Xaar has reached a milestone in the development of its page-wide array ink-jet printhead with lab prototypes printing in greyscale.


It expects to demonstrate four-colour printing within the next six months and to have a technology demonstration at Ipex 2002.


"Its 18 months since we last made a noise," said chief executive Jan Fineman. "Its a major milestone to print samples in monochrome."


The project to develop a printhead suitable for commercial print applications including next generation digital presses is running at least a year behind schedule.


The firm is confident its customers will bring products to market soon. Fineman dismissed claims made by NexPress president Venkat Purushotham last year that ink-jet would not find a place in the commercial print market for at least 10 years. "If this was 10 years away from market we wouldnt be spending this much money," he said.


It encountered technical difficulties in perfecting the manufacturing processes used, which are significantly different from those in Xaars other printheads.


"We focused on solving the fundamental problems with the manufacturing process and can now produce decent printheads," said Fineman.


Further details of the availability and type of products to be produced by Agfa, its first customer for the new printhead, have yet to be revealed.


Xaar is also set to launch a new printhead by the end of this year. The XJ 126R, shown under the name R4 at Drupa, is an enhanced version of its XJ125, which is used in large- and grand-format printers and industrial print systems.


The 360dpi printhead offers a 50% increase in speed to 82.5cm/s and image quality improvements.


Story by Barney Cox