Ricoh · 3 ink types
Ink for the Ricoh Gen5
The Gen5 is the industrial UV head most of our flatbeds are built around, and the one that rewards a shop with a daily routine more than any other in the range. It does not recirculate. Everything below follows from that single fact.
The ink
What this head takes
Manufacturer figures
- Nozzles
- 1,280 (4 rows × 320)
- Native resolution
- 600 dpi
- Print width
- 54.1 mm (2.1 in)
- Droplet
- 7–35 pl, adjustable
Published by Ricoh, not by us.
Soft or hard grade is the decision, not the chemistry. Both are UV; the grade decides whether the cured film stays flexible. Rigid panel work takes hard, anything that rolls or flexes takes soft, and hard UV on roll media cracks at the first rewind. Where our catalogue states only "UV ink" for a Gen5 machine, we confirm the grade against your material rather than choosing it for you.
Where it is found
Machines carrying this head
Across our UV flatbed and hybrid range, and on roll machines doing relief work. It is usually fitted in banks of three to twelve, and the machine's quoted speed scales with how many are in it — which is why the same model appears at very different outputs.
Practice
The Gen5 does not recirculate — so white is a routine
White UV ink is pigmented with titanium dioxide, which is roughly 4.2 times denser than the fluid carrying it. In a head that circulates ink continuously, that pigment stays suspended. In one that does not, it begins settling the moment the machine stops. That is why shops running white on a Gen5 lose nozzles over a weekend and shops running only CMYK do not. Agitate, purge before a white job, and never leave white standing in the head over a shutdown.
More on this in what actually kills a printhead and reading a nozzle check.
Ordering
What to tell us
- The machine model, and how many heads are fitted
- Whether you need soft or hard grade — or tell us the material and we will say
- Which channels are fitted, especially white and varnish
- Whether you are running relief or varnish build, which changes the volume
We confirm the exact ink against your head and machine before anything ships. Matching on a head name alone is how the wrong ink gets sent, and on this head that is an expensive mistake rather than a return.
What we do not claim
The figures we are not going to invent
No printhead life, in years or in hours. Ricoh itself quotes head life as a number of ink discharges rather than a calendar period, because how long a head lasts depends on ink quality and daily cleaning far more than on hours run. We also publish no ink consumption in ml per square metre — that depends on coverage, resolution, pass count and how much white you lay down, and no manufacturer publishes one either.
Next step
Order ink for the Ricoh Gen5
Send the machine and the head. We confirm the chemistry and the channels before anything ships.
Ink is quoted, not listed. What a litre costs you depends on coverage, resolution and how much white you run, so tell us the machine and the volume and we will price the actual order.