why does Gen6 keep showing up in 2513 and larger UV flatbed quotations? It sits in the middle of several trade-offs that buyers actually care about. It is fine enough for small text and gradients, industrial enough for multi-shift production, flexible enough to run different color layouts, and it can be scaled from a relatively simple head arrangement to a much higher-output configuration.

This is also why we describe Gen6 as a strong cost-performance choice without publishing a price. The value does not come from being the cheapest head. It comes from how much usable production, print quality and application range a buyer can get from one mature platform.

What the Gen6 Operating Manual Actually Says

For the standard P10 / P20 / P30 Gen6 platform, the operating manual lists 2-8 printheads, high-precision output up to 1016 × 2400 dpi, high-speed output up to 635 × 2400 dpi, UV-LED curing and flexible C/M/Y/K/Lc/Lm/W/V/G ink-channel combinations.

These figures are the platform-level speed envelope in the manual. They are useful for selection, but they do not tell the whole story because head count, one-color vs. two-color head mapping, row arrangement and feathering still change the actual output.

Measured Gen6 Speed: Head Layout Changes the Machine

The Shanghai G6 measured-speed workbook gives a more useful production view. The same Gen6 platform was tested with different head counts, color mapping and feathering settings. The numbers below are measured high-speed bidirectional results, not brochure claims.

Measured 4-pass range from the uploaded Shanghai G6 speed workbook. The 12-head layout is a higher-head-count test / custom-type arrangement and should not be read as the standard 2-8 head P10/P20/P30 configuration.

Why Gen6 Delivers Strong Cost-Performance in Real Production 

1. It scales without changing the whole product direction. A buyer can use a simpler head layout for moderate output or move to one-head-one-color, multi-row configurations when production grows. The measured workbook shows how sharply output changes as the layout becomes more production-oriented.

2. It is not locked into one kind of image. The same platform can handle CMYK, light colors, white ink and varnish. A sign shop can print acrylic and PVC in one workflow, while another customer can build a white-and-varnish configuration for decorative work.

3. It gives useful high-drop flexibility without turning the printer into a low-resolution high-object machine. YOTTA normally treats 5-6 mm as the practical Gen6 micro-high range. Special jobs can go higher, but the operator has to accept slower carriage speed and tighter process control.

4. The surrounding machine system is mature. The Gen6 manual does not treat the head as an isolated component. It includes automatic media-height measurement, collision protection, negative-pressure management, printhead temperature control, standby flash spray, calibration and scheduled maintenance. Those details matter more to downtime than a headline nozzle count.

5. It sits between two extremes. A lower-investment head may be enough for short-run customization, while a premium high-throughput head may be better for a factory that runs continuously. Gen6 is attractive to the large group of buyers in between: they need industrial output, but they also care about fine images, white/varnish work and application flexibility.

A technician's note: Do not buy Gen6 because somebody says it is the “fastest” head. It is not the fastest answer for every factory. Buy it when the machine's head count, ink layout and daily workload actually match the speed you need.

3. Kyocera KJ4A: Premium Throughput for High-Utilization Production

Kyocera KJ4A is not the head we recommend simply because it is premium. Its value appears when the machine runs enough hours and enough square meters to use the wider industrial head and high production capability.

For a small shop running short jobs, that investment can be difficult to recover. For a factory printing large boards or running repeated production across long shifts, it can be the correct choice.

High-drop printing is not its main reason for selection. YOTTA’s current application reference is roughly 1.5-3 mm, depending on the machine and print mode.

4. Konica KM1024i / KM1800i: Industrial Coverage with Two Different Priorities  

KM1024i and KM1800i should not be treated as the same head with a different name. In the supplied printhead material, KM1024i is a 1024-nozzle industrial platform with 72 mm print width and model-dependent droplet options. It is well suited to industrial graphics where stable coverage and ink laydown matter.

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KM1800i moves toward higher nozzle density and finer output. The supplied material lists 600 dpi-class resolution, 1,776 nozzles and a roughly 75 mm print width. In practical selection, it is the better discussion when the buyer wants Konica's industrial behavior but also places more weight on detail.

YOTTA's current configuration note treats these Konica heads as one head / one color in the applicable machine layouts.

5. Epson I3200: Fine Detail and Strong Cost Performance 

The supplied printhead material lists I3200 at 600 dpi, 3,200 nozzles, a 3.8 pl minimum droplet and a 33.8 mm print width. That combination explains why it performs well on fine graphics, gradients and small text.

I3200 is a practical choice for small and medium UV flatbeds, UV DTF and customized-product printers. Its high-drop window is more limited than Gen5/Gen6; YOTTA currently uses about 2-3 mm as the practical reference.

It is a value choice, not a shortcut. If the customer later needs much higher daily output, simply adding more heads may not be enough; the carriage, motion system and ink supply must also scale.

6. Ricoh GH2220: Compact Ricoh for High-Object and Moderate-Volume Work  

GH2220 fills a different gap in the range. It is not intended to replace a multi-head Gen6 industrial flatbed. Its strength is compact machine integration, lower replacement burden and useful clearance for high-object work.

YOTTA's current internal application note uses around 6 mm as a high-drop reference for GH2220 configurations. That makes it attractive for compact high-object machines and short-run customization, where absolute square-meter speed is not the first priority.

7. Ricoh G5i: Fewer Heads, More Color Integration

G5i deserves to be separated from Gen5 and Gen6 because the machine architecture can be very different. In YOTTA's current configuration note, one G5i head can be used for up to four colors in selected systems.

That is useful in cylindrical printers or compact machines where reducing head count simplifies the carriage and leaves more space for the ink path, curing hardware or product fixture.

The trade-off is that a multi-color-per-head design links several colors to the same physical head. For heavy production, separate-color industrial heads can offer more flexibility in maintenance and

scaling.

High-Drop Printing: Read the Number Correctly  

YOTTA internal application references. High-drop clearance is not the same as machine material height or printed relief thickness.

A MATE20 may accept a very tall product because the carriage can lift high, but the printhead should still run as close to the printable surface as the application allows. Raising the carriage hundreds of millimeters does not mean the ink can accurately jet across that distance.

Color Channels: One Head Does Not Always Mean One Color 

Speed: The Head Matters, but Head Count and Layout Matter More  

A printhead does not have one universal machine speed. The Gen6 measured data above is a good example: the same head family produced very different output as the machine moved from two-head dual-color layouts to one-head-one-color multi-row layouts. Pass count and feathering then changed the result again.

YOTTA's Gen6 operating material lists a 2-8 head platform and separate 4-pass, 6-pass and 8-pass production ranges. The English product catalogue then shows higher-output systems such as YD-2513 high-speed and YD-1319 visual-positioning machines with more heads and higher machine-level throughput.

The right question is therefore: “What output can this exact head count and ink layout produce in the print mode I will actually sell?”

YOTTA Model-by-Model Printhead Recommendation 

The table below follows the current YOTTA product catalogue and the latest internal printhead selection notes. Catalogue speeds are machine-level values under their listed configurations; they are not fixed printhead specifications.

Why Authorization and Source Verification Matter

YOTTA can provide applicable brand agency / authorization certificates for relevant printhead supply lines during commercial verification. The useful document is the one that matches the product line being purchased, not a generic statement that “we are authorized.”

A genuine printhead can still be damaged by the wrong ink, incorrect voltage or waveform, poor filtration, unstable negative pressure or improper shutdown. Source verification and machine compatibility have to be checked together.

· Confirm the exact brand, model and part number.

· Confirm the intended ink type and machine platform.

· Confirm the color-channel mapping for that exact machine.

· Check white-ink circulation, filtration and idle protection.

· Confirm printhead warranty handling separately from the core machine warranty.

Questions Buyers Actually Ask 

Which head is best for a 2513 UV flatbed?

For most mixed-material 2513 buyers, Ricoh Gen6 is the first comparison because it combines fine output with scalable multi-head production. The uploaded measured-speed data shows that the answer still depends on head count and layout. Use Gen5 if relief and heavier white/varnish laydown are more important; use Kyocera if the factory's utilization is high enough that maximum throughput matters more than general-purpose flexibility.

Can Ricoh Gen6 really print across a 20 mm height difference?

It can be used in a special high-drop process up to about 20 mm, but not at normal production speed or normal image sharpness. For routine work, YOTTA uses about 5-6 mm as the more practical Gen6 reference.

Is Kyocera automatically better because it is more premium?

No. It is better only when the application can use its industrial productivity. A small shop with short jobs may achieve a better return with Gen6 or I3200.

What is the difference between Ricoh Gen5 and G5i?

They are used differently in the machine. Gen5 is commonly selected for industrial flatbed output and heavier ink laydown. G5i is attractive in compact or cylindrical systems where multi-color integration can reduce the number of physical heads.

Which head is best for fine images?

Epson I3200 is a strong value choice for fine images and gradients. Ricoh Gen6 is the stronger comparison if the buyer also needs higher industrial output and more high-drop flexibility.

What should I send YOTTA before asking for a configuration?

Send the largest product size, material, surface height difference, expected daily output, required colors/white/varnish and the print effect you sell most often.

A Practical Next Step 

If you are comparing Ricoh Gen5, Ricoh Gen6, Kyocera KJ4A, Konica KM1024i/KM1800i, Epson I3200, Ricoh GH2220 or Ricoh G5i, start with the work you actually need to produce. Send YOTTA your material, maximum print size, surface height difference, expected daily output and ink-channel requirement. We can recommend the head and machine configuration and provide the applicable authorization / supply documentation during the quotation process.